Tata Sky vs. Videocon D2H

[buddyisin]

Got D2H installed today. Took six hours from making payment online to viewing first HD channel. Paid Rs 5790 + 110 for extra wire. Platinum HD Pack annual subscription. Account shows next recharge date as 27/10/2013, a little over six months. Customer care tells me that it'll take up to 48 hours to reflect annual subscription in account. Don't know how it works though. Satisfied so far.
HD PQ is better than I expected; Sound quality I'm not bothered much about. SD quality of Hathway was much better than D2H's SD but it's acceptable.

 

[just4kix]

Got D2H installed today. Took six hours from making payment online to viewing first HD channel. Paid Rs 5790 + 110 for extra wire. Platinum HD Pack annual subscription. Account shows next recharge date as 27/10/2013, a little over six months. Customer care tells me that it'll take up to 48 hours to reflect annual subscription in account. Don't know how it works though. Satisfied so far.
HD PQ is better than I expected; Sound quality I'm not bothered much about. SD quality of Hathway was much better than D2H's SD but it's acceptable.

For SD quality, and even HD quality for that matter, I can say that quality is definitely not up to the mark. Thus is because of heavy compression used by providers. This becomes evident on the projector when image is blown to 100" or more.

 

[vktyagi]

I appreciate your view. But I am still not convinced of any benefits, please excuse me.

What content do I wish to record? Hindi serials? Yuck! Regional serials? Pure muck!! English serials? You kidding? All those ridiculously censored content? All "objectionable" words ***'ed out. Supposedly steamy scenes cut off completely - be it in "Friends" or "Everybody Loves Raymond" or "Dexter" or "The Big Bang Theory" or "Grey's Anatomy"? I used to watch "Dexter" in USA - some important content is simply chopped off. I have the entire "Friends" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" on DVD with me. The content on Indian TV is completely regulated "fit for consumption of the Indian mind and taste". Sorry, no s*x please. We may be the people who gave the world Kamasutra, but we are more moral than the west. Our kids and families don't need this.

Next what about the TV ads? You say we can skip them. Fine. But HD channels have very few ad's anyway - at least for Star World which is the only channel worth recording. Others are SD which I wouldn't care to record. Besides what about the new fad of on screen banners that appear on the middle of upper bottom? Huge banners that block nearly 10-15% of the screen? What public debates are we talking about? Those on NDTV and the likes? Anyone must surely realize that these are heavily doctored, the audience questions are planted, etc. What fun watching 60 year old political children arguing and appear fighting in public, but hand-in-glove with each other in private.

I could rant a little more. I am no slave to the TV. In the past 20 years of TV revolution in India, I have never felt, "I must rush back home now, else I will miss ...". If there is something watchable on TV at any time, I watch. Otherwise, I rely on my collection of movies. I am not asking for soft porn or completely censor-free TV. But I would rather not watch programs with bold banners, senseless censoring, irritating "anti-smoking" messages, et al.

I have never felt the need for TV recording in India. As I said, an occassional sport event may be worth recording but that's about it. When I used to live abroad in 90's, I used to own a VCR and used to record movies and programs that made a lot of sense. I still have those tapes with me and my VCR still works, though hardly used any more. Can't say that I ever felt the need to record here. Probably never will. But that's me. I am not against DVRs, but if someone asks me, I will dissuade the person against. If someone is bent still, I wiil tell him "Boss, it is your money ...".

But we are digressing from the topic. Best to carry this discussion on some other thread.

If you are completely indifferent to the contents of the TV programs, well you really do not need a DVR. But what I was saying was about my choice and my experience which I believe is true with lots of others too.
I repeat I choose not to view the contents the way dictated by the broadcasters.

 

[just4kix]

Ok..peace. Let us not discuss this anymore. I repeat that I am not against DVR.

 

[prepress]

I have 3 TS connections, 2 SD and 1 HD PLUS. My annual package is expiring in first week of May. Purchased last year and spent more than 16K for all setup (Setup Boxes + Annual Subs). I am not sure what should I do now as all connections are necessary. If I go for Videocon, then I have to buy all Setup boxes again and also have to spend on packages. I think it will go more than than the TS annual package. And after spending on Videocon we can't say their packages will remain same in future.

