we arrive next monday in santander and are moving to the benidorm area, we were wondering,can we use a british tv with a british video and dvd player out there?,we have loads of videos and dvd's of the family we are taking with us but! what would be the best way to view them?.
cheers

No problem, but bear in mind that you'll get spanish pictures on you tv through an aerial but you won't pick up the sound, however if you erect a dish (minimum 1.3 mtrs) youll be able to pick up sky through you're sky box (if you're bringing one of course!!)

Most modern tv`s will work in europe, yours will work with your vid + dvd same as UK.

If the sound on your TV isn't adjustable and you want to watch Spanish TV you can buy a digital terrestrial set-top box (similar to UK Freeview) for about €40 and connect it to your TV with a SCART lead.

thanks for the comments,just one more thing are pc's cheaper or more expensive than in the uk or does this vary around the country

Mine was much cheaper than similar spec in UK, and dont forget warrenty ?

I left the UK before PCs were invented and I have been more than satisfied with both the price and the quality of the ones I have bought here.

You videos and DVDs will play on your TV, and they will also play on a TV bought here. TVs are very reasonable here, with flat screen TVs at less than €1000. We use a combined DVD video recorder here and can play the DVDs we brought over, and also ones bought here. Also we can record from the TV onto both video and DVD.

I am currently wondering whether to buy a new LCD TV here in England and take it with me or wait until I get to Spain and buy one there. Prices have come down in Spain in the last 12 months, but I don't think they have come down as much as in England - I've seen quite good quality 26" ones (which is big enough for me as I don't like huge TVs which dominate the room) for as little as £399. But I have to weigh that up against being able to get it repaired if anything goes wrong, having instructions available in English (although my partner does that infuriating man thing of never looking at an instruction manual, preferring to puzzle it all out himself even if it takes 3 times as long - but like not asking for directions when you're lost), etc.

Does anyone know how reliable or prone to developing faults LCD TVs are, or have they not been around long enough to really know yet?

I think you will find them cheaper here, and most new tv menus let you choose the langauge for their destructions
I got a 42 inch plasma for 1200€ about a year ago.

If you buy a good brand here or in UK, you most probably will get a manual 6000 pages thick in about every conceivable language,

Also the big brands make their TV's so that they can auto select or allow you to choose the right system, IE PAL Secam, NTSC Euro-auto etc, so that u dont have to worry if it willwork etc in Say Spain.. Usually in the set up Menu.

Scart to scart should work on any system,

PC's, can be cheaper in Spain for the same spec, but the big problem can be that the Operating System is in Spanish, as is the keyboard!!.

Reception of the Sky broadcast system varies widely across spain, and you can need anything from a 1.2m dish to a 2.4M depending on where u live and what u want to receive.

See here for Footprint and dish sizes (NB Astra 2D tends to have the more desirable UK programmes, IE BBC1/ITV etc)
http://www.astra2d.com/footprint.htm

This map:

http://www.geocities.com/alpmaps/iberia.htm

Gives much more detailed information regarding dish sizes but, if anything, is a little on the pessimistic side.

If you by a computer off the shelf in a chain store it will certainly be pre-loaded with the OS in Spanish but if you go to a specialist computer shop they will load the OS on English at your request.

I use a Spanish keyboard with an English OS with no problem.

Yeah I just asked for English OP, and I also use a Spanish keyboard, I think the mouse is Spanish as well cos he likes a siesta now and again