New HD channels on Airtel

[prankey]

Not a chance.... Last time I tried he was asking me, are you getting sound or not .... :sad:

Hehe, I remember how I had to bang my head on a nerd executive at Dish TV when optical output was not working properly. He kept insisting there is no such output, later came back telling its used only for set to set download and is not supported. He said if I am getting audio through LR composite, the STB is fine and can not be replaced! After banging my head for about an hour, had to disconnect as I had to urgently go for work and this nerd wasted my hour! He kept insisting that he has talked with his technical department and have got the complete design of the STB and there is no such port!!! I told him to go through the manual and see how they suggest to connect to a home theater right at the starting page

This HD recorder has mind of its own. Morning when I did recording of one channel, it stopped showing many channels. It will say you are not subscribed to the channel.

I complained to Airtel. Their executive came to check and guess what. This problem did not show up. We could do recording of one channel and still see any other channel. Only if two recordings are done simultaneously, it will not let you switch to any other channel. Which is the intended behavior.

But Programming guide was not working well. Sometimes it shows up info and sometimes it does not. Star Movies HD and Movies now HD showed info but not other HD channels. He tried to download the latest software but it did not work out. It did not even start beyond 0%. I think someone else has also raised this concern in the forum. Then the guy replaced LNB on the dish, still the problem was there. Finally he said they will replace the box tomorrow. Hope that new box tomorrow works fine and gets its software downloaded.

Although I dont think programming guide not getting updated regularly has to do anything with the box. They must have this problem in the system.

Yes, I don't think its anything to do with LNB or STB, might be an intermittent issue. They just keep jumping while running round the bush :yahoo: :clapping:

Another waste of LNB, Airtel Money and STB!!! :lol:

 

[Prashant_Jindal]

After they changed the LNB, although signal strength increased from 136 to 142 for few channels, I feel quality has degraded. I can see pixelation on Star Gold HD. May be this is intermittent. Will have to wait and see.

Recording feature is working fine now for both SD and HD channels. There is a catch though. If I select a series for the recording, it will book it for all the original episode and all of its repeats too. That is irritating. Who wants the same episode 4-5 times recorded. So for now I am doing time based recording as I can set the time for the original episode and not the repeats. Only problem is in the recorded sections, they will be displayed as Time and Channel but not the programme name. So you have to know it beforehand before playing it.

 

[Kittu]

Singal strength for each channel ? I thought it was common for the LNB setting based on how perfectly it was aligned to receive the signal. I get 180.

 

[Prashant_Jindal]

Singal strength for each channel ? I thought it was common for the LNB setting based on how perfectly it was aligned to receive the signal. I get 180.

Do you get 180 on Airtel HD recorder with two cables running from the dish to the box? The engineer told me it depends on the box, LNB or the dish. He also said for DVR, it is lower than the single non-HD box. I used to get low signals on my non-HD box too compared to what my frd used to get just two roads away.

 

[Kittu]

I dont have a HD recorder, but have 2 HD boxes connected multiroom. How does the box effect signal ? seriously....

 

[Prashant_Jindal]

I dont have a HD recorder, but have 2 HD boxes connected multiroom. How does the box effect signal ? seriously....

You are right. In my opinion too, signal strength should not depend on box. But this is the crap reason what Airtel guys give. :lol:

As you have multi room connection so that means u would be using dual connection LNB. So it is similar to my connection. Why am i getting such a low signal strength? Any hint of thunder clouds and I am sure I wont get any channel. Only saving grace is signal quality is 100%. In my non-HD box it used to be just 60-70%.

Airtel guy has tried re-aligning the dish, changed the LNB but signal strength did not increase much. Finally I think as a hit and trial method, he told me they will check with another box sometime today. Though I dont think it will impact much. I am thinking of asking them to move the dish to some other location and then check.

Would changing the dish itself make the difference? What if I ask them to put a new dish? Will it increase the signal strength?

 

[Kittu]

Signal strength should not be less than 180. In case the LNB does not help much ask for a signal booster. Little thunders or lightening , u know what to do ... run fast with umbrella... Just kidding , I power off all my electronics and remove plugs from mains.... Never mess with mother nature...

 

[Prashant_Jindal]

Signal strength should not be less than 180. In case the LNB does not help much ask for a signal booster. Little thunders or lightening , u know what to do ... run fast with umbrella... Just kidding , I power off all my electronics and remove plugs from mains.... Never mess with mother nature...

Funny thing is when the guy was doing installation, I asked him what will be the signal strength. He said it will be somewhere between 160-200. Then finally we got 136. I told him this is too less. He said this is fine as this is a DVR. I knew Airtel guys are of not much help so I did not argue with him. Moreover I was about to leave for a trip when he came so I had to leave as soon as he finish his work. I left it that way only. I guess I should not have accepted the connection until they provide good signal strength.

Have you noticed pixelation on Star Gold HD today?

Is Movies Now HD a real HD channel or upscaled one? The content is same on both Movies Now SD and HD. Even the advertisments down to the second. Though Quality is good in HD one.

 

[Kittu]

I need to get star package added. Movies now is totally upscaled and waste of time, they are playing only some 10 movies repeatedly ever since the channel started. See if you have some clippning noise in 326/325 channels. DVR needs more singal to record better quality right , how can he say 136 is fine?

 

[Prashant_Jindal]

I need to get star package added. Movies now is totally upscaled and waste of time, they are playing only some 10 movies repeatedly ever since the channel started. See if you have some clippning noise in 326/325 channels. DVR needs more singal to record better quality right , how can he say 136 is fine?

