Maybe this forum has some advice for me regarding satellite TV setup.

I just bought a house in Mijas, Costa del Sol with already a 1,3m satellite dish on the roof and cabling ready. I am Finnish, but enjoy watching UK channels and now would like to have a setup to see UK news, movies etc, preferably in HD quality.

Maybe you can recommend me what to buy and where? I suppose I would need something like a Sky HD box and dish adjusted to correct satellite. Looking for a simple solution that works and is legal.

I am planning to invest also on a new TV set and for example some Samsung models include a “DVB-T/C/S2 (MPEG4/HD)” receiver, but would it give me any UK HD satellite channels without a separate box?

costasat - 09 February 2011 01:26 AM

The cheapest way to watch uk HD channels in spain is a HD freeview receiver

You will not get anything by putting a “freeview” receiver on a satellite dish.
Freeview is a uk onky digital tv service received by a TV aerial. The Spanish equivilent is TDT.
A HD free to air satellite receiver is what you need, or a Freesat HD receiver.

It can be confusing with free to air, free to view, freesat and freeview, but I have been to a number of people who, by recommendation from others using wrong terminology, bought a freeview receiver in anticiapation of it being used with a satellite dish!

Pasi: yes a sky hd box will work, but there are others like the ferguson ariva range that can currently read sky card and access the free to view HD channels like ITV1HD, C4HD and Five HD. YOu may, at a push just be able to get BBC1HD and BBC HD, but that would depend on your dish being well aligned with a decent LNB.

If the TV has a HD satellite receiver built in then it will getthose free to air HD channels (ie those that do not need a viewing card), but it is unlikely they will support sky card functionality, so no C4HD, Five HD - although C4HD will be free to air by april.

You also have the option of using the
following service to get as much football, films, kids channels etc as
you like for 25 euros a month no contract.

A number of FTA HD channels are available which do not require a subscription, only an HD capable digibox such as the Sky+ HD box. BBC HD, BBC One HD and Channel 4 HD are broadcast free to air. ITV1 HD launched on 2 April 2010 in England and Wales, and can also be viewed without an HD subscription, although viewers in some regions may require a “viewing card”  you can buy HD box for FREE CHANNELS ,
Dream box i would go for myself , (not Cheap but very Good )

HD

High definition (HD) TV is a new broadcasting format that delivers better quality pictures to your TV screen. The HD television channels give images with richer colours and up to five times more detail, so your viewing experience is more vivid, dramatic, and gripping.

An HDTV image typically contains around two million (1080x1920) picture elements, or pixels. That?s around five times more detail than the 720x576 of a standard definition (SD) picture, and makes HD broadcasts more realistic and involving.

Coupled with an HD-ready TV set, the 16:9 widescreen picture format, and the superior sound systems built into HD TV sets, such as the 5.1 Dolby Surround system originally developed for feature films, watching HDTV really makes you feel like you?re part of the show.

Films, costume dramas, documentaries and sports all benefit from high definition ? but whatever type of programmes you like to watch, it will look better in HD.

Because an HD transmission uses more broadcasting capacity, terrestrial digital and digital cable TV have room for only a few HD channels. Our ASTRA satellites have room for far more, and already European viewers can receive more than 200 high definition TV channels channels via ASTRA ( 200HD channels are on the ASTRA Plateforum ) 135 million households in Europe and North Africa received the Astra system , not just to the uk as all think . Astra have got fleet off Satellie up there , Spain use 19.2 east aswell few outher Countrys