Videocon DTH - No STB

[BLASTO]

I was looking at options to setup a wall hung LCD in my bedroom and to get rid of the STB from the equation due to space constraints & aesthetic appeal.

I came accross some pretty invovative ideas from the videocon DTH. They have LCD/CRTs which accept the access card directly without STB. This also eleminates the need for a second remote.

Videocon d2h Direct Hai, Correct Hai

Also, they have STB which can be used as a DVD/Divx player with USB support for 2.5k. A pretty innovative idea considering normal DVD players cost as much and the customer will not be burdened with the cost of a seperate STB.

Videocon d2h Direct Hai, Correct Hai

I fail to understand why the other players did not come up with such ideas. The first one fits seamlessly in your bedroom and the seond one can enter your main hall.

Also, the 32" LCD costs 27k with installation and 3 months free subscription. Which IMO is reasonable.

 

[BLASTO]

Speaking of innovation, I just came accross the Airtel IPTV.

The STB is conneted to a wireless router. So no wires around the house. It also helps in houss with multiple TV sets. You can move STB between rooms, now that the wireing is minimal.

Innovation starts only here. It is aparently called the time shift TV.

ALL the TV shows of ~50 channels for the past 7 days are stored in airtel servers and are available at demand by selecting date and time. You can pause/play/rewind/forward the contents!!

Below is the review.
Airtel IPTV - First time user's review - TechEnclave

Below is the installation, STB, fots etc.
Airtel IPTV Installation Photos (Set Top Box Included)

Looks like they charge 1499/- for 512kbps day/1mbps night scheme + IPTV. That is barely 100/- more than waht I pay for the same scheme wihout IPTV.

 

[anm]

great posts blasto. I too saw a dvdp + stb from videocon and thought it was a great product idea, and more so for people with a smaller budget. For me videocon doesn't appeal much as a brand, maybe their alleged involvement in the stock manipulation with Harshad Mehta (read this - rediff.com: Harshad Mehta: From Pied Piper of the markets to India's best-known scamster ) or the "con" in their name

How is the IPTV performance on 512/ 1Mbps connections? I am sure it should be fine initially, but it may deteriorate once there are more subscriber.

 

[BLASTO]

For me videocon doesn't appeal much as a brand, maybe their alleged involvement in the stock manipulation with Harshad Mehta or the "con" in their name

:clapping: The "con" bit is a good 1.. :lol:

How is the IPTV performance on 512/ 1Mbps connections? I am sure it should be fine initially, but it may deteriorate once there are more subscriber.

No first hand experience. The reviews/tech arcticles suggest that Airtels line is capable of 16MBPS and data and IPTV share in the ratio 2:14 MB. The speculation is, for people who will be having 4 or 8 MBPS connection in the future, It might be a problem..

BTW, Any forum members have the airtel IPTV? Its not yet launched here in hyderabad. Only in the north.

I still feel the "time shift TV" is an excellent idea. Now TS+ looks bland.

 

[hemantwaghe]

I was looking at options to setup a wall hung LCD in my bedroom and to get rid of the STB from the equation due to space constraints & aesthetic appeal.

I came accross some pretty invovative ideas from the videocon DTH. They have LCD/CRTs which accept the access card directly without STB. This also eleminates the need for a second remote.

Videocon d2h Direct Hai, Correct Hai

Also, they have STB which can be used as a DVD/Divx player with USB support for 2.5k. A pretty innovative idea considering normal DVD players cost as much and the customer will not be burdened with the cost of a seperate STB.

Videocon d2h Direct Hai, Correct Hai

I fail to understand why the other players did not come up with such ideas. The first one fits seamlessly in your bedroom and the seond one can enter your main hall.

Also, the 32" LCD costs 27k with installation and 3 months free subscription. Which IMO is reasonable.

TV WITH ONBOARD OTHER DEVICE - THIS CONCEPT NEVER WORKED IN THE PAST.
I am not wishing to spoil the party - but TV + VCR never worked well - they had some international sales but never in India

One reason given was different durabality of produvct and repairing cycles.
In fact TV + VCR combo was available far lesser price than TV + VCR.

Then some companies tried TV + VCD and very few TV + DVD -never worked. In fact I saw a LCD TV + DVD combo .In onida we were asked by few customers why this product is not fesible ....but mass market wisdom acted against it.