I will check channel 325/326 and let you know. I hope this clipping noise can be heard on TV too as I don't have a HT.

Movies now does not even have a HD logo. It certainly seems this is an upscaled one. May be that is why Tata Sky is not adding it.:lol:

HD plus package along with Star HD channels will cost 71 rs. CC guys dont even know if that package has star HD channels added or not. They will say only three HD channels Disc, NGC and Movies now. Do not go as per their words. Ask them to apply that package. I did the same and got Star HD Channels. Even the guy who came to install DVR did not know about star HD channels on Airtel. I have not dealt with any of other DTH operator but Airtel CC is surely bad.

 

[SANJAY JAIRATH]

I have one more query.

For HD recorder connection, does set top box belong customer or Airtel?

In case of SD connection cancellation, Airtel guys take the set top box away as that belongs to Airtel. I don't know why as they do not provide lifetime warranty for it so how come it belong to them. If something happens to box or replacement, they charge 300 for the same.

I am confused. Airtel HD recorder costs 4000 and if set top box does not belong to customer, it is highly overpriced. In that case I may wanna go for TataSky HD.

TS HD box will not belong to you either but PQ and AQ(5.1) is excellent for all HD channels as well as sd channels. only draw back in TS is they dont launch new channels very quickle as Dish Tv does. Still i am not able to watch MoviesNow from my TS.

 

[Prashant_Jindal]

TS HD box will not belong to you either but PQ and AQ(5.1) is excellent for all HD channels as well as sd channels. only draw back in TS is they dont launch new channels very quickle as Dish Tv does. Still i am not able to watch MoviesNow from my TS.

Any idea when TS will get space crunch issue resolved. It can not launch more HD channles otherwise.

 

[umeshdhingra]

I closed my Airtel HD connection as no Star cricket in HD was available ,and,switched to Tata Sky DTH with DVR.
I am now waiting for ESPN to go HD and sooner or later CNN news also to go HD

 

[Prashant_Jindal]

Can someone please let me know if it is worth to change the HDMI cable provided with the Airtel Box? If I buy a good one myself and use it (instead of the one provided by Airtel), would it make noticeable difference in PQ and AQ?

The one Airtel provided looks very basic HDMI cable. But then as this carries digital data so it should not make much difference. Either it works or does not work.

 

[vj_box]

Can someone please let me know if it is worth to change the HDMI cable provided with the Airtel Box? If I buy a good one myself and use it (instead of the one provided by Airtel), would it make noticeable difference in PA and AQ?

The one Airtel provided looks very basic HDMI cable. But then as this carries digital data so it should not make much difference. Either it works or does not work.

I am using the one which came with the STB and its quite ok to me.

May be I should try this cable with my PS3 and see if I spot any difference between the one I bought and this.

 

[CountRock]

Can someone please let me know if it is worth to change the HDMI cable provided with the Airtel Box? If I buy a good one myself and use it (instead of the one provided by Airtel), would it make noticeable difference in PQ and AQ?

The one Airtel provided looks very basic HDMI cable. But then as this carries digital data so it should not make much difference. Either it works or does not work.

I am using the one which came with the STB and its quite ok to me.

May be I should try this cable with my PS3 and see if I spot any difference between the one I bought and this.

HDMI cable is a digital cable, even the cheapest cable will give the exact same quality as a Rs. 10,000 cable. If it works, it works. If the cable is crap you simple won't get a signal.

 

[Prashant_Jindal]

New software release 362 is available for HD Recorder but my STB could not download it. It tried automatically when in standby mode over the night but never worked. I raised a complain to Airtel.
Their executive brought a new STB to my place and took old one. New STB was already updated to release 362. I checked with Airtel guys and they said they have updated it at their end to verify it does software download. I tried loading the software again at my place manually but it did not work so I called them up again. I had specifically asked them not to activate the new STB as of now.

They tried updating my old STB at their place and it worked at first try itself. STB got updated to release 362. This made me think issue is not with the box but something else. I asked them to bring the old STB to my place and try again. It did not work. As software download was not working in new STB so I asked them to give me back old STB as there is no point.

Now I have old STB updated to release 362. But dont know what will happen when another new version gets released. Airtel guy have told me they will come again tomorrow to move the dish to another location. According to them it may resolve the issue but I doubt.

 

[umeshdhingra]

1. Check if you are getting chanel 999, if yes, then the orientation of the dish is fine.
2.Also as its been happening that Airtel have outsourced the technical work on DTH .

Keep us posted about the developments

 

[askii2]

Videocon D2H leads the pack with maximum number of real HD channels. Check ads in today's newspapers. Well designed campaign.
EDIT: wrong thread for this post. Apologies.

 

[prankey]

TS HD box will not belong to you either but PQ and AQ(5.1) is excellent for all HD channels as well as sd channels. only draw back in TS is they dont launch new channels very quickle as Dish Tv does. Still i am not able to watch MoviesNow from my TS.

STRONGLY DISAGREE on quality front. As compared to Dish HD, TS has really been worst switch. Only that it is costing me less and I am still escalating them for settings related issues or will seek legal help if they don't resolve and hence I am still with them!

5.1 Audio on 3 HD channels namely Star Cricket, Discovery and Nat Geo has been worst (Discovery since Feb I started using, Nat Geo initially had bad channel mapping, now its fine but they have DRC enabled and Star Cricket was initially okay now worst for the same reason).