Airtel DTH versus TATA Sky Mini Shootout

**techcheat** · 03-11-08, 11:07 AM

Just a quick mini review for those considering between Tata Sky and Airtel DTH. Since having both services, I am in an ideal situation to comment:

Tata Sky Advantages:

1) Online Recharge Facility

2) Great Network with more Transponders

3) Reliable Service and Customer Support

4) For tech savy, Tata Sky Plus

Disdavantages:

1) Channel Change takes time (1-2) seconds and is painfully slow

2) Channel Packages are relatively expensives To subscribe to Colors and Star Sports I need two optional packs taking my monthly subscription fee to 340 Rs per month.

3) MPEG 2 Technology

4) Very old and ugly looking Set Top Box

5) Non proffesional installation

Airtel DTH Advantages:

1) Amazing proffesional isntallation, singal showing 90% Strength

2) Installation done using compas, satelite finder and you name it. The guys were more interested than me to ensure proper reception

3) Neat Looking Set Top Box

4) Perhaps the biggest noticable difference to me was the fast channel change, almost instantaneous like regular TV over Tata Sky

5) MPEG 4 technology, though with limited quality gains over Tata Sky as STB doesnt have Component Out (unlike Big TV)

6) The same channel pack as Tata Sky costs me 295 Rs per month. Rs 250 Mega Pack gives me all channels I need, like CNN, HBO, Star Movies, Colors, 9X and all news channels. In addition a Rs45 ESPNPlus Package gives me Star Cricket, Star Sports and ESPN. A saving of Rs 50 per month over Tata Sky.

Disadvantages:

1) No online recharge as of yet as an option

2) Website not as good as Tata Sky

3) Less Transponders than Tata Sky

Overall Winner: Airtel DTH without a doubt. Just the fact that the channel changes and Guide Menu can be done on a fly, makes it a clear winner in my books. Hope this helps the prespective buyers.

**Darthcoder** · 03-11-08, 11:23 AM

LOL, My tata sky has 98% signal strength and their installation was **professional**. And ave managed to fit in all the soap channels+sports+lifestyle pack for 200 bucks a month.And the channel change doesnt take 1-2 seconds, wow where did you get that from??@_@.

**techcheat** · 03-11-08, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by Darthcoder

LOL, My tata sky has 98% signal strength and their installation was **professional**. And ave managed to fit in all the soap channels+sports+lifestyle pack for 200 bucks a month.And the channel change doesnt take 1-2 seconds, wow where did you get that from??@_@.

Dude dont be rude.... We all have a tendency to be defensive about what we have. If you dont own Tata Sky and Airtel you cant objectively tell the difference. I have made this thread not to be a spokesperson for Airtel, but for end users to make an informed decision. There is a significant delay in changing channels in Tata Sky over Airtel. There is also a significant delay when accessing Guide and going to Sports Sub Menu. If you dont believe that, than you must be sm***ing something funny

It would also be good if you can advise how to get all the following channels in Rs 200 Per month on Tata Sky:

1) All western movie channels : HBO, Star Movies etc

2) All Soap Channels

3) All Lifestlye Channels like AXN, NDTV Goodtimes, Colors, 9X

4) Star Sports and ESPN

5) History and Discovery

6) All news channels including CNN and BBC

^^ all of the above for Rs200. If you can do that, you are da man, as I pay 345 essentially for the channels mentioned above on my Tata Sky.

**clown_abhi** · 03-11-08, 11:47 AM

I only agree to the time taken to change channels. It does take some time to change channels and if that is gone in Airtel, thats good. And i like the look of the STB. But apart from these, there is absolutely nothing new.

Also, where did u get this info that Tata sky installation is unprofessional?

Till date, Tata sky installation is byfar the most professional(of course not using compass and all...

) and there has been hardly any issues with Tata sky installation even on the net when u search for it.

As for the packages, they cost the same on both. The addons and all add up to the same cost on both.

**sarang** · 03-11-08, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by Darthcoder

LOL, My tata sky has 98% signal strength and their installation was **professional**. And ave managed to fit in all the soap channels+sports+lifestyle pack for 200 bucks a month.And the channel change doesnt take 1-2 seconds, wow where did you get that from??@_@.

@darth: second that. I just purchased my second TSky set see the timeline:

1. At 3:45 PM i call my dealer to confirm one for me.

2. At 4:05 PM i get an SMS confrming my payment.

3. At 5:10 i get a call from TSky asking my convenience the next day.

4. At 12:30 Noon the next day my TSky is up and sunning at 95% signal strength.

I wont comment on Airtel as i haven't used it yet. But TSky bashing

**Darthcoder** · 03-11-08, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by techcheat

Dude dont be rude.... We all have a tendency to be defensive about what we have. If you dont own Tata Sky and Airtel you cant objectively tell the difference. I have made this thread not to be a spokesperson for Airtel, but for end users to make an informed decision. There is a significant delay in changing channels in Tata Sky over Airtel. There is also a significant delay when accessing Guide and going to Sports Sub Menu. If you dont believe that, than you must be sm***ing something funny

It would also be good if you can advise how to get all the following channels in Rs 200 Per month on Tata Sky:

1) All western movie channels : HBO, Star Movies etc

2) All Soap Channels

3) All Lifestlye Channels like AXN, NDTV Goodtimes, Colors, 9X

4) Star Sports and ESPN

5) History and Discovery

6) All news channels including CNN and BBC

^^ all of the above for Rs200. If you can do that, you are da man, as I pay 345 essentially for the channels mentioned above on my Tata Sky.

