Laptop TV in France
 

I'm going to be in France for part of the Olympics. Does anyone know if
one of the USB Freeview jobbies for a laptop (e.g.
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/tvonyourpc/) would work abroad, and if so
will I be able to get any English channels?

We were in France during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Frence TV
coverage was hopeless (hours and hours of fencing) so I was hoping to
take a laptop and stay informed.

Thanks

LR

Laptop TV in France
 

LittleRob wrote:
I'm going to be in France for part of the Olympics. Does anyone know
if one of the USB Freeview jobbies for a laptop (e.g.
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/tvonyourpc/) would work abroad, and if so
will I be able to get any English channels?

We were in France during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Frence TV
coverage was hopeless (hours and hours of fencing) so I was hoping to
take a laptop and stay informed.

Thanks

LR

The only way you're going to get english TV in France is via satellite.
--
^..^ This is Kitty. Copy and paste Kitty into your signature to help
her wipe out Bunny's world domination.

Laptop TV in France
 

On 29 Jul, 14:37, LittleRob wrote:
I'm going to be in France for part of the Olympics. Does anyone know if
one of the USB Freeview jobbies for a laptop (e.g.http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/tvonyourpc/) would work abroad, and if so
will I be able to get any English channels?

We were in France during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Frence TV
coverage was hopeless (hours and hours of fencing) so I was hoping to
take a laptop and stay informed.

Thanks

http://www.slingmedia.com/


LR

Laptop TV in France
 

JPG wrote:
On 29 Jul, 14:37, LittleRob wrote:
I'm going to be in France for part of the Olympics. Does anyone know if
one of the USB Freeview jobbies for a laptop (e.g.http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/tvonyourpc/) would work abroad, and if so
will I be able to get any English channels?

We were in France during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Frence TV
coverage was hopeless (hours and hours of fencing) so I was hoping to
take a laptop and stay informed.

Thanks

http://www.slingmedia.com/

LR


Assuming you can get internet;

Nebula TV DTT receiver for the PC also allows you set up your own IPTV
server. I don't know if its any more or less reliable than the Sling
box, but does give good quality. Does seem to crash if you mess about
too much with bit rates and stuff.

You can set recordings, watch them, watch live tv all over the internet
from a PC with a browser. You do have to pay around $30 for the IPTV
software royalty for it to work for more than 1 minute at a time.

An alternative is to setup your own VPN and watch iplayer remotely via
your home connection.

---
Tony

Laptop TV in France
 

Tony wrote:
JPG wrote:
On 29 Jul, 14:37, LittleRob wrote:
I'm going to be in France for part of the Olympics. Does anyone know if
one of the USB Freeview jobbies for a laptop
(e.g.http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/tvonyourpc/) would work abroad, and
if so
will I be able to get any English channels?

We were in France during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Frence TV
coverage was hopeless (hours and hours of fencing) so I was hoping to
take a laptop and stay informed.

Thanks

http://www.slingmedia.com/

LR


Assuming you can get internet;

Nebula TV DTT receiver for the PC also allows you set up your own IPTV
server. I don't know if its any more or less reliable than the Sling
box, but does give good quality. Does seem to crash if you mess about
too much with bit rates and stuff.

You can set recordings, watch them, watch live tv all over the internet
from a PC with a browser. You do have to pay around $30 for the IPTV
software royalty for it to work for more than 1 minute at a time.

An alternative is to setup your own VPN and watch iplayer remotely via
your home connection.

---
Tony
Tony

I should have perhaps said that I'll be in a mobile home with no
internet. Well limited internet. I do have an O2 USB jobbie, but:

a) It doesn't give very high-speed when using Mobile-only (about 270Kbps)

b) It costs a ton of money (ISTR £1 per Mb) abroad.

I also don't have any pay-TV in the UK (Freeview only) so that probably
rules out a satellite receiver (as I suspect does the cost, but I
haven't looked).

Rob

Laptop TV in France
 

....snip...

I also don't have any pay-TV in the UK (Freeview only) so that probably
rules out a satellite receiver (as I suspect does the cost, but I haven't
looked).

A Freesat/FTA system and portable satellite equipment. Not cheap so you
need to decide how often you'ld use it. Of course if you get a dish at home
too, you can use the receiver there when you're not off and about.

Beware of poor coverage in France though from UK directed satellites. There
are lots of sites with info. on required dish sizes etc.

Paul DS.

Laptop TV in France
 

Paul D.Smith wrote:
...snip...

I also don't have any pay-TV in the UK (Freeview only) so that
probably rules out a satellite receiver (as I suspect does the cost,
but I haven't looked).

A Freesat/FTA system and portable satellite equipment. Not cheap so you
need to decide how often you'ld use it. Of course if you get a dish at
home too, you can use the receiver there when you're not off and about.

Beware of poor coverage in France though from UK directed satellites.
There are lots of sites with info. on required dish sizes etc.

