Bharti Airtel launches DTH service

Source: Bharti Airtel launches DTH service

This all is OK!! But who is coming up with the first HD channels???

BTW, did you guys check out what Reliance did? Airtel was airing their "See you at home" teaser ads for the past week, and before they could air their real ads, Reliance grabbed the teasers and released their own ads based on the same "See you at home" ads thereby gaining all the momentum airtel had build up with the teasers. Had not expected something like this from Reliance!!

ya.. lol.. just read an article about that. i havent seen the ads but got a glimpse of them and was wondering till now why they have a similar couch in their ad. now i realise its not a coincidence.

...Didn't know the see u at home was a airtel ad...thought it was a Big TV ad

Here;s the Airtel ad -
YouTube - Airtel DTH Launch Ad

looks great.

After watching the "See you at home" teasers for a few days, and giving it a thought, i managed to decipher that it was a DTH ad, with the Cartoons and Foreign Channels. And there was this post on TE about Airtel available for people now, see pieces connected properly. And yesterday, they also had their AD on the frontpage of TOI, with the teaser and Airtel logo.

And then i saw the ad on the TV, man lost a lot of respect for reliance. The cola cos used to do such stuff, it went with their image, but reliance, js lost a chunk of its image.

ya.. good ad..

Any idea about the intial cost and quality of the video?

Airtel is also using MPEG4 rite?

Yes, Airtel is using MPEG4 and HD Telecast is expected by the end of 2009.2499/-is the baseline price for STB+6 month package.

1. Bharti DTH is also offering a Universal remote so u don't need two remotes - one for TV & one for STB

2. Also Bharti DTH dish is 20% bigger in size than others so u will get clear reception even in rains or foggy conditions
Lets hope the price is right & all DTH operators now start the price dip just like cellular pricess fell to aam aadmi's reach

The universal remote is a blessing in disguise. In case if someone's TV remote is not getting programmed with the Airtel Remote [Happens with some models of Samsung & Philips], don't give up, call the technicians and make sure you get it working right.

I have both TATASky & Airtel. During thunderstorms the reception takes a huge hit in TATASky, but Airtel persists for some more time [It also conks of it the weather is particularly bad, but not as often as TATASky]

^^ since ur already using airtel dth, why dont you post a review?

happy with big tv..wud like to see airtel channel offerings and packages though...

I don't know how to write a review. But let me try to capture my experience with the service.

My experience was one of those rare kinds where everything went wrong. However lot of other people who have got the connections have given fantastic feedbacks. So may be I had bad luck with them

Installation

Complete newbies. So be careful and do not let them get out of your sight when they are installing. In fact the guy who had come to my house was proudly proclaiming that this was his very first live field installation. As a result I have several unsed nails at various odd angles looking like miniature pinmen struggling for life. First time when I picked STB it was faulty and the activation did not happen. Got to know about the faulty STB after 2 days only and it was replaced after 3 more days. Activation was done after 2 weeks of installation after multiple followups with the Call Center and local team.


STB

Hardware

Black with Red LED's. Looks nice. The Activation card slot is in the back as the main power switch and a single "composite" connection and power plug in. One complaint about the power adaptor plug in is the wiring is too short.

Software
The STB takes 10 to 15 seconds to load up after getting switched on. Channel surfing slows down occasionally [Either it was an intentional delay or something wrong with my STB as my friend has reported his connection is fine]There is an auto volume leveller function which ensures you don't have some channels blaring & whispering when you channel surf. Menu organisation is neat without any clutter. However channel organization is lame. No limitations on no. of favourites as they can be grouped under 4 different categories assigned under a different colour button.

Applications

Games are pretty slow to load and Interactive service is even more slower. However its pretty intuitively organized. Currently there are 8 worldspace channels available. More content and Movies on Demand would be launched shortly.


Universal Remote

Got rid of my TV remote completely. The engineers would program it and give it back to you. Mine didn't happen for some time. But finally it has started working for the last 1 month. However the only functions available are TV[ON/OFF, AV, VOL]. STB volume is reduced by holding the *key and the volume button.

Reception

Fantastic. Hasn't sputtered out even a single time in all the thunderstorms of which Bangalore was getting affected severely about a month back. I also have a TATASky connected to 2 other TV's which keeps conking out if it rains even moderately.


Packages

Sorry, don't know whats up for customer offering as of now. Can't disclose what I have also. Hope you guys understand


Overall experience was good for a new service provider. So I would definitely recommend this connection. However you may have to persist with certain service issues as the Customer Care center is still in the nascent stage.

^^ How is the channel quality?? Any better than tata sky?? Also does the STB have only composite connection ??

Yes it has only a single composite connection. So eventhough Airtel Digital TV will be doing HD telecasting in the near future, you won't be using the same STB. Channel quality is more or less the same as TATASky.