# Buying a TV



## rp2000 (Apr 20, 2013)

Hi,

I am moving to Barcelona in the next couple of months and was wondering where to buy a TV from (here and ship it or buy locally?).

My understanding is that they usb DVB-T for digital so sets bought in the UK that have freeview should work there (for HD as well as they use the same standard for SD and HD whereas UK uses a different HD standard).

Has anyone recently purchased a TV here and used it in Spain? Digital TV is not my priority as I won't know enough Spanish to understand it for a while!!

Main concerns are warranty. Are things bought in the EU easy to get warranty replaced/fixed elsewhere in the EU if I buy from UK?

Apart from Amazon.es does anyone know any big sites in Spain?


rp2000


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## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

Freeview means you only get local programmes ie Spanish and you will need an arial.If you want UK programmes in Spain you will need a satellite dish, at least 1.45 metre and a freesat box. There are many firms all over Spain who will install this


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## rp2000 (Apr 20, 2013)

That's fine. I just want Digital through the aerial (like I said I won't know enough Spanish to care!).

I don't need any UK feeds/satellite etc, just want to make sure the TV would work if bought from here, in terms of over the air digital.

Fast internet on a computer connected to the TV via HDMI will get me all the content I want to watch (I read that Movistar/Telefonica offer FTTH Fibre for about 30 Euros a month).

Just looking for names of retailers so I can compare UK to Local Spain (BCN) prices.


rp2000


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

rp2000 said:


> That's fine. I just want Digital through the aerial (like I said I won't know enough Spanish to care!).
> 
> I don't need any UK feeds/satellite etc, just want to make sure the TV would work if bought from here, in terms of over the air digital.


If you connect a TV or a "UK freeview box" to a TV aerial (presume this is what you mean by "over the air digital") in Spain, you will only receive the Spanish TV channels.

If you connect a TV or a "UK freeview box" to a TV aerial in Spain, you will not receive ANY UK TV channels, as there are NO UK TV channels available via a TV aerial in Spain.

However, in many cases, when a Spanish TV channel shows a UK or USA imported programme, in most cases you can switch from the dubbed Spanish soundtrack, to the original English sound track.

However, sometimes the "freeview" branded tuners in TVs do not allow the scanning of ALL frequencies used by Spanish TV - sometime missing channel frequency 69 - with a handful of channels like ANt3, on them. Also, sometimes the ability to swap the audio tracks may not work all the time, as 
"freeview" branded tuners may not always recognise the "language tags" like "QAA, DOX, MUL, VO" used by Spanish TV companies for the second audio track.





rp2000 said:


> Fast internet on a computer connected to the TV via HDMI will get me all the content I want to watch (I read that Movistar/Telefonica offer FTTH Fibre for about 30 Euros a month).


Remember if you want direct access tot he UK TV broadcasters Iplayers then you will need access to a UK VPN to make your internet connection appear that you are in the UK. Although this will not be required if you are using some other third party (read no permission from the broadcasters to retransmit) for TV streams.




rp2000 said:


> Just looking for names of retailers so I can compare UK to Local Spain (BCN) prices.


Mediamarkt. are a large chain. As are Millar.


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## rp2000 (Apr 20, 2013)

sat said:


> If you connect a TV or a "UK freeview box" to a TV aerial (presume this is what you mean by "over the air digital") in Spain, you will only receive the Spanish TV channels.
> 
> If you connect a TV or a "UK freeview box" to a TV aerial in Spain, you will not receive ANY UK TV channels, as there are NO UK TV channels available via a TV aerial in Spain.
> 
> ...


Hi Sat,

Thanks for the info! I guess I will need to check whether the UK versions of a TV scan frequency 69 for full TDT coverage. I did read in a few other places bout this channel 69 frequency. Hopefully the tech specs of TVs may specify the frequency etc.

I will have access to a VPN and other sources to obtain/stream material. So primarily the TV will just be a big monitor, but it will be useful to have the Spanish channels (maybe things like news channels would increase the speed I learn Spanish etc).

