Can I use my digital freeview box abroad and receive English channals?
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV No. You cannot receive signals from UK Freeview transmitters abroad. You box will be able to receive local "DVB-T" transmittions, if there are any.
You can use satellite equipment pointing at the Astra 2D satellite from some European countries however to get around 100 UK free-to-air channels.
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Saturday, 4 February 2012
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ukbg2:17 PM
I hear that Bulgaria are switching from analogue to digital. If I purchase a freeview box in UK, will it be able to receive local channels in my apartment in Bulgaria? Or should I purchase a digital box in Bulgaria?
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Monday, 6 February 2012
ukbg: Yes, a UK Freeview box will work in Bulgaria, as the system is the same.
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ukbg11:06 AM
Thanks Briantist. Does anyone know if Bulgaria will obtain their digital TV from a satellite dish like we do with freesat or through an ariel like we do with freeview?
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Helen12:10 PM
Hi
I'm in the north of Rome, will I be able to pick up Sky here on a UK card? And do you know what size dish I would need? Thanks
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Mike Dimmick6:16 PM
ukbg: Bulgaria hasn't yet launched digital terrestrial TV - the European Commission objected to the original award of licences because Austria's ORS was excluded, being owned by Austria's state broadcaster ORF. They now plan to launch in 2014.
Bulgaria makes DTT move | Broadband TV News
It's likely that the receiver specification will be the 'E-Book', IEC 62216, rather than the UK's 'D-Book' written by the Digital TV Group. This might cause some incompatible behaviour. It's unlikely that interactive content would work, as the 'UK Profile' of MHEG-5 is unique to the UK and Ireland.
For satellite, the Bulgarian channels appear to be on three different satellite clusters depending on the service operator. The main channels BNT 1 and BNT 2 are encrypted on all three, Satellite BG, Bulsatcomm and Vivacom and using different encryption systems to the UK (well, Vivacom are using VideoGuard, which is Sky's system, but you'd still need to get a card from Vivacom and the EPG may well download from a different place).
To pick up UK PSB channels you'd need a very large dish pointed at 28.2°E - far away from any of the Bulgarian services - as the free-to-air channels use transmitting dishes with a footprint designed to only cover the British Isles, at least at decent power/small dish size.
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Gary O'Connor8:59 PM
Hi, I'm going on holiday to France in the summer and would like to have the choice of watching UK TV while I'm there; can someone advise of a cost effective way of recieving free to air digital TV? I've looked at the portable dish kits but I suspect the dish is too small (~40cm). Help! Thank you.
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Tuesday, 7 February 2012
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Geoff5:37 PM
I am NOT an expert but we have a mobile home near Pont Aven, Brittany.
For areas like Normandy, Brittany then a standard (Sky size) dish will be ok. The further you go south the larger the dish. Freesat or Sky box (with a TV of course) works fine. What luck you would have with a portable dish I cannot say. I am sure others on here will know far better than me.
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ukbg: There's also more at DVB - Digital Video Broadcasting - Bulgaria .
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Wednesday, 8 February 2012
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BullyBriar83:16 PM
I have a small house in central Brittany in France . I would like to take my old sky box ( not hd) out and try to get UK programmes. Is it just a case of fitxing up a sat dish and away we go , or is it more complex . Please make the answer simple , as I'm a muppet as far as technology is concerned.
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Les Nicol
5:06 PM
5:06 PM
BullyBriar8 - UK satellite TV reception in central Brittany should be possible with either a SKY freesat or FTA (free to air) receiver and suitable and correctly installed satellite reception dish. Given your acknowledged position as far as Technology is concerned, you would be best to get a local installer to set this up for you. There are some ex-pat fitters that also may be in the area that could advise/install and you could also check this out.
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