Airtel HD - A Short Review

[Naveen_Reloaded]

Pack : South Ultra
STB : HD
Signal Strength : 80
Signal Quality : 40

For Pictures : http://www.hifivision.com/television/21554-panasonic-st30-owners-thread-11.html#post303099

Whats Good

1.) HD channels are simply awesome !!
2.)SD channels too are good ( heard they recently providing upscaled SD contents)
3.)Quick Menu
4.) Good options
5.) 5.1 audio is nice in some HD channels
6.)EPG is good.
7.)Sexy remote and STB
8.) Optical audio out


Whats Bad

1.) Audio 5.1 , is not that clear. May be due to compression
2.) Remote keys can confuse sometimes as the navigation and channel/volume keys have same feel.
3.) only 1080i support , some trailing effect seen. not that smooth.
4.) airtel logo could have been trimmed a little , but i do like the transparent nature of it , goes well with plasma(not transparent in all channels though)
5.) Subs in Movies , even when there is no ads
6.) Some channels are really bad (SD)
7.)Channel change is little longer. will strain eyes at night (almost 2-3 seconds)
8.)Considerable Audio-Video Lag when fed through AVR (optical) . Atleast 10-50ms lag is seen.

any queries please do ask...

Ranking HD Channels : Nat Geo HD > Star World HD > Star Movies HD > Discovery HD >..... MoviesNow HD (Looks more like upscaled movies than HD quality)
Star Group HD channels are top notch !! Nat GEO HD is simply awesome !! And without any ads on star group channels is a added joy..

Verdict : BUY for HD Channels

 

[ShaQ.Blogs]

with a SQ of 40% it should have issues.

 

[BLASTO]

3.) only 1080i support , some trailing effect seen. not that smooth.

This is because of the ****ing TV in 50Hz signal!!
The TV also introduced some contouring in people's skin if you notice carefully.
My samsung plasma plays Airtel HD more beautifully.

 

[Naveen_Reloaded]

This is because of the ****ing TV in 50Hz signal!!
The TV also introduced some contouring in people's skin if you notice carefully.
My samsung plasma plays Airtel HD more beautifully.

any solution for it ? Does changing to gaming profile help ?

 

[Naveen_Reloaded]

with a SQ of 40% it should have issues.

like ? can it be the culprit for lags in changing the channels and lags in audio-video ?

 

[BLASTO]

any solution for it ? Does changing to gaming profile help ?

50Hz signal is going to have this issue. Game mode reduces it.
Very bad for the top end panasonics I would say.

 

[jaivelu]

Pack : South Ultra
STB : HD
Signal Strength : 80
Signal Quality : 40


Whats Good

1.) HD channels are simply awesome !!
2.)SD channels too are good ( heard they recently providing upscaled SD contents)
3.)Quick Menu
4.) Good options
5.) 5.1 audio is nice in some HD channels
6.)EPG is good.
7.)Sexy remote and STB
8.) Optical audio out


Whats Bad

1.) Audio 5.1 , is not that clear. May be due to compression
2.) Remote keys can confuse sometimes as the navigation and channel/volume keys have same feel.
3.) only 1080i support , some trailing effect seen. not that smooth.
4.) airtel logo could have been trimmed a little , but i do like the transparent nature of it , goes well with plasma(not transparent in all channels though)
5.) Subs in Movies , even when there is no ads
6.) Some channels are really bad (SD)
7.)Channel change is little longer. will strain eyes at night (almost 2-3 seconds)
8.)Considerable Audio-Video Lag when fed through AVR (optical) . Atleast 10-50ms lag is seen.

any queries please do ask...

Ranking HD Channels : Nat Geo HD > Star World HD > Star Movies HD > Discovery HD >..... MoviesNow HD (Looks more like upscaled movies than HD quality)
Star Group HD channels are top notch !! Nat GEO HD is simply awesome !! And without any ads on star group channels is a added joy..

Verdict : BUY for HD Channels

Hi, Naveen great to see you again

I also got Airtel HD and second Naveen about performance of it.
Since I don't have a AVR, couldn't comment on the lag. Except that, everything is point on by naveen.

The Signal strength at my home is 92% but the signatl quality is only getting 40%. So, some improvement has to be done by Airtel for better looking SD channels. I find only a slight improvement of SD channels in Airtel HD over my local cable network :sad:.

Naveen, how is your local cable SD channels compared with Airtel HD?

 

[Kudla]

I find only a slight improvement of SD channels in Airtel HD over my local cable network :sad:.

Naveen, how is your local cable SD channels compared with Airtel HD?

I was there with airtel HD for just a day. Looking at the quality of SD channels on airtel HD went running back to reliance HD. SD channels are much better with reliance HD.

 

[mands]

Naveen... How are you getting the 5.1 audio? can you let me know the connection between AVR - Airtel DTV - TV. Appreciate it if you can share this info.

