DTH service from AirTel, another good experience for me! AirTel is fairly known for its good services in most areas, which is one of the reasons I chose AirTel DTH. Another reason. it came free with Samsung LCD I bought!(See my LCD review). To share my personal experience with you, it is worth writing a review. All DTH service providers hype a lot and most of them are very average as far as service is concerned. I have checked out TATA Sky, Big TV and Dish TV at my friends’ homes. They are all similar to each other with few additional facilities here and there, unique to each provider, which hardly makes a difference other than giving a good feeling! Let us not forget, the primary thing we are looking for in a DTH service is quality TV channel reception, channel packages vs. charges, zero haggle with the cable operators.
My experience:
I called up AirTel on 30th Dec. morning and gave the detail of my DTH subscription. The customer care personnel fixed up a time with me to send the technicians home and get the connection installed the same day. He also mentioned, if it is a rented house I am staying in, I need to take prior permission from house owner.(Note the small detail that AirTel service considers). I received a verification call from Delhi about half an hour later and they gave me the customer ID. The technicians called in another half an hour to ask for my house location after confirming if I requested for the DTH connection. They arrived 10mins ahead of scheduled time and with all the equipments(’set top box’(STB), antenna, cable, etc.) and checked for the AirTel coupon that I had as proof of purchase and ID. They took about half an hour to set up the system and receive the signal from the satellite. A software was downloaded to the STB and in another few minutes the set was up and running. The technicians received a message, with my DTH connection detail on their web enabled mobile phone from AirTel, mentioning that they have 15mins to explain the operating detail to me. They re-programmed the AirTel DTH remote control to get the switch on/off function, volume control and source(channel, AV1, AV2) selection functions of TV into it. Further, they explained me the operating detail, features, how to recharge, where to call in case of a problem/query or while shifting.
Better part:
The signal quality is good, at par or may be a shade better than other DTH services. Will know more in due course, how it works in heavy rain and cloudy days, and update accordingly. Other DTHs falter at times, when the weather is not good. Good number of packages. Pretty easy recharging facility. Remote is sleek elegant and best of the lot(I personally dislike bulky and jazzy remote controllers. I prefer those, which fit into my hand easily, light weight and small). Universal remote is a thoughtful addition. There’s no point in keeping two remotes, one just for switching on the TV and maybe changing volume. AirTel DTH remote can learn what the TV remote does and adopts its functions. This remote has 2 switch on/off buttons, one for TV and the other for STB. Here I can have 4 sets of favourites, one for each member in the family. The channels are sorted according to the need. Entertainment, Movies, Kids, Infotainment, Regional, News, etc. All the channels come with the program schedule. You may also book a movie show via SMS and watch it on the TV at a scheduled time. It will be billed in the next statement.
https://airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/DTH/bharti+dth/packages+for+you/browse+packages/
Click on’+ view list’ to know more.
The STB looks very smart and elegant. All black, and the red square-ish LED, enhances its looks. A USB port is available on the STB for internet and additional services that are in the pipeline. You may shop through the TV one day! Interactive menu system. Pretty informative. Stock market info, world time etc. ‘Live TV’ holds a host of other services, which will bring in internet TV in future. Also bundled in the package are few World Space radio channels, which I feel, is a wonderful addition.
What I did not like:
The connectors available are not anything at all to talk about. Digital TV receiver without a digital connector! That’s amazing! I at least expected an analog ‘component’ video connection(RGB) from the STB to TV, which is far better than the ‘composite’ RCA cable.(I guess only Big TV has ‘component’ connectors on their STB). The primitive(1940) RCA cable with ‘composite’ video(yellow) is only capable of bad quality analog video transmission. Audio is stereo and nothing to talk about. Wish they had a proper digital system and cables and 5.1 channel support.
The red LED can be an awful distraction, if you plan to put the STB close to your TV. I suggest you may keep the box at a place such that it will not draw your attention from TV.
Final verdict:
Comes at a little higher price compared to other DTH services. Can improve on the connections the STB presently provides. This set is not capable of delivering digital signal, so no hope with this STB of digital media to be delivered to a TV(may be Big TV is little better at the moment, though they too have analog connectors). So HD media when aired, will not be available at its full potential through this STB too. Big TV promises to bring the HD content through their DTH service soon. So watch out for it.
Though I recommend this product, you have to take it with a pinch of salt. Analog image quality with the interactive menu is nice, service is great and a wonderful remote controller makes it a shade better than the rest of the DTH services presently available.
Happy viewing.
Cheers
Indrajit