rajanmehta 4,056 Report post Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) So what should one do to enjoy good SD (till we get more HD content) ? Any upscaler or such gizmo would be useful ? Can that be connected to any of the STBs like Tata Sky etc. Currently, watching SD on HDTVs is actually worse than on old CRT TVs. Please advise. Actually no External Upscaler would do the Job. It will actually make the thing worse for this DTH SD Content.... Maximize and Highlight Bad SD Feed of DTH in all its gory Full HD Glory... The Culprit is varying degrees of high compression ratio deployed by DTH Operators to accomodate more channels in limited Satellite Bandwidth Available.. Not Mpeg2 or Mpeg4...That's a Standard... In simple terms if you can find out the DTH Operator having the maximum Satellite Transponder space available alongwith how many number of channels broadcast.... The one having the best Transponder space=Channel Ratio will be having the best SD Feed... Now based on this Dish TV and Reliance Big TV's SD Feed is considered better than others... Not considering Sun TV But since you are in Mumbai... Go for a Digital Set Top Box from your Local Cable Guy... Compression Rates are visually comparable to Standard DVD resolution... It beats any Satellite Dth SD Feed any day... Have been using since 4 Years... And have not found a better SD Feed from any of DTH Operator Compared to this... Edited March 9, 2011 by rajanmehta Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkaile 1,051 Report post Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) So what should one do to enjoy good SD (till we get more HD content) ? Any upscaler or such gizmo would be useful ? Can that be connected to any of the STBs like Tata Sky etc. Currently, watching SD on HDTVs is actually worse than on old CRT TVs. Please advise. Best would be to stick to good old crt's for a while for watching sd broadcast; no use investing in hdtv or hd setup if you watch just sd.... Edited March 9, 2011 by dkaile Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rohan_4ever20 8 Report post Posted March 9, 2011 Just have a little help needed from gurus, in Ludhiana i try for TATA Sky+, but dealers saying its been available last of March,Just want to confirm,if i buy outside ludhiana, will HD+ work,and can i buy online from any website, and wht i have to do for installation of HD+ here in Ludhiana, Waiting for response,thanks in advance Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkaile 1,051 Report post Posted March 9, 2011 It will work anywhere in India as long as you can get hold of the box; I dont think its available online; you will need to get it delivered at some metro city address (most likely delhi address) or purchase it from some dealer in delhi who has its stock and then dont get it installed at that delhi address but you can request for its installation at your home city; this is what I did and it worked... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Arun 795 Report post Posted March 9, 2011 I have seen someone saying that they did like that (purchased from a metro and tried to install in another city) but the technician in the other city was not trained to install Sky+ HD box and so couldn't get it to work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkaile 1,051 Report post Posted March 9, 2011 ^ It has same install procedure as any Tata Sky + box... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rohan_4ever20 8 Report post Posted March 9, 2011 Thanks Dhiraj bhai about it, so i will try to buy it from Delhi.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rajanmehta 4,056 Report post Posted March 9, 2011 Thanks Dhiraj bhai about it, so i will try to buy it from Delhi.... Tata Sky+ HD PVR अभी तो शादी का लड्डु जैसा है भाई - जो खाये वो भी पछताये ना खाये वो भी!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkaile 1,051 Report post Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) khane vala to koi pachta nahi raha yaar... its well worth it... like I said before, watching all world cup matches in hd and that too without advertisements is alone worth the price of 4K.... Edited March 10, 2011 by dkaile Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kesav 127 Report post Posted March 9, 2011 I cannot compare digital cable system against TATA Sky+ HD since I've never tasted that mode of delivery except for some rare occasions of hotel rooms in metros. There's a possibility that digital cable delivery might be superior than DTH platform but it's certainly not specific to TATA sky. My advice for the people living in Delhi and Mumbai is to go for IPTV which is far more superior platform than any other platform. I think Airtel and Reliance have their IPTV operations in those 2 cities. I can say for sure TATA Sky+ HD is far better than analog cable systems even for SD channels. Difference between viewing of SD channels from SD box and HD box exist with all DTH operators. It's illogical to compare one DTH operator's SD box against another DTH operator's HD box. If you want a better viewing experience of SD channels then go for component output from your box instead of HDMI output. + features (pause rewind forward record) work exactly in the way it's expected to do..... + features is