cool! House in Spanish I watch House here in the States! and I used to watch MTV iN German also when I lived in Spain.

Hi,

after 3 years in Spain, I'm kind of missing British TV.
I'd like to get BBC1, BB2, ITV, Chn 4.

In my building we are not allowed satellite dishes. Does anyone know is there any other way of getting these channels (or other english channels?).
I've heard about Television Digital Terrestrial, which seems to have english language options - how to you get that, and will it work on an old television set?

Sorry, I know they are very basic questions, but I think three years of "Salsa Rosa" etc has rotted my brain!

Elaine.

hi Elaine.

you will need sky to get those british channels and without a dish, there is no sky.

as for the "Television Digital Terrestrial", it does not offer any more english lang. options than normal tv. it simply offers more channels and some of them have a dual broadcast so you could watch american series and such in the original version. the channles that are on normal tv like tve1, tve2 and telemadrid bradcast in dual as it is so if your tv or dvd (whatever you use to tune in the signal) has the dual option, you can change things to english as long as they are being broadcast in dual.

getting a tdt tuner WILL not give you what you are after. for me it simply improved the quality of the image on tv as it is digital and not analogical but i still get the same channels in dual (tve1, tve2 and telemadrid) as i used to and no more.

quote:

how to you get that, and will it work on an old television set?

depends on the tv. your tv needs to have a "euroconector" (a.k.a. "scart") to be able to use a tdt tuner.

but, like i said, i am pretty sure that the tdt is NOT what you are after. you might want to try the telefónica "imagenio" service instead as some board members on this thread have confirmed that it gets american shows in enlish.

saludos,
jer...

TDT tuner offers one or two channels in OV (i.e. American shows) I watched the tail end of House the other day, but its pretty limited, you might get one or two shows in the evening.

Alternatively is Telefonica Imginica is the best alternative if you can't have Sky. Has enough shows in English to keep the wife very happy.

Unfortunately as some friends found out it is limited to certain areas and if yours is not one of those than your out of luck.

Hi Jer and Tim,

thanks for those detailed answers - Its coming clearer what I need now.

Looks like TDT could be useful to get some programs in english, but I am interested in the Telefonica Imagenio you mentioned. What is this - I presume its a service offered by telefonica, but can you let me know more about it - like do you dish a dish to get it, how much is it etc?

Thanks a mil,
Elaine.

Imagenio is an add-on service that comes with Telefónica ADSL or regular Telefónica phone service. You have to have a special modem (which you buy from them at a discount) and a decoder (which I think you rent from them).

They have different packages with different channels (and also video on demand). Here's the website:


telefónica imagenio

Telefónica has been calling me like crazy trying to get me to try this service. For some reason (I think it's all the rain) I'm tempted, even though I watch about two hours of TV a week (Okay, I'll confess, I've watched Operación Triunfo two weeks in a row--I need help)...

Imagenio isn't bad, the wife likes its, I miss sky mainly beucase I love documentaries and late night bravo (all those great sex type shows bravo carrys). Imagenio is great for American shows they have every thing we followed on Sky but crap for Discovery type channels only 3 in English and they repeat alot.

Also being Spanish its qiute flakey at times, usually my wifi cuts out in the latter evening. And the TV guide cut out for a week or so.

But like I said its English and that's all that matters.

Hi Tim / Mariposita,

I'm having a look at the Imagenio website and seems I can get the package for 37euros per month.

But, the basic package has 63 channels, and all seem to be in spanish! Is is just that some programmes are broadcast in english?

Thanks so much,
Elaine.

hey Elaine.

quote:

and all seem to be in spanish! Is is just that some programmes are broadcast in english?

yes, some of the channels broadcast in "dual" which means that if the show/film is from the u.s.a. or another country, the original language would be available as well as spanish. it will be in spanish as the default language but you can change it via the remote.

i do not have imagenio so it would take someone here who does (Tim Hortons Man, schwendy, ?) to confirm exactly which channels broadcast in dual (aside from the obvious ones like tve1, tve2 and telemadrid which do for everyone, whether you have imagenio or not).

saludos,
jer...

