Airtel HD Vs. Tata Sky HD +

[soumya]

Help me choose between these two, considering the picture quality, sound and everything! Or is there any other alternative which is better?

 

[bigdaddy24]

Hi
I dont know about Airtel HD but TS HD + is not that great.
I purchased it but the quality of SD channels is pathetic.

The HD channels look good.

 

[soumya]

Many people are saying that the picture quality of standard channels is very bad in Tata Sky and that Airtel is better in terms of picture quality. So why are you guys voting for Tata?

 

[prankey]

You are comparing Airtel NON-DVR HD box with probably the best DVR HD box... so you are bound to see such results.

Instead, you should have talked of Videocon D2H 3D DVR, BigTV DVR and TS+HD DVR and could have got more reasonable votes.

I have voted for Other as currently Dish HD gives best PQ (though being most expensive in doing so without DD5.1) to me as compared with TS+HD and most probably Airtel HD (from what I saw Airtel HD in showrooms).

 

[askii2]

We need to do a proper comparison of all the DTH options. Since any of the members on this forum don't have all DTH connections, let's set a standard for comparison and let people post results for whatever connections they have.

How do we set a standard for comparison? Or rather what are the criteria for evaluating PQ and AQ?

 

[prankey]

Amit - its tough for most of us to do the comparison as most of us lack the technical knowhow of benchmarking these operators. Also, most of us are unable to do side by side comparison. Like I have Dish HD and TS+HD and can compare among the two only.

Infact these DTH operators are usually poor in knows how good is their competition and they basically live inside a well which is apparent in their own policies which are quite unique to their subscribers. This is in contrast to the Mobile service providers who keep modifying their tariff to match the competition and hence more or less standardize it.

DTH operators should publish their bit rates and Audio and Video compression standard used for each of their channels for us to evaluate their service. Also, like BEE star labels for energy efficiency, there should be an independent body to test their service and content and rate them accordingly. Till the time we do not have such standards, we are left PERCEIVING quality as per our personal understanding and these exercise become mundane and DTH Operators can EASILY RUBBISH such efforts..

 

[askii2]

Sigh.......that's true.

Unfortunately magazines like AVMax and What HiFi also don't publish any comparisons. They have resources, but no will to do that.

 

[Dushie]

Most of the live sports feed comes on TS HD first so my vote goes for the same.

 

[prithivi]

Help me choose between these two, considering the picture quality, sound and everything! Or is there any other alternative which is better?

which place are yu frm ? ?

if tamil or telegu is your priority then take sun hd

or else my vote to ts HD
it is beautiful on my grand fathers 46 sony full hd !

and i dont know abt air tel

 

[soumya]

I am from Kolkata. I am living in Hyderabad though. I cannot understand Tamil or Telugu.

Only these people are asking me to go for Airtel :-

Airtel HD Vs. Tata Sky HD + - Big TV, Tata Sky, Dish TV India, Airtel Digital TV, Sun DTH on SaveOnDish.com

 

[Sat_hi_sh]

Am using SUN HD for the past one year and the quality of all the HD channels are just amazing
Am in no position to comment on other DTH HD connections but I can say for sure that all the gimmicks of 30 HD channels from DISH TV are false...

SUN DTH had one of the worst customer services but things have improved off late, my friend was all in praise for SUN DTH when he got a new connection recently, so now you know about SUN HD

Just check on the forums about other HD operators and make your decision

But dont forget to post your purchase here

 

[borg]

^^
i was thinking of switching to sun hd then they started those watermark in middle of screen in hd channels, i was ready to risk the customers service(or lack of it)

 

[sachinaik]

I voted "other".

Tata sky does not provide Dolby Digital audio through HDMI.
Videocon should be providing it, since they say 3D is supported on their box.

I suggest you to check videocon and then go for it.

 

[prankey]

I voted "other".

Tata sky does not provide Dolby Digital audio through HDMI.
Videocon should be providing it, since they say 3D is supported on their box.

I suggest you to check videocon and then go for it.

3D has nothing to do with an STB and certainly not even remotely related to Dolby Digital or any multichannel audio!

Videocon D2H will not even KNOW if its decompressing and passing 3D video through HDMI as its a regular 1080i stream!

 

[manu79]

SD is at best ok in both not DVD quality. TS Customer care is good, and the set top box is faster in terms of channel switching, the last time i used Airtel there was an annoying lag in the time taken to switch channels.

 

[sanjay0864]

3D has nothing to do with an STB and certainly not even remotely related to Dolby Digital or any multichannel audio!

That is not entirely correct. The set-top box does play a role in being able to receive 3D feeds and to pass them on to your 3D display. For one a set-top box must be atleast HD capable for it handle 3D. Also, for Full HD in 3D the set-top box must also have HDMI 1.4 to be able to carry a Full HD 3D signal. Ofcourse, 3D has nothing to do with Dolby Digital or mutichannel audio.

 

[prankey]

That is not entirely correct. The set-top box does play a role in being able to receive 3D feeds and to pass them on to your 3D display. For one a set-top box must be atleast HD capable for it handle 3D. Also, for Full HD in 3D the set-top box must also have HDMI 1.4 to be able to carry a Full HD 3D signal. Ofcourse, 3D has nothing to do with Dolby Digital or mutichannel audio.

Sanjay - I agree on Full HD Frame Sequential 3D, which NONE of the DTH providers across the globe provide due to HUGE bandwidth requirement. So all the 3D services across the globe is currently regular HDMI (might not even be version 1.3) on a REGULAR HD STB.

Full HD Frame Sequential 3D is currently limited ONLY to 3D BR atleast for another few years to come and NONE of the current breed of "3D" capable HD STBs including TS HD or TS+HD or Videocon must be capable of providing Frame Sequential 3D in Full HD.

Also, I would emphasize on TS's claim of supporting 3D on TS HD and TS+HD like they did for TS+SD (they said when HD comes, TS+ is capable of delivering HD through component output, which NEVER HAPPENED). Also, they are promoting TS+HD to be capable of DD+7.1 when not even DD2.0 is passed through HDMI. Even if they fix HDMI to pass DD, I doubt if DD+7.1 will ever be provided even after such HD content is launched as current TS HD is marketed as capable of only DD5.1. So, BEWARe of TS's TALL MARKETING CLAIMS which they might NEVER DELIVER!

 

[rockstar1630]

Sun TV has amazing HD quality. Got it installed a couple of days back. Menu functioning is awesome as well. Thumbs up.

 

[prankey]

What do you mean by Menu Functioning? How do you find the SD PQ and SQ? Is it a Samsung STB?

 

[mailalok]

If you will be more interested in SD channels then go for Airtel I feel they are better in SD PQ. In general for viewing both SD and HD TATA Sky looks fine to me. Stay away for Dish HD, they are biggest fraud.

/Alok