# packing and Sky Box Questions



## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

OK

Is it worth taking our Sky box with us. We will not have a UK address apart from a postal redirection to our daughters.

So

Can you get Sky in Spain with a spanish address as all the answers to questions on here seem to say, use an address in the UK

I am a little confused

Oops put down real name is that allowed LOL


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

cambio said:


> Is it worth taking our Sky box with us. We will not have a UK address apart from a postal redirection to our daughters.


If you want to watch Sky pay channel, then yes.
If you want to watch the free channels, then you can either bring your sky box, or a freesat box.



cambio said:


> Can you get Sky in Spain with a spanish address as all the answers to questions on here seem to say, use an address in the UK


Due to contractual issues, Sky will only issue Sky cards to UK addresses.
They cannot issue them to Spanish addresses.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

So which sat tv company do Spanish people watch or do they not/


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

cambio said:


> So which sat tv company do Spanish people watch or do they not/


with over 50 free channels I see no need to pay for cable/satellite..


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

cambio said:


> So which sat tv company do Spanish people watch or do they not/


The Spanish people (plus some expats) don't need to watch satellite TV - their terrestrial system is very good with over 50 free channels.

There is also (Spanish) subscription TV.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

cambio said:


> So which sat tv company do Spanish people watch or do they not/


Canal plus, although I don't know how many watch it


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

xabiachica said:


> with over 50 free channels I see no need to pay for cable/satellite..





snikpoh said:


> The Spanish people (plus some expats) don't need to watch satellite TV - their terrestrial system is very good with over 50 free channels.
> 
> There is also (Spanish) subscription TV.





Chopera said:


> Canal plus, although I don't know how many watch it


I do not want to pay for Sky - I presume that if I can connect my sky box I can get free to air TV, and I would not need a sky card OR are you saying I buy a spanish free sat box sorry bit of a technophob here


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

cambio said:


> I do not want to pay for Sky - I presume that if I can connect my sky box I can get free to air TV, and I would not need a sky card OR are you saying I buy a spanish free sat box sorry bit of a technophob here


You sky box, even without a sky card, will, if connected to a dish aligned to the correct satellite and of the correct size, will be able to receive all the basic free UK TV channels.

Spanish TV via a TV aerial, similar to the UK freeview system, has about 50 channels, including MTV, Discovery, and two movie channels (Sexta 3 and Paramount).
The "bonus" is that in most cases, if any Spanish channel shows a UK or USA imported programme it is available in both dubbed Spanish, and original English.
Top Gear, Dr Who, to name two are on Spanish TV, and so are most USA series that are on Sky pay channels...


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

cambio said:


> I do not want to pay for Sky - I presume that if I can connect my sky box I can get free to air TV, and I would not need a sky card OR are you saying I buy a spanish free sat box sorry bit of a technophob here


I get all those 50+ channels the 'old-fashioned' way - with an aerial on the roof...


and a lot of programmes such as TV series & films are available in the original language at the touch of a button, too


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

sat said:


> You sky box, even without a sky card, will, if connected to a dish aligned to the correct satellite and of the correct size, will be able to receive all the basic free UK TV channels.
> 
> Spanish TV via a TV aerial, similar to the UK freeview system, has about 50 channels, including MTV, Discovery, and two movie channels (Sexta 3 and Paramount).
> The "bonus" is that in most cases, if any Spanish channel shows a UK or USA imported programme it is available in both dubbed Spanish, and original English.
> Top Gear, Dr Who, to name two are on Spanish TV, and so are most USA series that are on Sky pay channels...





xabiachica said:


> I get all those 50+ channels the 'old-fashioned' way - with an aerial on the roof...
> 
> 
> and a lot of programmes such as TV series & films are available in the original language at the touch of a button, too


many thanks those simple explanations I understand thanks guys the Sky Box will go into the packing case xx


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

It's not quite 50 channels when you take out the dozen or so tarot reading channels, then there are the local ones and religious channels and doubled up channels.
Discovery, neox and Nova rarely work for us.

Not sure where Dr Who is, probably on one of the channels we don't get.

TDT is good to OK and if you understand Spanish it may be better. Also watching shows in Spanish helps with understanding how it sounds, Top Chef recently is a good show we have been watching.
With the channels we get it's kind of like a mix of Dave and all the non-history shows on the history channel.
There are some good series though and clan(the kids channel) is a blessing.

It's a bit of a mess though in regards to programming, editing. 
Some weeks you get a show with the English option then next week just when you're suckered in they don't make the English available. Trying to guess if you will get the Simpsons in English has become a drinking game.

All that aside it is perfectly capable of keeping you entertained, but that's all.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

As Pazcat says, it isn't quite as simple as we would like it to be. As for Spanish channels, none of our Spanish friends watch Spanish tv apart from the news. They think it is dreadful. But then they don't really watch much tv anyway. What they do watch are British and US channels as they speak English. We watch the Spanish news as it helps us learn Spanish, but the rest of the channels are slightly worse than Australian TV (sorry Aussies). But remember, the Spanish way of life is outdoors most of the year, so TV might not be a big thing in your lives when you are here. We hardly watch any...


