Censorship on 'Sun Direct HD Dth' Facebook page.

[sanjay0864]

The following are the contents of my interaction on the 'SunDirect HD Dth' 'facebook' page.

Sanjay:
My overall experience with the HD channels (Discovery HD, National Geographic HD, Tamil Movie/Songs HD, IPL HD) has been very good. Those are the only true HD channels that are there. The other two channels that are advertised as HD, are actually a deception and a fraud. Both 'Colors' and 'SunTV' are not actually HD channels. They are... simply the regular 'Colors' and 'Sun TV' 'standard definition' channels, that have been upscaled. I will admit though, that maybe due to the upscaling, or simply due to better compression, both these channels look much better than the regular SD channels. But the fact remains that both these channels are not actually HD and it is false advertising to claim them as such.

Sun Direct HD Dth:
Dear Sanjay, we accept that some channels are upscaled to HD and this we have in all our communication in terms and condition section mentioned as "Some channels are upscaled to HD".
We do not mean to keep our customers unaware of this, thanks for providing us a chance to mention it here.

Sanjay:
I don't mean to be confrontational but that is not entirely true. The discalimer that you 'had' on your website said "some programming" may be upscaled, it says nothing about the whole channels being upscaled. Since the whole channels are upscaled, with 'ZERO' HD content and since upscaling SD does not make it HD, even terming these channels as HD is at the very least misleading. Only in a country like India, can you get away with such blatant false advertising. By the way, the disclaimer is not there in most of your advertisements, some of which advertise SEVEN (?) HD channels. Could you please list these 'SEVEN' HD channels.

Sun Direct HD Dth:
Dear Sanjay, you seem to have a lot of knowledge in this field, what is your technical background and what do you do. Our company might want to recruit you even

Sanjay:
I am sure with my technical and marketing expertise, I could help make your company the best and most popular DTH service in thsi country.

Sun Direct HD Dth:
I am sure you have the knowledge and expertise. But you should check the advertisements posted here, in the photo albums, before you post here again.

Sanjay:
While I was writing my response, 'Sun Direct HD Dth' deleted all my posts from their page.

So much for customer service and honesty and integrity.

The following is what I had prepared as my response:

Well if you really wish to debate this, then:

1. In the first place it is totally incorrect and more than misleading, to term an upscaled signal as HD. An upscaled 'standard definition' picture, is just an upscaled standard definition picture. It does not become HD, and the upscaled picture does not have any more resolution added to the picture. Upscaling simply shows the same standard definition lines of resolution multiple times. There is no magic to create picture resolution that does not exist in the first place.

2. Secondly, could you please, point me to where on your website you state that 'Colors' & 'Sun TV' are not HD and are just the regular 'Colors' & 'Sun TV" which have simply been upscaled. I personally searched hard and long just now and could not find this stated anywhere. As a matter of fact, I am unable to find any mention of upscaling at all. Even the 'disclaimer' that I had seen on your website before purchasing 'SunDirect HD', is not to be found.

3. Stating that "some programming may be upscaled" is not the same as "Some channels are upscaled". If the situation were that, these two channels were in fact mostly showing HD content and only some programmes were upscaled, then and only then could one accept your calling these channels as 'HD' with a disclaimer. But as things actually are, 'SunDirect HD DTH' is simply using false advertising and is trying to hide behind 'legal technicalities' of claiming to have published a disclaimer.

4. I have looked at the 'advertisement' that you have posted here and inspite of having downloaded the picture to my computer, so that I can enlarge it and zoom in, I am unable to read the 'fine print' that I presume alludes to this issue. Also, since your 'ad' appeared quite a few days ago in the paper and thus is not available to me anymore, I am unable to read it and see what it stated.

5. Even if, for arguments sake, we were to accept that you have in your advertisement, in small, fine print, stated the disclaimer regarding the upscaling. How many average consumers do you think actually will read the fine print? More importantly, even if they were to read it, how many of them would even understand what you mean by it? Specially considering that your own company people don't seem to understand it too well?