Paul DS.
Paul

I had wondered about something like
http://www.towsure.com/product/15195...tellite_TV_Kit

(their smaller kit says for UK only) but as you suggest, at £135 its not
cheap (presumably I'd still need to get some more stuff to allow it to
work on a laptop rather than a TV) and I'm not sure how much I'd use it,
since its only for the Olympics and I can't say that we'd ever use it
again as on our "Normal" camping trips the idea of watching TV is anathema.

Rob

Laptop TV in France
 

I dont know if Eurosport is covering much of the Olympics this time
but it is still free on the Astra 1 satellite at 19 degrees east in
analogue if you can pick up an old analogue box and a 60cm dish, the
rest is easy.

Laptop TV in France
 

On 31 Jul, 00:54, widgitt wrote:
I dont know if Eurosport is covering much of the Olympics this time
but it is still free on the Astra 1 satellite at 19 degrees east in
analogue if you can pick up an old analogue box and a 60cm dish, the
rest is easy.

Forgot to say you could then feed it into a little LCD tv so long as
it has AV input. I just bought a 7" one with all of the leads and
power supply for £35 on ebay. You could probably pick up an analogue
sat box and dish for £10 or £15 if you look around

Laptop TV in France
 

Adrian wrote:
LittleRob wrote:
I'm going to be in France for part of the Olympics. Does anyone know
if one of the USB Freeview jobbies for a laptop (e.g.
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/tvonyourpc/) would work abroad, and if so
will I be able to get any English channels?

We were in France during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Frence TV
coverage was hopeless (hours and hours of fencing) so I was hoping to
take a laptop and stay informed.

Thanks

LR

The only way you're going to get english TV in France is via satellite.
OK A revised question. If I got one of the Hauppauge USB devices would I
be able to pick up French TV in France? Do they use the same frequencies
and what not?

Rob

Laptop TV in France
 

On 2008-08-04 09:41:30 +0100, LittleRob said:

Adrian wrote:
LittleRob wrote:
I'm going to be in France for part of the Olympics. Does anyone know
if one of the USB Freeview jobbies for a laptop (e.g.
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/tvonyourpc/) would work abroad, and if so
will I be able to get any English channels?

We were in France during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Frence TV
coverage was hopeless (hours and hours of fencing) so I was hoping to
take a laptop and stay informed.

Thanks

LR

The only way you're going to get english TV in France is via satellite.
OK A revised question. If I got one of the Hauppauge USB devices would
I be able to pick up French TV in France? Do they use the same
frequencies and what not?

Rob

You can watch your own English TV on your laptop in France - or
anywhere else that you can access the internet. See:
http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/slingbox.html

Stan

Laptop TV in France
 

Stan The Man wrote:
On 2008-08-04 09:41:30 +0100, LittleRob
said:

Adrian wrote:
LittleRob wrote:
I'm going to be in France for part of the Olympics. Does anyone know
if one of the USB Freeview jobbies for a laptop (e.g.
http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/tvonyourpc/) would work abroad, and if so
will I be able to get any English channels?

We were in France during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Frence TV
coverage was hopeless (hours and hours of fencing) so I was hoping to
take a laptop and stay informed.

Thanks

LR

The only way you're going to get english TV in France is via satellite.
OK A revised question. If I got one of the Hauppauge USB devices would
I be able to pick up French TV in France? Do they use the same
frequencies and what not?

Rob

You can watch your own English TV on your laptop in France - or anywhere
else that you can access the internet. See:
http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/slingbox.html

Stan

Stan

I won't have internet access, but thanks for the suggestion.

Rob

Laptop TV in France
 

LittleRob wrote:
OK A revised question. If I got one of the Hauppauge USB devices would I
be able to pick up French TV in France? Do they use the same frequencies
and what not?

Rob

They use a different encoding method - SECAM - so check if it will
support that.

Andy

Laptop TV in France
 

On Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:55:07 +0100, Andy Champ wrote:

They use a different encoding method - SECAM - so check if it will
support that.

SECAM is the color encoding method used for *analog( transmissions in
France.

In France, digital terrestrial transmissions are broadcast in DVB-t FFT
8k mode, with MPEG-2 encoding for all free to air stations, and is known
as TNT -- Television Numerique Terrestre.

To see if the service is now available in the area to which you are
travelling, consult the web site

http://www.tnt-france.COM/

with more detailed and technical information at

http://www.csa.FR/TV_numerique/tv_numerique_recevoir_avec_antenne.php

So should DVB-t service be available in a particular locality, there is
no reason why a Hauppauge USB device purchased in the UKofGB&NI should
not function in France.

Laptop TV in France
 

J G Miller wrote:
On Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:55:07 +0100, Andy Champ wrote:

They use a different encoding method - SECAM - so check if it will
support that.

SECAM is the color encoding method used for *analog( transmissions in
France.

In France, digital terrestrial transmissions are broadcast in DVB-t FFT
8k mode, with MPEG-2 encoding for all free to air stations, and is known
as TNT -- Television Numerique Terrestre.

