India Broadband Forum

krunal_jr

As all of us are aware by the launch of Airtel Dth in the dth industry, but I am a Big tv user so there is no choice to go for Airtel dth. However, new subscribes has many choices to choose from.

Here I want you guys to discuss their (Big tv and Airtel dth) different aspects. So it will help others to decide.

Let us start,
Both have Mpeg 4 technology…
reply

just4kix

BigTV and Airtel Digital do have MPEG4 but it is not going to translate to better picture quality. It only means an advantage to the providers as they can provide the same quality as MPEG2 in less bandwidth.

I will say that stay away from both for the moment. Let us hear about their service quality and then jump in.

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lllchikoolll

Correct me if am wrong... But I think Both BigTV and Airtel DigitalTV are HD ready which TATA Sky and Dish TV are not.... And soon HDTV would be a Standard as it is in the US.....

just4kix

Please do not start the topic of HD-Ready. That is a very big gimmick played. Do not fall for it. People really do not understand HD and that is the trick.

1. HD-TV has a long way to go before it can arrive in India. Give it at least 3 years.
2. HD-TV is not a standard in US as yet but soon may be.
3. It is not necessary for the STB and broadcast to be MPEG4 compliant for HD-TV transmission and reception. But yes. Because MPEG4 uses much better compression it will require much lesser bandwidth and hence will be less costly to deploy.
4. HD-TV channels are charged at a separate rate in US that are much higher than the normal SD-TV rates. The same may happen in India. How may middle class (and lower) people will be able to afford these rates?
5. To enjoy HD-TV, it will require full HD (1920x1080 progressive scan) TV. Such TV are available in LCD/Plasma and over 40" size. These TVs are still Rs. 75K or above. How many people are going to buy this kind of TV?
6. To enjoy full HD, it requires HDMI or DVI input/cables which none of the STBs provide. Component cables will provide 720p clarity which people are calling as HD-Ready.
   
7. And finally. Let us suppose that HD-TV arrives here in one year's time - highly unlikely but let us consider the hypothesis. And then let's us say all DTH providers turn to MPEG4. What is the cost to you?

• STB upgrade cost: Rs. 1000/~ Rs. 1200/-. This is a one-time cost.
• HD-TV subscription cost: my guess is at least 40% more so you will pay Rs. 5040 instead of Rs. 3600. A jump of Rs. 1440 every year.
• LCD HD-TV: Assuming prices drop, close to Rs. 50K. This is a one-time cost.

So if one analyzes carefully and to quote Shakespere, there is much ado (HD-Ready, etc.) about nothing (Rs. 1200/-).

tovarunvs

Airtel have very few Malayalam channels

kermitz

What I have seen form the ads is that both Big Tv and Tata sky have very similar looking STB's and remotes. This is not the same with Airtel.
I wonder what is extra special in their STB
reply.

just4kix

STB's are manufactured by certain companies (mostly Chinese) and sold to DTH providers as OEM. TataSky and BigTV may be sourcing from the same vendor and hence their STBs will look familiar. Do not look at the STB size, shape and compare.

kermitz

Yes, I justwanted to know the technical differences, if any. Like what kind of ports are there, is there any hdmi port or not.
does it have a harddisk for recording progs. etc etc.

cheers

pisces_m

What do you expect from a DTH service in India. Dont expect HDMI , even in many Expensive laptops its missing. High Definition DTH service will not come to india in near future also.

In BigTv Hard Disk STB is being offered at extra cost for recording purposes. Set Top Box also Features inbuilt Amplifier so you can connect the speakers also. But you will have to wait for this STB to hit the market, Or you can call customer care and they will give the details regrading it.

just4kix

Tch. Tch.

Do not blame Indian players like this. India is a price sensitive country. Even without the extra features like HD for recording, HDMI out, etc. the STB is costly. If you wish to compare CPE, then compare with what was offered in US/UK when DTH was introduced there.

aseemp

Though I may be wrong, I think most HD tv transmissions that exist in the USA/UK, etc are actually not 1080p, but closer to 720p. So anyway Full HD is not really required. In any case, 720p should be good enough specially if its on a 32incher which many/most people can afford (assuming they are willing to pay premium for STB, channels, which you have rightly pointed out).

just4kix

All HD transmissions in US are minimum 1080i, i.e., full HD (1920x1080), interlaced scan. Some have introduced 1080p also.

If you wish to buy LCD TV, please do not think in terms of small size or 720p (so called HD-ready). The reason:

- every LCD TV including 32" TV is widescreen (16:9) format
- all TV transmission is standard format (4:3)
- if you watch standard format on widescreen, the image gets stretched and everything will appear shorter and fatter.
- if you change the TV format to 4:3 while watching, you will get normal images but there will be black bars on the side. Hence you will loose a lot of viewing space and a 32" TV will be more like 25" viewing.
- true HD is 1080p and that is what you should aim for

So stick to 40" or higher. If you can't afford right now, wait and save. In any case the prices are bound to move south.

When you buy quality, you will cry once only.

krunal_jr

It may take 1-2 years when HD broadcast will impliment i Indian Trelevision.