Caroline777

Hello!
Sorry I did a quick search but couldn't find a definitive answer to my query.....firstly, apologies as I don't understand how TV's work and the jargon(!). So....in simple English....am moving out in 2 weeks time and have a long term rental sorted. The apartment has a TV and a satelite but apparently I'll only be able to get German TV initially until I get a bigger dish. That's what I've been told. I've also been told to bring my UK freeview box with me...and that's the bit I don't understand!! Advice please re whether or not it's true that I should bring the UK freeview box. It's just that I'm flying so weight is an issue.

Any advice most welcomed! Thanks in advance.

tommy.irene

Do not bring a freeview box to Spain they dont work here..You can get a Freesat Box that works in Spain.. I think the German TV is ON the same satalite as UKTV.. You can always get someone to put a dish up if needed.. Freesat boxes are around €200 here.. but only £25 in Argos..If you want you can bring your Sky Box for free UKTV.

EMR

Please read the extensive comments on this subject.
The concenus is to wait until at least the autumn before investing in a larger dish etc. It may or may not be a waste of money.

The Guy

UK TV and German TV are on different satellites, so you will need someone out to align the dish for you for UK TV.
Also it is highly likely that to receive UK TV you will need a larger dish - German TV requires a smaller dish than UK TV.
The size of dish you require for UK TV will depend where you are moving to.
In some areas of Spain, you can currently get BBC ITV C4s Fives on a 1m dish. Some areas need in excess of 3m. But come September, with the launch and implementation of a ne UK TV satellite, required dish sizes may change again - to what size no-one will know until the new satellite is operational.

Yes they do.
But with a TV aerial and not a satellite dish.
A Freeview box is designed for use with a TV aerial, not satellite.
If you use a UK Freeview box in Spain, connected to a TV aerial in Spain, it will only receive Spanish TV channels, not UK TV channels.
There are NO UK TV channels on Spanish TV - however, in many cases, when Spanish TV is showing a UK or USA imported programme, in many cases, you can change the audio from the dubbed Spanish audio, to the original English audio.

The difference in price will depends what type and make of Freesat box you buy so it is a bit unfair to say in Spain they cost 200e and the uk £25. £25 in Argos will be for a (Bush !!) Freesat SD STANDARD DEFINITION box . Shame on ANYONE in Spain selling a Freesat SD box for 200e in Spain - for that you can get a Freesat HD box with money to spare...

JB80

Just curious is Freesat the best way to get cbeebies or does any of the local cable providers have it in any of their packages?

Sorry to veer off tangent slightly.

mikelincs

Before you even contemplate things, please ensure that you will be able to get permission from the apartment owner and/or the block committee, if there is one, before doing anyhting about changing the dish, there may be some hoops to jump through before that can be done.

Domino

Remember when Bush was a proud name in British electronics - but like many small companies in the 1980's were bought up by the Japanese to hang the name onto poorly made, low life span electronics.
I had a Leak 1800 stereo tuner amplifier and 3000 series speakers, the last of the range made in the UK, the name disappeared for a year or so and then came back with a bang - looked bad, sounded even worse.
Thats the price of "progress"

amideislas

If you have an adequately sized dish, aligned to the right satellite, you can use any cheap satellite receiver to receive UK TV. An expensive "Freesat" box is not required, but it does offer an 8-day EPG, whilst a €20 satellite receiver will only provide info about what is on now and what is coming next.

We paid €50 for brand new full-HD satellite boxes with recording, I believe the equivalent "Freesat" box would be €200 or more.

I use the TV guide app on my smartphone to see what's on anyway.. so for me the 8-day EPG on a freesat box isn't important.

JB80

Thank you for the reply, looks as if it will be something I need to investigate further. I only said freesat as an example but if there are cheaper options around then I'm all for that.

We get the bbc channels here as part of our tv, internet package but if I can't get that in Spain a satellite dish seems the best way to go about it.

cymruambyth

The guy,
Is that a slippage of date for the new satellite then? I seem to recall reading here somewhere that it would be the second quarter of 2013?

Domino

good advice, no need for all the frills and whistles etc
and there is really so little difference electronically between the low cost and the expensive

after all, how many hours are there in the day to sit there watching the goggle box

Caroline777

Many thanks to all for claryfying this for me.

The Guy

The launch was scheduled for Q2 2013.
However, it is currently scheduled for sometime in July - the 19th is rumoured.
After a few months testing, then time to reposition the satellite to 28 east, takes us to an operational start date of September - as per a presentation from Astra earlier this year.

tommy.irene

watch UKTV on your laptop..Filmon.com

bealerDSB

I have 2 Humax boxes, both are Humax Foxsat HDR Freesat 1TB's.
Paid around 300pounds for each, and about 30pounds to ship directly from Amazon UK to Spain. Perfect. Great bit of kit.

DSB.