Thread: BIG TV launches India’s first HD DVR service @ Rs 7490

Reliance BIG TV, the DTH home entertainment service from Reliance Communications, as part of its business strategy announced a path breaking, first-of-its-kind technological innovation that will redefine the DTH landscape in the country.

Today, Reliance Big TV commences the roll-out of India’s first High Definition set-top box with Digital PM ME ONLY TV Recording capabilities. Reliance Big TV is rolling out its HD DVR set-top box across top 100 cities in India and will be supported by India’s largest distribution infrastructure of a home entertainment service covering 6500 towns with a network reach of over 100,000 retail points.

Commenting at the launch of Reliance Big TV HD DVR, Mr. Sanjay Behl, CEO, Reliance Big TV said, “"This is India's first product with a dual benefit of High Definition viewing and Digital Video Recorder in a single Set Top Box. Further, Reliance BIG TV is the only service provider to offer recording capability upwards of 200 hours and a universal remote control which can manage upto 3 devices. This launch is part of Reliance Big TV’s relentless pursuit of quality and profitable growth by blending best in technology, content experience, reach and service to bring world-class entertainment experience to our customers"

The high definition feature of Reliance Big TV HD DVR offers five times clearer & sharper image quality with two million pixel resolution and digital surround sound effect. The digital video recording capabilities offer features like pause, play and rewind PM ME ONLY TV, record PM ME ONLY TV to allow you to record a program while watching another channel.

The competitive advantage of Reliance Big TV HD DVR is its capability to record up to 200 hours of video programming, offering double the recording capacity compared to the competitive products in the market. Reliance HD DVR signifies that the consumer shift from standard definition (SD) to High Definition (HD) is well underway. Reliance Big TV’s HD DVR service aims to revolutionize TV viewing by offering to consumers the dual benefit of High Definition video and advanced digital video recording features.

Reliance Big TV is also offering a 3-in-1 Universal Remote to enable its subscribers to the advantage of using single remote to control three devices namely, the TV, Set-Top Box and any other music/ disc player system.

Reliance Big TV is the first Indian DTH operator to offer a HD DVR set top box with a Universal Remote.

Reliance Big TV HD DVR set top box is priced at Rs. 7490/- making it the most competitive offering in the market.

In the non-south market, Reliance Big TV is launching the entry offer at Rs. 7990/- bundled with three months of Diamond Pack. In the southern market the entry offer is priced at Rs. 7,790/- bundled with five months of value pack with a full bouquet of sports channels. For existing Reliance Big TV customers the company is offering an upgrade option from SD to HD DVR at an exceptional price of Rs. 5,990/-.

As a part of its HD launch, Reliance Big TV has signed a HD content deal with National Geographic to offer its HD channels in India. Reliance Big TV as a part of its HD launch will offer the HD channels complementary through entry offers to all new customers. Over the next two months Reliance Big TV will launch five new HD channels and a host of HD content by forging strategic alliances with top global HD content providers.

Reliance Big TV will launch its HD DVR marketing campaign across top 100 cities as part of the launch phase. It will comprise of an aggressive multimedia campaign across television, print, digital, social, retail media and BTL mediums. The company plans to spend over Rs. 100 Cr. as part of its launch campaign.

As a part of its strategic business plans, the company is adding two new transponders that will allow Reliance Big TV additional bandwidth to offer more HD content and channels for the next one year as well as increase it overall channel capacity to over 300. The company also plans to launch six new interactive services during this fiscal.

About Reliance BIG TV DTH: A wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications, India’s largest integrated telecom service provider, offers India’s first fully Digital Home Entertainment Service using MPEG-4 platform, under BIG TV DTH brand. The world’s most advanced MPEG4 DTH technology platform enables BIG TV DTH to offer over 200 TV, Cinema and Audio channels, the highest by any other DTH operator in the country. With 32 exclusive movie channels in English, Hindi and Regional languages, BIG TV DTH offers a choice of 600 new movies every year, unmatched by any DTH or cable operator in the country.

The country’s largest on-ground infrastructure for a Home Entertainment created by Reliance BIG TV DTH would enable the company to serve over 5 million new customers every year and will offer multiple price points and packaging offers to suit needs of all customer segments. The state-of-the-art Customer Service mechanism is fully functional and ready to serve a minimum of 50,000 customers every day in 11 Indian languages. Available at launch at 1-lakh retail outlets across 6500 towns, over 2000 exclusive Reliance branded stores, BIG TV DTH is the largest retail rollout of a Home Entertainment Service in India. BIG TV DTH Toll Free Number: 1-800-200-9001; SMS BIGTV to 55454.

Isn't this a big joke:

Commenting at the launch of Reliance Big TV HD DVR, Mr. Sanjay Behl, CEO, Reliance Big TV said, “"This is India's first product with a dual benefit of High Definition viewing and Digital Video Recorder in a single Set Top Box. Further, Reliance BIG TV is the only service provider to offer recording capability upwards of 200 hours and a universal remote control which can manage upto 3 devices. This launch is part of Reliance Big TV’s relentless pursuit of quality and profitable growth by blending best in technology, content experience, reach and service to bring world-class entertainment experience to our customers"

There is no official site providing information about its features and is it incorporated in the base box? does it have more than 160GB capacity as it offers recording capability upwards of 200 hours?

