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Do British televisions work in Spain?

Do British televisions work in Spain?

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Old Feb 12th 2009, 11:53 am
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Default Do British televisions work in Spain?

Just thinking about all the bits to take with us when we move and wondering if our tv will work over in Spain? Is it the same system over there? How about sky box? Is that a stupid question??
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Old Feb 12th 2009, 12:04 pm
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

a quick search of "tv work spain" brought up this thread
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=549126

if you have a tv with scart connecitons and connect sky / dvd / tdt receiver to the tv via scart it will work.

if you plug in spanish analogue tv aerial into an english tv some tvs do not work as they do not like the old analogue sound system spain uses and you may get picture but not sound...some newer tvs do have pan european setting tho and this may work.

uk tvs with inbuilt freeview digital tv tuners may work with spainish digital tv service (TDT) which is similar to the uk freeview service, but certain options (ie change sound / all channels) may not work. a seperate tdt receiver will overcome this issue.
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Old Feb 12th 2009, 12:06 pm
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

Thanks for that! Will have to get my man to read it as all rather confusing to me!! Can't get my head round technology things these days!
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Old Feb 12th 2009, 12:29 pm
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

Originally Posted by Satandpcguy
a quick search of "tv work spain" brought up this thread
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=549126

if you have a tv with scart connecitons and connect sky / dvd / tdt receiver to the tv via scart it will work.

if you plug in spanish analogue tv aerial into an english tv some tvs do not work as they do not like the old analogue sound system spain uses and you may get picture but not sound...some newer tvs do have pan european setting tho and this may work.

uk tvs with inbuilt freeview digital tv tuners may work with spainish digital tv service (TDT) which is similar to the uk freeview service, but certain options (ie change sound / all channels) may not work. a seperate tdt receiver will overcome this issue.

I take it there is no way to make the tv speak in spanish when it goes mute cause i am using an english freeview machine thing? thanks!
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Old Feb 12th 2009, 12:58 pm
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

uk freeview branded boxes mainly use audio "tags" for the uk only....these are generally english, welsh and gealic.

so if you use a uk freeview box in spain, and are watching a spanish tv station that uses the audio "tag" ESP, or CAT, the uk freeview box may not recoginise it and therefore may not output any audio. only a few (SET and Disney) use "english" as an alternate audio flag.

best way is to ditch the uk freeview box and get a "tdt" or generic (ie non freeview branded) digital terrestrial box....
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Old Feb 12th 2009, 1:23 pm
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

Originally Posted by Satandpcguy
uk freeview branded boxes mainly use audio "tags" for the uk only....these are generally english, welsh and gealic.

so if you use a uk freeview box in spain, and are watching a spanish tv station that uses the audio "tag" ESP, or CAT, the uk freeview box may not recoginise it and therefore may not output any audio. only a few (SET and Disney) use "english" as an alternate audio flag.

best way is to ditch the uk freeview box and get a "tdt" or generic (ie non freeview branded) digital terrestrial box....
ah i see thanks for the explanation!
if i get a tdt box, i can still watch some programs in english by turning it into v.o.? how much is a box and where do i get one from?
thanks!
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Old Feb 12th 2009, 1:46 pm
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

the english audio is normally available on the second audio soundtrack.....it may be labelled as V.O., MUL, Dos, QAA, UND, and many others...sa usual in Spain things are not standard and this also applies to the broadcasters audio "tags"!
tdt receivers go from 30 to 150 euros...from many shops including carrefour and tein21 and others. i personally go for illusion boxes (about 50+euros, as i think they perform very well....i have had issues with siemens boxes (maybe i should rephrase that!), and some of the cheap lidl / carrefour boxes (i think they are called silvercrests). you can also get TDT / Sat combi units....and tdt hard disk PVRS (like a sky+ box!)
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Old Feb 12th 2009, 5:10 pm
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

If I bought a tv in Gib would that cause probs? Or should I just buy in Spain?
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Old Feb 12th 2009, 6:35 pm
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

Hi

One point that has not come out; Scart sockets are the same worldwide, therefore all tv's will work if they receive the signal through the scart socket. Be that a digibox etc. However, the digibox etc must be able to receive the signal correctly. That is why in the old days, a cheap video recorder (bought in the country you wish to receive in) would make the tv work.

Kat
I see no probs with buying in Gib - any new set if it won't instantly receive the signal correctly, can be changed to the country's language (in this case Spanish) and normally it will work correctly.

Davexf
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Old Feb 12th 2009, 6:45 pm
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

Originally Posted by Dxf
Hi

One point that has not come out; Scart sockets are the same worldwide, therefore all tv's will work if they receive the signal through the scart socket. Be that a digibox etc. However, the digibox etc must be able to receive the signal correctly. That is why in the old days, a cheap video recorder (bought in the country you wish to receive in) would make the tv work.

Kat
I see no probs with buying in Gib - any new set if it won't instantly receive the signal correctly, can be changed to the country's language (in this case Spanish) and normally it will work correctly.

Davexf
As you say, most sets can be set up to country in the menu, some even to France with their funny system. ;-))
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Old Feb 12th 2009, 7:16 pm
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

Originally Posted by Dxf
Hi

One point that has not come out; Scart sockets are the same worldwide, therefore all tv's will work if they receive the signal through the scart socket. Be that a digibox etc. However, the digibox etc must be able to receive the signal correctly. That is why in the old days, a cheap video recorder (bought in the country you wish to receive in) would make the tv work.
Kat
I see no probs with buying in Gib - any new set if it won't instantly receive the signal correctly, can be changed to the country's language (in this case Spanish) and normally it will work correctly.
Davexf
I'm wondering if there's some incompatibility between Spanish & UK videos/vcrs? Our old one (tv/vcr) died & I bought a new tv & a new dvd/vcr.... dvd works fine, all the vids I've tried continue to flicker - they're UK ones. Don't think we've got any new (therefore unmolested by child!) Spanish ones to try, wondered what the likely prob is?
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Old Feb 12th 2009, 7:44 pm
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

Originally Posted by fionamw
I'm wondering if there's some incompatibility between Spanish & UK videos/vcrs? Our old one (tv/vcr) died & I bought a new tv & a new dvd/vcr.... dvd works fine, all the vids I've tried continue to flicker - they're UK ones. Don't think we've got any new (therefore unmolested by child!) Spanish ones to try, wondered what the likely prob is?
i think there are two or evemn more versions of the PAL system, and therefore pictures recorded on one system may be slightly "weird" when played back on the other system hence the flickering....
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Old Feb 12th 2009, 9:13 pm
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

Originally Posted by Satandpcguy
i think there are two or evemn more versions of the PAL system, and therefore pictures recorded on one system may be slightly "weird" when played back on the other system hence the flickering....
It's far more likely to be a tracking problem.

This often happens with tapes recorded on one machine not playing too well on another.
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Old Feb 12th 2009, 10:26 pm
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

Originally Posted by Fred James
It's far more likely to be a tracking problem.

This often happens with tapes recorded on one machine not playing too well on another.

Problem is the vcr seems to only have automatic tracking so I can't do anything to adjust it, unless someone tells me different!
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Old Feb 13th 2009, 6:12 am
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Default Re: Do British televisions work in Spain?

Originally Posted by fionamw
Problem is the vcr seems to only have automatic tracking so I can't do anything to adjust it, unless someone tells me different!
This is no wind up..... try fast forward, rewind, then play. ;-))

Last edited by jdr; Feb 13th 2009 at 6:33 am.
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