Dish Networks India

From the forums:

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Well now on Saveondish.com, I will take a chance to see Big TV on my friends still wait for my Brother Connection at home.

Well STB is Taiwan brand with Big TV logo. STB and Remotes is easy to handle and function well rather than Other DTH Networks.

About the STB:

It is made in Taiwan and has a Big TV logo imprinted on it, the STB and Remote are easy to handle and function very quickly and nicely as compared to Tata Sky and Dish TV.

Picture Quality:
The picture quality is excellent ant true DVD picture quality as opposed to the not so awesome quality of other DTH providers. Our rating for the picture quality is 10/10. There is no pixelation at all and the images are free flowing in Big TV.

Audio

For the first time ever, thanks to the miraculous MPEG-4 format, we are getting DVD like sound quality, it is crystal clear and miles ahead of current DTH providers, VERY clear and good effects too.

Channels

You can check out the list of channels at our Big TV forum, but they are showing 128 channels right now, once again, fantabulous picture quality.

Some Key Features:
- Easy Channel Navigation.: It is very easy to go through all the channels in Big TV
- Detailed EPG.: The EPG is complete with good synopsis and start and end times
- DVD Quality Picture: The picture quality is completely and truly DVD like in Big TV
- DVD Sound Quality: For the first time, like I said above, DVD like sound quality
- No Pixelation: Pixels are not an issue with this amazing system.
- Remote is very friendly: Not huge and confusing like Tata Sky and neither small and option stripped like Dish TV.

- Excellent Channel Switching: Hardly any waiting time in switching over to other channels.
I will soon add pictures of Big TV STB and Quality.

As the launching date for Reliance Big TV comes nearer and nearer. People have started speculating that it will turn out to be one of the best DTH services ever in India. With Dish TV India and Tata Sky ailing to provide their customers with all that is needed, Reliance Big TV is however expected to provide the best and top notch quality services to its clients.

Big TV has already started testing its signals, which accounts for all the preparation that is being done before the “Big” launch of “Big” TV. Our sources inform us that Big TV is expected to be around the price tag of Rs. 350/- per month, however the installation and STB charges will be down drastically from what they are with top guns in the DTH market.

What is also expected is that Reliance will use its network of customers to advertise Big TV. Since Big TV is being launched under Reliance Communications, current customers of their services might expect Big TV to bring in Big discounts for them. Reliance has already started the distribution of Big TV to its employees, as of 5th February 2008.

Also, Reliance is expected to offer people with a lot of international channels and channels which aren’t available anywhere. This will be an addition to the current channels being telecasted on popular DTH and Cable platforms.

Lets hope for the best!
Mr. Channel

SaveOnDish.com report: I just got off the phone with a Big TV correspondent from Reliance. I asked them how Big TV was going to be like whenever it entered the markets, and I was told by the said Big TV official that Reliance is not going to compromise with the quality Big TV would offer.

They told me that the current DTH players like DishTV India and Tata Sky have given their customers nothing but promises that have turned out to be false, and people are not getting the promised DVD like picture quality and CD like sound quality. But Big TV is set to change all that forever. The thing is, Big TV does not want to put its consumers in a bad spot when they buy Big TV, and therefore Big TV plans on giving them their money’s worth.

Be prepared to read the astonishing further, because this was what I was told, Big TV is making all efforts to have DVD like picture AND SOUND quality! This would mean the “ultimate” viewing experience since people will not have any problems at all with the viewing and hearing. The person also let me know that this is a very real promise and Reliance is working at full throttle to ensure this happens.

Lets hope for the best! and while we’re at it, make sure you visit SaveOnDish’s Big TV forum for all the latest news, reviews and updates on Reliance Big TV, thanks!

I have just got this information from one of my sources inside Dish TV India that the channels B4U Music  and B4U Movies are to be added very soon in the Dish TV platform, so people can now rejoice over this news!

Both of these channels are one of my personal favorites, with B4U Music giving us the top songs and B4U Movies displaying movies round the clock.

The reason these channels were removed was because they were not being aired with the quality DishTV wanted to provide its customers, and some technicalities were there which forced DishTV to remove B4U’s channels, there were also some encoding issues. Ways have been worked out for this and the problem is in its final stages.

Expect both the channels to be on your STB from the end of March.