DTH is becoming pain in my ARM

 

[dino29]

I have 3 TS connections, 2 SD and 1 HD PLUS. My annual package is expiring in first week of May. Purchased last year and spent more than 16K for all setup (Setup Boxes + Annual Subs). I am not sure what should I do now as all connections are necessary. If I go for Videocon, then I have to buy all Setup boxes again and also have to spend on packages. I think it will go more than than the TS annual package. And after spending on Videocon we can't say their packages will remain same in future.

DTH is becoming pain in my ARM

Buddy check this
Videocon d2h DTH Services, Satellite Digital Cable TV, Direct to Home, Digital Television

U will get 12 months platinum hd pack of videocon d2h at just RS 5790 which is lot lower than tata sky mega hd pack , infact videocon d2h is giving hd stb free as platinum hd for 12 months costs approx Rs. 5760

So go ahead and dump tata sky, choose videocon d2h , they have max sd and 22 hd chs and will add many hd and sd in this quarter till june

 

[muks1224]

Hi! I just jumped from TS HD to Videcon. Initial reaction HD is ok but SD is very bad compared to TS ,anyway i jumped because TS annual package is equal to Videocon's package plus box nothing lost can switch over if needed after a year. Any inputs on SD clarity should i call their support guys for adjustments?
This box has a USB port of what use is this ? can you record/ is so how/

 

[ravidharap]

D2H STB's USB port is useless for end users, we cannot even charge cellphones through the port

 

[muks1224]

Thanks , i have another issue SD channels looks washed out when signal strength was checked the strength showed full but quality 3/5 , i was told by D2H technician that this was the best , is it true? OMG why did i switch over from TS

 

[rdesi99]

Hi this is my first post here. I have changed from TataSky+ to Videocon D2H DVR last week.

After 1 week, I can tell you that I regret switching from Tata Sky and am considering moving back to Tata Sky although I have paid 1 year of platinum subscription to Videcon HD.

Note that this review is DVR centric.

Background:
==========

I am a "power" DVR user, i.e. I rarely watch live TV, I usually record my favorite shows, serials, movies etc. and watch it when I am free. I also record a lot of cricket matches.

I have had Tata Sky for 5+ years. Like everyone else, I got tired of waiting for Tata Sky to add more HD channels so went with Videocon since it had the most HD channels when my latest annual Tata Sky subscription expired.


Reasons:
=========

The points mentioned by the original poster are relevant. I would like to add:

- Serial Link: The videocon dvr is advertised as "auto serial" recording but really does not have that feature. I have the latest loader software (version 44) as on July 26, 2013, but the DVR does not support the serial link. I sent an email to videocon on FB but no reply. Customer Care doesnt know about this either. Tata Sky has this nifty feature where if I click on a serial to record, it gives me the option to select either the episode or the entire serial. With videocon, I have to go into the TV guide daily to choose my shows. Also, I forget if I am recording weekly shows (for ex: Apprentice Asia every Friday). With TataSky it happened automatically.


- TV Guide: The TV guide takes forever to load. Also, not all channels on the screen get loaded. Usually the channel that you are most interested in does not get loaded. After 5 minutes I give up. You cant use the DVR effectively if you cant see whats playing easily enough!

- DVR Forwarding : One of the advantages of watching recorded shows or cricket matches on DVR is that you can forward through advertisements or the bowler walking back to his mark in cricket. Videocon has this annoying tool bar that occupies about 25% of the screen when you are forwarding, blocking the picture. Also, when you resume, it doesnt start from where you stopped forwarding. It jumps a little forward or a little back, depending on the alignment of the stars Smile Also, the forward itself is not linear...you cant see things forwarding smoothly like you would in a VCR or TataSky...you have to guess when to stop.

- Jump: After forwarding from 2x through 32x, Tatasky has this cool feature of jumping 15 minutes ahead. This is useful when you are trying to skip big sections (say a lunch break in a cricket match). Videocon doesnt have this and it is annoying to go to the recorded time of interest.

