The Corrie Connection...

So unless you live in a cave you must of heard by now that the so called “freeview” channels will be disappearing from the screens of expats in southern Spain. Yes we have heard it before and there was the big panic at Christmas in 2012 they came to nothing (although Ch5 and their related channels did become unavailable).

This time it is official and it is a matter of (short) time before we wake up one morning to find a blank screen where Susanna Reed and the BBC breakfast team once sat.

For some this will make little or no difference, the BBC news channel or other English speaking news broadcasts are available through the same satellite as the Spanish channels. Others are not that concerned with TV and / or can speak Spanish well enough for it not to upset their routine. But what about the rest of the expat community down here?

Let´s get things straight, Sky is not going to disappear Mr Murdock knows a good thing when he sees it . God know how many 100 of thousands of British living in Spain either full time or have second homes the demand for English speaking TV is high and people will pay.

But when I say Sky won´t disappear I refer to the channels you pay Mr Murdock a subscription for, so your Sky1, Sky Atlantic, Dave, the Movies and the Sports will all remain safe. The channels that will no longer be viewable are the ones considered Freeview in the UK, so the BBC´s, ITV´s and so on.

When will it all happen??

Well the satellite is moving into position as we speak check our post “Get ready for a change to the way we watch TV” to get the full picture. But the short answer is very soon......

Will you be ready?

There are a lot of companies offering services to fill the hole in your TV viewing that the BBC is going to leave and Future Lifestyle have looked at most of these to see how they stack up to each other.

We have been looking at each service and evaluating the following: -

• ·         Ease of use
• ·         Strain on your internet connection
• ·         Content
• ·         Extra features
• ·         Customer service
• ·         And of course price.

Fear not... we will not let you  miss out on Coronation Street or be left out of the loop of Celebrity Big Brother. We have put our name behind three different types of service that we believe will full fill everyone’s needs and budgets.

Call us today to find out what system suits you best or to book a site survey...
  
t: +34 952 830 936 
e: info@futurelifestyle.es

Let the (OLED TV) battle commence

LG has launched a 55in (140cm) OLED TV – so the battle begins for the next-generation of high-quality screens.

OLED which means organic light-emitting diode is more energy efficient than LCD (liquid crystal display) and plasma-based alternatives.

LG's model will go on sale in South Korea first with other markets, including Europe, to follow later this year.

LG and Samsung announced they would be producing OLEDs last year, but its LG that is first to the shops.

OLED screens were first showcased at last January's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but until now neither company had managed to get a product to market.

The 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels) OLED television will sell for 11 million won (€7,800). Analysts said the technology was unlikely to become more affordable until at least 2015 - but that this latest release was more about cementing LG's position as a market leader.

OLED screens have been touted as the successor to the popular liquid crystal displays (LCD).

The technology allows for the display of darker and deeper blacks, and can be made thinner than competing display methods.

Smaller OLED screens are already part of our everyday lives. Samsung uses the technology in its smartphones, and Sony's PlayStation Vita handheld console also utilises the thin, light technology.

The prediction of many is OLED screens will allow for the development of a new generation of "bendy" gadgets, some of which we may even see this year.

 So what is 4K and do I need it?

Another technology, known as 4K, has also been given a lot of attention from manufacturers.

Dubbed "Ultra HD", 4K offers 8 million pixels per frame - four times the resolution of 1080p high-definition displays - making it particularly well suited for extra large screens. 110in (279cm) models.

Existing 4K TV sets are LCD-based. But according to some purists, OLED offers a richer quality display so might be the better option for 55in screens.

The CES show in Las Vegas will start shortly and this is where a lot of the big boys set out their stool for the year. Unfortunately Future Lifestyle are not attending this year (dam and blast!!....). But we will be bringing you the best bits and the things that we believe will make it into our lives in the coming years.

And Breathe...

Well it looks as if Santa has come early for the ex-pats of Southern Spain with news that the proposed transition of the BBC and Freeview channels onto the new UK spot beam has hit problem. This is not to say that it won´t happen in the future, dates in March are now being bandied about, but for now Eastenders is safe.

The reason for this has been given as a faulty transponder, but this will not be the end of the matter and the satellite signal will eventually find its new home. There has been a kind of official word on the BBCblog, they even acknowledge the non UK views, but I am afraid not with good news.

So what are we to do? Future Lifestyle will continue to test various systems to find the best way to continue to get UK programming. We believe that this is a good thing the delay will enable people within the industry to find a good, reliable solution. We have been approached by several suppliers of IP solutions in the past couple of weeks. Some are viable solutions, some were chancers hoping to cash in on the hysteria of the people (how very Costa del Sol).  This rest bite will hopefully make the opportunists get bored and move on allowing us to do our jobs.

Another upside to the delay is that members of the team had notice an increase in Christmas party invitations in the last week or so, something we believe was linked directly to the impending changes. What better way to try and get the best deal than ply us with drink and mince pies!

So for now panic over, but rest assured that we will be working behind the scenes to make sure that when the transition happens (and it will happen) it is smooth and as painless as possible.

  

To keep up to date with this and other goings on of Future Lifestyle why not ´like´ our Facebook page (facebook.com/FutureLifestyleSpain) or follow us on Twitter (@FL_Spain)

Marbella to get going!!

Rumour has it that the long awaited upgrade to the Telefonica infrastructure is finally being implemented. 

A conversation with a Telefonica engineer last week on site revealed that they have started laying fibre optic cable from the top end of the Golden Mile (the Banus end) and are heading east. This is believed to be able to produce speeds of up to 100Mb!! For those unfortunate souls that are unable to get this new wonder cable don´t despair you are not forgotten.  New VDSL lines over copper cable will up your speeds to around 30Mb.

100mb internet speeds to hit Marbella!!

With current speeds ranging between 3 & 10mb (or part of more like) we were due a upgrade of some description to cope with demand for ever hungry bandwidth applications.

No official word as yet of when we will get this new (long overdue) service, but we will endeavour to keep you posted. Make sure you “like” our Facebook page to get the latest news about this and over tech and home entertainment news.