I think I need The Guy.
What the heck is Freesat
I googled Freesat in spain and am more confused than ever, let's see,
I have FTA on satellite, so Freeview is a Sky thing, so where does Freesat come from?
Are you saying that all you have to do is change my present FTA satbox for a freesat HD box and bob's your uncle?

BTW, I have just bought DVD recorder which has freeview included. So I could use that if I went the sky root? Also what is all this Humax chat

Freeview is a UK ONLY TERRESTRIAL service - via a tv aerial. it is not available outside the UK, as none of the UK terrestrial signals, transmitted from the land based TV mast like Emley Moor and Crystal Palace, are strong enough to reach over here. The nearest Freeview transmitter is in Cornwall! You cannot receive Freeview in Spain.

(It is due to this UK limit in the terrestrial signals that allows some channels like Dave and Sky Sports News and Virgin to be available for free on Freeview, but are encrypted and subscription on satellite. If you get an installer who says they can install Freeview for you in Spain then test them and see if they can get you "UK Virgin 1" on the system for free (without a card or monthly subscription - bet they cannot!)

Spain does have its own verison of Freeview - TDT - digital TV via your terrestrial TV areial. It has Spanish channels only, as it is a Spanish TV system. In the same way that UK Freeview only has UK TV channels!

Freesat is the name of a brand of satellite receivers that allow you to receive the free to air channels. There are various makers of freesat receivers, one being Humax, whose receivers have a very good tuner inside and perform very well in Spains weak signal area!

On UK satellite TV there are free to air, free to view and subscription channels.

free to air (FTA) require no viewing card (eg BBC / ITV)
free to view (FTV) require a viewing card (also called freesatfromsky) (eg Fiver and Five USA)
subscription require a subscription viewing card - ie Sky subscription card.

Some people (including installers which does not help the matter!) incorrectly call the sky free to view cards (or freesatfromskycard) "freeview cards". and this is where confusion starts...you do not need a viewing card for freeview, sa the chanenls are, as the name suggests, free!

All free to air (BBC ITV) channels can be received on Sky, Freesat or any other digital satellite receiver (almost!)

Free to view channels (Fiver Five USA) are available on Sky receivers (and others that have been adapted for sky cards)

Subscription channels (Sky One) are available on Sky receivers (and others that have been adapted for sky cards)

So a sky receiver without a viewing card will also allow you access to the same free to air channels as a freesat receiver.

If you already have a FTA receiver you will already receive all the FTA channels that are available on Freesat and a sky receiver.

If you have a HD FTA receiver you will already receive all the SD and HD FTA channels that are available on a Freesat HD or Sky HD receiver.

The channels on Freesat / FTA / Sky all use the same frequencies - so BBC1 London on a Freesat receiver uses the same frequency as BBC1 London on a SKy receiver and the same frequency as BBC1London on a generic FTA receiver. There is no seperate Freesat satellite or service, the chanenls all come from the same source no matter what receiver you are using.

Unless you have a combo unit you cannot use a TDT / Freeview receiver for satellite reception or vice versa...they are totally different systems - terrestrial (aerial) and extra terrestrial (satellite)

so:

No freeview is not a Sky thing. Its a UK ONLY thang.
Freesat is the name of a brand of satellite receivers, for reception of UK FTA channels.

If you already have a HD FTA receiver then changing it will not get you any extra channels - just access to the Freesat 7 day EPG (programme guide!)

If you already have a FTA receiver then changing it to a Freesat HD receiver you will get BBCHD and ITVs HD "service" and just access to the Freesat 7 day EPG (programme guide!)

If you already have a FTA receiver then changing it to a Freesat (SD) receiver you will get access to the Freesat 7 day EPG (programme guide!) - no extra channels!

No. if you have a freeview / TDT receiver it can only be used with the signals from a TV aerial, not a satellite.
(although you can use it, by connecting it up via the SCARTS, to receord the satellite receiver output)
A maker of satellite receivers.
They make 3 types of Freesat reeciver.
An SD basic model.
A HD model.
A HD PVR (personal video recorder - ie internal hard disk recording)

Hope this helps.

A Freesat HD box for €60?

Where?

the cheapest freesat HD box is £65 in the uk...a Bush...so gawd knows what he quality is like...and I have seen that there have been numerous complaints about the box and software (although I have not had one to test here in spain - i still prefer the humax's!)....all other HD boxes can be had from £100,

you can see the best deals for new freesat boxes onthe righthand side of joinfreesat.co.uk....it shos all the best deals and internet discounts for new boxes (not fleabay stuff tho!)

They are Bush and excellent quality picture and sound, far superior to our sky box we now use in the bedroom.

He said I was lucky and got it at the wrong price as they are now 75€`s on his stall, but 150€s on another stall.

I have the FTA Spanish built in on the TV in the bedroom, the HD box picks up the UK channels like a Sky box of a dish.

The Guy,
Once again many thanks for that totally comprehensive and informative advice.
I see now that Freesat is just FTA and that it is about whether the satbox is HD or not.
Glad I've got that one sorted, many thanks for your time and help, much appreciated.

according to reports, there has been a bad batch of bushes recently, both SD and HD....with many channels constantly breaking up and unwactchable...and many people returning to their suppliers several times with bad "bush freesat receivers"...so lucks like you were lucky in getting yours....

No problems at all, only with the torrential rains just lately, but that affected the Pace sky digibox first usually.