Airtel Digital HD

[Dushie]

Sanjay i feel it will take ages for 3D to come in India and the price at which HD boxes are being offered i dont feel one should worry about them getting obsolete.

Also first the no of channels in HD has to increase locally , 3D is a distant dream for now.Maybe in a couple of years we may see some changes. As of now people are not ready to even upgrade from their old STB boxes that were given 5 years ago.

Once the technology becomes cheaper and user friendly then it appeals the masses..

 

[anshu22]

any news on HD coming to airtel iptv?

 

[SMFire]

Sanjay i feel it will take ages for 3D to come in India and the price at which HD boxes are being offered i dont feel one should worry about them getting obsolete.

Also first the no of channels in HD has to increase locally , 3D is a distant dream for now.Maybe in a couple of years we may see some changes. As of now people are not ready to even upgrade from their old STB boxes that were given 5 years ago.

Once the technology becomes cheaper and user friendly then it appeals the masses..

BTW 3D only requires a software update for most of the Set Top Boxes being sold lately. Its not a big deal getting the broadcast from the operator.

The question is, How many people can afford a 1.3 lakh TV(Samsung) !!!!

Its taken us 5 years after the U.S. to get an HD broadcast. Hoping it takes not more than 2-3 to get 3D.

IPL was broadcast in 3D to theatres, so maybe its not that far also.

 

[Dushie]

It may not be far but, for the DTH operators it is only profitable to switch technology once it is being used by masses , they can't launch 3D services for a niche market as they will not get ROI.

 

[avink]

any news on HD coming to airtel iptv?

Does anyone know anything about this? I am really confused..do i switch to TS HD (i can upgrade the old STB that I stoped using when i switched to Airtel IPTV) OR wait.

 

[Dushie]

I don't think they will launch HD for IPTV so soon, they are already struggling to get the regular HD boxes and channels up and running.

Also they have not come up with any special exchange offer for existing customers, so in anyways you would need to purchase a new STB.

Till now feedback for TS HD has been good so you can go for the same or hold on some time before taking a decision.

 

[dgtl887]

Wouldn't a higher internet speed be a pre-requisite for HD IPTV ? Somewhere in the vicinity of 4-5mbps ?

 

[avink]

True. I read somewhere that they have reserved ~ 8mbps speed on the IPTV port that they can use in future.

 

[pnredkar]

True. I read somewhere that they have reserved ~ 8mbps speed on the IPTV port that they can use in future.

If I am not mistaken, 8mbps is for SDTV (6mbps for TV + 2mbps for internet). The video bit-rates for (good quality) HDTV cable are 15mbps (source:Bit rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). The overall bit-rate will be higher.

We do not have these bandwidths yet in India(though BSNL has launched 24mbps and 16mbps on trial basis). So HD-IPTV may take a little longer to come.

- Prasad.

 

[sanjay0864]

If I am not mistaken, 8mbps is for SDTV (6mbps for TV + 2mbps for internet). The video bit-rates for (good quality) HDTV cable are 15mbps (source:Bit rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). The overall bit-rate will be higher.

We do not have these bandwidths yet in India(though BSNL has launched 24mbps and 16mbps on trial basis). So HD-IPTV may take a little longer to come.

You are confusing the Internet bandwith with the bandwith between the end user and the Airtel servers. The internet speed has nothing to do with IPTV. There should be absolutely no issue with Airtel introducing HD on IPTV, as long as the rest of their infrastructure, nodes, switches etc are set up to handle the higher bandwith required for HD. The shocking part is that Airtel IPTV was not the first to launch HD, since they could do so with the least amount of investment and long term runnign costs compared to DTH operators. As a matter of fact, the first HD service to be made available to the consumer in India was in Pune by a local IPTV operator. This was just before the Beijing Olympics last year.

 

[anshu22]

for iptv the speed does not depend on your broadband package. you can have a 128kbps package but the iptv services will run on the full 8 mb capacity of the line in the background. the question now is i guess if the present 8mbps lines can support HD. i agree with sanjay that HD on iptv is easily implementable. even the settop box has a tabbed dummy HDMI port section which indicates that its already future ready. i was really hoping we would see HD on IPTV first.

 

[anm]

hey - sorry to dig up an old thread, but has the airtel hd over iptv materialized?

 

[avink]

Nope. I haven't seen any channels in HD yet.

 

[heynownow]

Airtel is a evil company...stay away from them

 

[sanjay0864]

hey - sorry to dig up an old thread, but has the airtel hd over iptv materialized?

I seriously doubt that would ever happen. The infrastructure Airtel has laid for IPTV just does not have the bandwith required for HD. AS a matter of fact they are not even able to provide a 4mbps connection to a customer if they are using IPTV due to alck of bandwith.

 

[avink]

AS a matter of fact they are not even able to provide a 4mbps connection to a customer if they are using IPTV due to alck of bandwith.

Not True. I have an IPTV + 4 mbps .

 

[sanjay0864]

Not True. I have an IPTV + 4 mbps .

Interesting, seems like I need to call Airtel again and once again ask to upgrade to 4mbps.

 

[anm]

I requested a 4mbps upgrade last week. this week too has passed but doesn't seem to have happened. damn! another half hour with customer care morons!