We receive a lot of complaints from the subscribers of Dish TV India on a monthly basis. My personal experience of Dish TV India has been very good, but… somehow a lot of people seem to be getting problems when they are with Dish TV. I have searched and researched their problems repeatedly and have got on to the conclusion that Dish TV giving a lot of authority to their dealers is the main cause of most of the problems.

Lets take Dish TV in a side by side comparison with Tata Sky. Firstly, Tata Sky does not provide its dealers with a lot of authority, they can sell STB’s, certain devices, get connections started, have people recharge their accounts, but thats mostly it. The Tata Sky dealers are not told to do anything else. Tata Sky manages most of its back end stuff itself. Even things like Installation, technical assistance etc. are looked on by Tata Sky themselves.

However, its a different story with Dish TV, as far as I have known, all they have is a customer care center which gives support via phone. Otherwise, for nearly everything else, you have to consult your dealer. Now, these dealers, take unfair advantage of this liberty they get, and therefore, what they do is… they charge a lot of money for many things which normally would have to be charged less.

A lot of people find themselves into a problematic situation when their Dish TV India dealer asks them for money for little things. Dish TV does not have an official rate list too for dealers, which makes it even easier for many dealers to rob their clients.

However I’m not accusing all Dish TV India dealers of being like this, but many of the dealers are involved into such practices and are giving Dish TV India a bad name. Therefore, we need to understand, that the company is not entirely at fault here. But the dealers are.

What Dish TV India should do now is… they should install a little complaint section on the same telephone support they have where a person could go and complain about their dealer. Also, Dish TV India should get an official rate list for different kinds of works carried out by the dealer, rates of which should be able to be confirmed via phone.

Hoping for the best!
Mr. Channel

Reliance Bluemagic is set to take the nation by storm when it launches, and we at SaveOnDish have got some good insight from reliable sources on what Reliance Bluemagic is going to do for attracting people towards themselves and offering its consumers with good stuff! So here we go then:

- Reliance Bluemagic will NOT be costly: Yes, thats true and confirmed, contrary to popular belief, Reliance Blue Magic is NOT going to be costly. It will be in fact cheaper than Dish TV and Tata Sky. This might be however to attract customers in the initial phase but there is a good chance Reliance Bluemagic’s subscriptions will boost due to this. The price is expected to be about 60-70% of Tata Sky’s current cost.

- Reliance Bluemagic will have a LOT of channels: When Dish TV and Tata Sky started, they had very few channels, but Reliance Bluemagic, as we have known, will have about 175-200 channels in its starting phase.

- Reliance Bluemagic FINANCING: There will be an option through which you could finance your Bluemagic. It would be done through Reliance money of course and people could pay in installments. This is done so that the people of the country who cannot afford to give all that money at once could now afford it.

- Free to Air: Reliance Bluemagic will have a little array of free to air channels which will continue to air for a specific period of time even after the subscription is over.

- Strong Distribution: As evident from a lot of posts in the Reliance Bluemagic forum in our Forums, Reliance Bluemagic is expected to have a strong Distribution network throughout the country at its launch.

- MORE packages: Reliance Bluemagic is expected to have a  lot of packages from which people could choose, however at the start, we have been informed that there would be only a few of them. But plans are in place for a lot of packages in the future.

- A LOT of other features: Reliance Bluemagic is expected to come with a lot of other features at the time of its launch and also in the future. These would include a lot more active services, Internet browsing from TV, adding friends to your friends list (people using Reliance Bluemagic) and much more. Altough try to understand that these features may take anywhere up to an YEAR to start on Reliance bluemagic after its launch.

So then we have got a wonderfully awesome product (or so it seems) coming up in the form of Reliance Bluemagic!  So stay tuned to SaveOnDish and to the DTH scene to find out what happens next

Yes thats true! It has been made known by TRAI that Telecom operators around the country can offer streaming television services to their consumers through Mobile Networks.

First lets start off by checking out what is Mobile TV, simply put, it is a live Video streaming telecast optimized for speedy display on mobiles through the mobile networks, now… this would be accessible through GPRS most likely, or EDGE, which is likelier since EDGE is faster.

Dish TV, as we have known, has expressed a lot of interest in taking a step forward and offering the service of Television on Mobile, but what TRAI has said is that companies like Dish TV will have to take separate licenses for this whilst current telecom companies like Airtel, Hutch, BSNL etc. can offer the service to their consumers.

We at SaveOnDish believe the quality will be way too inferior but would always be good to get a quick look on whats happening on TV. Expect this to pop up on your cell phone any time within the next six months!