- Recorded Programs: You have to press about half a dozen different keys to go to your recorded programs to watch your program of interest. TatSky has 1 power key on its remote to take you there. I also couldnt tell if Videocon DVR began its recorded program from where you stopped watching last time. Tata sky has the option of resuming where you last stopped (I watch a hindi movie over 3 or 4 different viewings, so I find this feature very useful).

- Name of Recorded programs: When I choose the movie or show to be recorded, the DVR post recording, loses the names. So instead of "Revenge" I get "Sneak Peek" which was 15 minutes ago. Similarly instead of another show "One Tree Hill" my DVR shows that I have recorded another program "Sneak Peek" from 10:00-11:00 PM also. Now I have about 15 sneak peaks after 1 week of recording and I have no idea what is what. So Videocon DVR does not retain the name of the show you recorded, making it difficult to identify and watch shows again out of a big repository of 500GB of taped stuff. Tatasky works flawlessly on this. Similarly, the time based recording stopped about an hour in for no reason on Videcon. Never had such issues with TS.

- Remote Control, Non-Intuitive UI etc: I read these reviews too before I bought my Videocon but didnt realize it would be this irritating, so ignored these warnings. The weird layout of remote control, the non=intuitive UI to reach your recorded programs, the difficulty with which to navigate to your recorded shows, or to identify your recorded stuff etc. makes me miss TS more then ever.


Summary:

While I hated Tata sky for being expensive, for not giving me the best value for money, not giving me enough HD channels, I have stopped watching TV mostly with Videocon. (Maybe that is a blessing in disguise Wink I regret switching to Videocon since the HD DVR does nothing for me.

If at version 44 this is the UI and software of the DVR, then I will check with Videocon again after a couple of years. By that time, Tata Sky might have actually fixed their transponder nightmare and added more HD channels with less compression.

If you watch your TV mostly via DVR, then Tatasky is the way to go.

I wrote this, since am guessing many folks like myself are considering moving to Videocon for the better HD availability. For those not interested in DVR, your opinions would differ.

Happy Viewing!

 

[prepress]

Thanks much, you really made many things clear. I was in the same boat but thought to stuck for one more year. Let see if they serve something better, but at least what we are getting from them is best.

 

[just4kix]

Thanks for the review. I understand that the DVR is not up to the mark. What about the signal quality itself? Is Tatasky much (much) better in terms of PQ or are the two near at par?

 

[htfan17]

@rdesi99

In addition to clicking on thanks, I felt u deserved a special thanks from my side. That was one heck of a comparison review and clears the confusion more than ever for potential buyers so well that words fail to express the gratitude. U rock. I have paid for next one year on tata sky HD+ and this restored my belief in the brand. Once again, awesome job. :clapping:

 

[prepress]

Check this thread, I believe it is good news.

@rdesi99

In addition to clicking on thanks, I felt u deserved a special thanks from my side. That was one heck of a comparison review and clears the confusion more than ever for potential buyers so well that words fail to express the gratitude. U rock. I have paid for next one year on tata sky HD+ and this restored my belief in the brand. Once again, awesome job. :clapping:

 

[nSinghal]

Thanks for the review. I understand that the DVR is not up to the mark. What about the signal quality itself? Is Tatasky much (much) better in terms of PQ or are the two near at par?

I guess the HD quality is pretty much on par but SD seems a tiny bit better on Videocon than tata sky. Not a big difference in any way though. But the ease of use which tatasky software has over Videocon, I'd personally go for tata sky any day. Dish (from my last experience with it few years ago) was also on the same boat as Videocon. No idea about airtel or other providers though.

 

[vktyagi]

Hi this is my first post here. I have changed from TataSky+ to Videocon D2H DVR last week.

After 1 week, I can tell you that I regret switching from Tata Sky and am considering moving back to Tata Sky although I have paid 1 year of platinum subscription to Videcon HD.

Note that this review is DVR centric.

Background:
==========

I am a "power" DVR user, i.e. I rarely watch live TV, I usually record my favorite shows, serials, movies etc. and watch it when I am free. I also record a lot of cricket matches.