Ok, yes, I am an idiot-I have had imagenio for a year now and have been happy with it (much cheaper for a lot more than Canal Plus, from what I have researched) and I had NO IDEA that they had channels in English. I know on the movie channels where they are dubbed you can choose other languages but I had no idea you could do this with series, etc. I put it to the test tonight and found that, yes, you can. By just pushing the yellow button on the control, you could watch Season II of Grey's Anatomy tonight on Fox in English, for example or the Adams Family on Disney or Desperately Seeking Susan (why? why?) on another. There are a number of channels that show U.S. series and they appear to all have that ability. Also, if they were originally in French, for example, you could watch them in that. It looks like you can have it dubbed or original language. Other channels like Discovery and Biography, didn't seem to have that option. Obviously, this is not going to affect your average Spanish channel.

Now to the important stuff, WHEN is Operacion Triunfo on? I went to the official pages of both the show AND telecinco and despite TONS of multimedia crap, the clever marketers have neglected to mention WHEN it is on! Mariposita???????

quote:

WHEN is Operacion Triunfo on? I went to the official pages of both the show AND telecinco and despite TONS of multimedia crap, the clever marketers have neglected to mention WHEN it is on! Mariposita???????

Ha--typical. It's on Sunday nights on telecinco (10-1, I think). Primo veg out in front of the boob tube time.

Gosh-THREE HOURS of it-not sure I can take it, but will try! Thanks!

Well, the nice and insanely persistent Telefónica sales guy caught me at a really weak moment and convinced me to try Imagenio... After I said yes, it took about two business days to install it (probably went so quickly because I didn't really care one way or the other...). The guy came out today. Brought me a new wireless router. It needs to be next to the TV and the decoder. My vonage phone seems to still be working fine.

If you have the right antenna, then you can also get digital terrestre channels through the decoder, but I think most of these channels come with imagenio anyway. They reduced my DSL to 19.99 for the next to months and after the new year, if I keep it, it will cost 9 euros more than what I usually pay.

Of course, it's still TV. It's still mostly crap, but there does seem to be more random weird stuff on like campy old Spanish shows from the eighties and nineties.

quote:

I had NO IDEA that they had channels in English. I know on the movie channels where they are dubbed you can choose other languages but I had no idea you could do this with series, etc. I put it to the test tonight and found that, yes, you can. By just pushing the yellow button on the control

And how would you?--the "instructions" that come with Imagenio don't tell you what any of the options are or what any of the buttons do... I figured out the magic yellow button randomly while flipping around. Now if there were an American show worth watching...

I mean, can you believe that they still show Perfect Strangers and Growing Pains here? It's humiliating...

I'm actually quite happy with Imagenio they've added a bunch more movie channels and they run virtual DVDs. I dont' know the cost yet but it was nice being able to order a movie on demand and pausing and rewinding it. My only complaint is the wireless router is really flakey (very spanish) so I keep a LAN cable around just in case. They also been adding more and more channels usually with the English option (press yellow button) but not always. My only complaint is they have very limited documentary channels. And only 2 of the 4 are English.

TDT is slowly adding more options for English as well Madrid 1 now offers movies in English.

The gold standard is by far Sky Plus HD but you also pay for it, 300 for the box plus a hundred euros per month.

Generally speaking anywhere in Europe your only going to get American shows on TV.

I just wanted to thank this forum again and let everyone know who has posted information how helpful you have been.

My partner, Keith (papadesasha), and I moved to Madrid three weeks ago and have used this site to help us find many things and services.

Even posts going back several years are still very useful and helpful.

We will continue to research and find new things. We did use the site to go to the newer Ikea in Las Suertes. Wish we had read Mariposita's post about the Ikea bus transporting back and forth from the metro BEFORE we walked to and from

We got the Imagenio Internet, Phone and TV package. Just discovered the yellow conversion to OV button after reading a post. Hours of watching BBC and CNNi first. Now House, Desperate Housewifes and many more. Made our night when staying at home for awhile.

May be buying a latex mattress at El Palacio de Las Camas recommended by this site.

Thanks to Jer for the great SIM cards and US calling card. I highly recommend his services.

Just wanted to shout out some thanks!

Gary & Keith