Thanks adder for the info. The link will not only serve as reference for downloading, but also as an authentic source of HD samples.I have home-unlimited+ plan, for which max speed is just 256Kbps, which translates to roughly 25-30 KBps only! (and I do get it through DAP or utorrent) Rest should be available for TV I hope. What I really want to ensure is that both internet and TV together must operate smoothly without the line getting hogged due to excessive error rate.
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Bangalore - IPTV on 15th August ( With Rates from BSNL )
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superprash2003
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hey. thanks for the review santosh.. i do have some questions... do they charge you for the LAN cable from the modem to the STB if it is a bit far? and if you are not happy with the performance can you unsubscribe? how many channels are you getting? what did they say about channels like espn,star cricket?
superprash,He did not say anything about the 3-4 meter LAN cable which I needed, so I hope it will be a part of the installation charge (which is Rs. 800/- or so). Since my modem already has a builin WiFi router, I didn't face any problem regarding connection to computer/laptop. You can unsubscribe it anytime, but only at the cost of initial installation charge which is non-refundable. Rental for TV and STB together is roughly the same as cable guy (Rs. 250/- PM), so no loss there!In my case, I am not going to accept and sign for the completion of installation until they solve the noise issue. I have got an assurance of not being charged until then. Since the audio/video quality is falling short of my initial expectations, now I feel the need to compare it against Tata Sky
. Unless the difference turns out to be considerable or they are unable to resolve the noise issue within reasonable time, I should go ahead with BSNL.Regarding channels, I could see 64 channels. Program guide seems to be good, you can search channels and programs by name, right through your remote (which can double as TV remote too), and you can set reminders/alerts for specific programs! (haven't yet tried using alerts, though) I did not ask about particular channels but he said that all 150+ channels will be available soon (within a couple of weeks)... but frankly I am not too optimistic, especially regarding the time-frame that he mentioned!
. Unless the difference turns out to be considerable or they are unable to resolve the noise issue within reasonable time, I should go ahead with BSNL.Regarding channels, I could see 64 channels. Program guide seems to be good, you can search channels and programs by name, right through your remote (which can double as TV remote too), and you can set reminders/alerts for specific programs! (haven't yet tried using alerts, though) I did not ask about particular channels but he said that all 150+ channels will be available soon (within a couple of weeks)... but frankly I am not too optimistic, especially regarding the time-frame that he mentioned!superprash2003
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i think when i registered online i had asked for the purchase of the STB which is 3950rs can i change that to rental when they come to install it in my house and later if i am happy with it i can buy the STB?and what about espn,star cricket?
i think when i registered online i had asked for the purchase of the STB which is 3950rs can i change that to rental when they come to install it in my house and later if i am happy with it i can buy the STB?and what about espn,star cricket?
I don't have answers to both of your questions. What I know is that if you opt for rental STB now, you can buy it later anytime. However, whatever money you pay as rent will be lost, it won't be adjusted. If I am not mistaken, BSNL has/had schemes wherein at least some percentage of rent paid against modem would be adjusted if you decide to buy it later. A person on IOL customer care number had told me that such a scheme is not offered with IPTV STB though, not only that he suggested me to opt for rental option because it is likely to be changed in near future when they start video conferencing service.
I don't have answers to both of your questions. What I know is that if you opt for rental STB now, you can buy it later anytime. However, whatever money you pay as rent will be lost, it won't be adjusted. If I am not mistaken, BSNL has/had schemes wherein at least some percentage of rent paid against modem would be adjusted if you decide to buy it later. A person on IOL customer care number had told me that such a scheme is not offered with IPTV STB though, not only that he suggested me to opt for rental option because it is likely to be changed in near future when they start video conferencing service.
i think when i registered online i had asked for the purchase of the STB which is 3950rs can i change that to rental when they come to install it in my house and later if i am happy with it i can buy the STB?and what about espn,star cricket?
buying a STB is a bad idea reason if u plan to unsubscribe the service u have to stuck with their set top box.
also one of the higher officials in IOL told that if they get HD channels then we need to change the STB so if u take the STB as rental they will replace it for a better model.
even i had first registered asking for purchace of STB but latter i told the IOL customer care also to higher official to change it to rental which they said they will do.
still waiting for them to come and install it.
buying a STB is a bad idea reason if u plan to unsubscribe the service u have to stuck with their set top box.
also one of the higher officials in IOL told that if they get HD channels then we need to change the STB so if u take the STB as rental they will replace it for a better model.
even i had first registered asking for purchace of STB but latter i told the IOL customer care also to higher official to change it to rental which they said they will do.
still waiting for them to come and install it.
It would be great to see what compression and bitrate is being for both audio and video being played. But looks like they won't provide us the access to such information, either deliberately (to hide trade secrets) or they might think that such level of details is not required for an end customer.:wall: I believe the same applies very much to DTH providers? I had tried searching this kind of information on Tata Sky and DishTV websites, but it was futile!
Right, they don't want you spoling the party..telling the comon man he is seeing DVD quality when in reality it approximates to VCD. I did a back of the envelope calculation here. The best you can do is enquire what speed the line is and work backwards.
At least for now, till they upgrade to ADSL-2 on their backend and magically fix all the line noise issues.
