Tivo8k in French: Quebec networks, the channels of France and the voice you keep

Where the French-language channels sit

French turns up in three places in your player.

• Canada: French-language networks. TVA and Noovo, the private networks of Quebec; Radio-Canada, the French-language side of the national public broadcaster; RDS for sport; and TFO, the French-language educational broadcaster of Ontario.
• France, inside the Europe group. TF1, France 2 and M6 for news, entertainment and series, Canal+ for film and sport, beIN Sports FR and RMC Sport for football.
• Africa. Canal+ Afrique, made for French-speaking African viewers.

Belgium and Switzerland appear in the Europe group as countries, without channel names on our list, so if their French television matters to you, open them during the trial before you pay. The complete layout is on the Tivo8k list of channels.

French channels on Tivo8k

• TVA
• Radio-Canada
• RDS
• Noovo
• TFO
• France: TF1, France 2, M6, Canal+, beIN Sports FR, RMC Sport
• Canal+ Afrique

Quebec French or the French of France

On the news desk the gap is mostly accent. In drama, talk and comedy it widens: the Quebec networks sound like Montreal and Quebec City, with their own idioms and vowels, while TF1 and France 2 sound like Paris, and most francophone households have a firm preference.

Dubbing follows the same split. A Hollywood film is often dubbed into French twice, once in Quebec, marked VQ or VFQ, and once in France, marked VFF. Quebec studios generally aim for a neutral, international French rather than everyday Quebec speech, yet the voices, the translated jokes and sometimes the French title of the film still differ from the Paris version.

In the library, the audio label usually reads fre or fra for both, only occasionally fr-CA or fr-FR. Where a title’s name carries VF, VFQ or VOSTFR (original audio with French subtitles), that is your best clue. We cannot promise which French a film carries, or that it carries one at all.

Films on French channels: the second track and the qaa label

Channels in France have a long habit of broadcasting foreign films and series in what they call VM, version multilingue: the French dub on the main track and the original soundtrack on a second one, usually with French subtitles offered alongside. Where the feed we receive keeps that second track, your audio menu shows it, often under the code qaa, the label French broadcasters commonly give the original version.

The same broadcasters send subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, known in France as SME, in formats not every player can draw, so their absence on a live channel usually points to the player or the feed. Library titles, with separate subtitle files, are more dependable. If subtitles fail on a title that has them, the Tivo8k fix for missing subtitles goes through the causes in order.

Switching to French in TiviMate and IPTV Smarters Pro

The Xtream Codes sign-in comes first, because it is the route that tells your player which audio and subtitle tracks exist. Menus shift between versions, so take the rest as directions:

1. Find the menu. In IPTV Smarters Pro, a tap or the center button raises the overlay with its audio and subtitle icons. In TiviMate, the same choices sit in the playback menu. The IPTV Smarters Pro walkthrough and Tivo8k in TiviMate show where each one lives.
2. Pick the track. fre or fra for the French dub; qaa or eng on a channel from France for the original voices.
3. Add subtitles if you want them. French subtitles on an English film come from the subtitle menu, where the title includes them.
4. Save the choice. Recent TiviMate versions keep a preferred audio and subtitle language in the playback settings; set French there if yours has it.

Hockey, football and racing with French commentary on Tivo8k

French-language sport comes from both continents. RDS carries hockey and much else in French for Canadian viewers; beIN Sports FR, RMC Sport and Canal+ carry football and motorsport from France. When a game or a race also runs on an English-language broadcaster, you choose whose commentators fill the room, which suits bilingual homes in Montreal or Ottawa. Rights change every season, so we never promise a game or a Grand Prix: the guide on the day says who shows it, and sport on Tivo8k lays out the groups.

The guide also does the time arithmetic: an evening kick-off in Paris shows in the afternoon on a Montreal screen, and on channels that keep an archive you can restart it from the first minute.

Children and the rest of the household

TFO gives much of its schedule to children’s programs in French, the natural first stop for young viewers. Beyond it, the library is the better source: animated films are among the titles most often released with a French dub, though whether it is the Quebec or the Paris one, or there is one at all, varies by title.

French news in one room and an English series in another is two streams, so choose two screens: $25 for one month or $119 for twelve, paid once, nothing renewing, with the 7-day money-back guarantee.

Other languages on Tivo8k

All of them on one page: Languages.