mikec44

ok, now I am really confused.....

I have an apartment with a Dish installed but no receiver as the previous owner has thaken this with the. They were English and had access to UK TV from teh Dish and Receiver.
I need to watch UK TV in in my aprtment in spain and would like to conect the receiver to this Dish to get the best signal.

I need to know what receiver i require and how to set up and what cables I require (scart).

I am not looking for an expensive option just a receiver to get UK TV etc.

Is this freesat FreeView from UK or free to air?

It would be great to use a box from UK and take to spain as they are so much cheaper but not sure if this would really work?

EsuriJohn

you must separate FREEVIEW and Freesat. Freesat uses a satellite dish to receive the signal and in UK a few manufacturers make sets with built in FREESAT tuners. We bought a Panasonic plasma some years ago in UK when they were the only manufacturer to make them. We brought it straight out to Spain before we opened the box set it up screwed in the aerial lead filled in our old UK post code and got all our usual UK channels including our local Anglian west news. As time passed and HD was added we got those as well so BBC HD on 108, 109 and ITV on 119 we also get channel 4 HD now as well but channel 5 is not free to air yet on Freesat. It also has a built in FREEVIEW Tuner and through an aerial on the chimney we are able to get Spanish FREEVIEW channels ( TDT ) including a few in HD.

Several manufacturers Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and I think LG now do Freesat TVs.

You should be cautious about investing too much at this stage since we may loose all UK TV by mid 2013 ( read other TV threads ) and unless you subscribe to SKY you would be left with just FREEVIEW TDT which has some English options but no English news or current affairs.

PS a Freesat box will do the same thing and Asda sell one for about £30 non HD screw the satellite lead into the back connect a scart lead from box to TV and you are away including UK EPG. A SKY box will do the same if you have a Freesat from sky card in or if you have sky at home bring your card and plug that in, it will not be paired to your box in spain so you will only get free to air channels and you can buy a second hand box for Spain on eBay.

amideislas

Again, FREEVIEW is not available in Spain. It is ONLY in the UK. It would be a waste of your money to buy a FREEVIEW box.

FREESAT is broadcast by satellite, and therefore is available in Spain (but the signal is weaker than in the UK). You need a satellite dish for this.

depending on where you are and what channels you want to receive, you may need a BIG dish. AND it has to be pointed at the right satellite.

Since you are obviously NOT technically inclined, you should buy a FREESAT box, and have someone adjust the dish for you (if necessary).

The Guy

I fyou get a free to air digital satellite receiver - available from most electrical shops in spain - but not all come with scart cable, so you may need to buy this extra.
Connect the cable from the satellite to the receiver
Connect the TV to the receiverwith a scart cable.
Plug the power in for the receiver.
Turn on.
Scan for satellite channels on Astra 2 at 28 east
Watch tv.


If you get a Freesat satellite receiver (no available in Spanish electrical shops, but from UK tv installers, or ebay or amazon and usually come with all the cables) , then you will have the addition of a 7 day programme guide..
Connect the cable from the satellite to the receiver
Connect the TV to the receiverwith a scart cable.
Plug the power in for the receiver.
Turn on.
In the menu wizard, input a UK postcode.
It will scan for channels automatically.
Watch tv.

Or read the instructions that come with the receiver as to how to set it up.


And New Zealand and Austrailia where they also use the Freeview name for their DTT service !! :-)

amideislas

OK correction stands...

But it's a proprietary brand used in a few limited markets in the world, not a worldwide standard fully supported by broadly available receivers.

Having said that, the advantage of being able to enter a postcode and have it automatically set itself up is a very nice feature. I'm just somewhat adverse to that little snippet of proprietary software costing £50 more. I reckon "Freesat" have a patent on it, so box manufacturers can't implement it without paying a licence fee.

Nice bit of profitable business for both Freesat Co. and the box manufacturers, though.