This is not a recommendation for any brand, just my thoughts on the market and where it’s headed & of course why I preferred TATA Sky. A bundle offer - cheesy at the first sight!
It all started when I convinced my wife into a big screen TV, I went to the showroom for picking up a Sony 50" LCD projection television and the shopkeeper in his demo connected TATA Sky. Man, I was impressed with the quality of picture and sound, so I immediately subscribed. Buying the TATASKY box is not an issue, it is available in a cheesy carry-able case - the dealer agreed to call customer service to schedule an install. TATA sky called me and confirmed that the installation would happen in 2 days (as it was a weekend). The user manual of the equipment is available online in TATA Sky website and is very useful. Did you read the terms and conditions fully?
There was a concern raised by one of fellow mouth shut readers about the terms and conditions clauses. I called customer service (they should have a local number - I had to make a STD to 040 as I don’t have a MTNL phone) the agent (would give him a 4/10) was receptive but not smart - he mentioned that dish would taken back and is in the property of TATA Sky and the STB (Set top box) is the property of the customer. As one cannot work without the other - the selling point of Tata owns the equipment over DTH is not really valid though one does not need to pay rentals (think DTH has a rental of 3k for 5 years) after 5 years of hiring. The competition & price war
I have lived in Chennai and have gone through the era of rebel against STB and CAS & the final surrender. With growing interest in digital viewing think it makes more sense to switch faster with the competition the prices are definitely coming down (no doubt about it) and volumes would definitely be a catalyst to the price fall. DTH and hathway have been definitely interesting and have the advantage of pioneering in Indian market, but the technology is not current and at the same time the point of ownership of equipment versus leasing out has a negative impact on the minds of customers. Pricing - Launch / psychological pricing - not for long
On the pricing, the launch price of 200 is more a temporary and is purely for freaks (including me) if sold. When I think about paying 250 for my cable (with horrible customer service) and the package comes with grains and hanging cables, think 200 initial and even a hike to 300 with the complete bouquet and uninterrupted picture in digital quality is definitely appealing. My only preference is to have the packages as modular as possible, enabling customer to reduce cost and be satisfied with their choices. The installation - Time / capability and skill
Over phone the installation was scheduled for Sunday and boom...Saturday morning this person from Tata Sky calls up and checks if he can install in 30 minutes...never before in India have I had a case where someone promises and delivers before time!:) The total for the installation was about 1 hour...the technicians knew exactly what they were doing - they had a standby generator in case the apartment / house does not have power. the dish was about 60Cm diameter and 4 holes to fix it firm, as most of the reviews says the dish has to point to South east...the best location is the terrace - rule: higher the building and clearer from sky scrapers the better the reception. Also the cable has a 2DB loss of signal for every 10 meters...so if you staying the top floor the reception are at its best... I stay in the ground floor so had to pull a lot of cable 4 floors, the signal strength should be between 77 and 100Db for better reception in a 4 storied apartment - so please extrapolate (if you are staying in the ground floor of a 15 stories apartment - challenges are plenty). Installation completed as planned and the demo was fantastic and the clarity I received was also good...I would not call it exceptional (when I compare it with the quality I have seen outside India) - but is the best I have seen within...cabling inside was tied up & clipped as appropriate and a couple of documents to be signed before he leaves. The show
Digital picture & sound were exceptional and connected to my home theatre and watched "stealth" to start with... I watched India England game also in Active sports...this is really cool but not exceptional...you can change the language of commentary (I thought one could select the commentators itself, hence the rating), you have other camera angles such as stump cam (fixed) and player cam (changes - focus on one player starting from Flintoff, Sehwag, dressing room, pathan to sachin) - got my moneys worth when I watched back foot punch through covers and the square drive by Sachin in his cam...there is also a online update on the replays...so if you miss the toss or pre match hype / pitch report / part of the match - you can get up on speed when you watch this along with the PIP for the online part...this is available for all online matches... The disappointing part of the show was the fourth umpire show on digital television...charu and Mandira (god knows why she is on television).
Watched a couple of Hindi movies - you don’t get surround sound as its still analog...I am sure once the additional channels (Sun Network / Hallmark) and package assortment comes in - life would be fantastic....cable guy came home and I readily told him to cut the cable by the end of the month.... Things to look out for
I have had very poor experience with TATA Indicom and the customer service is pathetic - hope there is a lot of lessons learnt by the TATA’s and its better this time....Thanks for the long read..