TV + PC or TV + Onboard net surfing devices failed miserabally but I feel reasons were different.
Again LG tried with Plasma TV + Hard Drive around 2 years back ,but they never repeated the concept.although it appears that TV + usb being accepted by customers and repeted in different model generations..

 

[adder]

well a tv with built in tuner is a really good idea.only in india and some other developing countries do we see tvs without tuner,by tuner i mean a DVB-S or a DVB-C.in china,singapore they have tvs with built in DVB-T.in europe we as seeing tvs with all tuners i.e DVB-S,C&T like the ones from sony 5800 series.
so u can just use one remote.while universal remotes do come in handly ,it doesn't always work even if its a learning remote.
now if trai rule becomes the law then every STB should work with every DTH.

 

[BLASTO]

well a tv with built in tuner is a really good idea.only in india and some other developing countries do we see tvs without tuner,by tuner i mean a DVB-S or a DVB-C.in china,singapore they have tvs with built in DVB-T.in europe we as seeing tvs with all tuners i.e DVB-S,C&T like the ones from sony 5800 series.
so u can just use one remote.while universal remotes do come in handly ,it doesn't always work even if its a learning remote.
now if trai rule becomes the law then every STB should work with every DTH.

Hey Adder,

I saw a 32" samsung B450 TV with DVB-T in ebay india for 27k. Possibly grey market stuff from singapore.

eBay India: BRAND NEW SAMSUNG LA32B450C4M 32" LCD TV (item 250520150518 end time 25-Nov-2009 14:39:52 IST)

Will it help in india once TRAI regulations come into play? Is indian DTH DVB-T or S/C? I have no idea in this area.

Also, apparently there is FREE DTH service from "DD Direct", where STB is the only one time nvestment (No monthly fee). Channel list seem ok for a free service.

DD Direct Plus Channels List (Indian DTH Wiki)

Will this work on these TVs without STB?

 

[adder]

Hey Adder,

I saw a 32" samsung B450 TV with DVB-T in ebay india for 27k. Possibly grey market stuff from singapore.

eBay India: BRAND NEW SAMSUNG LA32B450C4M 32" LCD TV (item 250520150518 end time 25-Nov-2009 14:39:52 IST)

Will it help in india once TRAI regulations come into play? Is indian DTH DVB-T or S/C? I have no idea in this area.

Also, apparently there is FREE DTH service from "DD Direct", where STB is the only one time nvestment (No monthly fee). Channel list seem ok for a free service.

DD Direct Plus Channels List (Indian DTH Wiki)

Will this work on these TVs without STB?

well yes it is the grey market piece either from singapore or HK,i believe the same or some dealers also sell sony lcd starting with KDL which are sold in SG,HK vs KLV in india,thailand etc.

the DVB-T transmission in india is very limited all one can get is DD.

in india cable operators use DVB-C and DTH use DVB-S,so imo not much of a future for DVB-T.

about DD well yes its true that u don't need to pay monthly charges,but all u get is DD ch and free to air channels.the quality is suprisngly good better then DISH tv.

well i am not sure whether DD works in videcon STB tv,but highly unlikely that it will work,but once trai does introduce the laws then yes u can use it for viewing free to air channels in KU-BAND.

u can also buy a DVB-C STB costing as low as Rs600 i heard and can view channels based on C band,although u will need a bigger dish,like one of those hybrid KU-BAND and C band based dishes with a diameter of around 6 feet or so.plenty of really good free to air channels available.

 

[Spidey]

I would anytime place my bet on the VIDEOCON DTH /DVD player...

For around 2699/- you get a USBport /SDMMC card slot/Digital Coax Out DVD player with :
6mths subscritpiton to Diamond pack worth 1650/- FREE.....

what can u ask for more ???

Anyways you throw that sum of 2.6k on any ordinary DVD P .. why not get a semi-annual high quality DTH ?? :clapping:

 

[BLASTO]

Has anyone got the Videocon DTH??
How is the PQ?

I just browzed their channel list and it is impressive.
275/- includeing tax for all channels (230 channels) is great.
Videocon d2h Direct Hai, Correct Hai

Personally base pack @150 + movies @50 + neo @35 =235 solves my purpose. But all channels @275 is great too.

Comments on picture quality comparing BIG TV/Airtel oon 42" TVs welcome.

 

[BLASTO]

Here is a guy claiming that he moved from Big TV to D2H and that d2h beats the Big TV in picture quality and sound.

Videocon d2h+ DTH detail review

Bluff?