something which we adore and use most compared to the rest due to different tastes between family members. Record feature ensures that our female members sleep early without missing their serials. The best part lies in forwarding the ads while watching recorded serials/movies. Record feature ensures that we don't miss late night movies. Certainly SD can be best viewed on analog TV(CRT) compared to any digital TV(LCD,LED,Plasma) for any delivery platform since there's need for scaling in digital TVs. This scaling is something which is to do with the box SW. It's where the difference comes. Some boxes will have better scaling than other boxes and hence different quality. IMHO, the quality of SD channels in TATA Sky+ HD is quite good and nice. TATA Sky HD+ works on Mpeg4 compression (more channels for same bandwidth) compared to TATA Sky Mpeg2 compression. In comparison with other Mpeg4 SD boxes(Reliance,Sun,Airtel,Videocon), it's not the best. I've not compared against other HD boxes till now. @Arun, as indicated by @dkaile installation is similar to TATA sky+ which was earlier available pan-India and hence all the technicians in non-metro towns should be aware of it. Get the delivery in metro address and install in non-metro address. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ami1 237 Report post Posted March 10, 2011 Anyone here has experience of IPTV - which services are available in Mumbai and which are good ? Even my brother swears by IPTV in Delhi. Says once you tried that you can never go back to anything else. No need to schedule your life according to any program time or miss the ones you want to see because they are at inconvenient time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MOBILE FAN 42 Report post Posted March 10, 2011 ..... The best part lies in forwarding the ads while watching recorded serials/movies. Record feature ensures that we don't miss late night movies. Certainly SD can be best viewed on analog TV(CRT) compared to any digital TV(LCD,LED,Plasma) .... Its a universal truth that SD is best viewed on analog TV. But, in this era of marketting, you can sell anything. People are buying LCD/LED/Plasmas with a big hole in the pocket for a substandard viewing experience. Because here what matters is prestige and not the viewing experience. Except for the last year's soccer world cup and this year's cricket world cup, what you find on HD channels are HBO, Discovery and National Geography. Not sure but may be Colors too. When the 95% of the channels are SD, when you are going to watch only SD channels 95% of your TV watching time, why to buy a TV which costs a mullah ? But you are right, the best part is recording. You can pause live tv, record any program and watch them anytime with forwarding all ads and save time. Effectively you are using DVR the most and not HD. I am having Airtel DVR for 7 months now. Believe me, DVR (any brand) is the best thing ever happened to us after Mobile Phones. You will never like to return to the live TV. Infact I dont remember, I have ever seen any live TV in last 7 months and never missed any of my favourite programs. Especially in Airtel, if you forgot to schedule a program and you remember when you are not at home, you can still record it using your mobile. I remember, I recorded my fav. programs from Manali when I was on seven days of vacation. The happiness receipe for now = Have all comfort of wathching TV (DVR) + Best viewing experience (CRT). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kesav 127 Report post Posted March 10, 2011 (edited) HD is the future of TV viewing. It's fast catching up with several channels. Below is the list of HD channels available in India. 1) NGC HD 2) Discovery HD 3) Star Plus HD 4) Colors HD 5) Sony HD 6) Sony Pix HD 7) Z Cafe HD 8) MTV HD 9) VH HD 10) ESPN HD 11) Star Cricket HD 12) TEN cricket HD 13) Doordarshan HD 14) Tamil Movies HD 15) Tamil Songs HD 16) Telugu movies HD 17) Telugu songs HD 18) Movies Now HD 19) HBO HD 20) UTV Action HD 21) UTV Movies HD 22) WB HD 23) Z Studio HD 24) AXN HD 25) TLC HD 26) Travel XP HD 27) Sony MAX HD 28) Star world HD 29) Star movies HD 30) Star Gold HD http://www.reliancedigitaltv.com/Add-on_Pack.pdf http://sundirect.in/HD/hd_pack_for_sundirect.html http://dishtv.in/a-la-carte-packs.aspx#High-Definition http://www.videocond2h.com/WSC/packages.aspx You can be rest assured this list is going to grow faster than you anticipate.... Edited April 15, 2011 by kesav Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kesav 127 Report post Posted March 10, 2011 (edited) Following the footsteps of Reliance and TATA Sky, Videocon becomes the 3rd DTH operator to launch HD DVR at Rs. 4390 in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Pune http://www.d2honline.com/buyonline.php :clap: :clap: Edited March 10, 2011 by kesav Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rajanmehta 4,056 Report post Posted March 10, 2011 Out of the 26 Channels listed.. Only the following are True HD.. NGC HD, Discovery HD, Movies Now HD... Discovery Travel XP HD.. TOTAL 4 Doordarshan HD.. Can't say for sure.. Rest all are Normal SD channels upscaled and marketed as HD Channels.... Anything goes in India...And People believe!!! ESPN and Star Cricket are broadcasting Only Cricket World Cup in HD... Once over it will be SD.. May be they will broadcast other event in HD... But they haven't converted as True HD Channels as of Now.