A user Gopal Krishnan posted this on the forums, I thought it would be good to post it on the main website:

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Many of you will be having this dilemma.

The barrage of advertisements wont do any good either.
You can go by your neighbour’s decision and feel safe or may be you can take your own decision.

I hope my experience will help.

Wanted to take DTH, because cable quality was pathetic and they kept wanting more money. Initially wanted to take dish TV since they have packages. But i found a lot of complaints in this forum regarding customer service. And Tata is a respected brand. Hence the dilemma.

1].But dishtv has been here for two years or so and naturally they might be having more user complaints. So i was not realy scared by that alone.

2].Visit a demo of both. That is very important.

3].The remote: I felt the the remote of tata is too bulky. This is one stuff that you are going to use continously. You dont want have a brick in your hand. Dish TV remote is very handy. [why cant they have a remote locator switch on the TV or set top box like for cordless phones? I keep misplacing the the remotes [now 5 of them!]

4] Interface: changing from one channel to another [which you will be doing every five minutes or so!] is rather clumsy in tata sky. one Big blue banner appears in which you can select and you have to push another button to let it dissappear. very annoying! [the dish blue banner dissappears on its own quickly although i still wish it was more subtle or if there was an option to hide it altogether] Also there is a disturbing bright blue screen which appears for a moment between channels, as they are changed, which is disturbing. [DishTV screen is black between channels like in many tvs and is better. Why cant they have channels that change instantly like in old tvs?] Also i like the way you can arrange favourite channels. [may be there in sky TV, i dont know]

5]picture quality is the same in both. nothing to select there.

6] you have to pay for the wire from your terrace to TV for dishTV[ Rs 10 for every meter and you have to pay around 150] relocation fee for tata is 1000. less for dish.

7] Sun TV channels are available only in dish as of now.

8] packages are available only in dish as of now. I took maxi [everything for 300 a month] Six months free in dish and three in tata.

I selected Dish TV they installed within 24 hours and i had no problems till now. [1 month now]. Havent had the oppurtunity to call in their customer service. so i cant tell you anything about that. Hope it remians that way!

i went for dish because of the remote and the way you change and select channels which were more user friendly.

Please do see both at a demo or better at a house where it is installed and try changing channels and go through the menu etc and decide for yourself which is user friendly. Costs are almost the same and hope they come down. They will, once Reliance comes in!

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Thank you Gopal for such a wonderful guide!

Mr. Channel

SaveOnDish.com launches Discussion forums at www.saveondish.com/forum/ for all its visitors, you can now go to the forums and talk about Tata Sky, Dish TV, Reliance BlueMagic, Bharti Airtel and all other DTH networks in India.

You can use the forum for:

• Registering your complaints against DTH Networks
• Voicing out your consumer opinion
• Giving your highly valued opinion on the DTH service you use
• Helping others in need
• Reading tips, tricks, get arounds etc. like catching FTA channels on your STB, downloading games on your device and more.
• Reading guides posted by members
• Get Customer support

We have initiated talks with the customer support of Tata Sky and DishTV and their customer support officials will be regularly coming to the forums to answer your questions and queries if you post them in the forum, they will also offer you online customer support!

Following are the links to the categories inside the forum:

• Tata Sky Forum
• Dish TV Forum
• Reliance Blue Magic Forum
• Bharti Airtel Forum

All you need to do to post is to register here

So if you have any complaint against your Dish Provider, have a suggestion for them, need customer support from Dish TV or Tata Sky or just want to give your consumer opinion on your DTH provider, just go the forum and do it!

Arun Kumar Kapoor, CEO of DishTV India has been quoted as saying by The Financial Express that decrease of subscription charges of DishTV packages is totally out of question.

Mr. Kapoor justifies the stand saying that the prices which are currently being offered by DishTV are the lowest in the whole of world when we take other DTH providers in the foreign countries in comparison.

The prices will most likely shoot up in the coming times as the DishTV subscribers grow in number, we may put a price tag on our active services which are currently offered free of cost, pushing up the subscription rate. Mr. Kapoor said.

So this basically means bad news for us DishTV subscribers eh guys? But with Bharti Airtel and Reliance coming right into the direct competition with DishTV, if the prices are not slashed, DishTV is going down the drain.

Lets hope that the other DTH providers don’t join the bandwagon and increase their prices. I am sure that at least the new players will start off cheaply.

Be optimistic!
Mr. Channel

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