masterbaits

Hi as we all have read in the last few months , brit tv is coming to an end outside the uk. Freeview wont be accessible by sat soon enough , have you an interest in getting your brit tv fix?

Sky doenst make money from freeview subs , so have no interest in your expat boxes , plus they are "technically" illegal due to sky licences for broadcast.

Sky installers have no real workaround , bigger dishes dont work , box sensitivity and lnb strength wont make any difference , but they are taking your money for installs even though they know you wont have tv by the end of the year.Expect a lot of installers changing to installing sat broadband or returning to the uk.

Noticing this tooway is now mentioning they have a uk ip , which means some british tv , rather than being a sat tv feed its advocating using "online" players with their sat broadband.You can use bbc iplayer , 4od et all either on pc, xbox or ps3 etc through thier router.

So what you have/get is a sat system for broadband and with a uk ip address-and router , thats fine for watching only on your pc , console on your telly or tablet on the wc , but how do you watch the likes of iplayer on your tv without a games console?

You can use a multitude of devices , consoles like xbox and Ps3 work simply enough but thats gonna cost you 200 euros plus and one for each tv , tablets with tv out are expensive , tvs with built in players again are additional cost , android tv boxes are cheaper than those previously mentioned at £50 plus per tv , or pc's and latops etc with some cables cost £10 quid for a cable if you already have them.

Tooway packages look expensive , if you do a lot of downloads and online players are part of your downloads , you will need the max package to ensure you dont get a lowered speed and defeats the purpose of iplayer or charged additional cost per gig of download.

Think 500mb an hour for using streaming players would be a good guide , so think about that when deciding which package would work for you for any broadband supply not just tooway , check their cost per additional gig on their website when your out of your allotted package...its quite expensive.

The downside to internet players vs real time sat is they set what content is there for you to watch aka what gets streamed to your device is in their control.Say you want to watch a program you like , unless its in the players schedule/list , then you simply cant , and of course you cant watch what is on live tv now.

You also need a decent connection , or your viewing is stuttering and forever preloading , ie i would say 6mb connections or above for streaming fluidly with low latency .

Satellite internet has high latency vs cable and dsl , high latency could end up being a lock out setting by the players providers in the future and limits enjoyable playback currently.

There is cheaper options to buying the likes of a ps3 and xbox for iplayer etc on your tv.You dont have to sit watching a tiny screen on a laptop , pc or tablet if you dont want to , they are sometimes known as android tv boxes with the correct player app , but the failure rate of cheap chinese boxes is high so buyer beware on ebay.

There is a couple of big players , sony , panasonic , samsung which have android tv boxes or even build specific players into tvs , but again it will check your ip address for tv apps like iplayer when you access them.No uk ip address = no playback.

But what if you dont want tooway or already have a pt broadband supplier , ie like meo , optimus , you will lock you out of iplayer etc unless you have a suitable workaround.Dongles are pretty useless , and are costly for unlimited packages.

Workaround for lock out of iplayer etc - They are Known as vpn or proxies , a relatively cheap option if you have unlimited pt based broadband with a good enough speed and latency.

VPN cost from £6 a month , obviously over and above your internet cost , basically you change some settings in your pc so that your internet is bounced from pt to uk , fooling the player into thinking your in the UK.Forget about Free proxies , they arent worth the hassle and open your pc up to hacks installing malware.

With a paid vpn you can also use the likes of netflix , assuming you have a uk bank account to direct debit membership cost from , you cant debit a pt account.This opens up more options for some british tv , but limited to netflix content of tv shows they have ie boxsets.Cost of another £6 plus a month over and above broadband and vpn.

There is always using a cheaper option for a low cost player using an older pc with either ubuntu ,windows media centre edition.

If you have an old laptop/pc that has good support for ubuntu and resolution changing ability and vga or hdmi out , then this would be viable and cheap for playback on your tv , but again only for on demand players and netflix ....but with the added ability of playback of freely cough "downloaded" tv shows and films from dubiuos interent sources in divx , mkv formats etc.

Test you computer.Download a "live" ubuntu distro , cost free and legal , boot your pc/laptop from dvd (or usb) , change only its settings in bios to boot from usb/dvd first , but dont forget to change back later after the test.

IF you get a functioning computer once ubuntu loads up , it will take a while if its a live distro so be patient and most computers will work , then test internet connection , browser and iplayer..

If everything works fine you can install ubuntu rather than run from the live version , it lives well with windows in what is called a dual boot configuration , and should boot a lot faster than windows , even better with hibernate settings , almost instant on compared to windows.

You can easily port a pc screen to tv these days , if you can plug in a dvd player you should be ok.Some tvs already have pc connections , known as hdmi , dvi , vga.You can get dvi to vga , hdmi to vga dvi to vga/hdmi gender changers and cables easy and cheap enough.Forget about it if its UHF tv , or big glass screen , or Scart only, just isnt worth the time and additional cost.

You may have to make the pc resolution the same as the tv though but for most cases its not needed , some tvs will auto detect and adjust the input to suit , but some pcs/laptops wont let you change the resolutions . For the price of a cable and 30 mins messing about it may be worth it for a cheap iplayer and alternative media player.

