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-   -   Direct-To-Home television in India. Update DTH UHD (4K) now available (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/15881-direct-home-television-india-update-dth-uhd-4k-now-available-138.html)

Videocon D2H uses, can any one please comment on the quality of HD channels.

I have read on another forum that this is done just to inflate the charges. The cable costs money. They are splitting the signal at the sources which is as good as splitting the signal midway. If they really are particular about signal strength, then ideally they should use two LNBs on the single dish but then they cannot charge for this.

Anyway, I am still undecided about getting Tata Sky HD box or some other box. Fellow forum members, does it make sense to have two providers in one home? I am leaning towards D2h as the new box +annual pack is equal to Tata Skys annual pack.

I have 3 connections of DishTV and 3 dishes on my terrace and 3 wires running down. They provide a new dish anyway on a child connection, so why pay for a multiple LNB when the single one is free and they provide some 11M of cable free too (not that it is a big deal - just about 120-130 rs). Also the rooms are in different parts of the house and it is less messy to direct the cable from the terrace itself than to split it within the house. Atleast in my case.

I would suggest what I myself am planning to go in for - D2H.
TataSky has outlived its utility and is now going into litigation for not getting the promised transponder!
That means they will not be increasing their channels count and the number of HD channels for quite a while!

Been a D2H customer for 2 years now, and am very pleased with the quality.
So pleased, that I go for long term recharges now.
While installation, ensure the signal quality received from the dish is high.

Okay, now I get it. You were speaking from the perspective of independent home. Mine is an apartment. I wouldn't like to see many wires running across rooms to reach respective TV.

Thanks! the only grouse I might have with respect to D2H is their UI. I have seen it at my parents home and it is not at all intuitive. I have to go back and forth to get to a channel. Also, the channel change time was longer which was not very pleasant. Picture Quality wise (SD) did not find any difference.

Nothing new from my side, but when I looked at TataSky HD STB and the remote I must say that they do provide you quality hardware.
In comparison, my Dish TV TruHD+ STB and remote looks very primitive.
It is like comparing a Maruti 800 to a Mercedes (in terms of the fit/ finish/ texture/ buttons etc.)

I have also looked at Airtel HD at my sister's house and the quality of the remote and STB is almost the same as my DishTV.

Also, the software UI of Tata Sky is the best of all these three.

I don't have first hand experience with Videocon D2H HD, but do have SD at my dad's house - it is very similar to Dish/ Airtel in terms of hardware appearance.

So, TataSky wins in terms of fit/ finish, but perhaps does *not* offer any better quality of the HD channels itself compared to my Dish TV HD.
TataSky has the least HD channels at the moment so that is another negative.

That is very informative (Tatasky having the least HD channels). I am planning on getting Tata HD (upgrade from Tata Sky SD) before I get my home repainted. I have been on Tata Sky since late 2006 and their level of intrusion on the screen/screen space is the least. Cust. service is also very good. So I think I will upgrade to Tata HD and bother about HD later. My mother and brother had Dish and they were not at all happy.

I have also been on Tata Sky since 2006 and have also upgraded both the home set top boxes to HD plus just a little after their launch. The recording facility is superb and the quality of HD is wonderful too. As you say the intrusions are much less than the other DTH providers.
I like their service and so far I am happy with the HD channels I get.
So far so good.
I think I will stick with them for now...

The worst culprit must be airtel. Not with their logo size but with their colour (red) which distracts and is often put in the wrong places with no regard as to what is going on in programming at the moment. I have seen airtel logo blocking the cricket score. TataSky is transparent and less in your face at all times.

Using 2 Videocon D2H in home and one Heathway ( cable) STB.

D2H quality is good and they have some 22 HD channels I have platinum pack and a child connection for the same. They put one LNB per connection in same dish , LNB and 12 meters of wire comes free with connection.

Only gripe is that when it rains the signal goes away in Dish and in this scenario Hathway is better but heathway PQ is not so good.

About the logos, well Airtel is known to be the worst (especially for the plasma guys).
BTW: Dish TV's logo is also very faint and semi-transparent in orange colour.

One advantage of HD channels is there are very few adverts., specially on movie channels like Zee HD. Did anyone notice that?
You can barely getup and do something else in that short break.
I have not observed this with other HD channels so far, but I have a feeling that there are less adverts. overall compared to the SD channels.

Also note that you won't notice any difference in picture quality if you TV is less than 42 inches and you are sitting 8 feet away from it.

After all the dilemma, went in for Videocon D2h. Their HD offer of 6490 for HD box + 1 year subscription to all channels was cheaper than Tata Sky's annual pack+ hd fee. And I'd have had to pay some 3000 for HD box for Tata Sky. So if at the end of first year, I am not satisfied, I can just remove D2h and go for tata sky. I don't think I'd lose anything moneywise.

The installation would happen in a day or two. Will post my observations then.

I have two Tata Sky connections at home and yesterday both of them stopped working. I called up the Tata Sky helpline and registered my complaint. They assured me that a technician would come to my place within 24 hours and fixed up a time next day. The technician called up before coming and came by 11am (quite punctual) and sorted the entire issue.

I casually asked the techician that how good was Tata Sky in terms of quality compared to other DTH operators. He told me that purely in terms of technology and picture quality - all DTH operators are the same (Airtel, Videocon etc). The only thing which makes Tata Sky good was their customer service. He accepted the fact that Tata Sky was the most expensive amongst all the operators. He mentioned " If you want you can try others as it is cheap but then if something goes wrong, you might have to wait for 5-6 days to get your problem solved".

I know that the technician was from Tata Sky and that he will obviously praise it but I kind of agree with him. I experienced their service for the 1st time and I was impressed by it. Just thought I should share this thing which the technician told me.

I have had very few technical issues with DishTv over the past 8-9 years and as far as I can recall, the Technician comes within 4 hours if complained early in the day, else the following day for sure.