Updated today.
Yesterday 11:00PM I got the connection. So the following is a couple of hours experience and will be updated in the coming days.
I could successfully connect through Denon 2310 today, but the same message continues "cable not connected", " service not defined properly" so the handshaking time is sometime extends beyond 10sec
STB Model number corrected
Samsung DSB5090R
I thought of sharing my experience on Sun HD which may help those who are looking for DTH HD experience. Even though we are expecting other DTH providers to bring HD ASFIK SUN Direct the only HD service available in India.
It needs a much bigger Dish (double of
Tata Sky+ dish I have) and new Settop box – Samsung DBS-5090R . Box comes with a Cheap HDMI cable, no other cables (no RCA cables / IEC cables) supplied.
There are 7 HD Channels.
1. Discovery HD –Good clarity at 1080i , Dolby 5.1 Audio
2. NGC HD – 1080i , True HD , Dolby 5.1 Audio
3. Colors HD – It is scrambled now, so no idea
4. Sun
TV HD - Most of it is upscaled video (576P to 1080i in the studio), nothing exciting here.
5. Tamil Movies HD – Excellent HD quality (1080i). I did not expect this quality before taking the connection for movie channel, my doubt was what HD source will they use for regional movies!
6. Telugu Movies HD – Same quality as Tamil Movies HD – excellent
7. Test HD channel - Scrambled at present
SD (576P) channels – not worth even after upscaling to 1080P or i, not better than
Tata Sky + (576i) in quality. There is one more issue, HD channels are 16:9 where as SD Channels are 4:3. Since both coming from the same source we need to keep on changing the TV settings for Wide Zoom/ Full when you switch over between HD to SD. So practically my usage of Sun Direct HD is limited to HD channels only, and switch over to Tata Sky+ for SD channels , switching over and controlling the corresponding devices is very easy task (with single click) thanks to
Logitech Harmony 900 remote.
Major Issues with Sun HD.
1. Switching over between two HD channels takes sometime more than 10 seconds which is not acceptable by any standards There is some handshaking issue. My TV (Sonly Signature series, X) complains there is no cable connected for more than 8 seconds, then appears a message “ Service not defined fully” and the picture takes a couple of seconds more to appear. So you dare not attempt channel surfing
2. When HDMI out is Connected to Denon 2310 (known as the best amp under 1Lakhs among Audio Gurus), it displaying all the menus and other details but no video from SUN, audio is fine. TV goes to a blue screen for any Sun channels. So there is some real issue with the HDMI handshaking from SUN HD box. I have another 5 sources for HD (PS3, WD-Live,
Apple MAC etc …) which do not have any issues with either TV or Amp
There is some similar report about Sky HD (UK) with Denon 2310 , some HDCP issue where Denon follows exactly HDMI 1.3a standards and the SKY HD faults on the full compliance.
If you any one of you have faced similar issues please let me know.
In summary there are so many issues with DTH HD in India as of now. It is no wonder other DTH providers are keeping quiet on HD. As of now It is meant only for early adopters of tech who are ready to spend hours together solving these issues themselves. It is supposed to be a mature and main stream technology abroad, so I wonder why our DTH providers are not getting it right before launching the service and charging a premium.
Regards,
Tomy
Update from Denon on this issue.
"A set top receiver connected to an A/V receiver via HDMI may have trouble passing video signals through the A/V receiver even though a direct connection to the display seems to work fine. This has to do with the HDMI HDCP protocol being sent and received and the authentication process. This is not a fault of the receiver. Recently set top box manufacturers have become aware of this issue. It has been found that the U-code information appears to be the problem which is part of Annex A of the repeater conformity specifications of the HDMI protocol. Some set top receiver manufacturers have already implemented firmware changes to their units while others are in the process of updating their units. If a set top receiver being used is having problems passing HDMI video signal through an A/V receiver, contact the manufacturer of the set top receiver to see if an update is available. "
Surprise. Today I could see a firmware update from SUN HD. After updating the firmware of STB the HDMI handshaking issues got resolved. So there is no delay except for the decoding which is understandable from a CPU used in an STB. So now like SD channels we can surf through HD channels. No more complaints from my amp Denon 2310
Now I am happy to have Sun HD
Picture quality of all HD channels are very good, true 1080i except the upscaled Sun HD and Colors (I presume). SD channels we need to switch over to Tata Sky+ for better video. I could see that they have started VOD, not bad . All DTH providers are improving.
Regards,
Tomy
