Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990 (Update: with Star Plus & Star Movies HD)

[Party Monger]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

I've ordered it too but i went with the cash on delivery system. I'll pay the Tata Sky engineer the 4k and he'll install it.

I'm moving from the very first TataSky STB (Was one of the very first subscribers) which is slow as hell.

Whatever people say about TataSky, its Customer Service is definitely the best, no comparison. Atleast thats what i've experienced in my 4 years with them

EDIT : Holy shit, i ordered the STB yesterday evening and their engineers arrived an hour ago . *respect*

A little info on the TataSky package. I'll post more once it starts working properly (Apparently there's some problem with their severs and no TataSky + HD subscriber here can activate his account till evening). Now, i am upgrading from the oldest TataSky so i cant compare it with the previous +/HD versions.

The old TataSky remote works fine on the new STB and vice versa.

The STB is made in by Cal-Comp (Thailand), the remote by Philips and the giant power brick by Delta (Yes, the same Delta. In China).

The HDD is the WD5000AVDS (green series as expected, 32mb buffer, 3.5") which is pretty decent.

The HDMI cable supplied is a ver. 1.3b cable (some cheap, generic one)

There are 2 USB 2.0 ports (1 front, 1 back), 1 HDMI port, 1 RF out, 1 (SPDIF) Optical out, 1 Coaxial out, 1 Ethernet port (dont know if its a gigabit one or a 10/100 one) and the usual Compoenent out

There's also a small exhaust fan which is pretty quiet

This STB is connected to the dish by 2 cables instead of 1

The entire UI has been revamped but could have been a bit more speedier

The romote is better built than the previous one while the botton tactility is almost the same

The STB has only the power button, the rest are on the remote (it does look good even though its bigger and heavier)

You can record 2 channels simultaneiusly or watch 1 and record the other

The remote is a bit more comfortable to hold too

Anything else i might have missed ?

EDIT : The HDD makes a slight high pitch whine which is a bit irritating if sitting close, not a major negative but it bugs me sometimes.

Pics :

Yeah u just missed everything about the video quality of the channels

 

[prime]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Mine got installed today.

Some other findings:

1. No 5.1 audio from HDMI.
2. There is no option to turn off HDMI audio in the STB.

So, the only option is to connect HDMI cable to TV directly (not through AVR) and optical cable to your AVR.

For a plus connection, usually there are 2 cables from the dish to the stb. Now the thing is, when I got my room revamped, I got only one cable put internally in the wall. Ive heard that there is an adapter which converts the 2 wires from the dish to a single wire to the stb. Is that possible with an HD connection also. Will the wire be able to handle the bandwidth of passing 2 HD channels simultaneously?

There is just one cable that came from the dish. They used a splitter near set top box, so it made a Y kind of thing. then then 2 cable go in STB. So you should be a happy man.

 

[Renegade]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Got mine installed too. Video quality is indeed nice. Cant wait for F1 and world cup to be telecast in HD.

 

[adder]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Got mine installed too. Video quality is indeed nice. Cant wait for F1 and world cup to be telecast in HD.

Is star sports/espn showing them in HD in india.

 

[Renegade]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Is star sports/espn showing them in HD in india.

I know that F1 will be telecast in HD for the first time ever so am hoping it will be telecast in India too. Channels in SD feel like cheap 700MB DVD movie rip.

EDIT - Tata sky is advertising that we will get to see World Cup 2011 in HD.

 

[sid1712]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Okay, a few updates :
Nat Geo HD and Discovery HD are separate channels, so the original ones are in SD, these channels have different content. Star Plus HD is mostly a gimmick, there is a very minor improvement in picture quality and a noticeable improvement in sound quality so its basically upscaled and a better audio stream is used. (The SD version is also there and there isn't much of an improvement. Content is the same as the SD one AFAIK)
HD channels are recorded in HD and not downscaled. I haven't tried out the recording feature much so i'll hold off judgement till i do. The picture quality is the same (SD channels) as the old STB while HD channels look amazing. The picture quality is somewhere between a 720p and a 1080p movie which is pretty freaking awesome.
Ausdo options via HDMI are "Dolby" and "PCM" and there is an option to set the Audio delay from 0 to 200ms. The review buffer depth goes till 90 mins (the time upto which the STB will record a channel which you have paused. 45 mins is the default but you can increase it to 90mins) Interesting info : The HDD was manufactured in July 2010 while the STB was made sometime in 2010 too so TataSky was planning to release them for some time (they might have been stocking quite a significant amount of STB's so that a shortage like the one that occured with the stock TataSky HD box does not occur)
Oh, and the USB ports can be used to charge phones/ipods but the STB wont be able to access the files in them, obviously.
you can set 50 favourites instead of 20 in my previous STB which is good
The UI scales itself (not completely, but enough to make a difference) to the resolution of the TV which is a good touch
The annoying blue strip with numbers written on it which appers sometimes also scales itself according to the UI and remains near the periphery thankfully

A few negatives/criticisms -
The play/pause button is a bit difficult to use since both the pause and play button are joined together which, more times than not, causes you to press the other button instead of the one you were going too.
The UI speed is a bit on the slower side and can be increased further
Options such as "Signal Strength", and a few more, aren't available on this STB which is a disappointment.
The IR remote receiver is slightly weaker than the previous one so changing channels from extreme angles will not work, unlike earlier.
HDMI cable is pretty short so you'll have to place the STB close to the TV

 

[cignext]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Unboxing and a brief review

TataSky+ HD Review and Unboxing | woikr

 

[vb86]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Mine got installed today.