I will have a look for the retailers you mentioned (hopefully they have an online presence!)


rp2000


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## sat (Jul 20, 2008)

rp2000 said:


> Hi Sat,
> 
> Thanks for the info! I guess I will need to check whether the UK versions of a TV scan frequency 69 for full TDT coverage. I did read in a few other places bout this channel 69 frequency. Hopefully the tech specs of TVs may specify the frequency etc.



It may be that come the end of the yea, or early next year, they will no longer have to scan the higher frequencies like 69 - as sometime in 2014, the next phase of Digital change where higher frequencies will be sold off, with the TV channels currently on them being moved to lower frequencies....


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

sat said:


> Mediamarkt. are a large chain. As are Millar.


There is also EBay in Spain.

We bought our 32" Samsung LCD from Ebay in UK and got somebody to bring it here. It is ideal since, in addition to having the digibox built in (we only need a small set-top aerial for Spanish TV), I can connect the PC to it to show stuff direct from the internet, I can load stuff (TV series, movies, etc) onto a USB which then plugs into the TV as well as all the usual DVD player/recorder, VHS, etc


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

If you're going down the internet tv route unless you've already sorted it out, don't assume that you will get superfast internet because it depends where you are as to how good your speed will be.

By the way I use freesat and get all the UK content at present, apart from Channel 5 and it's associates with a 1.3 dish.


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## rp2000 (Apr 20, 2013)

Dunpleecin said:


> If you're going down the internet tv route unless you've already sorted it out, don't assume that you will get superfast internet because it depends where you are as to how good your speed will be.
> 
> By the way I use freesat and get all the UK content at present, apart from Channel 5 and it's associates with a 1.3 dish.


Hi,

From what I am reading Telefonica/Movistar offers 100MB Down 10MB Up Fibre (FTTH) all over Barcelona. ADSL speeds tend to be slower, I guess this is because there are not many telephone exchanges so you end up being far from one and getting slow speeds. Fibre is not affected by distance from the exchange so I am expecting fast speeds (and also higher prices than the UK, but you can't have everything!!)

I found a few articles that seem to confirm this (but I can't paste URLs here yet). I guess when I look for a flat I will need to jot down the postcode and call Telefonica/Movistar and see what is available there.


rp2000


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

rp2000 said:


> Hi,
> 
> From what I am reading Telefonica/Movistar offers 100MB Down 10MB Up Fibre (FTTH) all over Barcelona. ADSL speeds tend to be slower, I guess this is because there are not many telephone exchanges so you end up being far from one and getting slow speeds. Fibre is not affected by distance from the exchange so I am expecting fast speeds (and also higher prices than the UK, but you can't have everything!!)
> 
> ...


PLEASE do not believe them - they lie! If you go onto their website even, key in your address or postcode (don't forget, postcodes are for entire cities and not individual houses in Spain - our post code covers 15,000 houses!), it will tell you the maximum speed that you can get.

For us it said that we could get 5Mbs - turned out all we could get 512Kbs!!!!!!


Best advice would be to ask a neighbour in an adjacent apartment.

PS - we keep getting calls from ONO offering us up to 20Mbs. When questioned they have to admit that they piggyback off Movistar hardware so the best we can get is whatever we can with Movistar. They even put it in writing for us on one occasion - they would have taken the money if I hadn't questioned them further.


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## rp2000 (Apr 20, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> PLEASE do not believe them - they lie! If you go onto their website even, key in your address or postcode (don't forget, postcodes are for entire cities and not individual houses in Spain - our post code covers 15,000 houses!), it will tell you the maximum speed that you can get.
> 
> For us it said that we could get 5Mbs - turned out all we could get 512Kbs!!!!!!
> 
> ...


I would cry if I had 512Kbs!!! Anyway, with Fibre it is different. There is no copper wire so you will get very close to the advertised speed.

For ADSL I agree, quotes need to be taken with a pinch of salt (even in UK!!). I have many colleagues who live in Barcelona and they say the ADSL is slow, so that is why I want Fibre instead.

My understanding is that Telefonica own all the cabling so any other companies just resell their service (similar to BT in the UK, to some extent).

Really I need to speak to someone technical to clarify everything (I work in IT and have had broadband for a long time and know the in's and outs very well, just need to speak to someone like minded!).

I don't suppose you know whether the ADSL is 2 or 2+? 


rp2000


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