Galicia - BBC / Sky / Filmon / Europa Network Reception - Advice

A Heads Up

We recently upgraded the receptor in our parabola (I think the parabola is about 2m diameter) and now get perfect BBC reception. If you have a parabola, it is worth doing some research on this, as not all receptors are the same (by a long chalk). OK, we are in the North (we have property in both Northern Portugal and Galicia Spain; my business is in Spain and thus I pay social security in Spain so we can get public schooling and health care in either country), our children go to state subsidized private school in Spain, we spend most of our leisure time in Spain, but we are fiscally / tax resident in Portugal (if you search for "Portuguese non-habitual tax residency" you will understand why). But we are meant to be in a dead wave area (in the Minho Valley region of both countries) for the second (BBC) Sky satellite reception, but we get great quality (including HD).

I also have a Filmon Android box at our second property, which is better IMHO than the Europa Network TV box it replaced, but these boxes are subject to horrible buffering when the Internet is busy at weekends especially (I prefer Filmon not only because it is free but comes with SD and HD options, so you can switch down to SD to help overcome the buffering issue). So it is worth checking out very high gain receptors and upgrading your parabolas / using Sky if you can. If it still does not work; move to Galicia Spain (on average 5 degrees warmer than the South of England and fresh cod, love it, costs 7 Euros per kilo).....

Galicia is wonderful, stunningly beautiful. If we had to move from Extremadura I think it would be to A Coruna or Vigo. The north coast has the most beautful towns and scenery in Spain. Ask any Spaniard. And global warming is bringing down the rainfall and upping the temperature a bit. Although as you say, it's already quite a bit warmer than the UK south coast. Let's hear it for oop North!

Guy T l don't no what your post has got to do with receiving TV in Spain but for what its worth for the people that are interested in receiving UK tv in Spain go on eBay and buy a Android TV box make sure you get a box with at least a Quaud core processor and a 16 gig hard drive I have two of these boxes thay cost around £40.00 each to buy I have 3 sat dishes I no longer use one in the UK and two in Spain you do not get so called buffering with a good INTERNET connection and the latest Android box the only people that are slagging off Internet TV are the one that have just been ripped off by the sat guy for a system to be fitted in Spain that that cannot give away in the UK.

Sorry, windtalker, I just read the "Galicia" as the first word in the headline and then I found myself reading Travlur's interesting post about Galician public schooling and health, tax positions, social security and the price of cod being only €7 a kg......and I supposed I got carried away - and started thinking what would I give to be sitting in Vigo sipping a glass of Albarino and stuffing a plate of bacalao. Hence my post.

For what it's also worth, I have no interest in watching Brit TV. Spanish TV is good enough for us -  and it helps us pick up the lingo.  I recommend the South American telenovelas on La Uno where they seem to speak slower and more easy to understand than, say, Aguila Roja. 

And the problem there is the GOOD internet connection. They recommend 5Mbs for SD and 10Mbs for HD. Our connection is only 8Mbs (just 3Mbs until last year) but regularly drops to less than 2. Suppliers reckon this will happen at peak times (ie, times we want to watch it).

Filmon is only viable in SD and buffers quite a lot. (Oh, we have 2 of these IP boxes, by the way). Unless we want to pay, films are very old or those that went straight to DVD.

The satellite dish of 1.45m, on the other hand, is perfect in this area. Cost €345 and feeds us and the neighbours so just over €172 each. We've had it 5 years with no problems and all the HD channels available on Freesat. No fiddling round with connecting, updating RSS feeds, buffering or anything else. Simply a remote control and use as a regular TV, which it is. No charges for recording, no annual or monthly fees. Cost of installation including dish for less than an annual TV license in UK.

Until we get a fast, reliable internet connection then the dish stays. Oh, and my SiL in UK has 54Mbs internet and still complains about buffering and poor quality on his box.

mariedav : Well done, you have no chip on your shoulder and you know the real world and have found the perfect solution.

windtalker is a troll, a failed parabola installer and now installs android boxes (which do not need installing as they come fully loaded from ebay). I can not post the link to the other forum thread here, but if you look for the thread "English TV in Spain", you will see.

GuyT you like albarino / alvarinho? For me, one thing Galicia is not good at is making wine! I would rather have a glass of white Rioja or Cava (for white) any day, though I prefer Spanish Douro and Rioja reds. The whites only get drunk in my house when it is fish, such as that lovely cod (we also get plaice here at bargain prices; my mum will not travel anywhere unless she can get plaice and chips!). But even with chicken, I prefer a red.