Modern grafix cards , the bit in the pcs that puts the picture on the monitor or screen , have been made even simpler with hdmi connections , meaning only one wire to connect to the tv that carries both the audio and video.If you cannot do hdmi with audio , ie vga-vga only , you will most likely need stereo 3.5mm jack to 3.5mm stereo jack or 3.5mm stereo jack to stereo phono.

This with a remote and either xbmc , windows media centre , windows 8 etc are a good option.I would reccomend wireless keyboard with mouse pad and/or media centre style remote with xbmc "frontend".You can also get hdmi type wireless conenctors , but they defeat the low cost idea.

A frontend is rather than the pc booting up to look like a pc , displaying the windows desktop , it basically boots up to look like a dvd player covering the desktop.Handy and simple with a cheap usb wireless remote especially if text is appearing small on the tv but video playback is fine.

Lets presume you want to go the tooway or pt supplier and vpn route , and dont want to mess about setting up anything harder than plugging in a freeview type box or console , what else can be used or offered?

You could try a youview player hardware, this is where i think most expats will be interested , its simple but again you will need a uk ip address and broadband.Should be plug and play but as of time of writing i havent tried and tested it in pt so do not know at this time.

There is also tvcatchup , which is along the same lines as iplayer , but is again limited to certain devices.Currently they list windows 8 pcs , android and iphone as devices.So an android tv box should be suffice , again as long as you have uk ip adress this would be a simple plug and play solution.

Currently theres sat boxes , or pc sat cards that work on a reduced sky feed strength pickup , ie that can get the current marker ie ch5 and keep it.I doubt there will ever be , so the above looks like the expat choice for when the rest of the sky channels change over to the narrower beam.

EMR

There are endless debates on this subject but there is one thing that we can all agree on " there is no simple solution " and until the new sats come on line no one knows what will happen, will Sky revert to the UK envelope along with Freesat if so then Sky users will lose their signals.
But who knows !!
Internet TV is probably the way forward but the TV companies and program makers are trying to stop many of the re broadcasters from accessing their broadcasts for free.
Also most of the site are in theory only available if you live in the UK, non UK viewers have to have a proxy internet address ( ie hide behind a false one ).
I believe that eventually internet TV , maybe not live feed on subscription ( Pay TV ) will be the future for non UK residents who want to watch the favourite programs.
Until that happens there will be those happy to take your money , sell you new boxes. receivers, satellite or internet services. proxy internet adresses etc etc.
But all of this could be a waste of time if you do not have a decent enough internet link, it could be quicker to watch paint dry than watch Coronation street and probably more entertaining.

EMR

Be carefull, it has been posted on another forum that the poster has received been contacted by someone with a PT mobile who SAYS!!! that they can retune your Sky/Freesat box so that it will be able to receive UK TV signals once the new SAT is operating.
Sounds like a possible Scam to me.

Dal Dy Dir

Personally I didn't understand a word of the original post.

What with vpns and ubunto and distros not a clue.

Think i'll listen to some vinyl instead.

Mike

or

Domino

I understood it - but as a technical treatise its all over the place and really doesn't say anything

All anyone on the Iberian Peninsular can do is sit back and wait and see what happens -- when the new sat is operational.

Until then it is all conjecture and none of those on BE who truly make their living from this will forecast anything.

Perhaps it is the expats who used to be plumbers came out as builders and have now reverted to satellites who have the crystal ball but I doubt it, especially as they are now majoring in IPTV like its going out of business - which it could well do.
What will they do then

EMR

Don't forget those still taking money for Freesat and Sky installations!!
I can't recall seeing on any of the adverts," You may not have any UK TV " from the end of summer 2013, if so we will give you a refund "

peterfc

Hi All

Well Domino sums it up perfectly.

Wait and see.

Peter " Dreams can come true "

Mike

Dishin'upDigital

SOME installers may be doing this, but one at least (no names mentioned) IS guaranteeing that basic BBC & ITV channels will still be available after the launch of Astra 2E this summer, with no need for internet or expensive subscriptions.

Dishin'upDigital

Masterbaits: Your statement "Sky installers have no real workaround , bigger dishes dont work , box sensitivity and lnb strength wont make any difference , but they are taking your money for installs even though they know you wont have tv by the end of the year.Expect a lot of installers changing to installing sat broadband or returning to the uk." is very generalistic and not strictly true. One installer in particular (no names mentioned) HAS a perfectly workable solution which does not involve internet, IPTV, too-way or any other of the non-nonsensical and over-complicated suggestions you mention. And I for one will certainly NOT be moving back to the UK

sagalaut

Spill the beans man!

EMR

Bet that whoever it is will not be contactable in the late summer when his disgruntled customers start calling.

Mike

Do you know Trevor?

EMR

There is someone contacting people on facebook offering a setvice using a different SAT ( he says ) that will still be broadcasting BBC/ITV. Apparently a " Dreambox " is required ??
One poster responded by saying that it did not work.
" Dreambox " Dream ON !!!