nickcarol

I have Satellite Sky+ at home in France and am about to purchase a holiday home (5 months a year) in Almeria, Spain. A new 1.85 dish + installation in Almeria costs about 850 euros to use with my existing Sky+ box. OR - I buy IPTV with much less cost but possibly worse reception. Be grateful for opinions of those with IPTV on quality of viewing ?

EMR

Having lost our UK main channels when the sat changed I can tell you that we have not come across anyone who is 100% satisfied with IPTV.
If you are in an area that can still receive everything you want by satellite then do not even think about the internet option.

amideislas

Do you have any DIY skills? Because around here, you can buy all the pieces for an end-end satellite system with everything for about €300 or less. You can readily find installation and setup instructions on the internet.

missile

If you are happy to watch programs on catch up and have access to fast broadband internet is a viable option.

Saxy

Wait until you get to your place in Spain, check the internet speed, try Filmon HD for a cost of £15 for 1 month. If it works, and the quality is good enough for you, then you are O.K. If ihe quality isn't good, then you go for the satellite option. You have only used £15 to find out!

missile

... or use Netflix free 1 month trial.

amideislas

Netflix isn't available in Spain yet. But it's supposed to be coming this year.

And the "pay" HD version of Filmon is only slightly better than the "free" version. Filmon does allow you to view the "HD" version for a few minutes without paying anything.

In fact, whenever you select a channel, it always plays the HD version first, then about 5 minutes into the programme, it stops and informs you that your "free" viewing has expired, would you like to view the "free" version? (SD) And then you click yes, and it starts again after re-buffering.

missile

It is possible to fool Netfix, iPlayer et al into thinking you are in UK.

tommy.irene

Just put Hola Unblocker in your computer for Free UK TV..
or use Camposat.Tv

pnwheels

Yes it is. I use Tunnel Bear which gives 500MB free per month. With iplayer it can be turned off once the download starts to save data usage. Can't comment on Netflix but should work too.

The Guy

Satellite - main uk tv channels available subscription free, 11 of which are in FULL 1080HD, and direct from the broadcasters (not via some third party like IPTV). Sky pay channels all in HD. Plus the benefits of Sky+. And catchup available with a VPN. Image and sound quality is the best via satellite, and is simply not matched at all by internet systems. Reception issues can arise in the 1 or 2 days of very heavy rain we get in spain.

Via Intelsat 907 - limited UK TV channels on a small dish, with a special (read modified) receiver to illegally hack into encrypted UK TV feeds.

Filmon (direct from their website or apps, or an affiliate like campsats and many android xbmc systems) - not in FULL HD, just about SD - 130euros ish for an android box if you want to watch it on your TV (or connect a laptop to the tv with a hdmi cable)

Filmon HD - not in FULL HD (but higher than their free SD offering), and £15 per month

paid IPTV services - some are 20euros plus a month for the "free to air" channels + 120+ for their box

Have seen some images on free xbmc iptv systems where it is virtually impossible to see what is happening on the screen, and many users getting frustrated with "working"messages, failed links, and having to trawl through endless menus to locate a working feed...

So 20euros per month x 15years (expected lifespan of these new satellites) = much less than the cost of a satellite dish, especially if you already have your own receivers.

Fred James

Just to add to The Guys post, Now TV gives you all the UK catchup channels in good quality, even on a 2.5mb connection for a one off cost of £9.99 including UK postage. No monthly sub apart from the cost of a VPN or Smart DNS for about £3 a month.

If you wish, you can pay as you go for most of the Sky channels on a daily, monthly or weekly basis and no Sky contract is required. It's the best £10 I have spent so far.

Saxy

For internet tv in Spain & the UK, it is no use connecting any old computer up to the tv and expecting good results, you do need to research for good gear. A laptop is untidy and a bit ' Heath Robinson'. I use a small (194mm X 150mm x 25mm) Novatech 'N Box', mounted on the back of the tv, using the supplied bracket (check them out, they are fantastic for the job!). A wireless mouse, used from my armchair, enables me to change to channels that I have previously bookmarked. I receive all of the main UK (non SKY). and On Demand channels as well as iplayers. I use 'FilmOn HD, record without ads.' for anything I don't want to miss. I have a tested 13+ Mbps UK and 8Mbps Spain, and the quality is excellent. Remember, as someone said on another forum, If the picture quallity is OK, and doesn't distract from the program content (mine has little difference, if any from HD), then you have all you need. However it is a question of "Suck it and see!".

I don't think that you can expect to pay 20euros a month for the next 15 years, technollogy is moving on too quickly. Todays systems will be outdated!!

nickcarol

Thanks everyone for your contributions to my dilemna - Sat v. IPTV. I'm now swaying in the direction "The Guy" as I'm not technically adept and am all for a simple life. I generally find that when I try to change things it all goes tits up. So I think sticking to my existing Sky+ set-up is my safest option and have a new satellite installed despite the up-front costs. Thanks again everyone.

amideislas

This UK-TV over IP thing looks like a good business. Low startup and operations costs, large profit margins.

Just for fun, I was looking on Alibaba to find the cost of the Android TV boxes that are being sold for as much as €300, PLUS €20 per month for the service of receiving UK TV that's free elsewhere.

I found that these boxes sell for as little as €28 wholesale when you buy them in 100-lot quantities.

Now, hire someone to put together a little app for the Android box that brings all the channels together into one interface (let's say, €1000? €2000?) and the numbers start to look pretty good.

With only 100 purchasers and subscribers, considering your startup and operations costs, have a net profit of around €8k. Increase that to 1000 purchasers, €100K, when that gets to 10000 subscribers, it's a million-Euro business. Pay taxes on it, and you end up with somewhere north of €400K in-pocket.

Not bad. 10K subscribers is a fairly small target to reach in a year. The profits would buy you a house in your first year.