I have had Tata Sky for 5+ years. Like everyone else, I got tired of waiting for Tata Sky to add more HD channels so went with Videocon since it had the most HD channels when my latest annual Tata Sky subscription expired.


Reasons:
=========

The points mentioned by the original poster are relevant. I would like to add:

- Serial Link: The videocon dvr is advertised as "auto serial" recording but really does not have that feature. I have the latest loader software (version 44) as on July 26, 2013, but the DVR does not support the serial link. I sent an email to videocon on FB but no reply. Customer Care doesnt know about this either. Tata Sky has this nifty feature where if I click on a serial to record, it gives me the option to select either the episode or the entire serial. With videocon, I have to go into the TV guide daily to choose my shows. Also, I forget if I am recording weekly shows (for ex: Apprentice Asia every Friday). With TataSky it happened automatically.


- TV Guide: The TV guide takes forever to load. Also, not all channels on the screen get loaded. Usually the channel that you are most interested in does not get loaded. After 5 minutes I give up. You cant use the DVR effectively if you cant see whats playing easily enough!

- DVR Forwarding : One of the advantages of watching recorded shows or cricket matches on DVR is that you can forward through advertisements or the bowler walking back to his mark in cricket. Videocon has this annoying tool bar that occupies about 25% of the screen when you are forwarding, blocking the picture. Also, when you resume, it doesnt start from where you stopped forwarding. It jumps a little forward or a little back, depending on the alignment of the stars Smile Also, the forward itself is not linear...you cant see things forwarding smoothly like you would in a VCR or TataSky...you have to guess when to stop.

- Jump: After forwarding from 2x through 32x, Tatasky has this cool feature of jumping 15 minutes ahead. This is useful when you are trying to skip big sections (say a lunch break in a cricket match). Videocon doesnt have this and it is annoying to go to the recorded time of interest.

- Recorded Programs: You have to press about half a dozen different keys to go to your recorded programs to watch your program of interest. TatSky has 1 power key on its remote to take you there. I also couldnt tell if Videocon DVR began its recorded program from where you stopped watching last time. Tata sky has the option of resuming where you last stopped (I watch a hindi movie over 3 or 4 different viewings, so I find this feature very useful).

- Name of Recorded programs: When I choose the movie or show to be recorded, the DVR post recording, loses the names. So instead of "Revenge" I get "Sneak Peek" which was 15 minutes ago. Similarly instead of another show "One Tree Hill" my DVR shows that I have recorded another program "Sneak Peek" from 10:00-11:00 PM also. Now I have about 15 sneak peaks after 1 week of recording and I have no idea what is what. So Videocon DVR does not retain the name of the show you recorded, making it difficult to identify and watch shows again out of a big repository of 500GB of taped stuff. Tatasky works flawlessly on this. Similarly, the time based recording stopped about an hour in for no reason on Videcon. Never had such issues with TS.

- Remote Control, Non-Intuitive UI etc: I read these reviews too before I bought my Videocon but didnt realize it would be this irritating, so ignored these warnings. The weird layout of remote control, the non=intuitive UI to reach your recorded programs, the difficulty with which to navigate to your recorded shows, or to identify your recorded stuff etc. makes me miss TS more then ever.


Summary:

While I hated Tata sky for being expensive, for not giving me the best value for money, not giving me enough HD channels, I have stopped watching TV mostly with Videocon. (Maybe that is a blessing in disguise Wink I regret switching to Videocon since the HD DVR does nothing for me.

If at version 44 this is the UI and software of the DVR, then I will check with Videocon again after a couple of years. By that time, Tata Sky might have actually fixed their transponder nightmare and added more HD channels with less compression.

If you watch your TV mostly via DVR, then Tatasky is the way to go.

I wrote this, since am guessing many folks like myself are considering moving to Videocon for the better HD availability. For those not interested in DVR, your opinions would differ.

Happy Viewing!

Fully agree about Tatasky plus as my pattern of viewing TV is almost identical to yours i.e. first recording, than viewing at leisure and TS+ never disappoints in this.

 

[rajan]

Hi Guys,

My two cents on Videocon HD DTH. I have not used Tata Sky so can't comment on that.

