# French satalite tv on tivo



## rgmward (May 16, 2006)

i guess i know the answer to this already.

I have a UK tivo without any mods.

i now have both a UK freeview adapter and a new french analogue satalite receiver (receiving TF1, France2, France3, Canal+, France5 and M6)

Is there anyway to get Tivo to see these channels and record from them? how do i connect the Tivo to the box? (as there is only 1 scart input)

Thanks for any advice.

ps - i am technically literate, so if the solutions inclused a tivo-web card and software changes to the harddisk, this is not a problem) (I think the hard disks could do with being replaced anyway!)

Robert.,


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

Do you know the RF channel number of the receiver providing the French signals?

If so, then you can type the RF channel number to view the channels - you may have to do it twice.

You can set manual recordings on this RF channel number.


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## frogster (Jan 4, 2006)

I doubt that the UK Tivo can tune French Secam L RF channels. Or maybe I'm wrong.

Anyway, the French satellite receiver has a scart output labelled "TV". Connect that to the "AUX" input on the Tivo. Record from AUX.

Maybe the Tivo will baulk at the composite Secam colour signal: maybe it won't. I don't know, but it's the only way it's ever going to work.


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## aerialplug (Oct 20, 2000)

This would only work if the french satellite box can output RGB, which would be free of any SECAM encoding. 

If composite (or RF for that matter) is used, I'm pretty sure the TiVo wouldn't know what to do with a SECAM signal.


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## aerialplug (Oct 20, 2000)

Having just sent the last message, I realised I had all the kit necessary to test this - I have access to a standards converter so I put it to the test.

When passing PAL signal in and converting it back to PAL, the picture was fine.

When converting to NTSC, as expected the TiVo went into the blue "no singnal being recieved " mode (though there is a hack available to get TiVo to record in NTSC).

Setting it to SECAM caused it to generate a picture that was essentially black and white, but with shimmering rainbow patterns all over it. 

So the conclusion is that TiVo will record these analogue channels using mannual recordings, but you'll have to turn the colour setting on your TV right down to black and white in order to be able to watch them. Plus, TiVo will waste a lot of compression trying to encode the shimmering colour so the black and white image may appear quite gritty in comparison to normal PAL recordings.

There may be a software hack to allow TiVo to record SECAM but quite frankly I don't think it's worth the bother.

Have you checked that the satellite box has a switch to output in PAL (either in the menus or a physical one on the back). Hardware manufacturers hate SECAM and will often provide PAL output as an alternative. The difference here though is that your analogue box is probably only going to be able to output what it's given from the satellite.


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## steford (Oct 9, 2002)

There's also the possibility that the sat box is actually a UK model just being used to receive French TV so it is actually outputting PAL.


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## aerialplug (Oct 20, 2000)

not if it's analogue - the broadcast standard is set by the transmission in analogue's case.


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## rgmward (May 16, 2006)

Thanks for all your sugggestions. i will give this a try.

Robert.


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## lightfootc (Mar 14, 2003)

I've had analogue FR satelite TV running thru my TiVo for years using a small Secam to PAL converter between the receiver and the TiVo. Works fine.

Does anyone know a way of getting listings of non-UK (i.e. French in my case!) guide info into the TiVo? I'm networked up and using broadband for my daily call.


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## rgmward (May 16, 2006)

about time i responded to this.

i have still not tried to implement this. unfortunately my french sat box only has scart output, so i'd have to rewire my freeview box over RF.

however, in this case, how do i get tivo to 'read' a channel from the scart connection?


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

You would need to configure a Dual Source setup for Freeview and Satellite. Wire in the Freeview box into the RF. You will need a Freeview box capable of resending the signals out through an RF modulated output rather than just an RF loop through!

Changing to any Freeview channel will make the Tivo go to the RF Input for Signal, changing to any satellite channel will make the Tivo look to the AUX Scart for a Signal. The Tivo's channels for the satellite will start at 101 and will be relevant to Sky's satellite package but with various hacks installed, I believe you can remap these to match your service provider.

I have a interesting Dual Source project here , this uses a Sky connection as the AUX Source, but it may help you get your head around the way it works if you ignore the built-in Freeview part, the principles the same for setting up Dual Source.


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## Fred Smith (Oct 5, 2002)

rgmward said:


> about time i responded to this.
> 
> i have still not tried to implement this. unfortunately my french sat box only has scart output, so i'd have to rewire my freeview box over RF.
> 
> however, in this case, how do i get tivo to 'read' a channel from the scart connection?


Re run the guided setup for a dual source i.e. Sky and DTT / Dcable. Then either move the channels you want to the 100's on the receiver or try Channelmap (messy). However your still be left with manual recording on the Scart input as there will be no suitable data.


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## Fred Smith (Oct 5, 2002)

lightfootc said:


> I've had analogue FR satelite TV running thru my TiVo for years using a small Secam to PAL converter between the receiver and the TiVo. Works fine.
> 
> Does anyone know a way of getting listings of non-UK (i.e. French in my case!) guide info into the TiVo? I'm networked up and using broadband for my daily call.


Do a search for OzTivo, they roll there own out there.

To be honest I would have thought manual recordings and programme data from the broadcasters website, most TV stations seems to have this freely available or Digiguide with the French channels added where possible would be the most likely route to go unless there is a market for French TV data on TiVo. If so back to OzTivo.


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

I think Tivo could do even more with the Series 1 even now with what ought to be a nominal bit of tweeking. The main mechanisms are there, we can take anything in through the AUX Scart and there are a lot of people out there with alternative SD satellite receivers pulling in content from Europe. 

We can already pretty much do it with a bit of hacking but if Tivo added a couple of extra options in the "Guided Setup" process and provided the EPG data for these channels, it would be much prettier and functional than our attempts!

Now I don't know whether its within Tribunes grasp to get the guide data for these channels and that I fear would be the only stumbling block. No major re-write of the Tivo O/S is required just some added channel maps. I even think the excellent originally implemented IR interface is more than capable of mapping to these products, someone only need to send Gary the pronto code 

Perhaps Gary or OZ could comment as they were involved when the guided setup had to be tweaked for the Radio Channel issues.

Am I insane suggesting this, ok, I know a lot of people are jumping ship because of the HD issue (prematurely in my opinion). Actually correct that, a lot of people are experimenting with HD but many are keeping their Tivo's to do stuff in other rooms and if they're honest most of them are not happy that the SkyHD box is primarily their only option. But I am talking about minor changes that may prolong it life even longer without major investment!


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## Quinten (Jun 4, 2002)

lightfootc said:


> Does anyone know a way of getting listings of non-UK (i.e. French in my case!) guide info into the TiVo? I'm networked up and using broadband for my daily call.


OzTivo has already been suggested, but you can also take a look at http://www.nltivo.net, the Dutch equivalent of the OzTivo image/service. I'm running two TiVo's: 1 UK TiVo with UK lifetime subscription, and 1 UK TiVo with the NLTiVo image and dutch guide data.


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