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kesav 127 Report post Posted March 10, 2011 (edited) I think you've confused with upscaling needed for SD projection on Digital TVs against transmission(compression/decompression) of HD channels. There's nothing called upscaling SD to HD. If it's there then all channels will be upscaled instead of select channels. There's a possibility to loose bit of resolution due to higher compression applied by DTH operator but that's nothing to do with broadcaster who actually delivers the feed to DTH/IPTV operators in true HD form. Corollary:: IPTV operator can deliver same HD channels with much better resolution than DTH operators since bandwidth on copper(ADSL/VDSL)/fibre(FttH) is very high compared to transponders of DTH. I can say for sure that there's a vast difference between Star Plus HD and Star Plus. Edited March 10, 2011 by kesav Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkaile 1,051 Report post Posted March 11, 2011 (edited) @kesav - rajan is right in his comment; True HD means proper resolution picture not expanded one like we see in Star Plus HD; Star Plus HD is NOT true HD but an expanded sd one only... @rajan - kesav is right in his comment that we need to wake up to the fact the HD is in fact the future; and missing HD broadcast of the World Cup just because other channels are in sd is not worth it for a true technologist; We are not being charged anything exorbitant for us to have an excuse to miss the first hd broadcast on indian soil... watch it and you will realise the difference and the convenience... Edited March 11, 2011 by dkaile Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MOBILE FAN 42 Report post Posted March 11, 2011 @kesav - rajan is right in his comment; True HD means proper resolution picture not expanded one like we see in Star Plus HD; Star Plus HD is NOT true HD but an expanded sd one only... @rajan - kesav is right in his comment that we need to wake up to the fact the HD is in fact the future; and missing HD broadcast of the World Cup just because other channels are in sd is not worth it for a true technologist; We are not being charged anything exorbitant for us to have an excuse to miss the first hd broadcast on indian soil... watch it and you will realise the difference and the convenience... I agree. What you said is matter of choice and the willingness to spend a whole lot of money on an HD panel. It is now clear that only 4 channels are in True HD. I am still reiterating that 95% of your TV watching time, you are viewing SD (or Expanded SD). However, the cricket enthusiasts can still feel that they need to buy and LCD for the true HD experience because he doesnt want to miss the amazing quality. Yes, that is true. But along with that, he will have a pain of watchhing the 95% of the channels in a substandard resolution which will mar his normal TV watching experience. I am not against anything. I am just stating the current scenario, where most of the TV content is SD and most of the TV marketing is for HD. Its a total mismatch and the consumer is loosing money in this process or atleast he is not getting value for his money. I also agree that future is HD. There is no denial. But that future is not near. It will take years. The content developers are not ready for the immediate change. If you buy a Full HD panel today, I am sure, by the time you get most channels in HD, your TV technology will be old. Still the matter is of choice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkaile 1,051 Report post Posted March 11, 2011 ^ How can technology be old, when my more than 50% viewership is in high definition of blu-ray content etc.? and who's waiting for just hd on tv/cable broadcast when hd content is available all over the net? so its not matter of choice but need of the hour to switch to hd panel tv's IF you watch HD content other than just tv/cable broadcast... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kesav 127 Report post Posted March 13, 2011 Salil Kapoor, COO, Dish TV, asserted: "If you receive your feed in 1080i, then it is HD. High definition is defined by the reception of 1080i. We are getting feeds for all 30 channels in this format directly from the broadcasters." source :: http://www.hindustantimes.com/Firing-up-DTH/Article1-673059.aspx This is exactly where I'm pining at. The signal flow chain in DTH platform is Production-Broadcasters-DTH operators-Settop box- TV. The entire chain from production to consumption should support HD for real HD experience. For 7 channels (Disc HD,NGC HD,Travel XP HD,DD HD,Movies Now HD,Star Cricket HD& ESPN HD), the entire chain is HD. ps:: DD HD,Star Cricket HD & ESPN HD are event based channels For rest of the channels mentioned in the list, the signal flow from Broadcasters to TV is HD. Only missing link is production. What it means? All those channels in the list will have few of the serials/movies in HD to start with and the rest of the programs in upscaled SD. As and when their serial/movie producers start HD production, the percentage of HD content in those channels will increase and