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

[sgiitk]

Myw ife lover TataHD because of its lack of advts. At the end of a program they put in 'fillers'. Much more convenient to us.

[raghav.carfreak]

Just upgraded one of the SD boxes to Tata Sky HD, my only reaction is
isko laga diya to life jinga lala!
IPL on HD, simply loving it!
at 2599, i would say real VFM
just waiting for F1, and tennis to come out in HD now!

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by raghav.carfreak

and tennis to come out in HD now!

IIRC the grand slams are telecast in HD.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by raghav.carfreak

J
just waiting for F1, and tennis to come out in HD now!

Sorry mate. Even though F1 is broadcast only in HD, it is not so on TataSky. But then there is always hope.

[shankar.balan]

i want to do the same but do they take back the old non hd set top box? because while i can upgrade, I wont know what to do with the non hd box as I ve already got 2 boxes at home and dont require a third
and are nice channels like Discovery Turbo, Animal Planet and BBC entertainment and so on available on HD format?
any way I can get a list of HD Channels?
2599 is not bad, for higher quality signals and new technology.

any inputs would be welcome please
thanks

Originally Posted by raghav.carfreak

Just upgraded one of the SD boxes to Tata Sky HD, my only reaction is
isko laga diya to life jinga lala!
IPL on HD, simply loving it!
at 2599, i would say real VFM
just waiting for F1, and tennis to come out in HD now!

[sgiitk]

@shankar.balan they took my antique (one of the first in Kanpur) STB back for Rs.250 or Rs.500 (I do not remember which).

[shankar.balan]

so far these creepies in the bangalore electronic stores havent shown this kindness towards me when Ive asked them. Even one of my STB's is pretty antique - amongst the early TATA Sky STB's - bought in mid 2006 or so. I will investigate this a bit further now. cheers

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@shankar.balan they took my antique (one of the first in Kanpur) STB back for Rs.250 or Rs.500 (I do not remember which).

[sgiitk]

Let me add. the trade in came from TataSky in the form of a refund into my account.

[Ajaybiz]

Compared to HD HD+ is more value for money, just 1400 bucks extra and we are getting 500 GB HDD, recording and few other things which may get activated in future like USB and network interface.
I have put my 2 SD tata sky for sale in team bhp classified for half of the rate what tata is charging now.

[Mr.Bangalore]

Now all Airtel digital TV HD set top boxes are 3D ready!

Source: https://www.facebook.com/notes/airte...15961271749231

Now all Airtel digital TV HD set top boxes are 3D ready!

[shankar.balan]

thats perfectly fine by me too - I will be happy to take credit in the form of TV subscription charges anytime. Even if they give me a couple of months free viewing time Im fine. But someone needs to take away the old STB or it will sit there and rot.
one cannot give it away either because it cannot be transferred to someone elses name - this is what the helpline fellow said.

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Let me add. the trade in came from TataSky in the form of a refund into my account.

[omishra]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

one cannot give it away either because it cannot be transferred to someone elses name - this is what the helpline fellow said.

This is not true. There is no question of transfer to different name arise here and don't call CC with such a questions. They will be more confused than us.

I upgraded from TS+ to HD+. Smart cards (access cards) from old PVR & new HD-box were swapped. Now we have mismatch at the new HD-box due to old card. This was updated to TS database by engineer who called and told new box number. Old account continues with new box, even old parental lock password retained in new box (I think smart card stored that).

I learned from the engineer that new card in old box means, the person hold the box (and card) need to call CC for new installation and its new account anyway. Give it to anybody who will be charged for installation and further course.

[shankar.balan]

thanks Mr Mishra.

Yes - I went and bought a new Tata Sky Plus HD on Saturday morning.
Called the helpline and registered with them to enable HD GOLD which they did. Also asked them to send their engineers to fix it up.

Their engineers came over yesterday around noon. They simply disconnected the old STB and replaced it with the new one and did an initial download of the software etc. Our LCD is a HD Ready TV, not a FULL HD one, but the transition was seamless since there are plenty of HDMI ports on it.

They explained how the recording function works and so on. I was pleased to hear that the STB has 500 GB hard Disk space whose recordable capacity is 625 hours of programming! We were able to start watching the 7 HD channels immediately.

The best part about HD is the sheer quality of definition - especially watching Cricket, Discovery, National Geographic etc - it is in a sense, a "life changing" experience. Upgrading to HD TATA SKY PLUS was very well worth it, in my opinion.

Ref the old STB. I already had 2 of the old STB's. One which I had bought in 2006 sometime and another which I had bought around a year and a half back.

The original STB was my primary connection - so they've unhooked it and replaced it with the new HD PLUS STB which has now become my primary connection. My earlier Secondary connection continues to remain active.

The engineer said they could take back the box and I would get a credit of Rs 300 into my Tata Sky Account. However, he suggested I keep it and gift it away OR add it on to a third TV at home if and when I buy one.

They had pulled out the digicard from my old STB and plugged it into the new one. The Digicard which came with the new STB was placed into the old STB. He said that the old STB along with the new digicard, when activated, equates to activating it as a fresh connection - effectively it is a new connection and hence can be given away or transferred to anyone anywhere in India.

Originally Posted by omishra

I upgraded from TS+ to HD+. Smart cards (access cards) from old PVR & new HD-box were swapped. Now we have mismatch at the new HD-box due to old card. This was updated to TS database by engineer who called and told new box number. Old account continues with new box, even old parental lock password retained in new box (I think smart card stored that).

I learned from the engineer that new card in old box means, the person hold the box (and card) need to call CC for new installation and its new account anyway. Give it to anybody who will be charged for installation and further course.

[gopikb]

Shankar.balan, completely agree with you on the clarity of picture provided by high definition. Now with 7 full time HD channels offered by Tata-sky, we get used to the quality and when we switch to a normal SD channel the images morphed. These were the same channels which we had praised as DVD quality and never had complaints before.

HD is a completely different experience all the way. Even mine is a 720p HD ready TV with screen size of 37" only. The HD viewing experience offered even by this TV is remarkable. People who have 40" and more LCD TVs should definitely switch to HD set top boxes soon and trust us, you wont regret it.

[shankar.balan]

yes it is usually true that once you get used to a higher standard of quality you find it very difficult to settle for less.

Ours is a 4 year old 40 inch Samsung HD ready LCD - I dont know how many pixels but the HD STB is set to 1080 resolution and the result is absolutely fantastic. The normal channels, which I used to enjoy until yesterday morning are now seeming quite horrible in terms of the image quality!

Watching Channel 306 HD SET MAX for cricket for a minute and then moving to Channel 305 which is the Cricket in normal definition shows up a HUGE difference.

And the best thing is that there are no irritating advertsto ruin ones enjoyment!! I wonder how long this "ad free" world will continue on HD. I wonder is their revenue model independent of ads and is this a sustainable model? I would be guessing that the irritating ads will creep in to HD as well, sooner rather than later.

Originally Posted by gopikb

Shankar.balan, completely agree with you on the clarity of picture provided by high definition. Now with 7 full time HD channels offered by Tata-sky, we get used to the quality and when we switch to a normal SD channel the images morphed. These were the same channels which we had praised as DVD quality and never had complaints before.

HD is a completely different experience all the way. Even mine is a 720p HD ready TV with screen size of 37" only. The HD viewing experience offered even by this TV is remarkable. People who have 40" and more LCD TVs should definitely switch to HD set top boxes soon and trust us, you wont regret it.