Originally Posted by alokmis

There is no official site providing information about its features and is it incorporated in the base box? does it have more than 160GB capacity as it offers recording capability upwards of 200 hours?

The blu-ray's that I have, have the main movie content (1080p HD video, 7.1 channel HD sound) that occupies nearly 40~45 GB. The movie is typically 100 mins.

OK. So there are multiple audio channels (DD 5.1 or less). Take away about 1 GB for that. Still this equates to roughly 400 MB per minute.

So to record 200 minutes of HD, the HDD must be 80GB or more. This is not a problem.

Points to note are that the modern BDs are recorded in AVCHD or MPEG4/H264 codecs which can really compress video/audio. No idea about the recording format of these DVRs.

Airtel base box is not HD ready is BIG TV'z STB HD ready?

Theres no official conformation...........??? but SUN DTH is HD......ready.

Even taking into consideration the ones who are about to launch HD can provide much better cost that will benefit customer as it is there are few channels in HD.

Please find attached the Big TV's brochure.

A word of caution to all - all Hindi channels are expected to be upscaled content and not real HD.

@ J4K - does this apply to all DTH providers who provide HD Hindi Channels?

If so then why is it advertised that Hindi channels like Zee TV will be in HD?

I have friends on another forum that have Sun DTH HD service. All of them are saying that "Colors HD" is not true HD. And they are much more experts at video/audio than me. That is the reason why I am making this statement.

If a broadcast is received in 1920x1080, it is classified as HD because TRAI has not made any specific guidelines. Providers are taking advantage of this loophole.

Now, I am not saying that Zee will also fool people in the same way; indeed they may show real HD content. But possibility exists that the content could be upscaled - at least for some time.

So my advice is - wait and watch.

This applies to all providers.

Yeah I agree,

I have also read in many blogs that the Zee TV and Zee cinema will be upgraded and the ESPN will not be available as HD channels but Dish TV has got the exclusive rights to play just the event...

Originally Posted by karthick

Yeah I agree,

I have also read in many blogs that the Zee TV and Zee cinema will be upgraded and the ESPN will not be available as HD channels but Dish TV has got the exclusive rights to play just the event...

Well Dishtv is Giving you FIFA world cup LIVE in true HD format which has been telecasted by ESPN.

Also Zee tv HD and Zee Cinema HD is available on dishtv in 1080i format.

Originally Posted by neo001

Well Dishtv is Giving you FIFA world cup LIVE in true HD format which has been telecasted by ESPN.

Also Zee tv HD and Zee Cinema HD is available on dishtv in 1080i format.

Do you have any link which claims that Zee TV HD and Zee Cinema HD are not upscaled but they have 1080i format....

Originally Posted by neo001

Well Dishtv is Giving you FIFA world cup LIVE in true HD format which has been telecasted by ESPN.

Also Zee tv HD and Zee Cinema HD is available on dishtv in 1080i format.

It's true!
But what about reliance big tv?
Are they also supporting the 1080 p??as the others are also supporting it!!

Originally Posted by Kadamba

It's true!
But what about reliance big tv?
Are they also supporting the 1080 p??as the others are also supporting it!!

it would be 1080i (interlaced)...

HD is supposed to have 1080i or 1080 p, I guess, NGC and Discovery are HD...

All HD channels will be 1080i.

Originally Posted by just4kix

All HD channels will be 1080i.

The change mentioned here of all the channels will be 1088i is most awaited

Originally Posted by Kadamba

The change mentioned here of all the channels will be 1088i is most awaited

Not 1088i - it is 1080i. Assume a typo mistake.

I am still not sure about real HD vs. upscaled content with regards to Hindi HD channels.

Originally Posted by just4kix

Not 1088i - it is 1080i. Assume a typo mistake.

I am still not sure about real HD vs. upscaled content with regards to Hindi HD channels.

Its good that Bollywood movies are being shown in HD they should also provide Hollywood movies in HD.

All providers claiming to provide Hindi HD are broadcasting all hindi channels - be it serials or movies - as upscaled content. That is not true high definition.

Note that hardware upscalers are available that can convert the SD signal (640x480 in 4:3 format) to High Definition (1920 x 1080 in 16:9 format). Broadcasters are using such devices to upconvert and claim to show high def content.

It is very easy to spot such anamolies:

- Just because the picture frame contains so and so pixels does not make it SD, ED or HD
- upscaled content will always show artifcats while true HD will be crisp and crystal clear
- just equate this to digital zoom of a still picture - upscaling will not be as bad but you can still make out
- compare the true HD picture (ESPN, Discovery, NatGeo, etc.) with the upscaled content and you will immedaitely spot the difference
- if you have blu-ray at home then even better - blu-ray is epitome of Full HD quality

arent these guys cheating customers u must be probably refering to dish tru hd because they provide hd zee tv

Originally Posted by vinit

arent these guys cheating customers u must be probably refering to dish tru hd because they provide hd zee tv

I am not refering to just DishTV HD. Read the first line.

Yes. It is cheating in a way. But you are also getting real HD channels also.

Soon space capacity will tend to be a problem to all dth as HD with DVR is going to consume a lot of space.

How many HD channels does Big TV HD DVR have? If I am not wrong its only Nat GEO HD and the recently added DD HD. Now it has been around three months post launch but they haven’t added any more channels yet, most of the competitors across dth are competing by providing more content in HD. It will be hard to survive if Big TV does not put effort in adding channels.