Need Sky?

I agree, you dont need a phone line, our normal sky box was connected thru the existing tv ariel outlet to our dish, we get the odd breakup of the pictures in the evenings for some reason, but apart from that all well and good, dont need a viewing card either!!

hobby

Interesting..  We have Televes and its community installed, so no separate dishes.

Are you saying that I can bring a spare Sky + box, connect the Televes aerial into it and I will pick up Sky channels and I don't even need my viewing card either ?  Seems too easy.

sorry happyhoppy

didnt mean to mislead you, the sky engineers used our existing tv socket to send a cable through to the roof to connect to our own dish rather than running more cables through the apartment block - dont think the neighbours would be too chuffed - from what I gather from other owners on the community theyve done the same thing, only problem is you cant get the spanish tv if you want it!

hobby

 any info that you might require about sky digital and require the correct answer please feel free to get in touch . sorry to say that to have sky digital in a modern apartment block you have to run a cable form a matrix switch or private satellite dish direct to your digibox without joins or faceplates.all modern blocks have this facilty without loseing your spainish channals .if you lose your spainish channels your installers just cant be bothered to bring in a new cable for sky instead they rob your spainish cable . regards thomas

Hi thomas

Thanks for info and P/M, if you think that it is the engineers being lazy I would then say to any one thinking of getting sky installed by 'SKYS THE LIMIT' who are advertised a great deal on local radio in the costa del sol,(we were recommended them by a friend!) to ask them how they are going to do the installation. We didnt think to question them although we were told they would use the tv outlet to run the cable through, (come to think about it, I thought there was a sat socket there as well, the apartment was only finished earlier this year so as thomas states there should be a sat outlet. I'll have to check when Im out there in the new year.) They arent cheap either and I believe they are related to our Sky here in the UK.

regards hobby

I had mine installed earlier in the year and have lost Spanish TV as a result. To be fair the guy did tell me that I was going to lose it and that by installing my Sky Dish he was going to have to use the existing cabling. We could have retained the Spanish TV but it would have involved a lot more work in terms of bringing through additional cabling and would have caused more disruption to the house as well as increased cost.

RGds

does anyone know about this internet tv  is there a way you can view sky through the internet or in other words can you view sky without having to have a dish up as my communal tv is terrible having only 15 uk channels but cant put a dish up as `it isn`t allowed`

any thoughts appreciated

Dear all,

Sorry should have posted this to everyone.

Just a bit of, possibly, useless info.

If you have cable/SKY in the UK and a broadband connection in Spain, you can buy, from SONY, a 'location free' box. It plugs into your digi/SKY box and your internet connection in the UK, and you can access it through your pc/laptop broadband connection in Spain. Cost, approx. £229.00 from any SONY retailer (and no, I don't work for them, lol).

Kind regards and a happy New Year,

Mandy / Tony

The slingbox is an excellent piece of kit.  I use mine around the house in UK but don't have broadband in my holiday home in Spain.  I did use it on a cruise in the Caribbean in November and used the ship's broadband connection but the charges made by the cruise company made it rather expensive.

I paid £179 for mine but I see that Dixon's online have it on offer for £129 at the moment on promotion (normal price £149).  Would definitely be an excellent idea when I get broadband in Spain but wouldn't be such a great idea for permanent living there as it has to access a TV receiver or satellite receiver somewhere, in my case back in UK.  If just using around the house, a bog standard video sender at less than 1/2 the cost would be a better idea.

Hello all,

Just checked out 'slingbox' on Dixons website.........Correct it does look like you can get more bang for less bucks.

Isn't the internet just great......lol

Happy viewing.....

Mandy / Tony

Does anyone know if these DIY "cheap and cheerful" satellite dish and decoder packages which sell in some supermarkets (e.g. Aldi & Carrefour) for about 100 euros, can pick up any english speaking channels? 

They seem to quote a lot of French, Italian & Spanish channels but I couldn't decipher if you could point the dish in a direction that would pick up english speaking channels.

We are in Southern Costa Blanca and have a community aerial but that's only good for Spanish TV.

cheers

Tom & Frances

I believe EU law obliges all communities to have Spanish digital terrestrial TV installed by 2012 or something.  All new communities should already be set up, meaning all each individual property owner needs is a decoder or receiver or whatever (a box thingy - you can tell I'm no expert!) I have heard that films and some other channels can now be switched into English using this service. Thought this may be of interest.

Also, there's something afoot at www.joost.com (from the people who brought us Skype) to bring internet TV to your PC.

For a definitive answer to every question on this subject, go where the techies meet;

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/index.php

What these guys don't know isn't worth knowing.