Will a UK Freeview box pick up the Spanish digital (TDT) signals?

[potdog]

Looking at buying a Freeview PVR to replace the aged VCR of my parents that has finally died. Don't know what they will do if they can't record their Holby each week :lol: Their complex has UK TV which is received in the apartments using a standard Spanish TDT box (digibox)

Anyway, not a single PVR to be found in Worten, just lots of little TDT boxes that can record to a USB stick, but they are likely to be too fiddly and also all the ones I found need an HDMI connection, but their TV although its a flatscreen only has SCART connections.

Kriplus have a Toshiba HDR5010, but they want 299€ for it and they retail for about 120GBP in the UK, plus the AV forums suggest that the model in question has quite a few bugs which potentially make it a pain to use.

There are a few recommendations, but the one that seems to hit the mark is a Humax one. But it is badged as a Freeview receiver, so not sure if it will work on the same digital frequencies as here?

I know the digi boxes we have here can be set for different countries so I'm assuming that this will be the same, but has anyone had any experience of bringing a "Freeview" box over and using it to pick up the Spanish digital channels??

Cheers.

[junglejim]

Couple of articles that might explain

http://astra2.org/freeview.html

http://www.satandpcguy.com/Site/freeview_freesat_tv_costa_blanca_spain.php

[In The Sun]

I have a Smasung free view box with a built in hard drive and it works great with our complex TV system. I used to have a humax dvd recorder in the uk but I found it very complicated to set up ( things may have changed ). I have also used a UK freeview box over here and it worked fine and set itself up with no problems

[potdog]

Thanks "In The Sun" that's what I was hoping for!

[Muppet]

Just be aware that the Spanish TDT uses channel 69 - many boxes from outside the area (including the UK) only tune as high as channel 68, so you may miss out on some stations.

[potdog]

Thanks for the info Muppet. I guess I will find out when it gets here.
I've ordered the Humax PVR9300T through Amazon. I will post an update back here when it arrives in the new year to let anyone else who's interested know if it works fully.

[Terrynsue]

We have a humax freeview box which we load up in the UK bring it over with us , it works perfectly and we receive all the spanish channels some of which can be translated into English if you have a modern TV which allows translation.

[Muppet]

Just looking through at mine here....

The following TV channels are using the channel 69 mux which is not used in the UK and therefore some boxes designed for that market do not tune up to channel 69 Some (as marked) have "dual audio" available as well, so if you are missing any of the following you need a Spanish box.

Antena 3 (dual)
Neox (dual)
Nova (dual)
Discovery MAX (dual)
AXN

A standard scan puts these as channels 38, 39, 40, 41 & 42

There are also radio channels associated.

[junglejim]

Just brought over a Panasonic PVR from Amazon 500gb dual tuner- as muppet says it only does up to Channel 68 but covers all my digital needs and EPG on the system works fine .

[Liz and Mike]

Thanks for the info Muppet. I guess I will find out when it gets here.
I've ordered the Humax PVR9300T through Amazon. I will post an update back here when it arrives in the new year to let anyone else who's interested know if it works fully.

Hi potdog

Do you have an update if the freeview tv recorder worked for your parents?

We're interested in doing the same thing as we went to Worten yesterday and they don't stock TV recorders in the Canary Islands - only mainland Spain - even though they have some on their internet site.

We have a communal tv/satellite system and it would be good to record some of the programmes to watch later.

Many thanks

Liz

[junglejim]

I bought a Panasonic PVR over from UK - it doesn't tune in to digital channel 69 but you only lose a couple of Spanish Channels .
We have community TV/satellite system too and get satellite channels as well as Spanish digital
Otherwise it works fine and records ok , has EPM and also can automatically go to English language on Spanish channels that have VO films - cost £169 from Amazon .

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=panasonic+PVR

[Liz and Mike]

Thanks JungleJim, very helpful.

Sorry to be a bit thick but what's EPM? Also, was it easy to set up - a bit of a plug and go?

Liz

[junglejim]

Electronic Programme Management - just the electronic guide but you can click on it to watch or record programmes, just like your sky box - has freeze live TV, windback 1 hr .
Set up easy , just go through menu and select Auto Tune - the set up favoourites for easy access - digital only , no analogue - has a twin tuner so you can record 2 programmes at once - will also take a USB stick for watching downloaded films, music , but stick has to be Fat32 format e.g. an Integral 32/64 GB USB is ideal as it is in Fat32 format.

[Liz and Mike]

Thank you very much for all the helpful info!

[junglejim]

You have to know if your satellite signals are being transmitted through your complex system as a digital signal or an analogue - our old system was analogue and we still have a couple of channels on analogue - the vast majority of our signals from Satellite are now processed through digital transducers as a digital signal - the Pansonic and most new PVR's only do digital.
If your present TV has your satellite channels on the digital tuner then you're ok .

[Liz and Mike]

Thanks JungleJim.

Yes, our TV has satellite channels on the digital tuner, so that seems ok. Thanks for all your help.

Liz