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How do you get UK TV in Germany or abroad?

16 replies

admylin · 24/07/2009 12:29

I have no idea about sattelite dishes, boxes and cards, don't even have a TV at the moment! But, just thinking if we do get a TV how would I go about getting UK TV in Germany?

I know there is an international package via cable but that wouldn't be the real thing. Just think it might be a good thing for fighting off homesickness should it arise again.

OP posts:
Frosch · 27/07/2009 16:09

Hi admylin - I've just scooted up into our roof and had a quick look. We seem to have to little boxes, one for Astra 1(German and Eurocrap channels) and one for Astra 2 (all variations of BBC, ITV, 4 and Five). Our satellite dish isn't that huge but that's because of where we are (NRW) apparently. The further east and south you go, it gets a bit tricker.

All these are free-to-air, so nothing to pay and we're lucky in that DH installed the dish and the boxes. I think the main cost would be the dish and an engineer to install the boxes, then you need a receiver thingy by the telly. If you want more info, let me know and I'll interogate DH.

It definitely helps with homesickness; I love having S4C and BBC Wales if only to keep me in touch with what's happening back home, then I don't feel like such an auslander when I visit...

admylin · 29/07/2009 08:03

Thanks Frosch, if you could interogate dh about buying all this stuff please. When I buy teh dish will they tell me which box and which decoder/receiver thing together or do I get them in different places? It's also going to cost a fortune isn't it?
Astra 2 sounds like the thing I need, actually watching Eastenders once or twice a week should make my homesickness better, imagine living in that sort of life!

OP posts:
chloeb2002 · 30/07/2009 23:01

foxtel in australia.. like sky...gets uk tv.. eastenders.. emmerdale all the usual suspects..

Frosch · 31/07/2009 14:18

Hi admylin; will pin down DH when he gets home and write down all the technical bits, sometime this weekend I hope...

monkeybumsmum · 31/07/2009 15:12

Hi admylin - we live in Belgium and have both Sky and Freeview (in annexe). On both buildings we have a Triax dish (put up by FIL). I got one here, and the other's from the UK and cost £34 or something like that.
You need a couple of extra bits and bobs to fit on it which you're best to ask a technician about. We then have a cable going through the wall from the outside that connects to the aerial socket in the wall.

We got the Sky box using my parents address in UK and having had it set up there we then bought it over here. The Freeview box we bought in Comet I think, and was much more straightforward as no questions were asked.

With both we just plugged them in, tuned them in and were good to go...

HTH's!

Frosch · 02/08/2009 10:20

Hi Admylin; firstly, you?ll need a satellite dish with a view to Astra 2D on 28.2 East. Quizzed DH and he said cheap and expensive satellite dishes do the same job but the more expensive ones tend to weather better, have superior fittings that look better over a longer time.

www.sat.beitinger.de/astra_2D_english.html shows the size of dish needed for the area in which you live. We have an 85cm dish because we don?t want one dish for each signal (German and British). If you want one dish to receive both Astra 1 (German and Euro telly) and Astra 2 (British telly), you?ll need a bigger dish, with two antennae and it?ll look like a cross-eyed dish, basically.

There will need to be a cable from the satellite to the receiver, which will need to come in through the roof or wall, which will need to be a profi job, I guess.

In the house you need a receiver, which can be picked up from MediaMarkt, Saturn, etc, anything from ?80 - ?500. We have one by Kathrein, which does the job. If you want to receive HD, you?ll need an HD receiver (and an HD telly, obviously).

DH says it?s better to get in a profi if you or hubby are not technically minded. It?s definitely worth it and will keep you sane; when you watch the news, you?ll never want to go back to the UK! I wouldn?t know where to find an engineer but if you type sat anlage installation into google.de, it?ll come up with something.

Hope this helps but if you need any more info, just ask!

Frosch · 02/08/2009 10:37

admylin - link posted wonky, this should work

www.sat.beitinger.de/astra_2D_english.html

MmeLindt · 03/08/2009 08:52

We have this sat dish which gives us both German and UK tv (and French etc).

