Thank you, Billy, but I am quite content to have my TV stuck on Freesat 
OK, I assumed from your comment you wanted to change something but did not know how.
I do have a UK bought Humax HDR 1100S.
As for the expense of a UK TV, I have a cunning plan.
Currys sell customer returns on eBay. I have had gizmos from Tesco, Canon and HP likewise. All items came with full 12 month gtees. This may be of limited value once in FR but it does indicate the level of confidence in the condition of the product. Many are simply scruffy packaging. Viz.
- There is an intact manufacturer’s seal, and the item is brand new and pristine.
- Some product boxes are unsealed as supplied by the manufacturer, these are still brand new, pristine, and listed as “New”.
- Items listed as “New” come with 12 months Currys/PC World Outlet warranty.
These items are discounted by at least VAT- worth. So essentially one is buying a UK TV at Currys shop price once VAT has been added by FR Customs.
Free delivery to a UK address where my van is parked. Tossed into the back of the camper to bring over when I can get to Blighty to retrieve it.
That’s the theory, anyway!
From this comment is it then necc to tell the TV a UK p/c? What is the implication of the p/c issue?
Whilst on the subject of TVs… our link to Molotov.tv on our old Samsung SmartTV began misbehaving this morning and seems to have all but given up (on the Samsung). It works perfectly well on the smart phone and on the iPad.
Our satellite dish is configured to Asttra2 with a Sky box and works reasonably well (for the few occasions we now watch UK TV) and I’m reluctant to move it to accommodate the French F2A channels which is slightly offset (indeed, we have a dual LNB, the second one pointed at the French channels but cabled to another room.
That said, I’m rather keen on getting our French TV experience over the internet since our 4G reseau from Bouygues is mainly strong and given that Molotov is somewhat weak on the Samsung (Samsung are “difficult” over non Samsung Apps on older TVs) I’d be quite happy to look at a suitable IPTV STB.
Has anyone any recommendations?
We are currenly considering this device which is also available from Amazon France at reasonable cost. Our view is to ditch the Samsung inbuilt facility because of its foibles and use this android device instead. It should handle Molotov and also B.tv (the Bouygues TV app) for which we already have free subscriptions (cheapskates that we are!) downloading the apps directly from Google Play Store which Samsung prevents.
Has anyone done this and do you think it will it work?
If you are lucky you might even find something decent under the 430€ personal limit and not have to pay French VAT.
Just make sure the first time it is connected to the 'net it sees a “UK” internet connection.
From memory you put the post code into the Freesat box in order to receive regional variations in programming. So if you want to watch the local news in the area you used to live, you can.
OTOH if the only way to do this is a full factory reset, and the TV uses IP geolocation to decide what “smart” apps to offer you could lose more than you gain.
Freesat only uses UK postcodes. The postcode you use will give you the regional variations applicable for that postcode on the main channels i.e. using a Bristol postcode gives you BBC West in the local news slot (though sadly not via HD) . All other variations can be found up in the 900s somewhere.
Freesat boxes and TVs with Freesat tuners don’t in themselves use any sort of geolocation. You put in your postcode and it gives you your local BBC channel. That’s it. Apps such as iPlayer and ItvHub do use geolocation using your IP address, but that is completely independent of the box, and is done at the server end. That’s what you need a VPN for.
We’re sort of splitting hairs there. At least some as yet to be configured TV’s are what you might call “pluripotent”, I agree that the TV typically has no way of looking at its own IP address and figuring out where it is - not least because it will typically be an RFC1918 private network address but it will “phone home” - at which point location can be determined from IP address and the TV will use that to configure the appropriate “smart” features. Often there is no route back from this if you get it wrong.
Yes, a VPN will solve this, as long as you remember to make sure the TV uses the VPN from the first time it connects to a network.
First, I feel I must apologise for my level of ignorance. I haven’t had TV for 5 years. Prior to that, in UK, I just had the Freeview channels, no ‘smarts’ with apps and stuff. There’s a lot here now that has gone over my head.
and we have
Who is right? Both? Any difference?
Does this mean that a TV bought in UK must be fired up and allowed to connect to a UK IP address before being installed in FR? Does it have to ‘see’ a UK IP address via VPN every time it’s switched on?
[quote=“hairbear, post:30, topic:35985”]
That’s what you need a VPN for.[/quote]
I bought a modem loaded with somthing called ‘Tomato’. This was supposed to be the source of the IP of the STB/TV by being permanently connected to a UK server via VPN. The setting up of this system looked like it exceeded my salary scale - and I never set up the dish and TV anyway. But I still have this Lynksys and it’s load of ‘Tomato’.
The Humax HDR1100S, never been switched on, is in store in SP. My van, which could bring a TV from UK to FR, is in UK. The TV could be set up in UK before coming to FR but the STB would have to be sent to UK from FR to set up in UK … if that is what’s required.
What I think I need is a flow chart of what to do with what devices, to get 1] Basic Freesat TV 2] The catch-up add-ons.
I don’t need gelocation to watch Points West and another bus shelter vandalised in Catbrain.
That would be the safest option, yes. Otherwise you risk UK “smart” features (iPlayer etc) not being installed/enabled on the set.
That shouldn’t be necessary once the set is set up, but (e.g.) the BBC needs to “see” the set accessing services from a UK IP address for iPlayer to work.
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Thanks bb.
Does the same apply to the STB? First set-up in UK?
So this is where the dedicated router permanently connected to a UK IP comes in? Otherwise no iPlayer?
Update on my Molotov_TV issue:
As advised by Molotov help line and after uninstalling the app from the (old) Samsung Smart TV and then re-installing it after switching it off for a few minutes, order has been restored and Molotov now seems to be persistent - so the thoughts about a new android STB can be placed on the back burner for now 
Newer Samsung TVs are preloaded with Molotov it seems, and they will be more difficult to tinker with in this way.
We both are. DVB-S and DVB-S2 are the standards used to encode and decode the satellite signal that goes from the satellite to your STB. The DVB-SI standards define how certain digital data, including that associated with EPG data, is presented within the digital data stream. They are different standards for different things.
Oh that things were so simple… Better sophistication in techniques to absolutely resolve the IP address can mean that, even hidden behind a VPN, the BBC can determine that you are not actually in the UK - even if at first light, your device was set up in the UK but has since moved abroad outside the terms of their conditions of service. Basically, not all VPNs are equal…
I see you’ve resolved your issue now but just thought I’d add that I’ve been running Molotov on my Amazon Fire Stick for over a year with no problems whatsoever. They’re cheap as chips so could be helpful in an emergency.
Like you, my dish is pointing in a different direction to all my neighbours and hooked up to a Sky box
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Do you have a link?