[deepakhon]

Originally Posted by tarunmadhok

I was told that only Airtel has MPEG-4 (good picture quality and sound). No other Co has MPEG-4 till date.

If I remember correctly, BigTV also has MPEG-4. But, I am somehow not very confident of Reliance's services.

Thanks to reviews of Airtel DTH by members, especially dash, I have also gone in for that. Right now, I have gone for full package (3.5k). I will decide after 6 months what channels are important to me and will top up from base package accordingly.

Tomorrow is when Airtel is installing the set top box for me. I will certainly write a review after that.

[kb100]

IIRC Sun Direct is also Mpeg4

[tarunmadhok]

Originally Posted by kb100

IIRC Sun Direct is also Mpeg4

Sun TV maybe doing good in the south, but it is like a new entry for the north market. People dont know much about it here.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Please check this post: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1024637-post590.html

BTW, BigTV offer of Rs 2190 for all the channels is only for 1 year. After 1 year, expect a monthly bill of ~Rs.350 for the same package.

Thanks, the installation seemed to have happened in a jiffy. I checked their website, its damn confusing and i have a strong suspicion all the DTH companies are the same in terms of charging on the channels, there is no such thing as free channel now

I just wanted to confirm one thing, in the 1 year free package, are all the channels listed below by you is available?

[emkay456]

Sun TV 99 Rs plan announced in Mumbai too. Yesterday I got the pamphlet. As usual hidden inside was the Installation charges of Rs. 1000.

[StarScream]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Even i was wondering the same. No colors channel

@Msdivy, how was the experience of getting Reliance DTH installed? I am planning to move to the same package as currently with all damn add-ons i pay over Rs.350 per month for Tata Sky

Tata Sky has cleaned up its act - apparently they now have something called the Mega Pack - includes the super saver pack with all add-ons for 5k a year. I discovered thius while checking out the offer on the PVR. If you have super saver pack the PVR is 6k and with the Mega pack its 5k.

Originally Posted by deepakhon

If I remember correctly, BigTV also has MPEG-4. But, I am somehow not very confident of Reliance's services.

TataSky+ (the PVR service) is also MPEG4.


Note from the Team-BHP Support Staff : Please use the "edit" button if posting within 15 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post

Also use "Multi Quote" option for quoting Multiple posts.

[tarunmadhok]

Originally Posted by StarScream

TataSky+ (the PVR service) is also MPEG4.

I was told by a Tata sky sales person himself that Tatasky was not a MPEG4.

[anuragn]

Originally Posted by StarScream

TataSky+ (the PVR service) is also MPEG4.

Difficult to believe considerering all their normal STBs run on mp2.
I say this because these mp2 STBs cannot decode mp4, hence does it mean they will beam two different signals, one in mp2 and another in mp4 format, but both having same program content? Maybe the PVR STBs are mpeg4 compatible for future use.
And until Tata Sky replaces all their existing STBs with newer ones, they cannot migrate to Mpeg4.

[kb100]

Originally Posted by anuragn

And until Tata Sky replaces all their existing STBs with newer ones, they cannot migrate to Mpeg4.

Ooooh another money making opportunity?? However if this does come to pass it'll be very interesting to see how they'd handle it.

[bblost]

A tip for Big TV Users.
For channels available in more than one language like History or Pogo.
When viewing the channel, press i once
Then press ok with the focus on the current event.
It will display:
Change Language/ Sub Titles
View information.

Choose language and figure out the rest.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by kb100

Ooooh another money making opportunity?? However if this does come to pass it'll be very interesting to see how they'd handle it.

If they want to retain their "existing" customers they better replace the MPEG-3 box with a MPEG-4 box free of cost

[deepakhon]

As promised, this is the review of Airtel STB:

I had booked for the 9 am slot today. Since I had decided to work from home, I decided this timeframe. But, since I also had to take care of some other work, I requested them to change to some other time. Airtel STB guys came back saying that they will come down at 8:30. At about 8:25, they were promptly there. They took about 2 hours to connect everything and explain to me in detail about all the options on the STB. Overall, in my opinion, a very professional approach.

The video quality is good. In fact, I am now enjoying my favourite old hindi movie songs on World Space as I am typing this. It indeed is a good reason to work from home today

[carboy]

The Airtel DTH Website truly sucks.
They don't have a channel list for different packages anywhere.
Their channel list is in the form of icons which don't scroll - i.e. many
a times you can't see the entire list of icons.

How can a tech company make such a user unfriendly website?

Their website seems to have been made by people who wanted to
tick mark all kinds of technology experience on their resume rather
than making a usable one.

[StarScream]

Originally Posted by tarunmadhok

I was told by a Tata sky sales person himself that Tatasky was not a MPEG4.

He's right - the regular service is Mpeg2. I'm talking about TataSky+.

Originally Posted by anuragn

Difficult to believe considerering all their normal STBs run on mp2.
I say this because these mp2 STBs cannot decode mp4, hence does it mean they will beam two different signals, one in mp2 and another in mp4 format, but both having same program content? Maybe the PVR STBs are mpeg4 compatible for future use.
And until Tata Sky replaces all their existing STBs with newer ones, they cannot migrate to Mpeg4.

I'm as puzzled as you are. I don't think they have the transponder capacity to beam two different sets of signals.
But the PVR is Mpeg4 - read the second-last answer.
DTH ? Tata Sky DTH in India, Leading Satellite Television Provider in India, DTH services by Tata Sky, Direct-to-home, India

[Selective]

Originally Posted by StarScream

He's right - the regular service is Mpeg2. I'm talking about TataSky+.



I'm as puzzled as you are. I don't think they have the transponder capacity to beam two different sets of signals.
But the PVR is Mpeg4 - read the second-last answer.
DTH ? Tata Sky DTH in India, Leading Satellite Television Provider in India, DTH services by Tata Sky, Direct-to-home, India

My guess is, the PVR when it records, saves the data in MPEG-4 format as it has high compression ratio which takes less space to store which leads to store more content. And plays back MPEG-4 when you play the recorded content. But downstream is still MPEG-2! Does that makes sense?