can you imagine life without the cable
guy? You can either love him or hate him
but you cannot live without him. And, in
one of these hate periods, I went hunting
for options.
The only alternative I could fi nd was
DTH. I have tried Dish TV, and take
my word, the cable operator stands no
chance when it comes to the quality of
TV viewing. The superior digital
signal and the stereo sound take
your viewing experience to a new
level. The colors were brighter, the
picture was sharper and I could
actualy feel the special effects in
broadcast movies.
This is also when I discovered
that my TV set was not up to snuff.
The better signal ruthlessly exposed
the limitations of my TV set. So,
either I could switch back to my old
cable, or I would have to pony up
for a new TV. I chose the former.
Why? Because, this was simply the
start of my troubles.
For one, getting all the channels
you want in one package is next
to impossible. For instance, none of the
STAR TV’s bouquet premium channels
like Star Plus are available on the Dish
TV service. While you could rejoice at the
thought of giving the daily soaps a miss,
you may soon begin to pine for the channels
you love.
DTH is definitely not the all-you-eat
kind of channel buffet that your cable
guy provides (and I had already begun to
miss him!). However, given the market
dynamics at play, and the imminent entry
of the Tata SKY DTH service, this lack of
choice is will possibly be rectifi ed soon.
Anyway, for now, just be prepared to fork
up more to get the channels you desire,
or give some favorite ones a miss.
Then, I thought of watching television
in my living room. And to my horror
there was no signal—at least not with
the way the dish antenna was positioned
in my house. So, there I was limited to
watching TV in the bedroom. The other
major drawback with DTH is that you
can use only one TV with one set-top
box. Every television set needs a separate
subscription module, a set top box (STB)
and remote. Since the channels are controlled
from the STB, the PIP (picture-inpicture)
feature in the TV set is useless.
Chalk up another in favor of your local
cable operator—one connection, multiple
TVs.
So, if you ever decide to go for DTH,
you may need to keep the cable connection
too, just like you have a landline and
a mobile phone. While drawing the analogy
with the telco system, there’s one
more thing you need to know. A mobile
phone or a landline phone instrument
will work with any operator’s infrastructure.
But, STBs are proprietary. If you get
Dish TV now, and pay for the STB, in all
probability it won’t work with the Tata
SKY service if you decide to switch. The
workaround? I don’t see any on offer.
Be ready to pile these darn boxes in
your attic.
Some DTH supporters argue that the
service offers value added services. I
really don’t think its true—not the
way it currently works. They have
DVRs (Digital Video Recoders). So
what? I can hook up my fossilized
VCR and schedule recordings on
it too. Or,I can get a DVD-based
DVR. If you hunt hard enough you
can even fi nd a HDD-based DVR
and hook it up to your cable. Incidentally
some of these gadgets are
so good that you can record up to
six programs concurrently, while
viewing something else on your
television. Some sophisticated
models even let you zap irritating
ads and commercials.
Supporters also tout the EPG
(Electronic Program Guide) service.
You can use the EPG to view, search
and schedule programs for recording
on a DVR, they say. For instance, Dish
TV has tied up with Open TV, to provide
enhanced EPG services to its subscribers.
But then, you can simply use a Windows
Media Center PC with your cable connection
for the same thing. This service
is now available in India and is provided
by Microsoft. You can view listings for
about 80 channels, 15 days in advance.
And, you can use this with your regular
cable connection.
So forget about bidding adieu to
the cable guy. He is still your best bet
for now.
Would love to here from you...