I have never used a STB(Set Top Box) in India. It has always been the cable TV from the friendly neighborhood cable wallah.
The quality we got was okay, with some channels going for a toss now and then. In the US where I stayed the cable connection was with a set top box, and you could check out program summary etc.,
Therefore for a long time we were itching for a better TV experience. For the past few months it was dilly dally. Tata sky? Tata sky+ with recording feature and blah blah.
The concept of time shift TV(DVR) seemed attractive, albeit pricy.
Then came the call from Airtel IPTV division. They told me that my 1499 512kbps plan will become 1599, and I will get a wifi router and a set top box after paying 2000rs.
The router and STB will be our property with lifetime warranty.
So I took the plunge, and gave full advance of 2000rs.
The first impression was not rosy. The promised 48 hours installation never materialized, and I had to make multiple complaint calls to 121.
Finally after a week of making the payment, we were with IPTV.
So here follows the review
Whats so special?
The USP is time shift TV. Why is it a USP, because unlike the DVR based solutions, in this case last 7 days program is stored on airtel server, and you can watch it anytime. This feature is available for 35 channels, and 5 more will be added soon.
This means if you miss a block buster on HBO, you can straight way go and select the time and watch it. Limit is last 7 days. So if you go out of station for more than 7 days, you are out of luck.
Now this also means interesting possibilities. For these 35 channels, you can pause any time, and if you are doing a delayed watch you can fast forward advertisements!
Hurray!
Picture Quality
Ok, this is nothing exceptional. Slightly better than cable guy, but not out of this world. I am sure its not HD. It will improve once I use a component cable instead of standard AV, but not by much. And there is only s-video out, no HDMI, so I doubt this box is even cable of HD quality.
So if your motivation for up gradation is just picture quality, look at Sun etc., this is not for you.
Since I have a 720p LCD, I can clearly make out the difference between HD and non HD.
Interface
The menu interface is simple. Nothing complicated here, but its not very user friendly. Lots of button press required to go here or there. Nothing special, but the + side is that its not confusing
The Experience
Now comes the meat part. From the above sections, you must have realized that the promise is very good, but does it deliver. Well to be frank it does deliver, but there are kinks.
For example, sometimes while watching time shift TV, the STB will reset on its own. It may be a STB problem, or the server side problem. I have to tell airtel people about this if it happens again. I suspect data stream interruption from the server as its on the same DSL link ( I am told 16Mbps link).
And I have also had one hang till now.
Another irritating thing is the auto on. Switch off the STB, the status goes red on the power button. Lets say there is a power cut, once power comes, the STB turns itself on. This is funny. More of an irritant. I wonder if all STBs have this feature(bug).
Verdict
I'm loving it, and so is my wife. Time shift TV means a whole new perspective to your TV viewing experience. Imaging never having to wait for your favorite serial. I know it kills the excitement and thrill part, but with stock market going up and down, economy on a roller coaster, and job scene so bad, there are enough thrills in life.
So if you have lack of thrill, this may not be for you. But otherwise its a great great deal. For 100rs more, the whole TV viewing experience has gone up quite a few notches. And with cable wallah, we were actually paying 40rs more for IPTV!
They need to iron out the kinks, but I guess as usage grows, things should improve, these are more like teething troubles!
All in all, a thumbs up :hap2:
The quality we got was okay, with some channels going for a toss now and then. In the US where I stayed the cable connection was with a set top box, and you could check out program summary etc.,
Therefore for a long time we were itching for a better TV experience. For the past few months it was dilly dally. Tata sky? Tata sky+ with recording feature and blah blah.
The concept of time shift TV(DVR) seemed attractive, albeit pricy.
Then came the call from Airtel IPTV division. They told me that my 1499 512kbps plan will become 1599, and I will get a wifi router and a set top box after paying 2000rs.
The router and STB will be our property with lifetime warranty.
So I took the plunge, and gave full advance of 2000rs.
The first impression was not rosy. The promised 48 hours installation never materialized, and I had to make multiple complaint calls to 121.
Finally after a week of making the payment, we were with IPTV.
So here follows the review
Whats so special?
The USP is time shift TV. Why is it a USP, because unlike the DVR based solutions, in this case last 7 days program is stored on airtel server, and you can watch it anytime. This feature is available for 35 channels, and 5 more will be added soon.
This means if you miss a block buster on HBO, you can straight way go and select the time and watch it. Limit is last 7 days. So if you go out of station for more than 7 days, you are out of luck.
Now this also means interesting possibilities. For these 35 channels, you can pause any time, and if you are doing a delayed watch you can fast forward advertisements!
Hurray!
Picture Quality
Ok, this is nothing exceptional. Slightly better than cable guy, but not out of this world. I am sure its not HD. It will improve once I use a component cable instead of standard AV, but not by much. And there is only s-video out, no HDMI, so I doubt this box is even cable of HD quality.
So if your motivation for up gradation is just picture quality, look at Sun etc., this is not for you.
Since I have a 720p LCD, I can clearly make out the difference between HD and non HD.
Interface
The menu interface is simple. Nothing complicated here, but its not very user friendly. Lots of button press required to go here or there. Nothing special, but the + side is that its not confusing
The Experience
Now comes the meat part. From the above sections, you must have realized that the promise is very good, but does it deliver. Well to be frank it does deliver, but there are kinks.
For example, sometimes while watching time shift TV, the STB will reset on its own. It may be a STB problem, or the server side problem. I have to tell airtel people about this if it happens again. I suspect data stream interruption from the server as its on the same DSL link ( I am told 16Mbps link).
And I have also had one hang till now.
Another irritating thing is the auto on. Switch off the STB, the status goes red on the power button. Lets say there is a power cut, once power comes, the STB turns itself on. This is funny. More of an irritant. I wonder if all STBs have this feature(bug).
Verdict
I'm loving it, and so is my wife. Time shift TV means a whole new perspective to your TV viewing experience. Imaging never having to wait for your favorite serial. I know it kills the excitement and thrill part, but with stock market going up and down, economy on a roller coaster, and job scene so bad, there are enough thrills in life.
So if you have lack of thrill, this may not be for you. But otherwise its a great great deal. For 100rs more, the whole TV viewing experience has gone up quite a few notches. And with cable wallah, we were actually paying 40rs more for IPTV!
They need to iron out the kinks, but I guess as usage grows, things should improve, these are more like teething troubles!
All in all, a thumbs up :hap2:
