AV solution for overseas Guest House
Discussion
My parents have a guest house in France and looking for a simple relatively inexpensive solution for providing a selection of TV channels to 7 rooms.
The visitors are about 50% British/25% French/10% Dutch/10% US/5% Others
They are looking to have a small selection of channels, not a full range.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
They have satellite internet, so having IPTV is not really an option.
The visitors are about 50% British/25% French/10% Dutch/10% US/5% Others
They are looking to have a small selection of channels, not a full range.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
They have satellite internet, so having IPTV is not really an option.
The cheapest and easiest way to do this will be a satellite distribution system and standard satellite receivers.
If you try and do this be creating your own channel line up it gets expensive quickly.
Point a dish at the Astra setellite 28degrees east of South and you'll get a lot of free channels.
V.
If you try and do this be creating your own channel line up it gets expensive quickly.
Point a dish at the Astra setellite 28degrees east of South and you'll get a lot of free channels.
V.
Edited by VEX on Saturday 26th April 16:16
French terrestrial, via an aerial, there must be a french equivalent of Freeview, that will take care of the french. Then, as suggested, a 'Freesat' satellite receiver in each room, pointing at Astra 28.2, that will take care of the Brits and Yanks. Although the dish size depends on where in France they are.
Or
They could have seven sat receivers set up elsewhere in the house and set these to the required channels, then RF distributed to the rooms, this is how many hotels do it, but it can get messy.
Or
They could have seven sat receivers set up elsewhere in the house and set these to the required channels, then RF distributed to the rooms, this is how many hotels do it, but it can get messy.
Edited by megaphone on Sunday 27th April 12:50
And considering that even Analogue tuners in TV's are either being removed or are now really low quality, and to future proof yourself you really should be using COFDEM (Digital Channel / Freeview) modulators you are really starting to push the prices. RRP on some of them is over the £300 mark each!
If your concerned about the none english speakers then maybe point the dish a little nearer to south and get Eutelsat 16 or 13 degrees east of south and get far more French / English and Dutch and German channels.
www.kingofsat.com is a good friend in the case of searching out channels.
V.
If your concerned about the none english speakers then maybe point the dish a little nearer to south and get Eutelsat 16 or 13 degrees east of south and get far more French / English and Dutch and German channels.
www.kingofsat.com is a good friend in the case of searching out channels.
V.
Personally I'd just buy smart TVs and employ a VPN/Smart DNS to pretend you are in the UK.
All the main UK channels have iPlayer equivalents plus US Netflix will keep most countries happy. Terrestrial aerials for the french too (French TV is beyond crap though!).
Sorry! Just seen your satellite caveat. Shame you cant get decent internet. Only option then is a decent dish pointed to the sky. I wouldn't worry about catering for everyone though. UK TV is fairly well regarded among foreign clients.
All the main UK channels have iPlayer equivalents plus US Netflix will keep most countries happy. Terrestrial aerials for the french too (French TV is beyond crap though!).
Sorry! Just seen your satellite caveat. Shame you cant get decent internet. Only option then is a decent dish pointed to the sky. I wouldn't worry about catering for everyone though. UK TV is fairly well regarded among foreign clients.
VEX said:
And considering that even Analogue tuners in TV's are either being removed or are now really low quality, and to future proof yourself you really should be using COFDEM (Digital Channel / Freeview) modulators you are really starting to push the prices. RRP on some of them is over the £300 mark each!
If your concerned about the none english speakers then maybe point the dish a little nearer to south and get Eutelsat 16 or 13 degrees east of south and get far more French / English and Dutch and German channels.
www.kingofsat.com is a good friend in the case of searching out channels.
V.
Thanks for that. Do you have a link as kingofsat.com appears to be dead.If your concerned about the none english speakers then maybe point the dish a little nearer to south and get Eutelsat 16 or 13 degrees east of south and get far more French / English and Dutch and German channels.
www.kingofsat.com is a good friend in the case of searching out channels.
V.
This is kind of what I was looking for.
EDIT - google and found.
Another additional question. Is many channels seem to be paid for. Is there a way to subscribe to these?
Edited by elster on Monday 28th April 09:11
NorthDave said:
Personally I'd just buy smart TVs and employ a VPN/Smart DNS to pretend you are in the UK.
All the main UK channels have iPlayer equivalents plus US Netflix will keep most countries happy. Terrestrial aerials for the french too (French TV is beyond crap though!).
Sorry! Just seen your satellite caveat. Shame you cant get decent internet. Only option then is a decent dish pointed to the sky. I wouldn't worry about catering for everyone though. UK TV is fairly well regarded among foreign clients.
It would be great to be able to have IPTV, but having to use a satellite is a pain. It does however mean that it is on a UK IP addressAll the main UK channels have iPlayer equivalents plus US Netflix will keep most countries happy. Terrestrial aerials for the french too (French TV is beyond crap though!).
Sorry! Just seen your satellite caveat. Shame you cant get decent internet. Only option then is a decent dish pointed to the sky. I wouldn't worry about catering for everyone though. UK TV is fairly well regarded among foreign clients.
http://www.lyngsat.com
Is another option for checking satellites. However tracking multiple satellites will require multiple dishes. It will also get messy, your guests will need to be shown how to choose satellites on the receiver in their rooms, or again you need a bank of receivers set up and then distribute fixed channels via RF.
If you go for subscription channels then you'll likely need to pay a commercial licence, I suggest just free to air (FTA) is the way to go.
Is another option for checking satellites. However tracking multiple satellites will require multiple dishes. It will also get messy, your guests will need to be shown how to choose satellites on the receiver in their rooms, or again you need a bank of receivers set up and then distribute fixed channels via RF.
If you go for subscription channels then you'll likely need to pay a commercial licence, I suggest just free to air (FTA) is the way to go.
TNT terrestrial receiver for the French channels and Astra 2E with a FTA (Free to air) receiver for the rest.
Note that Astra have recently switched to a UK centred beam now so you will need to check very carefully what size dish is needed.
Around Toulouse a 80cm dish used to be perfect, today you need a 130cm one.
Note that Astra have recently switched to a UK centred beam now so you will need to check very carefully what size dish is needed.
Around Toulouse a 80cm dish used to be perfect, today you need a 130cm one.
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