freesat & post code

I have searched the forum but can`t find the answers to my questions so I hope some one can please advise me.

We live in Mijas and from our community dish we receive free to view. I want to buy a new tv from the uk with a freesat tuner installed.

Can I simply plug the new tv into our existing cable from the community dish and pick up freesat or is the signal for freesat different to that for free to view which would require the dish being re-aligned. I have read on this forum reference to entering a post code. What code, whos code.

Sorry if this question is really stupid but I just don`t understand. Thanks very much

A Freesat receiver will only be able to receive the free to air channels. That all Freesat is, a  free tro air receiver.

There are no free to view channels on Freesat. The free to view channels on satellite, like Fiver, Five USA, require a Sky box and a Sky card (like a freesatfromsky nonsubscription card).

(free to air, fre to view, freeview and freesat are seperate terms / systems so it is best to use the correct terminology - which is a pain when some instalelrs in span cannot get it right. Some say you can get Freeview in Spain, which you cannot, as Freeview is the UK TV serive received by a TV aerial, and the Freeview signals do not reach Spain!)

UK TV comes from 4 satellite. The channels on Sky and the channel on Freesat come from the same satellite. There are no seperate "Sky" or "Freesat" satellites. So as long as your community dish is pointing tot he UK TV satellites, it will simply be, plug in, input postcode, scan channels, watch.

The postcode is input on the start up wizard, as that determines which regions of BBC1, BBC2, ITv1, C4 appear on 101, 102, 103 and 104. AS you may be aware some BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 regions are better than others. Personally, I would go for the ITV1 region that is best for your area (it can vary, but sometimes ITV1 Channel Islands or ITV1 London, or ITV1 Granada are considered to be the strongest). Forget about getting the best BBC1 / 2 on 101 and 102, as all BBC regions are already on the channel list - from channel 900 or so, so yo may have to use those and not 101 or 102, as you may find that there ois not one good postcode for the best 101, 102, 103. If you go for a HD Freesta box, then just use BBC1HD and BBCHD instead!

Hi Satandpcguy, Thank you very much for the info. May I be a pain and make sure that I understand what you have explained.

Freeview and  Freesat are product names. We have a sky box and card and of course we  get free to view. I can update my sky card to receive channel 5 and 5 USA. Freesat will give me the same  channels but without the need for a box as the tv will have a freesat tuner installed. Therefore there would appear to be no advantage to having a freesat tuner other than I will not need a seperate box.

Presumably HD is a whole different can of worms and although the tv will be an "HD", I will still need to subscribe to get any HD channel.

May I ask  where  I find the different post codes or are they contained in the instructions that come with a new tv.

Thanks very much. Jack

Freeview and  Freesat are product names.

Correct. Freeview is the UK ONLY digital terrestrial service, available via a TV aerial. It is NOT available in Spain, although Spain has an equivilent service - TDT...ie digital TV via a TV aerial

Freesat was created to help people in the UK have a cheap and easy option to receive the digital channels via satellite, useful if they were in a poor Freeview signal area. It meant almost full coveratge of the UK for digital TV without the need of going the sky route.

Freeview and Freesat carry the main UK channels, but as Freeviews reception can be limited to just the UK there are a few more channels available on there - like Dave, History, Challenge, which are not available for free on satellite but are part of the Sky subscription service.

We have a sky box and card and of course we  get free to view. I can update my sky card to receive channel 5 and 5 USA. Freesat will give me the same  channels but without the need for a box as the tv will have a freesat tuner installed. Therefore there would appear to be no advantage to having a freesat tuner other than I will not need a seperate box.

Freesat only carries free to air channels. 5 USA, 5* are free to view, and only available on a sky box with a sky card (a non subscirption freesatfromsky card, or a sky subscription card)...they are not on Freesat.

There are a number of channels that a free to view card gets you : some ITV1 regions, irish C4s, 3 versions of Five, F*, 5USA (and their timeshifts), Pick TV, Motors TV, Viva TV, Sony TV, Liverpool FC TV. The free view view ITV1, irish C4s and Fives are useful as they can be received on much smaller dishes than their free to air counterparts.

Presumably HD is a whole different can of worms and although the tv will be an "HD", I will still need to subscribe to get any HD channel.

BBC1HD, BBCHD, ITV1HD and C4 HD are all available free to air. Five HD is free to view. You will need a Freesat HD (for the FTA HD channels)  or Sky HD (for the FTA HD channels and / or FTV HD channel) to watch the HD channels. YOu will need to subscribe if you wantto receive the Sky HD package channels.

May I ask  where  I find the different post codes or are they contained in the instructions that come with a new tv.

Google a post office in a town in the UK...the reciever only uses the first 3 digital of the post code anyway...

Hi Satandpcguy thanks very much for your help; I think I have got my head round it now. Regards Jack

Could someone recommend a satellite TV provider in the La Zenia/Pilar de la Horadada area? I was going to try Torresat, but have read plenty of  negative comments about them.

I'm sure there is a thread on this subject, but I couldn't find it.