6. The fact that 'SunDirect HD' has distorted the 4:3 aspect ratio of the original programming just to fill a 16:9 HD screen, further shows that the intention of 'SunDirect HD' is to 'fool' the averqage consumer into thinking that these are HD channels.

7. Both 'Colors' and 'Sun TV' are clearly labeled and shown as 'Colors HD' and 'Sun TV HD' on your website, with nary a word about them not being HD but rather just upscaled channels.

8. Further more, you have clearly stated in your advertisement that you have "7 HD" channels under this promotion. Can you please help me count the "7 HD" channels. 'Discovery HD' is ONE, 'National Geographic HD' is TWO, 'Tamil Music/Movie' is Three..... Now if we were to even include the 'FAKE' HD channels, 'Colors' becomes FOUR and 'Sun TV' adds up to FIVE. What are the other two channels? Don't tell me you are including the part time, temporary and soon to go off the air, just after three more days, 'Sony MAX IPL Matches in HD' as the 'SIXTH' channel. Well even then, that would only be 'SIX' channels. Other than these 'SIX' there is no other HD or so called HD channel that I receive.

 

[Sujit]

Wonder if we can use that to file a PIL.. or at least write to the regulator, and if they don't respond, then write to the courts.

I somehow feel Tata-Sky is the lesser of all these devils!

 

[rahuljonline]

We've got to stop these Corporates taking undue advantage of us. I'll make sure I spread the word about SUN HD. The problem is that their competitors are also the same... The terms & conditions and disclaimers in 'fine prints' are useless...

 

[sanjay0864]

More Censorship on 'Sun Direct HD Dth' Facebook page.

Some more Censorship.

Sanjay:
What makes things worse with the 'FAKE' HD channels (Colors & Sun TV) is the technically 'ignorant' decision, to artificially stretch the '4 x 3' aspect ratio picture to fill a 16:9 screen. This results in totally distorting the picture.. 'SunDirect HD' should immediately switch to showing both these channels in their ...original aspect ratio. This way people who wish to watch programs in their original aspect ratio can do so. Those, who wish to fill their 16:9 screens with a squeezed and distorted picture, can simply do so by using their own televisions aspect ratio feature, which all HD tvs have. This way everyone can watch the channels the way they want to. Personally I think this is being done to simply fool the general, unaware customer into believing that these are HD channels. But I am still hopefull that this is not the case and the only reason 'SunDirect HD' is distorting the aspect ratio is because their technical people are also as naive and ignorant as the average customer.

Sun Direct HD Dth:
No response so far.

Instead of responding 'Sun Direct HD Dth' deleted all the above posts.

 

[sanjay0864]

Even more censorship.

Sanjay:
The other thing that 'SunDirect HD' needs to address right away, is the extremely high volume level of the 'Tamil Movie/Music HD' channel. It is extremely loud, but more importantly it is MUCH louder than the other HD channels. Thus, when switching channels, there is a risk of damaging the speakers and ofcourse one's h...earing too. The volume level should be atleast 'reasonably' consistent, from channel to channel.

Sun Direct HD Dth:
Dear Sanjay, Thanks for your input, we will inform our technical team to look into the same. We are happy to have an informed customer amongst us.

Sanjay:
Thanks. Hopefully the "technical team" will be able to sort this out. By the way, the sound quality on the 'Tamil Movie/Music HD' channel is excellent. It's just the volume level, that too in comparison to the other channels is WAY TOO LOUD. I personally almost damaged, my 'very expensive' speakers, because of this. Not to mention, shocked the living daylights, out of myself and others, present in the room.

Sun Direct HD Dth:
Dear Sanjay, kindly send your smart card number, address and phone number as personal message, so that the team can visit to work on the problem.

Sanjay:
I am confused. How can you address this issue at my end?

Sun Direct HD Dth:
No response.

Instead of responding, all above posts deleted by 'Sun Direct HD Dth'.

 

[kapvin]

Even more censorship.

