Guy I think you are right on that, just when watching Spanish Digital Terrestial you start falling into the trap of getting heavily involved in the plot etc then WHAM - ads
It is a big heart stopping moment

Our biggest complaint is the volume(s) that vary from channel to channel but then go up 5db when the adds come on
Doesn't anyone know how to make a good AGC circuit anymore ? ?

would have thought the increase in ad volume is for impact!
I do know that in the UK Channel Five got fined by Ofcom for increasing the audio of adverts up too much...which does kind of say that it can be turned up for ads to an extent. Now whether this is a UK "rule", an Eu "rule" or if it is covered by Spanish TV regulators I do not know.

Some TVs do have Auto levelling audio options...but I have never really heard any difference....

I certainly hear the volume difference, especially when i nodded off, them b/stads always wake me up.

Out of interest, does anyone know if Spain are likely to adopt dvbt2 for hd broadcasts, or just standard dvb? I use a freeview card in my PC, want to upgrade to dvbt2 for use in the uk, but think it may be a waste of money if we move to Mallorca next year. I know the only way I'd get uk channels in Spain would be with an s2 card. One option is to go with a card that does both. Any thoughts. Does the Spanish system currently just use dvbt for hd transmission?

unless I have this wrong, I get 48 channels on my TDT, some are Subscription only but others that I don't get a picture on are HD

Guy ? ?

It's certainly legal in the UK and always happens, not sure about an EU rule, just read an article that seems to indicate it's different for each country, as France introduced new 'codes' which means it's not a legal thing yet, the UK has had rules in effect since 2008, and just recently ITV was in trouble when a number of adverts broke the rules during an episode of Sherlock Holmes.
Article from 'Which' here.

http://conversation.which.co.uk/tech...ts-commercial/

That's because you don't have a TDT HD box (or TV).

We get all the HD channels OK.

Currently, The UK uses dvb-t2 mpeg4 for hd, whereas Spain is dvb-t mpeg4.

Currently.

BUt reading this http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2011/...-in-barcelona/ says t2 is being tested.

But no idea is it will be adopted in Spain or not...

Perhaps we have to wait until after the next phases of TDT changes.....moving the channels on the higher end frequencies to lower end frequencies so they can sell of the empty high frequencies to phone companies...

My old sat receiver can pick up a lot of foreign channels that my sky box cant get.

Not including the Indian ones of course but I guess they are British channels now ?

Cheers Tony

yes Fred, I realised that, just that the TLA's are getting to me
and wanted someone to soothe the little teensy bit of doubt I had when typing

we started moving here just before the switchover and so all our kit is still bog standard + a normal TDT
once we find (if that is possible) the right place to settle permanantly then we may well go for a larger screen, HD etc

but to be honest, we don't have sat, we don't internet download, just use the Spanish TDT, find its enough for us, tele is only on from 5 - 12. The only concession is Radio 4 during the day.
did consider buying a DAB in the Uk but Spain is so far behind and has the technical difficulties of a large mountainous country to overcome.

that doesnt sound like it is a good old fashioned AGC !!

whats more worrying is YOU can't hear the difference.

Any examples of channels that your FTA box gets but the Sky box does not?

Mainly because just about all FTA channels are on a sky box already...and there should be no difference between the channels you have on a FTA box vs a Sky box FTA channels...

Pardon? Can you speak up a bit dear......didnt quite catch that.... :-)

Hi I cant recall but there is defiantly more channels available ( but foreign ) , it also has a menu to select different sats eg. hot bird, astra1, 2 , and loads of others ( but most wont find any thing )

When I first used it about 8 years ago I just remember there being loads of German channels and thinking it would be great for a German ex pat in Spain.

At the moment my friend has got the box because his sky box blew up`.

Tony

Well of course the box will get more channels than a Sky box if it is being used on other satellites and not only the UK satellites (which a sky box can only use!).

The UK Sky box is designed for use for the UK TV satellites located at 28 east.
Other "free to air" boxes, like the one you have, can be used for free to air chanensl on all other satellites. Most german ones are on Astra 1 at 19 east - somehting which a sky box using the UK TV satellites cannot get.
So of course that box will get more channels than a SKy box, as it is compatiable with more satellites than a UK Sky box.

I took your initial statement to mean that your FTA box was getting more UK TV FTA channels than a Sky box on the UK TV satellites - given this thread was about UK TV. NO about other non UK TV satellites so its a bit irrelevant to this thread really!

think dave is one channel you can get on FTA but not on a sky FTA only box with no card in