Updated Review : June 18 2007 Okay after using tatasky more recently, I thought its time to update my review of the product.I do have all the complaints that I did as per the original review. Even more now.For those of us who watch other sports BESIDES CRICKET, tatasky is slowly turning to be rather irritating. I am a formula 1 motorsport fan, and today during the race I get an additional bar of "press red for cricket highlights" Now this comes even when the race I am watching is a live one. I called up tatasky help desk and they tell me that this is a feature.
I tell them a feature is only a feature until its stuffed down your throat. There are other sports programs in the world besides cricket. For those of you who aren’t into Formula1, imagine watching fifa world cup with the top left corner having a "press red for cricket highlights". Or whichever OTHER sport you prefer BESIDES cricket, causing a major distraction.Besides this, the number of channels have come down, instead of going up. As a matter of fact, we don’t even have the Free To Air (FTA) channel Zoom.
Personally I am strongly considering moving over to CAS again. I think dealing with the cable operator is much better than getting tatasky logo shoved into your screen for the same rates and quality other providers can offer. Not to mention the option to choose any channels you want, as you want it AND no stupid banners during other live broadcasts.For those of you who are considering to shift, heave this warning, dont get it specially if you have a plasma, and unless you have an exceptionally bad print with your current provider or if tata sky has something you just can’t live without..Anyone want to buy 2 digit comps???--- ORIGINAL REVIEW ---THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS.
Like every other person in Mumbai, I started getting irritated with the customer service of my cable provider. It wasn’t him directly, but the fact that hathway (my provider at the time) just couldn’t give a decent enough customer service. This is when I decided to try out tata sky.I called them up at 1.50am, I got a response from their call center. So now atleast I know these people are snoozing away incase there is a problem. They actually do have 24/7 support.So far so goodBOOKINGI called in at 3pm to a reseller who I knew personally, and I had him setup my installation date. By 3.30 I got a call from tatasky saying they can schedule me for tomorrow. They later called me at 4.30 and asked me if I was interested in having this done today.
I am thinking, wow, nice, I am actually moving up the priority list. So I said yes, and my installation was booked for the day.INSTALLATION By 6.30 someone showed up with the dish for installation, by 6.40 my digicomp (STB) boxes arrived. I got the permission to set up on the terrace by 6.45 and they were getting ready to install already. By 10.30 after all the wiring and everything. My installation was complete.However, their installation server (activation server) was down, so I couldn’t activate my account. This wasn’t a problem, since I had the work order info and everything which I did myself at around 12.30. SO FAR SO GOOD.... installation same day. Wiring done properly.
Everything seems to be good to go!ACTUAL SERVICE AND DIFFERENCES I started it up for the first time, the clarity is pretty much the same as hathway CAS. I did find the refresh rates and fonts to be clearer with tata. The star network (star plus, world, movies, sports) however seems clearer with tata sky. Zee Network on the other hand seemed clearer with hathway. Not surprising as SKY part of tatasky is actually star network.THE PROS Clearer fonts (specially with CNBC TICKER or any font on screen)Clearer Star Network Active channels (limited audience will enjoy this)Direct link to provider no middle men.
HE CONS Start up cost EXPENSIVE STAR network has this tatasky logo in bottom right on most channels. This is BAD for the tv as it can cause burning specially on LCD/PLASMA AND is disruptive to viewing. I still dont understand the need for this since the person who owns the TV knows its tata sky, they don’t need to be reminded. Not to mention this is permanently there, does NOT go away after few seconds, which everyone I know who saw this say exactly 1 word "CHEAP MOVE"No hallmark.
No australian network Some other local channels missing Website doesn’t work with firefox Active sports should be renamed to active cricket, as it only covers cricket NOTHING ELSE Inbuilt program does not let you disable message icon disabling. So if you get a message, it will blink on your screen. Hathway cas lets you disable that so you manually check for it instead.I strongly suggest if everyone who has this already can call in and make a complain to the above cons which are easily fixable. It would be helpful.If you are using hathway or any other CAS, strongly consider the cons and if it affects you. For new connections, not bad, if you don’t mind the above.