No FTA in Paris Apsrtment.... :(

[SatelliteAV]

Three weeks without FTA? I think not!

Rented an apartment near the Eiffel Tower that advertised satellite TV, but they recently "updated" to IPTV Freebox. Was looking forward to surfing Astra and Hotbird, but will have to wait until next week.

Spending a few days in London and will be my first time surfing the Freeview service. Returning to Paris next week to another apartment with a fixed FTA system, so will get some FTA time logged!

The Freebox is quite a nice IPTV STB and service. Definitely need to brush up on my French!

Bon jour!

 

[Anole]

Bring us back some good toys!

Or at least some good pix!

 

[Tron]

Europe is so far ahead of us in this hobby...

Brian, will you be checking out some of the satellite shops over there?

Looking forward to hearing about the goodies you run across!

 

[phlatwound]

Brian, it will be great to hear your FTA-Jedi Master impressions of the satellite tv service and equipment available there. :up

 

[SatelliteAV]

Have a few electronic shops marked on the GPS for Paris & Reim, France and London, UK. Will be attending the ANGA 2011 show in Cologne, Germany in a few weeks.

Paris lacks the thousands of dishes plastered to apartment buildings like many European cities. Strict codes protect the skyline. Most homes in the countryside have a 75 - 90cm dish, though they seem very discretely placed!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

How fast is the broadband there? I notice on the box its an HD box so I am assuming they have a nice fat pipe.

 

[freezy]

gotta go to saturn in germany.

 

[Mr Tony]

I wish I could have gone with

But yeah take lots of pics...always like to see the new stuff

 

[PopcornNMore]

I would love to be there too. Please send us some pictures.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Video of the IPTV Freebox:
YouTube - CES 2011 - Intel SandyBridge, "FREE" IPTV, and Booth Video Coverage

 

[tdti1]

Nice, snap some pics of dishes and receivers, oh and some hot French chicks heehee

 

[eurosport]

Nice, snap some pics of dishes and receivers, oh and some hot French chicks heehee

Yeah... like THIS one! YouTube - [HQ] Alizee - Ella, Elle L'a

 

[SatelliteAV]

The Speedtest.net test yields 21MB down and 87 up. Not super speedy, but better than home!

 

[rv1pop]

Thts not speedy?? My best recently has been 0.465 M Upload and 2.04 download --- and I thought that was blindingly fast! Until this month average was 56K.

Sometime I thank throwing written messages to the wind would be faster! Might be in travel speed but delivery rates are horrible!

Enjoy your trip -- I know it is business.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Visited Maplin Electronics Store today in London (think Radio Shack with a selection of items you actually might want). They have quite a selection in the catalog that can be ordered and delivered to the store or to you home, but only a small area for in store selection.

The prices were quite high and all in store receivers were SD with the largest stocked dish being 65cm. The prices on all items were no great deal and certainly the quality or country or origin did not very from North America. Appears that Maplin has a strong relationship with Fortec Star.

Most DTH dishes in the UK and France appear to be 90cm with single LNBF and a small minority with 6 degree monoblocks. Dishes are typically mounted onto brick chimneys or wall mounts with a fixed 90 degree tube. The quality of the dishes appear to be generally poor and most are sun faded and rusting. Some Sky dishes are 65cm, but have yet to see anything larger than 90cm for an apartment or residence. Quite a few hotels and businesses have 1.5 and larger mounted on non-pens. Am not seeing any satellite IP in London or in France.

Visiting a Virgin Media Store tomorrow, but understand that they have very few STB options. They mostly sell FreeView with the installer bringing the equipment for the install.

I have attached some photos for your enjoyment.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Hey good to see some Fortec equipment.

 

[SatelliteAV]

 

[goaliebob99]

Why cant one of those freeview boxes be installed here in the US? If its IPTV, then it should just plug into the internet and your good to go! Unless its like uverse where you have to be on their network. I would certainly getting some TV from over the pond via freeview.

 

[SatelliteAV]

I suspect that the STB identifies you by the IP address and provides the correct channel line-up for your region. I will ask at Virgin Media today.

 

[Tron]

Let's see... If memory serves, a British Pound is worth at least $2 American. Yes, these prices are definitely on the high side. That's not surprising, though, since retail brick and mortar stores always charge much more than the same item is worth online. I would expect such prices from Rat Shack, if they ever got it in their corporate head to actually sell FTA gear (I know, keep dreaming )...

Great pictures, Brian! Please keep 'em coming, and have fun over there!