New Orange TV decoder

Hello. Recently Orange wrote to me explaining that my current TV decoder would not be functional after 25 May, so they would send me a new decoder as a replacement.
The new decoder has now arrived, and this evening I tried to set it up. The new machine is called a Décodeur TV UHD. In the pack there is a HDMI cable, with instructions that the HDMI cable should be used to connect decoder and TV. However my TV is relatively old and it doesn’t have HDMI sockets. It was linked to the old decoder by SCART - this option is no longer available to me.
Strangely enough, on the front of the new decoder there are additional sockets for TNT (this looks like a traditional ariel socket), and S/PDIF. If I bought one of these two types cables and used it to link up my old tele, do you think it would work?

This one will not connect to TV, this is for sound only, often to a sound bar.

You can buy an HDMI adapter to Scart of Amazon - it is not just a lead it is a converter from digital to analogue.

Alternatively possibly a newer TV - I bought one fairly recently for the gite we then sold - the TV was not hugely expensive - I also saw recently in our local pawn shop they had 2nd hand TVs that came with a 6 month warranty that were cheap - or your local recyclrie will also do very cheap TVs.

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I think it would only work if you have a TNT aerial. I noticed yesterday on the Orange TV screen settings that you can add TNT by aerial. Otherwise, I believe your choice is the adaptor mentioned by Mat or the new TV…

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See if the old decoder still works - I had the same email from Orange though rather more adventure getting the new decoder into my hands as I was not in France when they sent it.

Lazily I did not actually connect it up - but the old decoder was still working so I haven’t bothered (yet).

If your TV is old enough that it only has a SCART input it’s time for a new one anyway :slight_smile:

I suspect the main difference is that the old decoder did not support 4k output (and maybe does not support 4k streams).

As for the standard aerial socket (TNT) - yes, it has a TNT tuner but to be honest I never saw the point of using it as all the channels were in the Orange bundle anyway.

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Yes the old decoder still works for the moment, but the message I received said, “Votre décodeur TV actuel ne poura plus être mis à jour et s’arrêtera de fonctionner le 25/05/22.”
Also Orange says that I must send back the old equipment, presumably at the risk of being billed for it.

Yes, my email said the same - except the date was 02/03/2022 - needless to say when we arrived at Easter, some 6 weeks after the deadline, our old box was working just fine.

Ditto, they included a Colissimo label for the return but it had already expired - I’ll send it back if they chase but I am a bit too busy to volunteer.

Have you the budget for a new set? If you can afford it, it sounds like a refresh is due.

Embrace HDMI and behold the wonder that is 1080p.

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I agree with that. Content like the Attenboro’ nature docs are just stunning in 4k HD. As a smudger myself, sometimes they frame up a shot that is so amazing I have to hit ‘pause’ and gaze at it for some mins.

However, as a smudger of 72 y.o. I do wonder if I am allowed to be somewhat sympathetic with the actresses, whose skin is now rendered in such detail, to the level of the pores of the skin on their faces.

Back in the [B & W] day, leading actresses of Hollywood would have a #2 net by default on their close-ups. But then, as Spike Milligan so rightly said, “Hollywood has a lot to answer for.”

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Chapeau.
What’s a smudger, by the way?

Someone who takes photographs.

It derives from the early days of newspaper photography when photos were made more flattering by retouching with soft pencils - these marks were blended in by smudging with a finger or thumb.

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If the OP goes down that route, which comes highly recommended on this thread, [I’d say the improvement in image quality is akin to watching European 625 line TV after US 525 line TVs] there’s the issue of size.

Size matters. Below a certain size screen, the benefits of HD, particularly 4k, are not evident. The pixels are so crammed together on a ‘small’ screen that the image does not look different from the same image on a lower res screen.

I believe the benefits of 4k become evident on screens of greater than 45".

People do get a bit leary of the thought of screens of 55"-60"-65" on the diagonal. To put that into perspective [pun intended :grinning:] Gainsborough’s painting “Mr. and Mrs Andrews” is 47" wide x 27.5" high. That gives a diagonal of 54.5". Add in the frame - say another 4" per side - and the diagonal comes out at 64.08"
image

It happens to be very close to the aspect ratio [1.77] of widescreen TVs - 16:9 now being the standard - at 1.71.

This painting would not be categorised as ‘big.’ In fact it’s quite a modest piece and most people would accommodate it happily on a wall at home.

So imagine a 16:9 screen of 65" in place of Mr & Mrs A. A great viewing experience.

Screens of 55" and more can be regarded as more than ‘just’ a TV. As these screens are now the size of a ‘feature’ painting or other artwork, if you don’t want to be left with a black rectangle when not watching TV, they can be made into a gallery of your own choice.

In fact Samsung has taken the idea up and one of their ranges is ‘The Frame’.
image

You get the idea.

It’s a premium price TV. The actual frame, in different finishes, is extra and the image bank is an annual subscription. All this [maybe not to the extent of making up a frame] can be done on any flat screen TV, with a slide show of images on a USB stick or card. All these TVs have ‘slide show’ mode.

Having stuck rectangles of masking tape to a wall, representing screen sizes from 50" to 65", I knew 65" was for me. I was very lucky to bag a 65" OLED Philips customer return, with full g’tee. I already have a slide show of about 200 photos which I used to run on my previous TV [only 49" - pah!]. I just have to convert my workshop back into a salón/comedor

Then I can have my own take on Monet’s ‘Lily Pool’ on the wall

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