Technology

Satellite TV

by Stuart Wallace

Well hello there. I hope you’re having a good summer. Well, given the weather we’ve had, perhaps I should say I hope you’re not getting wet anymore. It seems scarcely possible that it’s September already. By the time you read this we’ll all be starting to think about Christmas (136 days at time of writing). Well, I won’t. I’m not really a Christmas sort of person. Nothing against it really, it’s just that my head is too small to keep the cracker hats on and I’ve got more than enough nail clippers. Still, there’s always the John Lewis advert to look forward to. However, in the run up to Christmas, it might be an idea to consider having a second TV location in the house for when the inevitable argument happens. Queen’s Speech or the Great Escape? A twin LNB, a second cable from the dish and another receiver box and you can banish Granny (or whoever you please - other family members are available) to another room to watch The Polar Express or Xmas Bargain Hunt. It also helps if you can banish those who have reacted badly to the sprouts. Just make sure the room is well ventilated. There may be some who disagree with me, but they’re wrong, so please carry on reading. If you arrange for a satellite installer to put up a dish at your house, make sure that they are not using those tiny little ‘region 1’ Sky mini dishes seen far and wide across the UK. They are simply too small to be of use this far south when the weather gets bad. That and they can be bought for about 4 quid in the UK. They’ll seem fine in summer, but come autumn and winter, they’re not always so clever.

So, if someone tries to put one on your house, once you finish shaking your head and thinking murderous thoughts, politely ask them to fit a proper satellite dish. One that will collect enough signal in bad weather to mean that you don’t lose reception in all but the very worst of weather, not just a light shower. Also, you cannot easily use a French LNB on a Sky dish meaning it’s harder to replace should you need to. I attended a call out recently where not only had a minidish been ‘professionally’ installed (though not by an advertiser in this publication), it was mounted so close to the gutter on the house it was blocking most of the available signal. Why? Whilst we all agree that Freesat and Freeview are NOT the same thing, a reader (Yes! I’ve got one!) has asked me to point out that if you have French TV via a terrestrial aerial, you could use a UK Freeview box as a recording device. Only for French TV mind, but it might be a useful option if you record lots of telly. Connect the aerial cable to the Freeview box and the Freeview box to the TV and away you go. You’ll need to set a manual recording if you want to use the timer function. Thanks Charles. Top of the class. It is generally accepted that if you want to record UK TV, then if you don’t have a Sky package and recording box, the next best thing is Freesat+. However, these are not your only options. There are a number of twin-tuner satellite receivers out there that will do an excellent job of allowing you to record one or more channels whilst you watch another. The only potential downside for some is the lack of the electronic program guide which means that in most cases, for nonSky or non-Freesat receivers, you will need to set a manual recording. However, if this isn’t a big issue for you then feel free to jump into the world of real satellite receivers. Just be careful though as not all come with a hard-drive installed. Some companies allow you to choose your recording capacity and fit the appropriate drive before shipping. As always, please feel free to get in touch if you would like any further information or would like to discuss your requirements. Contact details can be found on the advert. Keep up the good work. Have a good month.

Stuart runs The French House Satellite TV tfhsatellite@gmail.com Other contact details in his advert in the Buildings & Renovations section of the magazine