Review Tata Play Android TV box

I had cut the cord about 3 years back but recently subscribed to Tata Play for my parents as they found switching content between all the OTT apps too cumbersome. The reason for picking up the Android box was that Tata Play had an effective "free Android box" whereby 6k credits would be added to the account for paying 6k upfront.

The technician who did the installation and setup of course focused only on the DTH part (which too I changed later as he had selected a transponder with lesser signal strength). However, after I started using the box, I realised that it is simply trash.

It has a Broadcom BCM72604 which is just a Cortex-A15 with Videocore V (which is worse than a Pi 4 BTW). The thing lags like crazy which is bearable if it could actually playback content properly. Unfortunately, it drops frames like crazy. On YouTube 4K 30 Mbps videos, it drops more frames than it displays and in other OTT apps, it drops at least 10 frames a second at 4K.

Their customer service has been even worse and they closed the NCH queries stating it is a compatility issue specific to my TV (Samsung The Frame) which is a joke. The reason to keep this box over the normal HD one is mainly because it can switch to net streaming during the rains with poor signal. Also, the other positive thing is that the OTT subscription is not required to keep the box running (ADB is disabled and thus it is not possible to block the blocker as I did for a different box), so can keep the box for DTH viewing only.

TL;DR Don't get the Tata Play Android TV box if you are looking for a single box solution for basic entertainment.
 
They have finally verbally confirmed that they will be refunding the full balance. They don't reply over email, so I am at least keeping everything on mail so that I can use it later.

Really hate this trend of companies only calling and not giving anything in writing.
 
Finally, got the refund today. Guess this is enough of Tata Play for a lifetime.

They were probably just incompetent rather than malicious throughout the mess with their technical teams not being much in connect with their social media teams and their CEO Desk team being unable to get the refund department to issue the full refund for a long time.
 
I know it's an incompetent box. I personally use JioTV STB which is hell a lot faster. But I still have this tatasky binge box for parents who find it easy to navigate in a dth compared to otts and tatasky also offer to switch to the same channel on ott when there are rains and signal issue. So I have this just for parents. They get frustrated to navigate in OTT to open their desired channel and the time for channel to load.
 
I know it's an incompetent box. I personally use JioTV STB which is hell a lot faster. But I still have this tatasky binge box for parents who find it easy to navigate in a dth compared to otts and tatasky also offer to switch to the same channel on ott when there are rains and signal issue. So I have this just for parents. They get frustrated to navigate in OTT to open their desired channel and the time for channel to load.
Same reason I got this box. But I have gotten them accustomed to Jio TV on Kodi even if the quality isn't great and made it easier by putting the most watched channels in Favourites. That will suffice for now, except for using 1-2 OTT apps for regional content.
 
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