[mayankk]

Joining the party a bit late, are we?
Unless this is some new tech on the STB, and I am obsolete. In that case, ignore the, er, ignorance.

Originally Posted by GTO

Tata Sky does a fantastic job. It usually starts recording 8 - 10 minutes before and after. There's ample reserve at both ends. Probably, 1 out of 50 movies, I miss the start or the end.

You can change this in the settings to add a buffer of 30-45 minutes to the beginning and the end


Yeah, it's very useful to record two movies at the same time too. Think it's call a 'dual channel' box or something.
If youre recording two movies simultaneously, you have to watch one of them. But you can record two, and watch a previously recorded piece at the same time.

The network dongle from TataSky also gives you the option of a bit of content that you can download directly on to the STB.

ALso, a lot TV's now have screen capture. My LG Smart allowed a USB drive to record whatever was on the screen

[ani_meher]

Originally Posted by mayankk

ALso, a lot TV's now have screen capture. My LG Smart allowed a USB drive to record whatever was on the screen

But for capturing the screen, the TV has to be ON, doesn't it? Also, can you schedule the program to record in advance? I think screen capture will be good only when we want to save something we are currently watching. In DTH recording, you can schedule the program and keep the TV off.

EDIT: Why are people so surprised about censoring?! Sure it is bit over the top, but not as if you have to see only start and end of the movie with rest of the movie replaced with a long BEEEEP. Only few of the scenes are deleted. In fact I can see any recorded movie with any audience without worry because I am sure there is no accidental violence or love scenes etc. For some movies where the editing takes the crux away, there are always other options.

[Dr.Suraj]

Originally Posted by GTO

• You can't watch / continue the movie on your laptop / smartphone (unless you get a TV Tuner card or Tata Sky's Transfer+ box).

Was not aware of this one!
They had mentioned that they have USB ports (2 of them) for such purposes but weren't sure if such a 'transfer' thing will be launched since there were some DRM and IPR issues. 1 of my USB slots in the STB is occupied by the WiFi dongle. Would love to know more about the Transfer box.
BTW - they do give TV on Mobile free to certain users. Check that out too.

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Just curious, does it record the commercials as well? Also, where is the recording saved? On the STB or any external media? D2H guys have been calling me for enos now to switch over to a USB enabled DTH box to record and save stuff. I have not taken up their offer yet.

It records it AS IS. Unlike the VCR days you don't need to specify the time. You just click on the NAME. It syncs the time automatically from inputs provided by the channel. It can record an entire TV series for you too. Just tell it once. What's better is it does NOT record re-runs. Really smart.
The thing I like even better is one can FF the ads.
There is a 1TB harddisk in the STB.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by GTO

Look up the movies listed in my opening posts. Which of them do you see on Netflix? At most, 10%.

You are correct. I verified this with my boss too, who just moved to India from the USA and he did confirm the same. I was trying to understand the business model for film distribution as we are in the business of making animated film.

[Jaggu]

Hot star phone app has movies now, recently saw a relatively new mallu hit over the app. I feel that is a great move, useful while travelling. Yes as long as you have a good data plan or wifi :P

[akshatmangal]

I am quite frequent user of Netflix paid content and i feel they have great series of sitcoms which we cannot find anywhere in India. Rather they even have exclusive Netflix content which is quite good. So for a person like me who just hates saas bahu saga, its a good change to watch and series randomly and enjoy it.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by GTO

What you'll like:


• Fast forward through all ads .

What you won't:

• You can't watch / continue the movie on your laptop / smartphone (unless you get a TV Tuner card or Tata Sky's Transfer+ box).

Originally Posted by dark.knight

... only problem is the advertisements
...
Indian channels have started to flog advertisements out of the movies to an unbearable extent, ... the software is developed to be intelligent enough to cut out ads then I'm 100% getting it at that time.

I do this with all the programs I love to watch (Top Gear, The New Inventors) and I always record them in the wee hours when there is less likelihood of an interruption (technical or otherwise). I am so far behind on the latest ads...


And the problem with the DTH recorders is that they store the content encrypted, so if the link is down when you start up the STB you cannot watch your recorded shows.

I'm thinking of resurrecting my VCR to store the content but realized that many of these channels send a "do not record" signal which the VCR obediently complies with.

Yes, this is a great way to watch good movies - and these days they arrive without too much delay.

Another tip: Get a recorder which has at least two tuners (DISHTV HD has just one, so it will switch to the one scheduled to record while you are watching something else and it will not allow you to change channels!!).

@dark.knight - There was a VCR that did just that!

[autoholic]

Tata sky hd+ box rocks in my bedroom as there is a rule of no saas-bahu dramas in my presence period. Now even wifey has started liking the rule coz now she can fast forward the ads on the recorded programs.

Originally Posted by GTO

Tata Sky does a fantastic job. It usually starts recording 8 - 10 minutes before and after. There's ample reserve at both ends. Probably, 1 out of 50 movies, I miss the start or the end.

Actually you can set how much earlier you want to start recording and how much later you want the recording to continue.

[rohan.xj]

Having done this comparison a few months ago, I believe that Apple TV has an amazing collection on itunes as well(mostly English with some Hindi and Punjabi movies as well). The price point is high at times but nothing compared to the cost of a movie show for a group of friends or family at a theatre. Moreover, one can stream the movies as per will, no need to store/record. All movies come with Dolby DTS sound (or better), subtitles, bookmarks and other basic hygiene factors.