Depending on how difficult or easy it is to install you might be about another couple of hundred euros for that. It is possible to do it yourself but you need to be patient as it has to be pointed right at the satellite to get the best reception.

It definitely helped me get over any homesickness, and gave me a way of keeping up with all the news from home

ErnestTheBavarian · 21/09/2009 07:56

hi ml, can your dish really pick up signals from 2 different sattellites at the same time? How?

Hi ad, we have sky. we've got a big dish, i think 75 cm. i'd recommend getting a humax box, we just got one and it is really great. it's a freeview box with all main uk tv stations on it, plus hd recorder all in. unlike a normal box, it has 2 input lines from the dish, which means you can watch 1 channel while recording another, so never again clashes,plus you can pause and rewind live tv, which is v. useful if someone talks over crucial bits (not uncommon here) or if you need to go to the loo etc. it's hd too. If you need to get the stuff from scratch, might as well get good stuff. I poo pooed it (dh latest toy) but it is v v good. Ordered it on amazon.co.uk - won't deliver out of uk, so dh dad posted it to us

admylin · 21/09/2009 07:59

Hi ernest! Nice to see you back. Nice holidays?
Have noted all this info and when we get moved we will look into setting it up.

We had the TV set up one weekend and it was nice but we get so much more done when it isn't an option to switch on so I took it back down to the cellar!

OP posts:
movingnow · 21/09/2009 13:47

slingbox?

dilbertina · 22/09/2009 10:48

I discovered another solution when after 6 weeks we still hadn't managed to get the satellite dish sorted out, and if I had to see the peppa pig dvd one more time I was going to crack...

In theory you can't watch bbc/itv on line or Iplayer etc because they know you're not in uk...BUT you can use a "TV proxy" site which effectively masks your location. So if you have decent broadband connection (with no data limit) you can watch whatever via this. I'm using this proxy it costs 85euros/year or 10euro/month. We have it rigged so tv screen acts as computer monitor and we can now have bbc1,2,3,4 itv1,2,3 cbeebies, bbc iplayer itv & ch5 on demand etc. Quality is pretty good.

Very easy to set up - honest! Not ideal because you have to have computer on etc, but if all else fails, or you really want iplayer, it does work.

Is this legal? hmmm not entirely sure, in theory you should still have a tv license to watch bbc....we've not had any knocks on door yet.....!

Dundonald · 20/09/2013 18:08

You could order the international package of BBC Iplayer and watch UK TV online.

WallyBantersJunkBox · 25/10/2013 11:01

Another vote for the freesat box here - you can record two channels and watch a third. We bought a dish from our local Mediamarkt and got a guy to run the cables to the living room and bedroom. He tuned it all in for us. We get all the freeview channels.

You can use companies to rent Sky from as a sort of third party. Just google Sky in Europe. Or if you have family members you can impose on, get an additional box and pay them the extra?

I was quite glad to break the Sky addiction - I do miss the movie channel, but we buy a few more Blueray discs and still spend less than a sky subscription.

lalasmum11 · 27/10/2013 23:03

I just use www.filmon.tv

MrTumblesBavarianFanbase · 28/10/2013 10:27

The freesdat option won't work for much longer as the UK channels are being migrated to another satellite, (Astra 2F no longer Astra 2). The replacement satellite has already been launched, and the channels will be migrated once its been manoeuvred into position. The replacement satellite has a much narrower aim and most people in Germany and Austria won't be able to receive the UK channels any more, at least not with a normal domestic sized dish. We have already lost channel 5, as it and a few other obscure freeview channels moved a few months ago.

This is written for people on the costa del sol, but applies to us too:

www.skyhdsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-Migration-of-Channels-to-Astra-2F.pdf

and this smug and self satisfied blog by Alex Pryde also gives information on why it is right and proper that soon those outside the UK shouldn't be able to watch proper BBC, but only a 4th rate pay per view international version showing re-runs of Steptoe and Son:

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2011/09/red_button_dsat_astra.html

Boarderline legal solutions via the internet and/ or freesat box hosting companies will be the only option from early next year.

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