Samsung TV Purchased in Greece

[Denis O]

I have decided to upgrade my TV to a larger Samsung Smart TV. I can buy it in the UK for £399 and ship it to Greece, at a cost, or buy it for €469 at the local Greek Dixons equivalent. Cheapest option therefore is buy local.

One of the reasons for the upgrade is catch-up TV and with Samsung I can get ITV player as part of the Smart TV package. So when I get the TV back home I'm guessing I set the VPN to UK and plug TV in and set everything up as though I'm in the UK.

Is that theory correct? I imagine the only difference from the UK TV and the Greek 1 is the plug. It makes no sense for Samsung to make different specs for different markets.

[bradders]

Speaking from direct experience, this does work, of sorts.

I had bought, on my behalf, a Samsung smart TV in Corfu Town this year. It went into the apartment below the main house, and plugged into a homeplug to get the internet feed down there.

The best service I found was to use unblock-us logged in via the router. This gave seamless access to Netflix, Skygo (via a laptop) etc, but not iPlayer from memory. The internet connection over there is dynamic, so every time the IP address changes you have to log back into the unblock-us site, and it corrects itself.

For iPlayer, a real VPN is needed, preferably embedded in the router, so all devices on the network are using it. Varying degrees of success with both routers and different VPN providers have seen it work on and off. The internet connection isn't all that quick out there, and the VPN services themselves are often flaky.

[Denis O]

Thanks fella's. Very useful info.

I am actually in Corfu and get internet from OTE. It's 24mb and as we are so close to the exchange we are actually getting 12.5mb; easily enough to watch live football without buffering or crappy picture. It's pin sharp via the laptop connected to the TV via HDMI lead. The problem is I'm getting lazy and can't be bothered to take the laptop from desk to TV to watch on the larger screen, hence the need for a Smart TV. Samsung is the chosen brand as they appear to be the only manufacturer that can get ITV player and I need my Corrie fix.

I use "Hide My Ass" which works perfectly and the internet comes through a Draytec router. Got rid of the OTE crap box as soon as. WiFi is very good and the Samsung I'm looking at has WiFi connectivity so I'm hoping all will work. Form what you are saying it's likely it will.

I can check in the shop if the set works in English and then, using the router connected to a UK ISP, should be able to work with all the UK Smart programmes including ITVplayer.

[bradders]

When the set was first plugged in, the apps etc were Greek only. It was only when used via a VPN or the unblock-us was on that the apps began to show UK connections. Not sure they will be able to show you the apps you need getting the correct feed in the shop.

Where abouts are you? My uncle (homeowner over there) is in Agios Martinos, in the hills above Achravi. Sure he'd be able to talk you through what he found. Also think the provider is OTE too - but being so remote, his connection is not the best at times. He also replaced the router - think he went Netgear in the end, but has tested a few others. He may be interested in your thoughts on Draytek too.

If you want to get in touch with him before you buy, let me know.

I suspect that the two of you are not the only ones in this boat over there, since the changes to the sky feed. For the main house he ended up going down the route of a new set top box for an Internet TV service, which seems to work well for BBC and ITV etc.

Edited by bradders on Saturday 11th October 14:47