They have this super 400 offer

.

Where you get all the normal channels (Except lifestyle,sports and south pack) for 1500 rupees for 13 months (400 days essentially). Sports=40 rupees/month is it?=480/year and lifestyle=15/month=180/year.

So 1500+480+180=2160/year=180/month

.

**adder** · 03-11-08, 12:00 PM

well airtel installation is not that professional when they came to installation to my house, they didnt even have a db meter and they had connected the Dish to the stb on the ground floor,and he had to communicate with the person who was near the tv about the signal strength,they stuggles for a good 20min to get even a trace of signal,where as for my other DTH that i have a big tv they had a Db meter and could check out all the gains ,noise etc.only then did they connect the wire to the stb.

although once installed the STB and user interface is a whole lot better then big tv,channel change is indead fast and universal remote is great.but the video quality wise big tv still has the edge.

BTW the engineer told me that they use the same software as tata sky,and they are also introducing a second STB which he said was of lower quality to save costs,and that it looked similar to tata sky stb but with mpeg 4 & dvb s2.he also said that the new stb wont have a universal remote,currently they are testing it,so people who are going for airtel now is the time

**clown_abhi** · 03-11-08, 12:13 PM

That Universal Remote is cool, though not used it but its nice to not use the TV remote while using the STB

**adder** · 03-11-08, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by clown_abhi

That Universal Remote is cool, though not used it but its nice to not use the TV remote while using the STB

yep very convinent but once u look at airtel interface and remote the big tv interface looks a 10year olds boys creation ,and about the remote of big tv its better to hide it from view.horrible design and button positions. with minimal spacing.

**cool_cat** · 03-11-08, 12:42 PM

infact sun dth guys also got these meters and all.signal strength is 80% though.but clarity wise beats sky and dishtv.

I am very interested in shifting to BIG dth.but sun dth is perfect- it got all south regional channels and almost all malayalam channels including shalom.

and BTW ,dont you guys read tata sky is gonna shift to MPEG4 soon?

**H2O** · 03-11-08, 01:45 PM

Tsky has professional installation and yes they did use a compass in kolkata. And the channel changing does not take time. Don't bash Tatasky just because upu spent moe on Airtel

**Striker10** · 03-11-08, 02:40 PM

Lol Darth, friggin Tata Sky takes around 1.5s to change to another channel. But as you use it for a long time, you'll naturally get used to the lag. Thanks for the comparo, techcheat

I'd like faster channel change too

but the top ultra package(the one with sports channels and other entertainment channels)all come to 425rs/mo right? Thats alot more than TS

**Brendon** · 03-11-08, 03:34 PM

Hmm, it takes max 1 sec for me...

But yeah I don't like the way they are keeping on increasing the damm rates all the time. Hopefully increased competition will help keep the rates from increasing.

Also the installation was done in a professional manner. I don't know where you heard that they are unprofessional.

**techcheat** · 03-11-08, 04:22 PM

See I installed Tata Sky when South Delhi had to go to CAS almost 2 years ago, that time they had bulk orders. The vendors that came to my house (which unlike Airtel are not Tata employees) did a pathetic job.

**Srini** · 03-11-08, 04:40 PM

One more advantage with airtel, we can watch 6 channels at a time, which no other provider is giving this facility. I have tatasky, I am on basic south package of Rs.125 and neo sports annual pack, and have balance upto july 2009. I will change from tsky to airtel after this.

**smoky004** · 03-11-08, 04:57 PM

^^ Why anyone would watch more than 1 channel at a time is beyond me

**smoky004** · 03-11-08, 05:13 PM

yes there is a 1 sec. lag during channel changing but you get used to it.But air tel costs more than tata sky.

**adder** · 03-11-08, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by Srini

One more advantage with airtel, we can watch 6 channels at a time, which no other provider is giving this facility. I have tatasky, I am on basic south package of Rs.125 and neo sports annual pack, and have balance upto july 2009. I will change from tsky to airtel after this.

well u can watch 6 channels at a time but u wont get audio in the channels u have not subscribed and also the program will exit the screen if u dont pick any channel for a few sec.

but in big tv u can watch upto 8 channels ,u can hear the audio even in the channels that u haven't subscribed,also u can watch overs together or infinite and the program want exit.

**Srini** · 03-11-08, 05:40 PM

Originally Posted by smoky004

^^ Why anyone would watch more than 1 channel at a time is beyond me

Watching cricket and movie at same time.

**Srini** · 03-11-08, 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by adder

well u can watch 6 channels at a time but u wont get audio in the channels u have not subscribed and also the program will exit the screen if u dont pick any channel for a few sec.

but in big tv u can watch upto 8 channels ,u can hear the audio even in the channels that u haven't subscribed,also u can watch overs together or infinite and the program want exit.

Is it real, if we can watch 8 channels its an advantage for us. But never seen this feature in their ads.