Airtel Digital TV

I’m using Airtel DTH since 3rd May, 2011 and here I’ll try to recount my experience with the product.

Bad Video Quality: Watching Airtel DTH is like watching TV from a Video CD(VCD). Most of the channels display absolutely VCD quality video. I bet the local cable operator gives better quality video.

Obstructive Airtel Logo: The logo that Airtel displays on a corner of the screen is simply irritating and obstructs viewing. Furthermore, it add no value to see an Airtel Logo on each and every channel. The watermark is disturbing and works like nothing more than an advertisement for the company. Airtel should have had sense enough to provide an option to turn off the logo. In fact, I urge every DTH operator to remove that useless logo - it serves no purpose.

Slow Set-top Box: The Airtel set-top box is slow to respond to button-presses on the remote-control. Switching channels is not smooth. The overall experience is like using an inferior quality TV tuner.

Slow Start: The set-top box even takes too much time to start up after being powered on - after being powered on, a red lights glows, then it switches to a green light that glows for 2-3 seconds and then it switches to the red one again, after which you can use the remote-control to turn it on to watch TV. The whole ritual takes at least 8-10 seconds to complete.

Programmable Remote-control: A good thing about the remote-control is that some of it’s buttons can be programmed to work with the TV as well - like volume & power.

Cheap remote control: The buttons on the remote are however extra-soft and it takes quite some force for button presses to register. Soon you end up with pain in your fingers. Overall, the experience is like using a cheap quality non-branded remote control.

Remote-control batteries: The batteries I originally got inside the package were Chinese made AAA size, branded as Large and labelled as Super Heavy Duty. They however lasted for only 30 days with normal home use. Next, I used Duracell Alkaline Batteries MN2400 and this time it lasted 43 days. Makes you wonder if the batteries are bad quality or the remote-control’s power consumption is too high.

This Airtel DTH box I use came free(Rs. 750 for activation) with a Sony Bravia LCD TV. But watching TV with this sub-standard Set-top Box and Remote Control spoils the whole experience. In fact the inferior performance of the Airtel’s devices makes watching TV a cheap third-grade experience.

Here are the diagnostics of the devices as it shows in Menu > My Settings > System Setup > Diagnostics:

1. CA STB Label: 25 8606 7348 9

   
   




2. Current Satellite: SES-7

   
   




3. Bouquet ID: 24696

   
   




4. Card ID: 70194683

   
   




5. Release Number: 25b

   
   




6. STB Serial Number: 0000052935

   
   




7. Manufacturer ID: 0xe8

   
   




8. Model Number: 0x25