Tata Sky+ DTH Service: Few Imp. Q's

[meetparag83]

I need to know the following things about my new TS+

1. How much time could i keep the TS+ in live pause state??
>>>>I tried the max was 50 (approx) min....after that it stopped the count..
>>>>But i think it is related to the programs... It records in the background till the currently watching program ends..

2. Why is there so much difference in the recording capacities of both the HDD's (80+80) (Repeated but didn't get the satisfactory ans last time)
1 part can record up to 45 hrs and
2nd part can buffer up to 90 min max...
live pause is also not more than 1hr...
OR
The live buffering is recorded in high quality...
and stuff we record for future purpose is ripped with some codecs....
>>>>>Is there any way to re-partition the disk and increase the recording time... cause according to sky+ or some other Dth features 160 GB can store more than 90 hrs... (Seen somewhere in the ts+ forums only)

3. I was searching for 1 function TS use to provide in past.... Some thing like All programs or A2Z program listing...
>>>>I am not able to find it even i dont remember i have seen that on TS also for past few months...
Is the service stopped...
Actually its a very useful service now as we can search the programs by name and keep them on planned recording...
Now we have to search all the way from weekly plans...

Thanks for the replies....

 

[SVK]

1. How much time could i keep the TS+ in live pause state??
>>>>I tried the max was 50 (approx) min....after that it stopped the count..
>>>>But i think it is related to the programs... It records in the background till the currently watching program ends..

From my knowledge it could buffer upto 90 min, after that it will start playing from the point of PAUSED. But in the forum I also read that time can be set by user. Buffering also not necessarily be program dependant, means it will continue buffering from paused time even if next program starts
2. Why is there so much difference in the recording capacities of both the HDD's (80+80) (Repeated but didn't get the satisfactory ans last time)
1 part can record up to 45 hrs and
2nd part can buffer up to 90 min max...
live pause is also not more than 1hr...
OR
The live buffering is recorded in high quality...
and stuff we record for future purpose is ripped with some codecs....
>>>>>Is there any way to re-partition the disk and increase the recording time... cause according to sky+ or some other Dth features 160 GB can store more than 90 hrs... (Seen somewhere in the ts+ forums only)

Didn't understood question properly actually.
About other DTH providers recording capacity, they may be having large capacity HDD so their recording time is more. No idea if we can reformat HDD for increasing capacity as the HDD are formatted for supporting STB's software and format in which content are stores are again programmed and no chance user can modify it
3. I was searching for 1 function TS use to provide in past.... Some thing like All programs or A2Z program listing...
>>>>I am not able to find it even i dont remember i have seen that on TS also for past few months...
Is the service stopped...
Actually its a very useful service now as we can search the programs by name and keep them on planned recording...
Now we have to search all the way from weekly plans...

I think it was available in 'Service' or 'EPG' menu to sort A~Z based on channel names, but was there any option for sorting programs A~Z?

Thanks for the replies....



You are welcome

 

[Kalyan_1980]

I need to know the following things about my new TS+


3. I was searching for 1 function TS use to provide in past.... Some thing like All programs or A2Z program listing...
>>>>I am not able to find it even i dont remember i have seen that on TS also for past few months...
Is the service stopped...
Actually its a very useful service now as we can search the programs by name and keep them on planned recording...
Now we have to search all the way from weekly plans...

Thanks for the replies....



Yes, the service was stopped few month back. Before that, it was there in Tata Sky.

 

[vkat]

I need to know the following things about my new TS+

1. How much time could i keep the TS+ in live pause state??
>>>>I tried the max was 50 (approx) min....after that it stopped the count..
>>>>But i think it is related to the programs... It records in the background till the currently watching program ends..


Live Pause is Program Slot based. 99.9% Time slot for any program is 1/2 to 1 Hr. But you have to be on that channel without any change. If Slot changes you will loos all data (Paused).

2. Why is there so much difference in the recording capacities of both the HDD's (80+80) (Repeated but didn't get the satisfactory ans last time)
1 part can record up to 45 hrs and
2nd part can buffer up to 90 min max...
live pause is also not more than 1hr...
OR
The live buffering is recorded in high quality...
and stuff we record for future purpose is ripped with some codecs....
>>>>>Is there any way to re-partition the disk and increase the recording time... cause according to sky+ or some other Dth features 160 GB can store more than 90 hrs... (Seen somewhere in the ts+ forums only)


It's not 80 + 80 some capacity lost during partition and formatting. That is why this difference is there. First half is managed for Live Pause and Special Recording like Paid Show Case. If we store any Show Case Movie it will not last long but for 24Hrs Max (Purchased Date).

