tv for holidays

can anyone tell me what is the best and cheapest method of receiving english tv when we will just be using our home for part of the year thanks 

I don't think there are companies who offer this.

I had TDT installed on my last trip out and I was quite impressed with the set up.  Once your box is set up it will register which ever programme has English as it's main language.  Most of the childrens channels are in English.  The news was similar to that being broadcast at the same time on UK television and you have the added bonus of improving on your Spanish language skills.

It will cost about 100e to install this system, slightly more if you have to get someone in to install ariel.

I got my box from Carrefour for 30e, can't remember the maker but it was a UK make.

I did have Sumulsat before Christmas but now I will use TDT, the only problem I had was finding out what programme where on when as I do not have an internet connection there.

We have a good collection on DVD's there so for the weeks I am there I think I can go without UK tv.

If you can get hold of the right size dish and get it instaled, take over a Freesat or Sky box and conect it up, then it should work fine. With Freesat there are enough English channels for viewing whilst on holiday.

regards.

Tech.

Not sure where you are but I have a sky dish for sale!! We are in Estepona and recieve all of the freeview UK channels. More than enough to entertain you while you're on holiday!

Hi, I understood you would need a 1m+ dish to watch UK tv. Is that not the case?

Depends of where you live, I would need a 1.9 to get UK freeview channels.  My neighbour had a 1.15 installed (the largest that our houses would take) and that didn't work. 

Hi, I understood you would need a 1m+ dish to watch UK tv. Is that not the case?

Many UK TV channels, and over 60% of the sky pay tv service, can be received on an 80cm or 1m dish.

Its just if you want the main UK TV hcannels like BBC or ITV or C4 that you require a big dish for. In some areas a 1.45 dish does the job, in others a 2.4m dish is required.

If all you want is a bit of news and radio and "crappy" movie channels (ie keep in touch with the world!) , then an 80cm to 1m dish, and a free to air receiver should suffice.

If you have a sky card in the UK, get a sky box for spain, and bring over your card. you will get about 50-60% of the channels you pay for (not the sports or movie channels as these will be tied to your box at home)

I did this list a few weeks ago.....

http://www.satandpcguy.com/Site/uk_tv_channels_available_on_small_dish_costa_blanca_spain.php

TDT is free, has about 30 spanish digital channels. There are NO english cannels on TDT, but on many programems you can change the programe audio intot he programmes original audio, in many cases this is English. You need a TV aerial (there is no such thing as a digital aerial, there are only TV aerials, and depending how they are configured means they receive analogue or digital TV!), an ampilifer (ideally a masthead amplifer and internal power supply) and a digital receiver (normally a TDT set top box, or a new TV with built in digital TV tuner).

YOu can now get TDT receivers with USB ports...allowing you to play "downloaded" movies stored on a USB stick.

 I bought a TDT box with a built in DVD player which keeps everything neat. I just plugged my TDT box into the community aerial and it worked.

There is an EPG on TDT. We managed to watch some English films when we were last over, by selecting the other audio track. However 10 minutes of film followed by 25 minutes of film was not ideal. Then we saw the bulk of the film followed by another 25 minutes of adverts which we sadly watched to catch the last 10 minutes of the film. No wonder the Spanish go walking in the evening.

Must find out more about this USB stick as the TDT box has the capability. Kevin

Must find out more about this USB stick as the TDT box has the capability. Kevin

If your TDT box has recording to USB stick capabilities, then 9 times out of 10 it will play AVI (xvid or Divx) files that have been downloaded - check the specs of the TDT unit.

I bought the same one, I think the make is Best Buy.  When the ariel was installed we used the origninal cable from our annologue TV system to supply a link to the bedroom.  We use that box in there and bought a cheaper version without a dvd to use in the lounge.

I haven't used this service full time but I thought the news service was good.  As someone who arrived at Alicante last Febuary completely unaware of the snow fall overnight in UK, I'm hoping it will prove useful.

Although you can't receive BBC channels with TDT, where we are (inland Murcia) we get the Disney Channel plus Sony TV in English.  As already stated, we can also watch programmes in their original language and there are many English language films and series on Spanish TV.  We usually check the BBC website for news online, though the Spanish news does include items about the UK such as snow and ice in London and elsewhere!

Sue