Instead of responding, all above posts deleted by 'Sun Direct HD Dth'.

do you think you could complain to facebook? this is blatant censorship. everything you post on FB is the property of FB and they may not have a right to delete anything unless it infringes on facebook rules.


alternately, maybe we could start an alternate facebook page " the truth about DTH"

;-)

 

[sanjay0864]

alternately, maybe we could start an alternate facebook page " the truth about DTH"

;-)

Now that is an idea I like. But we should go about it in an organized manner. We need to think of the most apt title for the page and also all the points we would like to present on it.

 

[kneo]

You definitely have one Fan for sure to your 'The Truth About DTH' page !!!

I'm not surprised that companies resort to false advertisements to sell their products. This would be true for most of companies across consumer products. The idea of forums like these would be to keep the consumer informed.

 

[alokbharti]

Sanjay:
Thanks. Hopefully the "technical team" will be able to sort this out. By the way, the sound quality on the 'Tamil Movie/Music HD' channel is excellent. It's just the volume level, that too in comparison to the other channels is WAY TOO LOUD. I personally almost damaged, my 'very expensive' speakers, because of this. Not to mention, shocked the living daylights, out of myself and others, present in the room.

Sun Direct HD Dth:
Dear Sanjay, kindly send your smart card number, address and phone number as personal message, so that the team can visit to work on the problem.

what was in his mind..

He blatantly removed all your posts about genuine queries.. then he is asking for your smart card number, address and phone number for the problem which should be fixed at their side..

 

[psychotropic]

very interesting. It's sad to see them do this, but I did watch the upscaled Sun TV through Sun HD in a store, and it looked excellent, of course this is in comparison to the horribly compressed images that we get from all the other DTH operators.

Tell me this Sanjay, how are the other channels on Sun HD, are they at least un-compressed and capable of being upscaled decently? Just for that I would be happy to pay a premium.

 

[alpha1]

What Corporate world in India requires is a strong dose of class action suits.
Bring them down to their knees, so that next time they would think twice before taking customers for granted.

 

[manisharora]

Dude, this is something that everyone does... Writing in fine art saying *Conditions apply... I mean once I saw that the A/C installations were free but when I bought the A/C, (don't want to dis close the company name), later during installation they said it is free but you need to pay Rs. 900 for all the other expenses, I was literally shocked, I took it to the management they said, we have written in the advertisement that there are conditions applied, then what in this hot summer I need the A/C, so paid the same, I mean sometimes they use everything for Conditions applied, but legally they can claim that, that is the problem.

But dude, Facebook, I have my doubts as I had some good treatment there, initially I was furious as I called customer care so many times for installation I could not reach them, then I reported it here in the facebook, they said they will call me within 24 hours, a person called me the next day at around 11, then I got the installation within two days, well the delay was due to rain, but then again, I really think they are genuinely helping, and as they have to so many people you can see in the facebook, you can read the comments there.

 

[alokbharti]

very interesting. It's sad to see them do this, but I did watch the upscaled Sun TV through Sun HD in a store, and it looked excellent, of course this is in comparison to the horribly compressed images that we get from all the other DTH operators.

Tell me this Sanjay, how are the other channels on Sun HD, are they at least un-compressed and capable of being upscaled decently? Just for that I would be happy to pay a premium.

I have both SunHD and TataSky(normal) running in parallel.

What I have observed, the SD channels on SunHD do have better quality compared to TataSky.

The actual HD channels: Discovery, NGC and IPL are too good compared to SD channels. Miles ahead in picture quality. Discovery and NGC offer dolby surround sound as well.

 

[mgdelhi]

I am using Sun HD for last 2-3 days.

Video quality is excellent of Discovery-HD, NGC-HD, IPL-HD. :clapping:

I have given audio from Sun STB to my Onkyo AVR through optical cable.

It skips the signal for a fraction of second which is very less noticeable if you listen the audio in the TV through HDMI. But in the Onkyo it is very disturbing as the AVR switches from Dolby to Stereo in absence of no signal even if it is for a fraction of second. The break on Onkyo is of 1 second. It makes listening audio in 5.1 in Onkyo almost impossible.

 

[manisharora]

The following are the contents of my interaction on the 'SunDirect HD Dth' 'facebook' page.


So much for customer service and honesty and integrity.

