Content replicated from unboxedninja.blogspot.com
While HD TVs have been available in India for sometime, the content finally caught up only a couple of years ago with Dish, TataSky, Airtel & Sun launching HD DTH set-top boxes. I have been using TataSky+ since 2009 and have been really happy with the DVR features. So for me it's been a toss up between staying with what I have or move to a HD DVR aka TataSky+ HD.
However there were a few deterrents whenever I considered upgrading:
1. Although HD channels are there but they are just a handful. TS offers only 8 HD Channels at the moment (Discovery, NatGeo, Star Plus, Star World, Star Gold, Star Movies, Star Cricket, ESPN)
2. Additional cost of channels: If you are on any of the standard packs then you can add the HD pack at INR 75/month or 825/year. However, if you are on TataSky's 'Make My pack', where you can choose individual channels then the outflow for these 8 channels is a whopping INR 280/month... wait what?
3. The upfront cost of the STB (Settop box) itself. For existing subscribers, TataSky is giving the box for INR 4815 with the option to buy back the TS+ SD box for Rs 500.
Does it even make sense to move to TataSky+ HD?
When I first asked this question on Here I got an interesting reply from @ilanjai "After spending a bomb on HDTV, it makes little sense to watch SD channels". Hardly a rational answer but hard to argue with that.
After having used the TataSky+ HD box for a few days, here's my view:
Overall Image comparison: The HD image is significantly better than the SD one!
UI comparison:
The overall UI for the TataSky+ HD is much better than the SD box. Not only is it easy on the eye & much sharper but what I liked best was that bringing up the EPG did not mean moving the video to a tiny little window.
So while the overall image & presentation does see an improvement, what about some performance numbers? One nagging issue I had with the TataSky+ SD box was the amount of time it took to cold start (from complete power off to displaying a channel). So does the HD cousin improve performance here? What about the delay between switching channels? I mean this has to be important right? How many of us have gone from channel 0 to channel 60 in under 4 seconds? Yeah.. I wish we could do that.
Performance comparison:
While the HD box takes about the same time from a cold start, it's performance while switching channels is worse than the TataSky+ SD box. Disappointing!
Conclusion:
Does it make sense to upgrade your SD PVR box to the HD one? As there is limited HD programming available on TataSky, I would recommend upgrading only if you really care about the picture quality. The content on the 'premium' HD channels (ESPN & Star World) maybe advert-free at the moment but there is no telling when that changes.
Overall Pros of TataSky+ HD:
* Superior Image Quality
* Better overall Interfaces
* 1 HDMI cable instead of 5 component wires
Overall Cons of TataSky+ HD:
* The cost might not justify a jump from SD to HD if you already have TataSky+ SD with similar PVR functions
* The HD Channels don't really come cheap considering the programming is mirrored from their SD counterparts
* The box is slower in switching channels.
* TataSky's purchase process is via phone only & a nightmare. Seriously, they need to learn from FlipKart.
While HD TVs have been available in India for sometime, the content finally caught up only a couple of years ago with Dish, TataSky, Airtel & Sun launching HD DTH set-top boxes. I have been using TataSky+ since 2009 and have been really happy with the DVR features. So for me it's been a toss up between staying with what I have or move to a HD DVR aka TataSky+ HD.
However there were a few deterrents whenever I considered upgrading:
1. Although HD channels are there but they are just a handful. TS offers only 8 HD Channels at the moment (Discovery, NatGeo, Star Plus, Star World, Star Gold, Star Movies, Star Cricket, ESPN)
2. Additional cost of channels: If you are on any of the standard packs then you can add the HD pack at INR 75/month or 825/year. However, if you are on TataSky's 'Make My pack', where you can choose individual channels then the outflow for these 8 channels is a whopping INR 280/month... wait what?
3. The upfront cost of the STB (Settop box) itself. For existing subscribers, TataSky is giving the box for INR 4815 with the option to buy back the TS+ SD box for Rs 500.
Does it even make sense to move to TataSky+ HD?
When I first asked this question on Here I got an interesting reply from @ilanjai "After spending a bomb on HDTV, it makes little sense to watch SD channels". Hardly a rational answer but hard to argue with that.
After having used the TataSky+ HD box for a few days, here's my view:
Overall Image comparison: The HD image is significantly better than the SD one!
UI comparison:
The overall UI for the TataSky+ HD is much better than the SD box. Not only is it easy on the eye & much sharper but what I liked best was that bringing up the EPG did not mean moving the video to a tiny little window.
So while the overall image & presentation does see an improvement, what about some performance numbers? One nagging issue I had with the TataSky+ SD box was the amount of time it took to cold start (from complete power off to displaying a channel). So does the HD cousin improve performance here? What about the delay between switching channels? I mean this has to be important right? How many of us have gone from channel 0 to channel 60 in under 4 seconds? Yeah.. I wish we could do that.
Performance comparison:
While the HD box takes about the same time from a cold start, it's performance while switching channels is worse than the TataSky+ SD box. Disappointing!
Conclusion:
Does it make sense to upgrade your SD PVR box to the HD one? As there is limited HD programming available on TataSky, I would recommend upgrading only if you really care about the picture quality. The content on the 'premium' HD channels (ESPN & Star World) maybe advert-free at the moment but there is no telling when that changes.
Overall Pros of TataSky+ HD:
* Superior Image Quality
* Better overall Interfaces
* 1 HDMI cable instead of 5 component wires
Overall Cons of TataSky+ HD:
* The cost might not justify a jump from SD to HD if you already have TataSky+ SD with similar PVR functions
* The HD Channels don't really come cheap considering the programming is mirrored from their SD counterparts
* The box is slower in switching channels.
* TataSky's purchase process is via phone only & a nightmare. Seriously, they need to learn from FlipKart.
