rahuljonline
Active Member
Not even the logo is HD. This is a damn shame....
Star Plus HD added in Tata Sky
- Thread starter Jigneshg
- Start date
looks like. receiver is showing 5.1
For most of the people who are ignorant about HD channels. Even in the U.S. where there are 100+ HD channels, the actual programming on those channels is a mix of HD & SD channels. Typically in the Program Guide for HD receivers(Set Top Boxes), there is a HD attribute indicating whether a particular show is in HD or SD.
I think its a great step forward for us in India. Though Star Plus HD/ Zee HD may show only SD channels as of now, moving forward as more and more shows are produces in HD, they will start showing them. Eventually we may have 24hr HD programming. I hope you understand operators are not foolish enough to dedicate bandwidth for a new HD channel and then show the same SD programs on it. Gradually we may see more & more shows on these channels being shown in HD.
As of now. We can wait & watch how things go. Stick to Blu-Ray's or torrents & Nat Geo/Discovery if your an HD freak. Else don't bother investing in a HD box and keep cribbing over it. Try to use public forums to spread awareness & increase adoption of these products and not hate on them.
P.S. I am not siding the operators, just that having been in the broadcasting industry for a few years I know the pain points of operators.
I think its a great step forward for us in India. Though Star Plus HD/ Zee HD may show only SD channels as of now, moving forward as more and more shows are produces in HD, they will start showing them. Eventually we may have 24hr HD programming. I hope you understand operators are not foolish enough to dedicate bandwidth for a new HD channel and then show the same SD programs on it. Gradually we may see more & more shows on these channels being shown in HD.
As of now. We can wait & watch how things go. Stick to Blu-Ray's or torrents & Nat Geo/Discovery if your an HD freak. Else don't bother investing in a HD box and keep cribbing over it. Try to use public forums to spread awareness & increase adoption of these products and not hate on them.
P.S. I am not siding the operators, just that having been in the broadcasting industry for a few years I know the pain points of operators.
Well Mr Fire.. people are definitely happy that HD broadcasting has made a beginning in India.Having bought the HD hardware its not a crime to expect every time a HD channel is introduced ,it is to be a genuine one? So calling it cribbing and freakish is taking things a little too far don't you think? Tatasky so far has set a high standard for itself.So for them to show case SD pictures as HD is a bit of a disappointment.People does not mind the broadcasters taking time to introduce new HD channles ,but not this.Yes operators may have zillion pain points.But that doesen't mean they can take the consumers for a ride right?
cheers,
sri
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Yes, in my Denon reciever the audio is recongnized as 5.1 (Dolby Digital). Of course while watching Sas-Bahu serials this does not make any difference at all. But when the Advertisements come, there is a marked difference. It may not be actual 5.1 at source, but I am getting better surround effect (compared to the SD channel). Will have to watch a weekend movie and see whether movie the sound effect will be.
"Eventually" many channels will show HD programmes, doesn't mean that the service providers could upscale some of them and call as HD channel to deceive the public. Like you said in US HD channels has a mix of SD also, we do not mind calling Star plus as HD if atleast a couple of hours in a day is shown in true HD. Even Saas Bahu shows are fine
sanjay0864
Well-Known Member
It would be appreciated if you would stop referring to Fake/Pseudo upscaled channels as HD. It's bad enough that the DTH companies are using unethical terminology to cheat their customers, but for members of a forum such as this to perpetuate the same is even worse.
sanjay0864
Well-Known Member
It is highly advisable to first get your facts right before you go defending cheats and terming genuine customer grievances as "cribbing". The fact that you state that you belong to the 'broadcasting' industry and then your apparent lack of technical knowledge in the field is a perfect example of why our broadcasting industry sucks.
There is not a single instance in the US wherein a DTH company has taken an existing SD channel and simply put it though an upscaler and then has claimed it to be a HD channel and marketed it as such. There is a huge difference between the situation in the US that you have mentioned and the one existing in India. Showing some SD (upscaled to HD) programming mixed in with primarily HD content on a HD channel is acceptable to an extent, specially during the transition period from SD to HD. But to claim that an upscaled SD channel as HD, is out and out cheating and would even be considered illegal in most countries.
Rather than this being a step forward, it is actually retrogrative step which will prevent and slow down the advent of real HD channels in India. This will also impede the adoption of HD since the consumer will never get to see the true benefits of REAL HD. In actuality I am not really against the idea of upscaling channels atleast until there are more real HD channels available, because atleast this way the channels are now atleast of watchable quality unlike what we normally get. So in that sense, yes these upscaled channels are an improvement but they most certainly do not replace HD channels and nor should they be termed as such. These channels should be referred to as SD+ to differentiate them from the regular SD channel.
DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS REALLY NO REAL CHANNEL CALLED 'STAR PLUS HD'. It is simply the same 'Star Plus SD' feed, which is being shown on a second channel simultaneously, the only difference being that the feed is passed through an upscaler first. Thus pray tell me how in the world will this channel ever have HD programming? Due to the very nature of how these FAKE HD channels are technically being broadcast, precludes them from ever having any real HD content, whereas in the US scenario mentioned by you, all programming will ultimately switch to HD only. Even 'Discovery HD World' and 'NG HD' have part segments of their programming in SD but none of us our complaining about that, for that is simply a problem of the original video being available in SD only. Whereas with these so called 'FAKE/PSEUDO/UPSCALED' HD channels it is nothing but a case of misrepresentation and fooling the ignorant consumer.
You are right we should spread awareness, but of the facts and not perpetuate the false advertising of the DTH companies. Advertising upscaled SD as HD is only detrimental to the task of promoting and increased adoption of HD in the long run. The average consumer simply gets the wrong idea of the true gains of true HD because of these upscaled channels. In fact soem may even think that HD means a distorted picture as a result of the incorrect aspect ratio of these 'upscaled' channels.
sanjay0864
Well-Known Member
+1 Well said.
Apologies I missed to add Upscaled in my 1st post
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I had not expected such a strong & aggresive response to my post. My only argument was that since they are blocking bandwidth by broadcasting an HD channel(Though it may have 100% SD programming) they would definitely have some plans to show some HD content if not now then in the near future.
At the end of the day if they are not able to provide enough value to the end customer, they will fail. Atleast by adding upscaled SD to HD channels, its a step in the right direction. They cannot continue with this trend since one of their competitors will launch a real HD channel & call their bluff.
I can understand people's aggression since they have been early adopters and invested in a new HD STB. But we all knew before hand that once the FIFA WC ends we're gonna be stuck with SD + Nat Geo/ Discovery.
I think with the lower costs of broadband these days it makes more sense to install a Slingbox.com - Watch Your TV Anywhere with a Slingbox at some relatives place who is abroad & getting an HD feed. Then with approx. 8Mbps connection here, we can watch real HD channels. Its an expensive affair but a guaranteed approach to HD.
At the end of the day if they are not able to provide enough value to the end customer, they will fail. Atleast by adding upscaled SD to HD channels, its a step in the right direction. They cannot continue with this trend since one of their competitors will launch a real HD channel & call their bluff.
I can understand people's aggression since they have been early adopters and invested in a new HD STB. But we all knew before hand that once the FIFA WC ends we're gonna be stuck with SD + Nat Geo/ Discovery.
I think with the lower costs of broadband these days it makes more sense to install a Slingbox.com - Watch Your TV Anywhere with a Slingbox at some relatives place who is abroad & getting an HD feed. Then with approx. 8Mbps connection here, we can watch real HD channels. Its an expensive affair but a guaranteed approach to HD.
Anil Sehrawat
New Member
Who cares Abt Star Plus HD we need HBO and Star Movies
We DON'T WANT Star Movies upscaled and then called HD. If they cannot broadcast it in HD, natively, like Discovery and NG are doing, then there's no point in upscaling it, stretching it out, calling it HD and giving it to us. The Tata-Sky set-top box can be set to do the same thing with all the SD channels.
Anil Sehrawat
New Member
We DON'T WANT Star Movies upscaled and then called HD. If they cannot broadcast it in HD, natively, like Discovery and NG are doing, then there's no point in upscaling it, stretching it out, calling it HD and giving it to us. The Tata-Sky set-top box can be set to do the same thing with all the SD channels.
yes only real HD channels will be accepted
sanjay0864
Well-Known Member
You are right that we, the 'informed' customer, were aware of this, but my concern is the average consumer who is not as well informed and is ignorant to the technicalities of upscaled and real HD signals. Thus the average consumer is easily duped into into thinking they are watching Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Colors, Sun TV and now Star Plus in HD. In any case, the DTH companies are not clearly advertising these channels as 'upscaled' and rather are misusing the term 'HD' to mislead the consumer. It is th false advertising that is of real concern, not as much the upscaling itself.
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I Agree. Wish we had some HD streaming service like Netflix in India. Nobody would give a damn about these operators then.
server3249
Member
It's 4:3. Exact same channel, hardly any difference. They are idiots.
There is a difference, so called starplus HD is SD encoded in H264 and upscaled to 1080i so less of the macroblocking and pixellation, better detail and color resolution, if you want i'll post pics of the difference in quality, better compressed SD was something we never got in india, they compress the living daylights out of the standard channels, with h264 we can hope for better.
sanjay0864
Well-Known Member
+1
As much as I am against these upscale channels being termed and marketed as 'HD' channels, the fact is that they are substantially better than their original 'SD' counterparts. In the name of 'HD' we are finally atleast getting good quality 'SD'. But the problem with these channels is that along with the upscaling, the techically challenged Indian DTH companies are also stretching the picture to change the original 4.:3 aspect ratio of these channels to fit a 16:9 frame. The end result is thus quite unviewable, specially if your TV locks into 16:9 when recieving a HD resolution signal.
PS: The upscaled channels are still no where as good as a true HD channel, but they are generally still a vast improvement on their regular SD counterparts.
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