will reach 100% over the time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sgiitk 32 Report post Posted March 14, 2011 Had a lousy experience with TataSky. I have been with them since 2006 with a two box connection, and have praised their service till now. First for six months they kept on telling that HD was only in the metros. I was talking to a big TV dealer and he offered to help me out. Sure enough I was contacted by a STB vendor and a brand new sealed TataSky+ HD unit showed up with a Tata Installation chap. He installed the STB with a new dish (how is a 62cm dia dish much better than a 60 cm dish I do not know. A new 4-way LNB (two channels for the Plus and one for the old STB) was also installed. My old card was promptly commissioned and I was getting HD pics. This was about 5:00 pm. i was told that recording may take up to 72 hours to be enabled. To my surprise, at about 11:00pm that too started working. I went off to sleep. The next morning when I woke up the unit was dead as a dodo. I called up Tata helpliine, registered a complaint. The same chap who had installed it come, and found the unit was indeed dead. Stated it will take at least three days for a replacement. As it was Saturday effectively it meant five. I told him that better put in a an old type box so that I can use the T. He was reluctant, and ultimately pulled out a STB which was my old box. Got it going (again the STB and card have to be mated in the server). A couple of hours I found that the sports channels, BBC, CNN etc, were off. Then I checked up on the other unit. They were all on. I looked at the signal strength it was only about 60% on the other unit, and zero on the 'main' unit. I suspect the chap did not align the new dish properly. He had just looked at the signal quality (and not strength) on on one of the stronger channels and declared every thing Ok, without any tweaking. I had pointed out the need to check the alignment, but he did not bother. Obviously some training deficit here. Still waiting for this to be fixed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MOBILE FAN 42 Report post Posted March 14, 2011 Salil Kapoor, COO, Dish TV, asserted: "If you receive your feed in 1080i, then it is HD. High definition is defined by the reception of 1080i. We are getting feeds for all 30 channels in this format directly from the broadcasters." source :: http://www.hindustantimes.com/Firing-up-DTH/Article1-673059.aspx This is exactly where I'm pining at. The signal flow chain in DTH platform is Production-Broadcasters-DTH operators-Settop box- TV. The entire chain from production to consumption should support HD for real HD experience. For 7 channels (Disc HD,NGC HD,Travel XP HD,DD HD,Movies Now HD,Star Cricket HD& ESPN HD), the entire chain is HD. ps:: DD HD,Star Cricket HD & ESPN HD are event based channels For rest of the channels mentioned in the list, the signal flow from Broadcasters to TV is HD. Only missing link is production. What it means? All those channels in the list will have few of the serials/movies in HD to start with and the rest of the programs in upscaled SD. As and when their serial/movie producers start HD production, the percentage of HD content in those channels will increase and will reach 100% over the time. Thats really a good explanation. Thanks for taking time to research on that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkaile 1,051 Report post Posted March 14, 2011 What the dish tv guy is saying is just his sales bs... the fact of the matter is that until you have "content" in hd nothing is gonna change... so even if they broadcast sd content in hd, they will just be stretching the picture aspect and nothing else; so the fact will remain that Star Plus HD is NOT true HD but just a stretched image of sd.... they will need to broadcast content "shot" in hd like that is being broadcast in the world cup or on national geographic hd etc., for it to qualify as true hd broadcast... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
digitalnirvana 646 Report post Posted March 14, 2011 ^ Completely true. And one more thing I wanted to ask here, in other countries HD channels are priced higher compared to SD channels e.g. for Sky+ HD box is mostly used for viewing Sky Sports HD which has higher subsciption cost that Sky Sports. Is same happening here? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kesav 127 Report post Posted March 14, 2011 (edited) Source(producers) for sports channels and knowledge channels are very less. Most of the time it's self-production. Hence, it's very easy for them to have 100% HD content. Source(producers) for entertainment channels are too many. Broadcasters cannot force those producers to record in HD immediately. Hence 100% HD content on the start is not possible. It'll take some time. It'll change serial by serial, movie by movie. There is a need to built HD inventory for entertainment channels. But you must appreciate the broadcasters of the listed channels and Dish TV for making the pipe from broadcasters to TV as HD. This will ensure that broadcasters can push HD content program by program whenever it's available without requiring any change from anyone. Edited March 14, 2011 by kesav Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
