I have a post just a few places down. What it says is that I am thinking of buying a TV for my mother in law's place in Murcia. She is not there full time and we only visit twice a year and in total the house only gets 3 weeks use a year. On our last couple of visits the old 12 in Portable TV( The only TV in the house) didn't work and we assumed that it was broken. Now it would seem that this problem may be caused by Analogue transmitters being turned off. I believe that all analogue transmissions were switched off in April 2010.
So how do I know if I need a new aerial, how much does installation cost?
And does anyone know of the cheapest 19in TV available? I have seen one online at Eroski for €100.
Just a thought - do the Spanish have the equivalent of Freeview set top boxes? If so how much are they and do we need a new aerial that is configured for digital transmissions?

I think you should assume that there is only digital transmission now (not quite true but near enough).

A new digital aerial is around 30-40 euros and to install, not much more.

you could probably get an old tv 2nd hand in the papers or rastro for 50e but if its 100 new I'd get a new one.

I bought my TDT for 25e & works fine - I just rescanned the channels & there's a few new ones since last year.

Thanks for the advice. I am probably being a bit thick here but will I definately need to get a new ariel installed or will the old one pick up the digital system?

In many areas the old analogue TV signals for the main spanish channels were switched off around easter 2010. Some local channels are still available on analogue, like Ganda TV in my area, but you will need to get your TV system upgraded for digital if you want to watch the Spanish TV channels.

If you already have a TV aerial, then all it need is to be rotated around 90 degrees. For analogue the TV aerial "wings" are generally left and tight, for digital the wings are "top and bottom", like this...



Hence why some houses still have two aerial, one for analogue and one for digital.

Unless it is really old, and the unit where the cable connects is full of water, wasps, moss or general crap, then a new aerial is not required....also, there is no such thing as a "digital aerial", just a TV aeriel, its how it is set up / configured that determines if it gets digital or not.

You may also need to check / buy the masthead amplifer and power unit. These are generally required and fitted as standard, especially if you do not have line of sight or you are not close tot he transmitters. They give a bit of extra oopmh to the signals. The masthead amplifer goes on the pole near to the aerail (you can usually see them as a small box on the pole of the aerial) - and the power supply goes inside, sometime near the TV, or sometimes inthe "holes in the walls" used to distribute the siganls to multiple points in the house. I have found that the indoor all in one amplifers are not very good and do not provide enough signal when compared to mast head amplifers...

The Spanish digital Tv service is called TDT - Television Digital Terrrestrial.
The UKs is called DTT - digital terrestrial television.

UK Freeview is the brandname for the box / receiver and the programme guide. You can use generic DTT recivers also in the UK, but you may nnot get all the "red button" and EPG functions. UK Freeview do work in Spain, but there can be some limitations - dont expect, like many do, to get BBC and ITV on A uk Freeview box in Spain!!!

In Spain most receivers are generic. There is not a branded boxes with software and EPG services like Freeview in Spain.
Most stores sell TDT receivers, anything from 30 euros upwards. Some now have USB for recording, others are now HD.
you connect your aerial cable to the TDT reciever, the TDT receiver to the TV via scart, scan, and depending where you are you can get around 40 digital channels.
Noramlly if the programme is a UK or USA import you can change the audio into english.
See tdt.es, input your spanish postcode and see what tdt channels / services area available in your area.
see tdt1.com for channels and frequencies are available in your area.

hope this helps

Two things...

1) If you want a television that is it for TDT, the television should have as minimum an euroconector. Of course, I speak of a television without integrated TDT (you should buy the tuner). The modern plane televisions already have integrated TDT

2) You can also have problems with the antenna, but to install an antenna is not difficult. A modern antenna, maybe the most normal and cheap, is the one that shows the picture. My antenna is similar or equally. This would be as minimum the advisable one, the old antenna are more vulgar and are not good for the TDT. I believe that the main problem is to assembling of the antenna, although is not very difficult, and then to anchor it in some post or mast, guiding it approximately to where the sign can arrive. Then the antenna cable is connected to the antenna, and the problem is solved

we have a very old ariel on this house and bought lovely new TV last Christmas, we just put the ariel cable into back of tv and bingo we get all the freeview spanish channels.

we do have a box for British TV as well, but dead chuffed we didnt pay out for anything else for the Spanish channels

Just as an aside, once you get up and running with TDT you can change the language on some programmes to English if that was the original language when produced.
See the language settings in the menu.

sometimes is by using an AUDIO / LANG button on the remote control.
On many TVs you have to trawl through them TVs menu system each time..
Although the original sound track is not always available...