Atlantic Bird 3 - Technomate TM-1600 2CI - French FTA TV Channels

urbangecko

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Hello

FRENCH FTA TV CHANNELS

On Saturday, a professional came to install a Technomate TM-1600 2CI with a 60 cm dish pointing towards Atlantic Bird. I only have France 2, France 3, France 4, Arte, France 5 and LCP. He told me that I cannot have TF1 or M6 without buying a card. I saw one advertised for around £200 for 12 months.

After searching on the internet, I have noted a few company advertising all channels above, including TF1 and M6 with no subscription or monthly payments.

How do they do this? Was the installer who came to my house not knowledgeable enough?

I checked http://www.lyngsat.com/ab3.html and see that both TF1 and M6 are on Atlantic Bird 3 too but they don't have the letter F next to them so I understand they are not free.

Is there anyone who knows how I can get TF1 and M6 and any other French speaking channels please? If I must buy a card, is it cheaper to buy it straight from France? My family still live in France but I have been away for 12 years so I kind of lost touch. Now that we are back in Europe, I would like to help my child learn French and know more about French culture.

I have read many postings but have not been able to locate any suitable answers. I don't know much about satellite tv (actually, nothing technical). :(

I have read the Technomate manual and done some research on the internet and I'm willing to try some more... but I would appreciate if you would explain using as little technical jargon as you possibly can.

Also, if I buy a card for French TV, I will not be able to buy a card from Sky for free BBC Digital TV, is that right?

I appreciate people who provide answers on this forum are all busy but might also have a sat hobby or be very knowledgeable indeed so I sincerely someone somewhere will be able to help.

Many thanks

PS: Apologies if a similar thread has been posted before - i have not found it!
 

MattJ

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Hi there urbangecko,

Welcome To The Forum. :-Welcome1

TF1 & M6 are being transmitted in Analogue on that satellite, however, according to Lyngsat, TF1 & M6 are not beiong transmitted on Digital. I don't believe that there is a way to recieve these channels from this satellite. However, I may be wrong on this as I haven't moved my dish around to 5W for quite a while...

The best way to recieve the French channels, at the current time, would be via TPS over on Hotbird (13E) - this package is currently hacked, and your reciever could probibally be patched to open the TPS package. This would include numerous French channels.

Hope That That Is Of Some Help
Matthew.
 

urbangecko

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Thank you Matt - Do you mean if I choose Hotbird 13.0E in the satellite set-up of my receiver it might find TF1 and M6? I will try that... but I don't get the hacking (I understand the principle but how would I get my machine to do that?)
 

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Just buy yourself an analogue receiver and connect it to the loopthrough of the Technomate, then you can get TF1 and M6 from the analogue receiver. :)

PS. you can buy analogue receivers for a few pounds.
 

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You could recieve the channels of analogue - but AnalogueSat has reported that the analogue services are to be withdrawn "in the forseeable future" No confimed dates yet.
 

urbangecko

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No I'm afraid I have not gone motorised - I kind of wish though - It would be a bit too much you are right so I might try the analogue receiver but... and I can imagine you all :-rofl2 out there but after looking at the manual, is "loop through" the same as "loop out" because it seems that's all there is on the receiver? Told you all satellite technical jargon is abolutely brand new for me (and there are so many meanings to "out" and "through" in English...).

Thank you for your time helping out.
 

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Yes, you will have an LNB in and LNB loop out/loop through, they call them different things, but they do the same thing. :)
 

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ok - many many thanks to the 2 of you for your time and kind jargon-free replies - just one last thing: there is nothing to know about when a buying an analogue receiver? I mean, any type will do the job, right? thank you again
 

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mmm... that's what I fear since they are also going digital in France anyway. Perhaps if I find a receiver cheap enough I will try for the moment. Else, I will have to start looking at buying a card.
 

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As long as the analogue receiver is one of the later models which can use a universal LNB. Have a look in the local freebee mags, there are often a couple in there. :)
 

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thank you so much
 

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TF1 & M6 are indeed in digital on Atlantic Bird 3 - but they are in the "hidden" multiplexes. They require DVB-S2 receivers, which are not yet generally available.
 

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so actually, I did not need a digital receiver at all at this stage then? I mean, not until they shut down the analogue?
 

rolfw

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You do get a couple of additional channels with the digital option, also on older TVs, the pictures from the analogue channels transmitted in SECAM format will only show as black and white.
 

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rolfw said:
As long as the analogue receiver is one of the later models which can use a universal LNB. Have a look in the local freebee mags, there are often a couple in there. :)

sorry - me again! :-bash

how do I know what is a "later model" please? I've looked on ebay and there are so many models. I understand from searching the forum again that I need a receiver that can also provide 22Khz as well and that Sky boxes are a no-no! Any recommendations for receiver model/brand please?
 

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Pace receivers, Prima or entire MSS range, BT SVS 260, unfortunately after an 8 year gap, I have forgotten most of the names of the receivers which have the extended tuners, but a visit to www.analoguesat.co.uk should provide a little more information. You will get much cheaper buys in the local papers or boot sales, ebay sellers "generally" tend to know nothing about the receivers thay are selling and often provide little relevant information or even misleading information.
 

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If you can find a Pace MSS series you wont go far wrong. You need to avoid early Amstrads for definite - and anything else from the pre Astra 1D days. so avoid anything described as needing an ADX.
 

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Thank you very much - it has been nice learning from you and congratulations on keeping the discussion jargon free! It's been a big help.
 

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MattJ said:
Hi there urbangecko,

Welcome To The Forum. :-Welcome1

TF1 & M6 are being transmitted in Analogue on that satellite, however, according to Lyngsat, TF1 & M6 are not beiong transmitted on Digital. I don't believe that there is a way to recieve these channels from this satellite. However, I may be wrong on this as I haven't moved my dish around to 5W for quite a while...

The best way to recieve the French channels, at the current time, would be via TPS over on Hotbird (13E) - this package is currently hacked, and your reciever could probibally be patched to open the TPS package. This would include numerous French channels.

Hope That That Is Of Some Help
Matthew.



Ok - here is an update in case there are other people interested in French channels in Norfolk - Looking at buying French a viewing card, I enquired about what type of CAM I needed. I was given a phone number for a local man who can patch my receiver for £50 though I was told they do not officially recommend this.

I think I'll go down this route instead of the analogue one.

Let's hope it all works out fine.
 

rolfw

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Don't pay anything for someone to patch your receiver, buy a serial cable and do it yourself. This also may be short lived.
 
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