Transmission Interruption

[bhavan]

DTV Scheduled Transmission Interruption

According to information being received a message was send to all Dialog TV subscribers that reads as "DTV Services will be interrupted for schedules maintenance on the 10th and 12th midnight till 6am on 11 and 5am on 13th".

This information was conveyed to all subscribers via SMS (those who have registered for programme alerts).

We hope that all pixelation problems are sorted out thereafter.

[bhavan]

Revised Interruption Schedule.

Dialog TV have issued a revised interruption schedule for maintenance purposes. The original schedule indicated an interruption on the 10th & 12th but the revision indicates a 12th & 14th interruption. According to the message conveyed via the mailing system on the decoder, the interruption will occur from midnight on the 12th till 6am on the 13th & also from midnight on the 14th till 5am on the 15th. The maintenance is said to be for a transmission upgrade so hopefully all pixelation problems are sorted out thereafter.

[bhavan]

From midnight to 6am last night Dialog TV was off air for maintenance which has resulted in the first day of maintenance being completed.

We are not sure whether there are any visible changes to the Dialog TV transmission. There may or may not be since we are unable to clarify the nature of the maintenance being carried. Some unconfirmed information suggests that the upgrade is to start HDTV & MPEG4 testing which is supposed to commence commercially in a couple of months. However we are unable to confirm this.

We also hoped that the problems such as the pixelation problem that plagued the HBO channels would be sorted. We hope that if not today it will sorted out during the second day of maintenance scheduled for midnight on the 14th till 5am on the 15th.

We also noticed that the Nat Geo programme guide is wrong and should be sorted out soon. There are some frequent interruptions on Australia Network which should be sorted out soon.

[bhavan]

Maintenance Day 2 : Completed

From midnight last night till 5am this morning Dialog TV completed the second and final day of scheduled maintenance. There were no visible changes (from the subscribers point of view) after the first day of maintenance and it is highly unlikely that the second day will bring about some changes. The real reason for the maintenance is still being gathered but it seems it may have something to do with upgrading the system to supporting MPEG4 & HDTV in the future and also some changes which will result in the reduction of rain fade. But so far after Day 1 no reduction in rain fade has being experienced with Dialog TV loosing signal for upto 10 min in some areas due to rain last night. So hopefully if this maintenance had something to do with rain fade then we should see some improvement from today onwards since they have completed their maintenance plans.

We hope that the pixelation problem on the HBO channels has been sorted out. Some subscribers are reporting that from last night the Dialog TV logo is appearing on all channels in their new decoders but not on their older CBNsat decoders. We wonder whether others are experiencing the same thing.

[bhavan]

Frequent Interruptions in Australia Network

Over the last few weeks there have been frequent interruptions on the Australia Network channel. This has resulted in several Dialog TV subscribers missing out on some rugby action and some entertaining programming. Most of us were under the impression that this will get sorted out once Dialog TV completes maintenance. But the problem still continued and this is only unique to Dialog TV and the other pay television operators such as LBN do not have any problem with Australia Network.

According to emails received by us from subscribers, it seems that when they inquire from Dialog TV about the nature of the problem and when it will be sorted, the reply from Dialog TV Customer Care (not the best in the world) is that they are having reception problems with Australia Network at their location and if this does not get sorted out then they will replace the channel. So whenever Dialog TV enginners cannot sort out technical problems with a channel, do they advice to replace the channel or is this the imagination of the Customer Care Agent? The inability to sort out a technical problem reflects badly on the engineering team and if they cannot sort out problems then the personnel should be replaced, hopefully Dr. Hans & the management at Telekom Malaysia take steps to get rid of all these incapable people either in Customer Care or Engineering.

Australia Network is the only channel that carries a majority of Rugby matches and some people have bought Dialog TV connections because they can watch some Rugby, if Dialog removes this channel then this will result in these people being deprived and will reflect badly on Dialog Telekom as a whole. Australia Network telecasts Tri Nations & Super 14's which is not available on any other channel in this region.

We hope steps are taken along with expertise from Australia Network so that the problem is rectified as soon as possible since the problem has been existing for so long that a solution is overdue. Let us remind Dialog TV once again that the solution is not removing the channel.

[bhavan]

Australia Network problem solved

After a few weeks of problems with Australia Network it seems that Dialog TV have now corrected the problem and over the last few days there have been no interruptions so far.

It is great that the problem has been rectified since the subscribers can now enjoy their rugby without any interruptions.

However the sad part is that the HBO channels pixelation problem still persists and hopefully this is rectified soon.

[Dish]

Thanks Bhavan for provide your updates.