 

[Naveen_Reloaded]

Hi, Naveen great to see you again

I also got Airtel HD and second Naveen about performance of it.
Since I don't have a AVR, couldn't comment on the lag. Except that, everything is point on by naveen.

The Signal strength at my home is 92% but the signatl quality is only getting 40%. So, some improvement has to be done by Airtel for better looking SD channels. I find only a slight improvement of SD channels in Airtel HD over my local cable network :sad:.

Naveen, how is your local cable SD channels compared with Airtel HD?

Thanks Jai..
I tried to make the adjustment myself , but since its raining and cloudy for some days now in our place , I left it as such for now... (Enjoying the climate hyeah

Ya ,since my place is getting cable connection from salem (same as yours i suppose) , the SD channels on ADTV is similar to cable only with slight improvement and no NOISE !! But upscaling and stretching is done better by ADTV STB imo ( could be placebo effect)

Naveen... How are you getting the 5.1 audio? can you let me know the connection between AVR - Airtel DTV - TV. Appreciate it if you can share this info.

I am using Optical Cable for audio out from ADTV STB. But there is catch here. Only SD channel audio are controlled or can be controlled via ADTV remote , when you change to a HD channel , the entire control is handed over to AVR. Good thing , but can be little annoying.

Also since 5.1 in ADTV is not that good , lets just say , instead of sounding like a 320 kbps MP3 song , it sounds like 120 kbps MP3 song. Clarity is not that good , its kind of muffled. It has to do with compression i suppose.
Because of this , and also AVR taking time to change from STB audio in to pure 5.1 surround from STB , Its better to leave it to TV speaker itself.

I was there with airtel HD for just a day. Looking at the quality of SD channels on airtel HD went running back to reliance HD. SD channels are much better with reliance HD.

Some SD channels really look comparable to HD channels , eg : TLC , NDTV/NDTV profit , RT , Times movies (not much difference in HD or SD for this channel ) .

But some are really horrible compared to my cable

 

[mands]

Thanks Naveen.. Right now I have an HDMI cable connected between ADTV and LED. I'll get an Optical cable and connect it to AVR and leave the HDMI the way it is.. When ever i prefer 5.1 i can switch on the AVR and for normal SD chanels the direct HDMI would work..

Let me know if anyone sees an issue with this set up?

 

[Naveen_Reloaded]

well if you connect optical cable , then audio through HDMI will be Nulled. All audio will be out through Optical Cable only.

 

[Naveen_Reloaded]

I stand corrected. The audio is output on btoh HDMI and optical.

yes connecting optical or using HDMI to pass-thru your AVR might also be a good option to get 5.1. Check if your AVR supports it.

 

[jaivelu]

Thanks Naveen.. Right now I have an HDMI cable connected between ADTV and LED. I'll get an Optical cable and connect it to AVR and leave the HDMI the way it is.. When ever i prefer 5.1 i can switch on the AVR and for normal SD chanels the direct HDMI would work..

Let me know if anyone sees an issue with this set up?

mands, yes it will work. The Denon AVR-1911 supports such setup. So, don't worry about it. Just connect and hear...hyeah:

 

[v25253]

I too got the Airtel HD connection about a week ago. Just to add to the review:

+ve
Amazing HD channel clarity
Fairly easy set-up
2 months free Ultra HD package

-ve
The activation took for ever about 5hours
Pathetic CCS
Remote volume control (have to keep pressing the volume button for +/- volume level)
Rather average SD quality (my Hatway STB gives better SD quality)

Signal Level: 80%
Signal Quality: 50%

Would I recommed it? Yes, only for the HD channels & 5.1 ch output
Cheers!

 

[Naveen_Reloaded]

I called the CC directly and they asked me the STB no , VC no and it didnt even take 1 minute to activate. Never leave activation to dealers(if you have ordered through online) , since they confuse the package .

Yes Volume is not evenly graded .. from 70-100% there is no significant increase in volume.

yesterday i learnt that the main control , i mean the main turning on/off switch is in the dish and not in the stb. thats why resuming after stb off is fairly fast .

 

[v25253]

I called the CC directly and they asked me the STB no , VC no and it didnt even take 1 minute to activate. Never leave activation to dealers(if you have ordered through online) , since they confuse the package .

Yes! I did order online directly from Airtel, and you are spot on; they activated the connection as SD connection. I found that ridiculous

Also even though they have given Ultra HD pack free for 2 months; certain HD & other channels need to be paid for :sad:

 

[Naveen_Reloaded]

Ordered History HD today and it activated within few minutes ... :claps:

Clarity wise it good , not that great as the videos they show , themselves are of less quality.

 

[BLASTO]

Ordered History HD today and it activated within few minutes ... :claps:

It had only Hindi and Telugu audio till yesterday.
Is the english available?

 

[wypinkara]

@Blasto.. Yes English is also available in a Separate Channel Number