Video So anybody *actually* using a HD DTH service?

C

cool_dude

Disciple
Well friends, our Sony CRT TV recently went kaput and hence we are thinking of buying an HD TV. We have almost finalized on Sony 40BX300 from ebay. Now my question is, which HD DTH service should we buy? There are 3 HD services available currently TS, Dish TV and Airtel. From these, TS appears to be the best choice as it costs less and also gives 2 months' subscription free. Now my question is, has anyone from TE really used a HD DTH service? What's the difference? Is there any real improvement in pic quality?(I know only 2-4 channels are available in HD right now.)

Also, how does the normal SD content look on an HDTV? Does it look ghastly? What's the solution to that problem?

Abhi.
 
Well there is no model called 40BX300 i believe you meant 40BX400.
I would go for the 40EX400 if you have a grey market near you it should cost around 44k.
 
There are like 2 *english* HD channels on these HD DTH offerings, the rest are not HD as they have to re-apply to the govt for clearance etc. In a year's time there will be more HD offerings.
 
^ ESPN isn't in HD, only Wimbledon/World Cup 2010 were. The channels which are in HD are Nat Geo & Discovery (In Tata Sky HD atleast).
 
I have the TS HD box. There are only two channels as of now Discovery HD World and NatGeo HD. They also had shown World Cup and Wimbledon in HD.

The quality of Nat Geo is pretty poor. Discovery is a bit better. World cup transmission was ridiculously good - almost as good as a 1080p rip.

Word of warning, SD quality is piss poor. Some channels on my cablewalla's STB fed thru composite look better than the output of this TS STB via HDMI.
 
I'm on Airtel and have subscribed to the HD service which for now is only one channel (Nat Geo HD). The world cup and wimbledon broadcasts were mind bogglingly good...Nat Geo like Chaos mentioned isn't even half as good. Partly because most of the stuff they show hasn't been captured in HD...
 
If you have money to spend go for HD DTH now.....else wait sometimes, there will be more HD channels as year passing, WCC 2011 will surely broadcast in HD, in the mean time u can watch most bbc HD show by dloading from various torrent source.
 
ragzdiablo said:
And 44k for 40'' EX400?

I checked last week with sony..it was for 60k
Click to expand...
Grey market prices, if you missed it. Unfortunately, for Sony, the prices of the LCDs remain the same irrespective of whether you buy them from the Sony showroom or Croma or any other retail outlet with warranty and a proper bill. :(
 
Well if you want good SD content and HD then Big tv is better,but their customer care is at best average,when ever they add new options in menu or change the UI,they have many times made the UI sluggish,from the 2 + years of big tv ownership i have seen them screw up 3 software updates.
I also have airtel SD again doesn't match the BIG tv in SD channels.

They still can't match DVD quality but in some scenes they are as good as DVD which i found when comparing Fifth element from xbox and the same movie played in UTV world movies via big tv.
 
Thanks! Yes I agree that there are not many HD channels currently, but there is no point in buying a SD set top box now, is there? I think I will go with TS only. Funny thing is, even I think Nat Geo is not great when it comes to HD shows. Even the NG documentaries(about 23Gb) I recently downloaded don't look that great whereas the Planet earth from BBC looks spectacular!
 
if you are ditching your cablewallah, they buy a HD box. While there isnt a huge price difference, you get yourself future safe.

Jury is still out on the SD content, I have personally observed that SD content from the HDMI looks much better than the composite output on my plasma.

Other plus are the on-demand HD content. Typical rate for a HD movie is between 25-75 rs. I have also observed [atleast on tata sky] that the on-demand showcase channel quality is much much better than the TV channels.
 
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