FREE UK TV IN SPAIN

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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

Casscat wrote:The issue I have with FilmOn is really mainly one of picture quality. On my TV at the finca it's fine because it's a big room and when viewing TV you sit quite some distance from it (and therefore don't notice how rubbish the picture quality is) but in my apartment you are much closer to the screen and the poor quality really does reveal itself. If I stream live TV directly from the source then it's perfect, but the FilmOn interface really does impact quality quite significantly. I signed up for HD at one point but it made no difference at all so they cancelled my contract.
I would agree the quality is not good. I considered it watchable and OK for someone on holiday who couldn't survive without their own national TV but I would hate to have to use the service as my main TV source. The larger the TV the worse it will appear.
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

Yep. My guests get the 'good' version and I get the crappy one! :D I brought my TVs over from the UK and they are 42" screens (possibly 46") I think. If anything the finca could cope with something bigger, but the apartment living room is not that wide so I am sitting about 8ft from the screen. No wonder I don't watch much TV these days!
costa-brava
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Post by costa-brava »

I find the best way for Filmon (with windows and flash) is to download their player http://www.filmon.com/download#win
I started off with an old tower behind the telly and then my son got me a little box PX that is really neat. I have to switch on the TV then physically switch the button on the box then login with a wifi keyboard. It's a bit cumbersome to get started but we get all channels no problem. Our screen is modest so the image on the standard free version is excellent. Eggheads is good and we can read the answer options sitting on the sofa. Pointless is not so easy because they don't hold the options on the screen very long.
My wife is an Eastenders addict and being Scottish we like River City every Tuesday.
We're not big on sport but I watched the story of England's world cup win the other night and enjoyed it. Also enjoying all the David Attenborough stuff that's on for his 90th.
Given that it costs us diddly squat I think it's superb.
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

costa-brava wrote: I have to switch on the TV then physically switch the button on the box then login with a wifi keyboard. It's a bit cumbersome to get started
It's a mini PC? Ask your son to put a startup script on there so it goes straight to your media software.
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

I have the FilmOn app on my iPad Mini, but I still have to get off my arse and change channels manually so it's like 1975 in my house! :D
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Lets Go To Puglia
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Post by Lets Go To Puglia »

Casscat wrote:Yep. My guests get the 'good' version and I get the crappy one! :D I brought my TVs over from the UK and they are 42" screens (possibly 46") I think. If anything the finca could cope with something bigger, but the apartment living room is not that wide so I am sitting about 8ft from the screen. No wonder I don't watch much TV these days!
We get excellent picture quality on everything from a laptop to a 60" tv. On the large screen tv we have a Raspberry Pie which acts as a media server and has an add-on which runs FilmOn. Maybe that's why we get better picture quality than some of you are experiencing.

The whole setup works with standard tv remote control
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

Lets Go To Puglia wrote:On the large screen tv we have a Raspberry Pie which acts as a media server and has an add-on which runs FilmOn. Maybe that's why we get better picture quality than some of you are experiencing.
The Raspberry Pi is no different to channelling via another device such as an iPad - it's just a conduit to the FilmOn app. How far you are sitting from the TV screen will make a difference to your perception of how good or bad the image transmission is. Streaming directly from the TV station apps gives me a strong, crisp, high quality picture but the FilmOn transmission is poor by comparison.
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

Casscat wrote:
Lets Go To Puglia wrote:On the large screen tv we have a Raspberry Pie which acts as a media server and has an add-on which runs FilmOn. Maybe that's why we get better picture quality than some of you are experiencing.
The Raspberry Pi is no different to channelling via another device such as an iPad - it's just a conduit to the FilmOn app. How far you are sitting from the TV screen will make a difference to your perception of how good or bad the image transmission is. Streaming directly from the TV station apps gives me a strong, crisp, high quality picture but the FilmOn transmission is poor by comparison.
I read the streaming rate can differ between devices. For web browsers and Android it's only 500kb/s which is very poor. For iOS it's actually higher at 1100kb/s and their HD is (or was) 1200kb/s which is still not great. Why such differences is a mystery.

Therefore on an iPad you should be getting the best quality you can for a device. Look anywhere online and you'll see all reviews complain about the low quality, even when you pay for it.
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joddle
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Post by joddle »

When you use something and its for free I don't think you are in much of a position to complain about it! I am lucky to have sat reception in Valencia but we do use Filmon as well to get Dave and a few other channels not available on Freesat. Using W10 I find the app delivers some pretty good results as does the normal browser based programme.

We also often use the free recording to capture things we may otherwise miss so all in all consider it pretty good. I have never really seen the picture so bad as to be unwatchable and compared with old analogue tv of just a few years ago is pretty good.

On a Windows tablet and on an Ipad the reception is near perfect. On Android it does seem to suffer a bit but not to make it unwatchable. Using HDMI to the 42" HD tv the picture is still decent enough for most things. My only worry is will it last? - or like recent blockings of Putlocker etc, will it too become a victim of broadcasting "censorship"?
I don't profess to own anything here apart from my own opinion.
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

Maybe if the EU referendum goes the right way we can lobby for freedom of movement between TV broadcasting! I get that the BBC will still argue the licence fee thing, but even the commercial channels cannot air in the rest of the EU and that makes no sense to me.
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