I'm not knocking the effort tho, if anything hopefully it spurs more investment in comms infrastructure and everybody ultimately benefits.
Right, they don't want you spoling the party..telling the comon man he is seeing DVD quality when in reality it approximates to VCD. I did a back of the envelope calculation here. The best you can do is enquire what speed the line is and work backwards.
At least for now, till they upgrade to ADSL-2 on their backend and magically fix all the line noise issues.
I'm not knocking the effort tho, if anything hopefully it spurs more investment in comms infrastructure and everybody ultimately benefits.
Right, they don't want you spoling the party..telling the comon man he is seeing DVD quality when in reality it approximates to VCD. I did a back of the envelope calculation here. The best you can do is enquire what speed the line is and work backwards.
At least for now, till they upgrade to ADSL-2 on their backend and magically fix all the line noise issues.
I'm not knocking the effort tho, if anything hopefully it spurs more investment in comms infrastructure and everybody ultimately benefits.
well dont forget bsnl uses H.264 not mpeg2
At least for now, till they upgrade to ADSL-2 on their backend and magically fix all the line noise issues.
I'm not knocking the effort tho, if anything hopefully it spurs more investment in comms infrastructure and everybody ultimately benefits.
well dont forget bsnl uses H.264 not mpeg2
blr_p, minimum bandwidth requirement of 600Kbps that you mentioned in the other thread might be a typo or something. Looks like it has been corrected to 4Mbps in the latest FAQ on calcuttatelephones.com (http://www.calcuttatelephones.com/iptv/download/iptvfaq.pdf).
Also, as adder has mentioned they claim h.264. The actual audio video quality as per my judgment is far better than VCD for sure, but not like DVD either. It is somewhere in between and as mentioned earlier, it is close to normal cable (with very good receiption). Haven't yet checked Tata Sky, but had a look at a neighbor's DishTV connection and it look comparable (though he had connected it to a 14" TV set!)
However, just like you and many others, I am very much skeptical about how they are going to tackle noise issues (and move to HDTV
). Also, I am wondering whether they would resort to lower quality audio/video encoding to account for noise/lower bandwidth, even though their STB is capable of delivering higher quality reception provided we have the bandwidth. My biggest concern is that the capabilities of powerful decoders inside the STB may simply be wasted due to lack of enough bandwidth and/or quality of their source itself! Here are relevant technical specs given in the manual provided along with my STB:
Transport Stream System:
MPEG- MPEG-2 ISO/IEC 13818-1
Transport Stream Decoders:
Profile- MPEG-4 pt10/H.264
MPEG-4 pt2
MPEG-2 pt2
Aspect Ratio- 4:3, 16:9
Video Resolution- NTSC (720x480i)
PAL (720x576i)
Graphics Resolution- 640x480 (525 line) NTSC
640x576 (625 line) PAL
15bit RGB color, Alpha Blending
Audio Decoding- Dolby Digital (AC3)
MPEG-1 layers I & II
MPEG-4 low complexity
AAC,
16bit PCM
No mention of max bandwidths supported, but it can be found here:
http://www.aminocom.com/products/pdf/AmiNET125_flyer.pdf
Also, as adder has mentioned they claim h.264. The actual audio video quality as per my judgment is far better than VCD for sure, but not like DVD either. It is somewhere in between and as mentioned earlier, it is close to normal cable (with very good receiption). Haven't yet checked Tata Sky, but had a look at a neighbor's DishTV connection and it look comparable (though he had connected it to a 14" TV set!)
However, just like you and many others, I am very much skeptical about how they are going to tackle noise issues (and move to HDTV
). Also, I am wondering whether they would resort to lower quality audio/video encoding to account for noise/lower bandwidth, even though their STB is capable of delivering higher quality reception provided we have the bandwidth. My biggest concern is that the capabilities of powerful decoders inside the STB may simply be wasted due to lack of enough bandwidth and/or quality of their source itself! Here are relevant technical specs given in the manual provided along with my STB:Transport Stream System:
MPEG- MPEG-2 ISO/IEC 13818-1
Transport Stream Decoders:
Profile- MPEG-4 pt10/H.264
MPEG-4 pt2
MPEG-2 pt2
Aspect Ratio- 4:3, 16:9
Video Resolution- NTSC (720x480i)
PAL (720x576i)
Graphics Resolution- 640x480 (525 line) NTSC
640x576 (625 line) PAL
15bit RGB color, Alpha Blending
Audio Decoding- Dolby Digital (AC3)
MPEG-1 layers I & II
MPEG-4 low complexity
AAC,
16bit PCM
No mention of max bandwidths supported, but it can be found here:
http://www.aminocom.com/products/pdf/AmiNET125_flyer.pdf
At least for now, till they upgrade to ADSL-2 on their backend and magically fix all the line noise issues.
Their lines are already capable of ADSL 2+, apparent from my previous post- here. But noise/attenuation is a real issue.
I'm not knocking the effort tho, if anything hopefully it spurs more investment in comms infrastructure and everybody ultimately benefits.
Agree, let's hope so!
Their lines are already capable of ADSL 2+, apparent from my previous post- here. But noise/attenuation is a real issue.
I'm not knocking the effort tho, if anything hopefully it spurs more investment in comms infrastructure and everybody ultimately benefits.
Agree, let's hope so!
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