Getting british T.V. stations back.

You're lucky to still have Hallmark as other subscribers to Torresat are complaining that they have lost that channel as well as Living and UK Gold.

Good luck with complaining as I understand their customer service is rank.

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This probably a stupid question but here goes. We have sky TV using a 1,9 dish but no Spanish channels. 

As i need to practice my Spanish I was thinking of getting a TDT box. Qusetion is do i also need a Spanish ariel? 

Do all TDT boxes have the possibility of changing progs back to original language?

Apologies if questions have been asked before.

Jean

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hi,

for spanish there are three main ways.

via your TV aerial on the roof and you will get spanish analogue - for at elast the bnext 2 years when they turn off most of the analogue signals.

via your tV aerail and a TDT receiver / TDT built into your tv - around 30 digital spansih channels (depends where you live as to the number of channels - i can get about 35plus  - some are local only!). on some, not all, programmes you may have the opportunity to change the programmes language into the original sound track - this was working ok on K3 for Doctor Who the other day

via a satellite dish (80cm) and satellite reciever pointing at either astra or hispasat - but the majority of sspansih tv channels are only vailable via subscritpion to d+.

TVE Internationonal is on the Sky platform, but only as a subscription channel.

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Is torresat another company then that is broadcasting illegally which is why they have removed some of the tv channels,although the signal comes from a dish and not a mesh surely they are free and come directly from the satellite and are not rebroadcasted

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They are changing the dishes because the MMDS (mesh system) will have a limited reception from November.

They are still a rebroadcast system, to receive Hallmark you have to subscribe to a satellite system either Sky, Virgin Media and I believe Tiscali.

Satandpcguy stated ages ago on here that if you were receiving Hallmark then you were definately getting a re transmitted signal.

I understand that Torresat have a unique way of getting around the "paying for a re-transmitted signal", they state that the 20e a month charge is for the hire of the equipment.  The fact that it enables you to receive the signal they are transmitting is neither here or there.

 

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Thanks it seems you cant trust anybody these days,it seems so complicated all these different tv companies saying different things, I have a Plasma tv and it is adequate but the reception is not as good as I got back home,If I had a sky system then perhaps that would eleviate that but then sky is illegal in spain.

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"but the reception is not as good as I got back home"
a common problem with rebroadcast signals - the picture quality is not the best - due to them cramming as many channels as they can onto one frequency (quantity over quality). It may also de due to signal loss in receiving a second or third of fourth generation relay rebroadcast signal. Many clients have been astonished by the quality difference between a rebroadcast signals and their newly installed satellite sytems.

"although the signal comes from a dish and not a mesh surely they are free and come directly from the satellite and are not rebroadcasted"
just becase a rebroadcaster is using another sort of dish to receive their signals  does not mean that the signals are coming directly from the satellites. easy was is if you are getting bbc and itv onanything less than a 1.4m dish then you are getting a rebroadcast signal.

"but then sky is illegal in spain."
for something to be illegal it must be incorporated into law, and AFAIK a sky contract is not incorpoarted into spanish law, but if it is can you please point me to the section in spanish law that states this?
AFAIK you are only breaking the terms and conditions of the sky card, which stste that you cannot use it outside the UK, and if you do and sky find out then you can be cut off.

"different tv companies saying different things"
many companies are indeed legal companies, so they can say that they are legal and legit.
some rebroadcasters do actually have permission to rebroadcast some channels - again they can say they are doing these channels legally.
but if you are rebroadcasting anything else that you o not have permission for then this part is illegal.

i also understand that Hallmark UK is partially or wholly owned by BSkyB, which will be the reason why it has probably been removed. i think that calle 13 is the spanish "sister" channel, which i understand some reboradcasters do actually have permission to send.....

if you are unsure then ask on here of send me a mail and i'll try to help out.....


This message was last edited by satandpcguy on 10/29/2008.

This message was last edited by satandpcguy on 10/29/2008.

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Hi thanks for the info. wish I had spent more research time instead of keep paying out money for different systems, this is about the fourth system I have had. I used to have an enourmous dish on my patio but even the signal on that ws useless as it keep lossing a signal,when it worked it was good in the end I got rid of it for a telmicro system (bad decision).
Is there a webiste I can viist where I can get a view of different sizes of dishes. I can only have a dish on the roof.But then I suppose someone will come along soon and say no more dishes are allowed on the roof of your property.Its hard to know what to do for the best.

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Hi guys

I would be very interested in all your thoughts/views re Torresat.  We are serioulsy thinking about getting this installed to the point the engineer actually came round on Saturday morning to do a pre-arranged signal test.  When I asked about the test he just said "it will be fine".  We then asked him again a few minutes later and he got quite shirty saying "I've got 30 to install today so if you don't want it fine !"  The Customer relations was poor and there were a few problems prior to this as well.  We live in a valley in Quesada and already have problems with our TDT (spanish digital) re the signal so want to be sure etc..  In the end I had a bad feeling so did not go ahead.

You say you have lost channels etc.  Is this going the same way as Telmicro ??

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You will find that most of  these engineers are contracted out to Torresat.  When I had my system installed I was told that it needed a stronger LNB which was on order from US and China. I could get BBC channels and some other channels but no ITV channel 4 or 5 etc. It was about three weeks before I got the updated LNB so was able to get All channels. Then this week a couple of channels from what I could see were missing UK Gold and Hallmark. Torresat state that they were in negotiation re these channels. 
I chose Torresat because I was fed up with watching Spanish TV and not being able to undersand what they were saying, although the sports channels were good.
Torresat are rebroadcasters and personally I dont think the reception on the tv is all that good, it is acceptable to a point but then to get a really good signal Id probably need a very large dish to get all the UK channels and dont have anywhere to put it. I used to have a big dish on the patio and it was an ugly sight.
It depends what you want really I have a plasma tv and a small tv is not too bad but with plasma being a perfectionist I notice the imperfections more.
In my situation at the moment it is the best of two evils.
Perhaps if your in a valley it may be worth getting expert advice to see if you need a larger dish.
When I had torresat installed I was given the choice by the engineer if I wanted it taken out because of the missing channels but I said no at least Ic an get some UK channels and as long as I could get the others in due course I was prepared to wait a while.
Hope this helps I can only speak from experience,so to speak.

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Just to say the UKTV range of channels have been re- branded again, don't  know if that is why they have dropped off the signal? UK Gold is now G.O.L.D, can't remember the others.

Mark

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Channel Sky Channels Number
Watch 109
G.O.L.D 110 (Go One Laugh Daily)
Dave 111
Alibi 132
G.O.L.D+1 133
Watch +1 155
Dave +1 158

and in 2009
UKTV People becomes Blighty
UKTV Documentary becomes Eden 
(Seriously - thats what they have announced - BLIGHTY!!!!)

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