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

thrax said:


> As Pazcat says, it isn't quite as simple as we would like it to be. As for Spanish channels, none of our Spanish friends watch Spanish tv apart from the news. They think it is dreadful. But then they don't really watch much tv anyway. What they do watch are British and US channels as they speak English. We watch the Spanish news as it helps us learn Spanish, but the rest of the channels are slightly worse than Australian TV (sorry Aussies). But remember, the Spanish way of life is outdoors most of the year, so TV might not be a big thing in your lives when you are here. We hardly watch any...


Hi

Believe me TV is not a big issue here, we have sky but only the free bit. It was a case of should we take or leave. We will take it and see if it works
:bathbaby:


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

thrax said:


> but the rest of the channels are slightly worse than Australian TV (sorry Aussies)


Heyyyy!!!

No, wait. I have no problem with this.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

thrax said:


> As Pazcat says, it isn't quite as simple as we would like it to be. As for Spanish channels, none of our Spanish friends watch Spanish tv apart from the news. They think it is dreadful. But then they don't really watch much tv anyway. What they do watch are British and US channels as they speak English. We watch the Spanish news as it helps us learn Spanish, but the rest of the channels are slightly worse than Australian TV (sorry Aussies). But remember, the Spanish way of life is outdoors most of the year, so TV might not be a big thing in your lives when you are here. We hardly watch any...


But they have done a few quite good dramas (according to SWMBO) usually Monday evening at 10pm


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

"Redes" with Eduardo Punset at 9.30 pm Sundays is very good, some of the "Comando Actualidad" programmes are also worth watching, as can be "21 días". Also "Frank de la jungla" is ok in small doses. Anything slightly innovative on Spanish TV will get flogged to death though, and everything else is dire to begin with.


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

I'm not sure a sky box without a card is quite as good as a dedicated freesat box. Last time I used a sky box as a free view box there weren't as many channels. But I could be wrong there. If I'm not then I would strongly recommend a grade A Humax Freesat box from their website. Great kit and a good price. 

I was informed that Spanish satellite tv is different to UK satellite in that it's a different dish and alignment but I could be wrong. The point being that if there is a dish in your property and had Spanish satellite it may not work with a UK box. But I stand to be corrected there.


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

Dunpleecin said:


> I'm not sure a sky box without a card is quite as good as a dedicated freesat box. Last time I used a sky box as a free view box there weren't as many channels. But I could be wrong there. .


A Sky box, even without a Sky card will get more channels on its EPG than there are on the Freesat EPG.

Freesat only has about 150 channels on its EPG, but there are over 200 free to air channels, of which all are on Sky., (ok most of them are crappy channels, and girls on sofas), 

But pop the Freesat box into "non Freesat mode" and it will get the same number of channels (maybe more as it will also include all the C4 and ITV regions, which have to be manually added on a Sky box).




Dunpleecin said:


> If I'm not then I would strongly recommend a grade A Humax Freesat box from their website. Great kit and a good price. .


Manhattan are also producing some good Freesat boxes at the moment.
In fact I would say that one or two of the Manhattans have a more sensitive tuner inside than some of the Humax!




Dunpleecin said:


> I was informed that Spanish satellite tv is different to UK satellite in that it's a different dish and alignment but I could be wrong. The point being that if there is a dish in your property and had Spanish satellite it may not work with a UK box. But I stand to be corrected there.


UK TV comes from satellites at 28 east. Spanish satellite tv comes from either Astra 1 at 19 east or Hispasat at 30 West.
Two satellite, for the same Canal+ service, a result of their two satellite services, each used one of the satellites, merging into one company, and basically agreeing to keep both systems running.

True, a UK Sky box can only be used with the UK satellites.
But most other "generic" boxes can be used on any satellites, as they are not tied down to use a specific software, whereas Sky and Freesat boxes are


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

Very useful that sat thanks. How would you take it out of freesat mode?


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

Dunpleecin said:


> Very useful that sat thanks. How would you take it out of freesat mode?


It is different and depends on the make of freesat box.
Usually it is in the installation menu...where you do a "manual scan" and that adds channels to the "non freesat" EPG.
Some receivers you can easily swap between freest and non freesat lists by a single button on the remote, others it is via the menu system.

Eg here is how to do it on a Humax box
http://www.satandpcguy.com/Site/freesat_tv_costa_blanca_spain_receivers_non_freesat_mode.php
Note that non freesat mode does not actually appear until you have done some form of manual scan.


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

Thanks for that. Seems to bring up more channels albeit Asian Chinese or whatever although interestingly itv hd too which I can't get on the freesat as it says no or bad signal.


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

Dunpleecin said:


> although interestingly itv hd too which I can't get on the freesat as it says no or bad signal.


Different regions on different beams on different satellites.
For example, for your Freesat postcode you may have been allocated an ITV1 region on 2F, which you cannot receive.
But in non Freesat mode, you can see all the regions that area available to you.


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