The following is what I had prepared as my response:

Well if you really wish to debate this, then:

1. In the first place it is totally incorrect and more than misleading, to term an upscaled signal as HD. An upscaled 'standard definition' picture, is just an upscaled standard definition picture. It does not become HD, and the upscaled picture does not have any more resolution added to the picture. Upscaling simply shows the same standard definition lines of resolution multiple times. There is no magic to create picture resolution that does not exist in the first place.

2. Secondly, could you please, point me to where on your website you state that 'Colors' & 'Sun TV' are not HD and are just the regular 'Colors' & 'Sun TV" which have simply been upscaled. I personally searched hard and long just now and could not find this stated anywhere. As a matter of fact, I am unable to find any mention of upscaling at all. Even the 'disclaimer' that I had seen on your website before purchasing 'SunDirect HD', is not to be found.

3. Stating that "some programming may be upscaled" is not the same as "Some channels are upscaled". If the situation were that, these two channels were in fact mostly showing HD content and only some programmes were upscaled, then and only then could one accept your calling these channels as 'HD' with a disclaimer. But as things actually are, 'SunDirect HD DTH' is simply using false advertising and is trying to hide behind 'legal technicalities' of claiming to have published a disclaimer.

4. I have looked at the 'advertisement' that you have posted here and inspite of having downloaded the picture to my computer, so that I can enlarge it and zoom in, I am unable to read the 'fine print' that I presume alludes to this issue. Also, since your 'ad' appeared quite a few days ago in the paper and thus is not available to me anymore, I am unable to read it and see what it stated.

5. Even if, for arguments sake, we were to accept that you have in your advertisement, in small, fine print, stated the disclaimer regarding the upscaling. How many average consumers do you think actually will read the fine print? More importantly, even if they were to read it, how many of them would even understand what you mean by it? Specially considering that your own company people don't seem to understand it too well?

6. The fact that 'SunDirect HD' has distorted the 4:3 aspect ratio of the original programming just to fill a 16:9 HD screen, further shows that the intention of 'SunDirect HD' is to 'fool' the averqage consumer into thinking that these are HD channels.

7. Both 'Colors' and 'Sun TV' are clearly labeled and shown as 'Colors HD' and 'Sun TV HD' on your website, with nary a word about them not being HD but rather just upscaled channels.

8. Further more, you have clearly stated in your advertisement that you have "7 HD" channels under this promotion. Can you please help me count the "7 HD" channels. 'Discovery HD' is ONE, 'National Geographic HD' is TWO, 'Tamil Music/Movie' is Three..... Now if we were to even include the 'FAKE' HD channels, 'Colors' becomes FOUR and 'Sun TV' adds up to FIVE. What are the other two channels? Don't tell me you are including the part time, temporary and soon to go off the air, just after three more days, 'Sony MAX IPL Matches in HD' as the 'SIXTH' channel. Well even then, that would only be 'SIX' channels. Other than these 'SIX' there is no other HD or so called HD channel that I receive.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dude, this is something that everyone does... Writing in fine art saying *Conditions apply... I mean once I saw that the A/C installations were free but when I bought the A/C, (don't want to dis close the company name), later during installation they said it is free but you need to pay Rs. 900 for all the other expenses, I was literally shocked, I took it to the management they said, we have written in the advertisement that there are conditions applied, then what in this hot summer I need the A/C, so paid the same, I mean sometimes they use everything for Conditions applied, but legally they can claim that, that is the problem.

But dude, Facebook, I have my doubts as I had some good treatment there, initially I was furious as I called customer care so many times for installation I could not reach them, then I reported it here in the facebook, they said they will call me within 24 hours, a person called me the next day at around 11, then I got the installation within two days, well the delay was due to rain, but then again, I really think they are genuinely helping, and as they have to so many people you can see in the facebook, you can read the comments there.

 

[Ananya]

Even more censorship.

Instead of responding, all above posts deleted by 'Sun Direct HD Dth'.

Okay... So what is your problem that the volume was high!!!
Don't you know how to control the volume?

I accept they should not have deleted the post, but also, because you posted such a long tread that does not mean people won't read it.

I mean seriously you let your system get affected because of this!!!!

