Direct-To-Home television in India. Update DTH HD announced

[LonelyPlanet]

Airtel seems to have upgraded the STB software recently. The UI seems much better and there is an improvement in sound quality as well ...

[Soccerfan]

Yes I think. When i switched on last sunday it showed "updating..." for sometime . UI feels fsater now

[vijayk]

I am too planning to switch from cable to DTH HD for my LCD TV (1080p). I expect the following:

* The STB should provide digital optical out as my Onkyo receiver will take only optical/coaxial as input for audio.
* In my current cable, some of the channels are coming in regional languages (like Discovery, History and NGC in Tamil). Can I get the same in HD channels? or all HD channels I listed are only English?
* By reading the reviews, TS is good but now a days it is pricey. Airtel is also OK but I am worried of getting irritation with non-water marked Airtel logo during watching channels. How about Videocon?
* I expect good PQ and SQ (especially I want 5.1 from HD channels).

Please suggest a good DTH service.

[aargee]

Question to all Airtel DTH users...

Has anyone tried recording programs using the feature of recording using Mobile Phone?

On my Samsung Monte, I was able to install application, but wouldn't record stating I don't have HD recorder (I do have HD DVR as I'm receiving HD channels & recording TV programs)

On my Xperia U, there's a .JAD file that gets downloaded & the entire .JAD file is displayed as text, not sure if installing Java would get through this issue.

Any help on this is appreciated. Tks

Source - airtel digital TV [HD] recorder

Edit - Yes, my mobile number is very much registered

[dadu]

Originally Posted by vijayk

I am too planning to switch from cable to DTH HD for my LCD TV (1080p). I expect the following:

* The STB should provide digital optical out as my Onkyo receiver will take only optical/coaxial as input for audio.
* In my current cable, some of the channels are coming in regional languages (like Discovery, History and NGC in Tamil). Can I get the same in HD channels? or all HD channels I listed are only English?
* By reading the reviews, TS is good but now a days it is pricey. Airtel is also OK but I am worried of getting irritation with non-water marked Airtel logo during watching channels. How about Videocon?
* I expect good PQ and SQ (especially I want 5.1 from HD channels).

Please suggest a good DTH service.

All HD broadcasts in India are 1080i.

* Airtel has Digital Optical out
* You can change the Audio to regional for some of the HD channels using the remote.
* Airtel has better pisture quality + good packaging, overall better.
* That should be there in HD channels, IIRC Airtel has max.

[audioholic]

I have an Airtel HD connection. I am reviving this thread to know whether in the current days, is there anything better than Airtel WRT pricing, customer service and value for money?

Currently, my Airtel DTH offers excellent PQ and SQ. No complaints regard to that. No signal outages or installation problems. However, their channel packages did not seem to impress me. Ala-carte is outright expensive. Most of the channels they offer in my package are useless. All I need is Kannada, HD, Sports and English news channels. Now I am nearly paying 360 bucks a month for these. Though it is not expensive, I wanted to cut down on the channels I did not want.

Issue number two is that their customer care executives are one of the worst I have ever seen. Either the calls are cut frequently, or there is a language problem, or they make me wait for more than half an hour. So planned to switch service providers after my dad got irritated for being made to wait 11 mins to answer what were the additional channels that was added recently.

Tata sky seems to be a bit expensive when it comes to installation. 6.5k for the installation. Apart from Tata sky, what are the other decent options?

[faustus77]

Audioholic
Hi
I switched from Videocon to Tatasky in March,as they did not have comedy central
Since the change, I have had nothing but problems.The HD box has been changed 5 times,the last being today 22/8.Let us see how long this works.
No complaint against their call center they are polite and good only thing it costs you money to talk to them.This is like adding insult to injury
I get SMSs that work order no. so and so has been issued.Unfortunately only a no is issued without any engineer coming to my place.The worst part was waiting for him to turn up and he didnt.Even when they came they saw ,accepted the problem and went away without doing anything.Twice the box worked for few minutes and conked off.For a few days I was not able to see anything.
Sad that they didnt have the courtesy of spending few paise to call and tell you that they couldnt come.
My table diary has more than 4 pages wherein I have jotted down the calls(time and date) and workorder nos and the live chat I have had their agent.
Their adline that their service is very good and quick is way off the mark.I will use the word pathetic with a capital P
Regards

[vineetmanghani]

Originally Posted by faustus77

Audioholic
Hi
I switched from Videocon to Tatasky in March,as they did not have comedy central
Since the change, I have had nothing but problems.The HD box has been changed 5 times,the last being today 22/8.Let us see how long this works.
No complaint against their call center they are polite and good only thing it costs you money to talk to them.This is like adding insult to injury
I get SMSs that work order no. so and so has been issued.Unfortunately only a no is issued without any engineer coming to my place.The worst part was waiting for him to turn up and he didnt.Even when they came they saw ,accepted the problem and went away without doing anything.Twice the box worked for few minutes and conked off.For a few days I was not able to see anything.
Sad that they didnt have the courtesy of spending few paise to call and tell you that they couldnt come.
My table diary has more than 4 pages wherein I have jotted down the calls(time and date) and workorder nos and the live chat I have had their agent.
Their adline that their service is very good and quick is way off the mark.I will use the word pathetic with a capital P
Regards