We can not change/manage HDD if we do we will loose everything and have to buy new hardware.

3. I was searching for 1 function TS use to provide in past.... Some thing like All programs or A2Z program listing...
>>>>I am not able to find it even i dont remember i have seen that on TS also for past few months...
Is the service stopped...
Actually its a very useful service now as we can search the programs by name and keep them on planned recording...
Now we have to search all the way from weekly plans...


This facility has been withdrawn long back

PS: All above information based on what I learned from many places. If I am wrong please clarify the same in interest of community.

ty - Vkat

 

[kumararvind]

It's not 80 + 80 some capacity lost during partition and formatting. That is why this difference is there. First half is managed for Live Pause and Special Recording like Paid Show Case. If we store any Show Case Movie it will not last long but for 24Hrs Max (Purchased Date).




Show case movie not automatically deleted but after viewing its encryption kicks in and you get the same blue screen as you get on the live showcase screen asking you to call CC...so basically you cannot have it for forever even if you lock it from getting deleted

The 80 GB reserved by the TS+ box made me research a little....the answer I stumbled upon is that in the near future showcase(VOD) can be replaced by a push VOD service. This will push the movies on to your hard drive of which you can select what to watch...once you watch something money will be deducted from your account...no need to book the show...also you get to FF/RW this movie from start...as there will be no. of these movies downloaded onto your hard drive which you wont have any control you wont get to use this 80 GB for your own recordings. Plus you get 48 hours to finish this movie once you start viewing.

Souce: NDS XTV brochure and Foxtel Australia website

 

[venkat_9099]

The 80 GB reserved by the TS+ box made me research a little....the answer I stumbled upon is that in the near future showcase(VOD) can be replaced by a push VOD service. This will push the movies on to your hard drive of which you can select what to watch...once you watch something money will be deducted from your account...no need to book the show...also you get to FF/RW this movie from start...as there will be no. of these movies downloaded onto your hard drive which you wont have any control you wont get to use this 80 GB for your own recordings. Plus you get 48 hours to finish this movie once you start viewing.

Souce: NDS XTV brochure and Foxtel Australia website
Any idea how this push VOD works? How many movies can be pushed in 80GB?

 

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[kumararvind]

Any idea how this push VOD works? How many movies can be pushed in 80GB?

While your STB is on or on standby, one of the two tuners will be used to download content onto the HDD...in australia there are 4 tuners so the 4th is supposedly dedicated for that, also can be downloaded through the ethernet connection. When this will be feasible in India is not known as this requires large no. of subscribers for this business model to be successful...it will cost a bomb too...it costs about 4.25 Au$ in Australia to watch one movie...in HD of course.

SD movies are generally 2GB in divx format can be upto 4gb in MPEG2...as this is a MPEG4 device can be expected to have in MPEG4 which should be lesser. One HD movie will be anywhere near 20GB. So now it can be 20 to 40 SD Movies or 3 to 4 HD movies

 

[venkat_9099]

While your STB is on or on standby, one of the two tuners will be used to download content onto the HDD...in australia there are 4 tuners so the 4th is supposedly dedicated for that, also can be downloaded through the ethernet connection. When this will be feasible in India is not known as this requires large no. of subscribers for this business model to be successful...it will cost a bomb too...it costs about 4.25 Au$ in Australia to watch one movie...in HD of course.

SD movies are generally 2GB in divx format can be upto 4gb in MPEG2...as this is a MPEG4 device can be expected to have in MPEG4 which should be lesser. One HD movie will be anywhere near 20GB. So now it can be 20 to 40 SD Movies or 3 to 4 HD movies
Cool!! Thanks for the info...

 

[Sachcrazy]

About other DTH providers recording capacity, they may be having large capacity HDD so their recording time is more. No idea if we can reformat HDD for increasing capacity as the HDD are formatted for supporting STB's software and format in which content are stores are again programmed and no chance user can modify it

HDD can surely be formatted but I am not too sure about reformatting for supported STB's software. for formatting, there is a hidden menu in organiser settings. Go to systems settings and quickly press 0, 1 and select keys. You will see the option to format the disk. I haven't and will not try that though.

 

[SVK]

HDD can surely be formatted but I am not too sure about reformatting for supported STB's software. for formatting, there is a hidden menu in organiser settings. Go to systems settings and quickly press 0, 1 and select keys. You will see the option to format the disk. I haven't and will not try that though.
Thats right, but what I was talking about was formating HDD through PC in formats like NTFS or FAT32, etc.
Formatting HDD through menu will cause no harm, and will just erase all recordings and may increase operating speed (if STB performance appears sluggish)