To see if the service is now available in the area to which you are
travelling, consult the web site

http://www.tnt-france.COM/

with more detailed and technical information at

http://www.csa.FR/TV_numerique/tv_numerique_recevoir_avec_antenne.php

So should DVB-t service be available in a particular locality, there is
no reason why a Hauppauge USB device purchased in the UKofGB&NI should
not function in France.

I can't say that I found either of those web-sites terribly easy to
follow (and its not just the use of French ;-) but I'm inclined to buy a
device and "go for it".

Thanks for all the help.

Rob

Laptop TV in France
 

J G Miller wrote:

SECAM is the color encoding method used for *analog( transmissions in
France.

It did occur to me after I posted that, that this is
uk.tech.DIGITAL-tv... but too late...

Andy

Laptop TV in France
 

On Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:26:37 +0100, Andy Champ wrote:
It did occur to me after I posted that, that this is
uk.tech.DIGITAL-tv... but too late...
Actually, what matters is, that as far as I am aware, all analog
Hauppauge TV receivers designated for the European market have always
been able to decode not only PAL, but SECAM and NTSC as well.

Even the current Hauppauge analog TV USB device listed on the page to
which Little Rob referred is listed as being PAL/SECAM/NTSC compatible.

Personally, in my limited experience, I have found the Terratec

http://www.terratec.NET/en/products/tv.html

DVB devices to be better performing and better technically supported than
those of Hauppauge.

The compatibility issue of digital TV devices sold in the UKofGB&NI with
other European countries is for *some* models (usually the early models
or bargain basement models) limited by

1) UHF only
2) 2k FFT only
3) MPEG-2 only
4) MHEG only (no MHP)
5) no DVB teletext
5) no CI slot for pay stations

And let us not forget that some bargain basement models no longer work
because of their failure to cope with the split NIT issue.

I am not aware of any other country which has digital transmissions that
has suffered from models becoming obsolete before DSO has been achieved.

Another first for the UKofGB&NI!

Laptop TV in France
 

J G Miller wrote:
On Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:26:37 +0100, Andy Champ wrote:
It did occur to me after I posted that, that this is
uk.tech.DIGITAL-tv... but too late...
Actually, what matters is, that as far as I am aware, all analog
Hauppauge TV receivers designated for the European market have always
been able to decode not only PAL, but SECAM and NTSC as well.

Even the current Hauppauge analog TV USB device listed on the page to
which Little Rob referred is listed as being PAL/SECAM/NTSC compatible.

Personally, in my limited experience, I have found the Terratec

http://www.terratec.NET/en/products/tv.html

DVB devices to be better performing and better technically supported than
those of Hauppauge.

The compatibility issue of digital TV devices sold in the UKofGB&NI with
other European countries is for *some* models (usually the early models
or bargain basement models) limited by

1) UHF only
2) 2k FFT only
3) MPEG-2 only
4) MHEG only (no MHP)
5) no DVB teletext
5) no CI slot for pay stations

And let us not forget that some bargain basement models no longer work
because of their failure to cope with the split NIT issue.

I am not aware of any other country which has digital transmissions that
has suffered from models becoming obsolete before DSO has been achieved.

Another first for the UKofGB&NI!
There seem to be 2 possible Terratec products the Pihrana (sp?) and the
XXS. However, getting them in the UK at (relatively) short notice might
be tricky. Even on Amazon it seems they have to come from Germany.

Rob

Laptop TV in France
 

On 29 Jul., 15:37, LittleRob wrote:
I'm going to be in France for part of the Olympics. Does anyone know if
one of the USB Freeview jobbies for a laptop (e.g.http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/tvonyourpc/) would work abroad, and if so
will I be able to get any English channels?

We were in France during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the Frence TV
coverage was hopeless (hours and hours of fencing) so I was hoping to
take a laptop and stay informed.

Thanks

LR

The http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/tvonyourp...intvnovatd.pdf
(or other brand's with diversity receivers) are much better than
models with only one antenna.
The signal will be much more stable.

You may use the two small antennas or connect one or two
better/larger antennas.

The display software used will determine if you can
decode MPEG-2 and -4 or only MPEG-2.

Lars :)

note:
http://www.hauppauge.fr/pages/produc...nova-tdhd.html

Laptop TV in France
 

LittleRob wrote:
There seem to be 2 possible Terratec products the Pihrana (sp?) and the
XXS. However, getting them in the UK at (relatively) short notice might
be tricky. Even on Amazon it seems they have to come from Germany.

Well my Hauppauge Win-TV Nova turned up today and of course (as perhaps
expected) it can't "see" any TV broadcasts. So what's the next step?

It seems I could try:

1. Nip to B&Q and get an indoor aerial perhaps
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/na...condid=9686693

I could also get a booster

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/na...condid=9686624

2. Try a more specialist caravan site such as Towsure

How about
http://www.towsure.com/product/1879-..._UHF_TV_Aerial

which can run off batteries

or

http://www.towsure.com/product/2146-...band_TV_Aerial

Any suggestions?

Rob