Try writing to them over their twitter feed. They are responsive and that got things done when I ran into problems with their engineer fixing up a time with me and not turning up at all. I even got calls from some "Manager level" folks asking if my issue had been resolved.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by faustus77

Audioholic
Hi
I switched from Videocon to Tatasky in March,as they did not have comedy central
Since the change, I have had nothing but problems.The HD box has been changed 5 times,the last being today 22/8.Let us see how long this works.
No complaint against their call center they are polite and good only thing it costs you money to talk to them.This is like adding insult to injury
I get SMSs that work order no. so and so has been issued.Unfortunately only a no is issued without any engineer coming to my place.The worst part was waiting for him to turn up and he didnt.Even when they came they saw ,accepted the problem and went away without doing anything.Twice the box worked for few minutes and conked off.For a few days I was not able to see anything.
Sad that they didnt have the courtesy of spending few paise to call and tell you that they couldnt come.

Airtel is better at least my STB has not conked even after two major electrical surges(it is protected but still) which blew up the entire panel board of the building. Servicewise, I have never called them here, except once for relocation of the LNB. They charged 500 odd for two components used to join cables. No receipt also. But apart from that, no other problems. In my building, another family has TS+, so let me enquire. The point is as you have mentioned, they are fast in cutting a deal with you but after sales is a thing of concern. Lets see how things work out. Yesterday, I spent three hours trying to change my plan with the call center people. Yet, it gave no fruit.

[desigNation]

i recently changed from tata sky to videocon dth ,the difference is, tata sky was offering only 8 hd channels where else videocon's providing 19 hd channels , for a much lesser amount , tata sky was offering only 4 malayalam channels ,videocon has 15. heard dish tv is got unlimited recording ,howz the service , rates and picture clarity? anybody please comment.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Currently, my Airtel DTH offers excellent PQ and SQ. No complaints regard to that. No signal outages or installation problems. However, their channel packages did not seem to impress me. Ala-carte is outright expensive. Most of the channels they offer in my package are useless. All I need is Kannada, HD, Sports and English news channels. Now I am nearly paying 360 bucks a month for these. Though it is not expensive, I wanted to cut down on the channels I did not want.

Issue number two is that their customer care executives are one of the worst I have ever seen. Either the calls are cut frequently, or there is a language problem, or they make me wait for more than half an hour. So planned to switch service providers after my dad got irritated for being made to wait 11 mins to answer what were the additional channels that was added recently.

Airtel customer service is very very bad. I have mentioned the same problem somewhere in this thread a while back. Apart from language issues, they do not even try to understand the problem at hand even if I take the trouble of speaking in their language of choice. I had a sensor issue in my stb, and despite me telling them that the issue was with the stb and not the remote, their engineer turns up with a new remote next day and then tells me that there is nothing wrong with the remote and the problem is with the stb. Then he tells me that he had got request to change remote, so he did not bring new stb. I had to wait for two more days for this fellow to bring a New stb. :X

I am on a plan similar to megapack on tatasky. Paying 550 per month and will get all channels (except 2) on airtel including newly added channels as well.

[k2max6]

I have been using Airtel DTH for the past 3 years and am pretty satisfied. Although i had a problem once with my DVR but it was changed after writing to the nodal officer.

I agree customer care is crap therefore i never call them . I simply mail them at digitaltv@in.airtel.com. I generally get a response within 24 hours and the people who call are quite knowledgable and take interest in understanding and resolving the problem..
Unless its urgent try the mail route and you'll stay happy.
I pay 590 pm for all channels including all HD channels as well.

As far as the overall experience is concerned almost all DTH operators are good, its just your luck that makes the experience.

I have also used TataSky for sometime and rate it almost equal. But now a days they place a big ad along with the channel change banner that looks bad . Moreover in case of power outage the stb resets the channel to their default ad channel.

All in all it won't be worth to switch from tata sky to airtel and vice versa IMO..

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by desigNation

i recently changed from tata sky to videocon dth ,the difference is, tata sky was offering only 8 hd channels where else videocon's providing 19 hd channels , for a much lesser amount , tata sky was offering only 4 malayalam channels ,videocon has 15.

Sorry wont be able to comment on your question since I dont have a recorder box. However how do you feel service of Videocon is compared to TataSky? Iam currently using Tata Sky and was thinking of an alternate due to high rental rates combined with HD channel count and lesser count of malayalam channels.
Also, is the connection you have in Calicut? If so do you come across frequent outages due to rain?

[desigNation]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Sorry wont be able to comment on your question since I dont have a recorder box. However how do you feel service of Videocon is compared to TataSky? Iam currently using Tata Sky and was thinking of an alternate due to high rental rates combined with HD channel count and lesser count of malayalam channels.
Also, is the connection you have in Calicut? If so do you come across frequent outages due to rain?

yes i am having the connection at calicut,heavy rains is a problem for i think all dth connection. service is almost the same, both are good, its the number of channels and the pricing that made me change to videocon.

[gopinathann]

I have Airtel HD and it is very good, customer care is good, though I see some issues mentioned in the forum. Now I have removed all the HD packages and moved to the basic South Super Value for Rs. 158 pm with tax, where I get the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada channels with ESPN, Star Sports, Star Cricket as free top up.