Some other findings:

1. No 5.1 audio from HDMI.

2. There is no option to turn off HDMI audio in the STB.

So, the only option is to connect HDMI cable to TV directly (not through AVR) and optical cable to your AVR.
There is just one cable that came from the dish. They used a splitter near set top box, so it made a Y kind of thing. then then 2 cable go in STB. So you should be a happy man.

wow! thanks! now i can't wait to get the installation done!

 

[The Sauron]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Mine got installed today.

Some other findings:

1. No 5.1 audio from HDMI.

2. There is no option to turn off HDMI audio in the STB.

So, the only option is to connect HDMI cable to TV directly (not through AVR) and optical cable to your AVR.
There is just one cable that came from the dish. They used a splitter near set top box, so it made a Y kind of thing. then then 2 cable go in STB. So you should be a happy man.

Hey! congrats. I have doubt on HDMI interface, whether LCD monitor can be attached directly to STB or not?

 

[Punker]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

That's what I was thinking....Can I conenct this with my monitor(S2409W) ?

 

[sid1712]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

You should be able to

 

[abhifusion]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Can we buy this only by using credit card ?? Netbanking or Visa Debit card wont work kya ??

 

[SidhuScorpion]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Hey! congrats. I have doubt on HDMI interface, whether LCD monitor can be attached directly to STB or not?

Yes you can, HDMi direct/HDMi to DVI/Component-Composite to VGA all work fine. All conversion/processing etc is done in STB, you can connect normal CRT/LCD Monitor or any type of display.

Check picture quality of Airtel DTH HD on Samsung 23" P2350 via HDMI - Connecting to HD Monitor.

 

[prime]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Hey! congrats. I have doubt on HDMI interface, whether LCD monitor can be attached directly to STB or not?

That's what I was thinking....Can I conenct this with my monitor(S2409W) ?

Thanks.

Yes, you should be able to connect it through HDMI to your LCD Monitor (if it has HDMI input and speaker built-in).

 

[vb86]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Can we buy this only by using credit card ?? Netbanking or Visa Debit card wont work kya ??

as far as the stb goes, you can book it with the cc and pay in cash when the engineer arrives! but, if you want to avail of any offer by recharging immediately, you must atleast pay that amount on via the IVR using a MC or Visa card, amex is temporarily not supported!

when i booked mine yesterday, i opted to take the annual mega pack which costs 6k. but, since i decided to take the pack with the box, they gave it for 5.3k and i saved 700rs. had i booked the stb only, i could have paid in cash later!

 

[Punker]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

so it's available all over the country or in selected cities only ?

 

[The Sauron]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Yes you can, HDMi direct/HDMi to DVI/Component-Composite to VGA all work fine. All conversion/processing etc is done in STB, you can connect normal CRT/LCD Monitor or any type of display.

Check picture quality of Airtel DTH HD on Samsung 23" P2350 via HDMI - Connecting to HD Monitor.

Thanks for the information. Actually I planned to install Tata HD STB to BenQ G2420HD through HDMI, sound from LCD speaker 3.5mm jack out. I wonder! how glorious world cup telecast would be on Tata HD 1080p. Some people face problem connecting STB HDMI output directly to monitor input, may be because of the conversion of signals. Lets hope incompatibility, if any, not persist with the Tata HD box.

Thanks.

Yes, you should be able to connect it through HDMI to your LCD Monitor (if it has HDMI input and speaker built-in).

Thanks buddy.

 

[SidhuScorpion]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Thanks for the information. Actually I planned to install Tata HD STB to BenQ G2420HD through HDMI, sound from LCD speaker 3.5mm jack out. I wonder! how glorious world cup telecast would be on Tata HD 1080p. Some people face problem connecting STB HDMI output directly to monitor input, may be because of the conversion of signals. Lets hope incompatibility, if any, not persist with the Tata HD box.

Only selected cities for HD PVR , My Star Cable wala is not even showing Star Sports and ESPN, I missed warm-up match today and power cuts have started

:ashamed:

 

[swordfish123]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

ESPN and Star Sports HD will be available for world cup on tata sky. They have updated it on their website

 

[Dushie]

Re: Tata Sky launches HD pvr for just 3990

Just got a postal mail from tata sky today saying they have upgraded my membership to privilege club and as part of that i can order the HD box for Rs 3990. It also contained a brochure of the new Hd box with features.

I already have the earlier HD box and still have all HD channels free for an year, so its good to hear they would telecast in HD, will watch it for free.