Initially I ordered Videocon HD set top box with Digital Video Recorder (DVR) of 500 GB capacity (1 TB is also available) for my sitting room and one more HD set top box without DVR for my TV in bedroom. Even though the HD set top box without DVR was readily available, the DVR set top box was not available and even after 5 days of waiting period, the one they tried to set it up was not matching with the serial number and hence could not be activated, so finally I ditched the idea of DVR box and went for HD set top box for my both tv's. Looks like the DVR is not that popular among public as the demand is very low and hence the dealers don't stock that much.

I insisted and got installed a 90cm dish (standard is 60cm) as I was told this will help avoid loss of signal during rains. Yet to see the proof.
(Upate : Luckily it is pouring buckets now and I can confirm that there was no loss of signal or disruption in the broadcast).

Finally after 5 days of wait and call backs to Videocon customer care (they do respond), installed two HD Digital Set Top Box (South) for my house with 1 year South platinum HD pack for both boxes along with recording facility (to only one set top box) to external USB (also 1 year subscription - activation fee Rs 199.00, monthly recording fee of Rs 30.00 i.e.1 Re per day).

Regarding the Recording facility, the new HD set top white box B2222 (Manuf date June 2013) has a USB outlet and you can connect your external USB disk with NOT less than 4GB which can go upto 5TB (as per CC info) for recording. Once the recording service is activated, you can record the programs direct to your external hard disk via this USB. I copied two mins of a HD prog to my 8GB stick and the recorded playback was flawless. Same quality and resolution of the original program. But I could not read the recorded file on my laptop when I inserted the usb stick, it says the usb stick needs to be formatted.
One caution though - the USB memory stick gets very hot while recording, I mean really piping hot.

The HD programs are a treat to watch - like colors HD, star plus HD, sports etc. My other half is happy and content with the series shown on HD - the colourful costumes, accessories are more rich, sharp and detailed and generates more comments now.

For more technical persons, specs from the product sheet : this new STB is loaded with DVB-S2, MPEG-4 Part 10 video decoder, video format PAL (NTSC??), audio stereo.

The remote control operates on RF signal, so signal can penetrate through walls, line of sight is not required. One disadvantage - Unlike my previous DTH remote which can handle both the set top box and tv, this videocon remote is only for the set top box. It cannot switch on my tv or control volume or change source like a/v, tv, hdmi etc. Now I have carry two remotes, one for tv and other for set top box. Very inconvenient. Unless you guys have some hacks which I don't know. Still struggling to get the Dolby 5.1 thru HDMI on my Denon AVR 1912 (have to check with Ishaan).

Even though I have taken South Platinum HD pack, there are still some channels which needs to be activated by paying extra (I have no intention of doing that).

Overall, the experience with Videocon was good - max HD channels at present, very compact set top box, good customer care response (even though DVR episode was forgettable for me).

Cheers..

 

[rana_kirti]

my frens,

I've just booked videocon d2h hd box with 1 yr subscription. I had 2 questions...

1. How do I make sure they bring me the bigger 90cm dish and do I have to pay extra for it ?

2. How do I make sure that the installation has been done properly ? Is there a way to check that the signal quality being received by the TV via the HD cable box is of maximum quality possible ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jbgude]

Once the recording service is activated, you can record the programs direct to your external hard disk via this USB.

thank you for your review. Can you please let us know a bit more on how the recording system works ? Can you pre -program it and how do you define the time-line i.e. do record in blocks on 15/ 30 / 60 mins or can you define the " start" and "end" time of the required programs ?

 

[rajan]

I'm yet to familiarize with the recording option. But when I checked the
MENU>SETTING>INSTALLATION>CODE 1234> under options 1) User Settings 2) Box Settings 3) PVR Settings>Recording Option, the max recording block shows as 240 mins for instant record duration when guide absent.

Under MENU>RECORDING, options are 1) Scheduled Recording/Reminder 2) Time based Recording/Reminders 3) Series Management

So I guess various options of recording is available like "start" and "end", time based recording, tv series management etc.

Hope this helps.