Moreover, I prefer to watch good movies multiple no of times, which does not cost additional money on Apple tv. Release dates are in sync with the end of theater cycle which is pretty quick given average run time these days.

As far as Netflix is concerned, it is turning out to be a wise decision for watching TV series and documentaries. For instance, i was spared the trouble of downloading 13GB of House of Cards S5 because of Netlfix (at least 6.5 hours of download time)! Other gems such as Top Gear, Breaking Bad, How to Get away with Murder, Blacklist and Suits (not the latest season) are also readily available. its only a matter of time before we get access to the A grade movies as well (older A grade movies such as LOTR, Godfather etc are already available).

DTH clearly tips the VFM scales but random censoring and lack of offbeat movies/other language content (such as Korean, Japanese, French, etc) are big misses, which I doubt will be taken care of anytime soon.

[Pratzgh1]

A very good post. Though, I would never ever suggest this to anyone only because of the insane censorship which totally ruins a movie watching experience. I remember watching aliens vs predator on HBO and the movie just abruptly ended since the last fight was too violent for Indians!

[reverse_gear]

Originally Posted by GTO

For instance, on air last weekend were Inception, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Dark Knight, Up in the Air, Gravity, McFarland USA, American Sniper, Gravity etc.

Do me a favour - don't even try to watch the Indian TV sanitised version of movies like The Wolf of Wall Street. You may smash up your Tata Sky set top box in frustration.

I am not really sure why, but I am still on Hathway cable. As far as movies go, I am still hoping that Netflix will put up a half decent collection for India in some time, at which point I will take up a subscription.

[condor]

While at it, is there a legal way to download movies in their un-censored form ? Tata Sky etc would mean depending on their program schedule. Netflix, even if US, would be one-time watching.

The query is a lot about western movies that are not hit movies. So would like to be able to search / preview & then download.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Hot star phone app has movies now, recently saw a relatively new mallu hit over the app. I feel that is a great move, useful while travelling. Yes as long as you have a good data plan or wifi :P

I was on the fence about hotstar till they started advertising the "unspoiled" part. Specifically, watching Game of Thrones and other R-rated shows is such a pain on Indian TV because along with cutting off the offending parts, they cut off a chunk of plot development and dialogue! It came to a point that I did not understand the story of True Detective season 2, almost simulcast with the US but hacked to bits. It kills the viewing experience.

The "unspoiled" claims caught my attention on some radio show recently. Hotstar is Star's version of Netflix, using content that is beamed across their satellite TV network. They shot into prominence by beaming live cricket matches during some world cup or the other. I had ignored them earlier because of the bandwidth requirements and also, who wants to watch the same stuff that's available on TV on a small screen?

Recently got on an unlimited-bandwidth plan and, to my pleasant surprise, the online international content hosted on Hotstar is actually censorship-free! It costs 199/- a month (which I think is reasonable) and the first month is a free trial. What's more you only need a simple email id/password to login from ANY device (laptop browser, Android/iOS app, though for security reasons smartphone browsers do not support it). They have also restricted simultaneous viewing of different programs on different devices because they know how chindi we Indians are- can well imagine a group of friends buying one subscription and sharing it across all their phones!

You need to register for a premium membership on a computer (not a mobile device) and you need to have a credit card to make payments (debit card coming soon). Once you are registered, you can login from any smartphone using the app and watch movies and shows at your leisure. Or you can use a laptop/desktop browser. My own limited experience suggests that the smartphone (iPhone 5s) experience is wonderful. The laptop experience I found a bit choppy, though that may be because of laptop issues and nothing to do with Hotstar. Will try with a different laptop today.

@GTO- this could be a much better option for you than recording on Tata Sky. Though you can fast-forward through the adverts, the beeping out of body part names in a medical show or sherry/wine in cookery shows borders on the ridiculous! I skimmed through the Hotstar Premium website and these are some of the titles available:
TV shows: Game of Thrones, Banshee, Ballers, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Damien, Fresh Off the Boat, Homeland, Last Week Tonight (with John Oliver), The Newsroom, The Wire, True Detective, Veep and Vinyl, among several others.
Movies: Little Miss Sunshine, Speed (an old favourite rendered meaningless without the foul witticisms!), (500) Days of Summer, all the X-Men, transporter and Die-Hard movies, Wall Street, There's Something About Mary, Borat, etc. etc.
Do give it a shot!

[heydj]

+1 watching The Wolf Of Wall Street on Indian TV is completely useless or movie such as Used Cars shown on Sony Pix. Lots of differences between TV content and movie.

I personally stay away from English movies shown on Indian TV. For every F word there is a gap, explicit scenes cut out of the movie, and all the time smoking caution signs. To top it all sub titles every where. Spoils the whole fun of watching a movie.

Unfortunately apart from online way there is no possible option currently available to enjoy the movie the way it was directed.

In my room I used to have Dish TV. Few years back threw it away and instead just got high speed internet connected. Now whatever it may be news, tv, sports etc I watch it online.

Found this cool info-graphic showing number of titles available at Netflix country-wise. India is way towards the end.

http://www.businessinsider.in/This-c...w/53159779.cms

[Fillmore]

One area where TataSky HD recorder sucks is the retrieval of recorded events.

if you have recorded a series , and wish to retrieve the recording the scroll list just displays the Day and Time , No date.

So a long recorded series will have repeated values of Day + Time.