 

[sanjay0864]

Okay... So what is your problem that the volume was high!!!
Don't you know how to control the volume?

First of all you are either 'ignorant' about technology or are plain and simply just rude.

Secondly you obviously can't comprehend English too well. This thread is about 'censorship' not technical issues. Even if it were, the issue is not the 'volume level' but rather the inconsistent volume level across channels.

Thirdly and most importantly, it is more than strange, that you signed up to this forum, just to post your rude response and to post in favor of 'Sun Direct HD Dth'. Am I the only one here that smells 'troll' here, or even worse a representative of 'Sun Direct HD Dth'. Moderators might want to look into this please.

Finally to answer your question. Yes, I do know how to control the volume. In fact I probably know a heck of a lot more about technology, than you you obviously do.

I accept they should not have deleted the post, but also, because you posted such a long tread that does not mean people won't read it.

You are damn well right, they have no business to delete my posts. If their 'facebook' page is mean't for consumer feedback, then as a professional company, they should accept both, positive and negative feedback. More importantly, instead of deleting the posts, they should be addressing the consumer concerns and at the very least responding to them. I sure hope you don't consider deleting of posts as addresssing the issue.

but also, because you posted such a long tread that does not mean people won't read it.

That part totally escapes my comprehension. Whatever do you mean by that?

I mean seriously you let your system get affected because of this!!!!

Again, I have no idea what you are talking about.

PS:
Finally, if you really care to understnad the issue, then let me try and explain it in a lay man's language. I don't know what kind of system/speakers you have hooked up to listen to the audio with 'SunDirect HD Dth', but I have a moderately expensive system that I use to view and listen to 'SunDirect HD'. When watching 'Discovery HD' and or 'National Geographic HD' I have my amplifier volume turned up according to the channels volume level. When I switch channels from one ot the other, there is no issue because both these channels have their 'volume levels' set according to commonly accepted industry standards. The problem arises when you switch from either of these channels to the 'Tamil Music/Movie HD' channel, which is WAY TOO LOUD. Thus if you forget to first reduce the volume by a big margin, you run the risk of damaging the speakers and also one's hearing. As a consumer, one should not have to worry about such issues and therefore this a genuine area of concern that 'Sun Direct HD Dth' should look into. By the way even if I were to always remember and be careful to always reduce the volume before switching to the 'Tamil Music/Movie' channel, what about others in my house or for that matter guests, who may not be aware of this issue?

 

[shailenderb]

Okay... So what is your problem that the volume was high!!!
Don't you know how to control the volume?

I accept they should not have deleted the post, but also, because you posted such a long tread that does not mean people won't read it.

I mean seriously you let your system get affected because of this!!!!

Ananya:

I am sure, as you are, he knows how to control the volume. He was talking about the sudden and unexpected surge of volume to high decible levels while surfing channels.

As for the length of the thread, pl understand it is directly proportionate to the problem being faced by him. He is accusing the compnay of cheating and it sure needs some explanation.

Regds

 

[goyal.sanchit]

Well I am not actually surprised that Sun"HD" deleted your comments from the FB page. Most companies are like this and have hard time in accepting negative feedback.


Whats good though is that you mentioned it here so that more people are aware of it.

Also I liked the idea of making another page about DTH on FB so that more people can know about it. But instead of SUN"HD" we can mention about every company and the problems or good experience people had with them.




I for sure have to write a lot against Reliance "BIG" tv which I am sure the company isnt going to like!!

 

[Punit Mahajan]

Well I am not actually surprised that Sun"HD" deleted your comments from the FB page. Most companies are like this and have hard time in accepting negative feedback.


Whats good though is that you mentioned it here so that more people are aware of it.

Also I liked the idea of making another page about DTH on FB so that more people can know about it. But instead of SUN"HD" we can mention about every company and the problems or good experience people had with them.




I for sure have to write a lot against Reliance "BIG" tv which I am sure the company isnt going to like!!

Yeah man, you know, we should do something about htis...This is so sad, when you go and don't get answers, someone should create something against all the company, I would suggest Tata's Landmark, the customer service has dropped down like hell... I agree I have complaints against BIG too...