shreyaskini
Contributor
- Joined
- 26 Feb 2014
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- 577
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So, i moved to a new location recently in the same district (Udupi) and i got this SD STB for a temporary period from my LCO as i requested for it. My old Skyworth Den SD STB wasn't working well and i had to return the HD STB made by Gospell which was also given on a temporary basis in my old location.
As per both LCO's it's not possible to purchase HD stb of Den here since it's never in stock so i had to be content with this STB for the time being as he too didn't have the HD STB. It took forever after moving here to get me a cable connection as he didn't even have cable (apparently) and kept on delaying for weeks. I got it on the day of election results last month. So thought why not share my experience.
Let me share all the pics that i have
STB
Remote
Viewing Card
Menu, UI, EPG
Pros
To get this connection one has to pay more than 2000INR which is absurd! Why the hell would one want to get this instead of TS or Airtel other than for local channels which are also chargeable @ 20INR? Let me not even start with the wrong billing, extremely hard channel selection method which still requires paper forms and not being able to add channels in the middle of the month or have 1 day lockin option.
For the longest time MSO's have also lied by bad mouthing DTH claiming cable has weather proof signals. But every time it starts to rain/thunder i always do not get signals since the LCO's are scared of losing their precious equipment due to it. If anything the signals go off way before DTH does. So i call this false advertising and BS by Den which still makes the "Weather Proof Signal" claim on their site.
I must thank TRAI for exposing these LCO's who are still looting us by making it mandatory to get the first 100 channels (BST). On top of that the local channels are chargeable as i said. So one will definitely end up more on NCF than usual since additional slab will be applicable. There's no more bills so there's no way of knowing which channels you're paying for and how much is charged as NCF. Didn't TRAI ensure this will be transparent and that the customers won't have to worry? Hmm, guess not eh? I backed up cable for years and didn't want to switch to DTH after my poor experience with Dishtv but i was forced to make the switch and don't regret it.
Now i'm enjoying Tata Sky HD and paying way less than before and have the option of dropping and adding channels/packs whenever i want to without needing to call anyone. Again thanking TRAI for making this happen for me. LCO's are still not transparent and i doubt they will ever be no matter which new rule is introduced. That's all folks
As per both LCO's it's not possible to purchase HD stb of Den here since it's never in stock so i had to be content with this STB for the time being as he too didn't have the HD STB. It took forever after moving here to get me a cable connection as he didn't even have cable (apparently) and kept on delaying for weeks. I got it on the day of election results last month. So thought why not share my experience.
Let me share all the pics that i have
STB
Remote
Viewing Card
Menu, UI, EPG
Pros
- Very small and compact box.
- Better looking remote than the one provided with HD STB.
- Easy to use UI.
- STB is of piss poor quality in terms of hardware. The old Skyworth STB that Den had was superior anyday over this. It was bulky yet felt solid. This just feels like it will break easily despite being manufactured from the same STB. Den over the years has really cheaped out on it's hardware over the years despite being on of the biggest MSO's in India which is very sad.
- Dull PQ even after increasing the brightness, contrast and color. I don't have the pics but it's worse than the old Den SD STB and even the HD STB. To back this up i compared it with my Tata Sky connection and boy does this Den STB suck so bad. In Tata sky I had to reduce the brightness and contrast because it was that good even in low.
- Poor AQ. Again the audio sounds too low even when you increase it a lot. I didn't have this issue on the previous SD STB. The HD one had very good AQ through TV speakers. The issue is definitely not from the AV cables so the STB is to be blamed.
To get this connection one has to pay more than 2000INR which is absurd! Why the hell would one want to get this instead of TS or Airtel other than for local channels which are also chargeable @ 20INR? Let me not even start with the wrong billing, extremely hard channel selection method which still requires paper forms and not being able to add channels in the middle of the month or have 1 day lockin option.
For the longest time MSO's have also lied by bad mouthing DTH claiming cable has weather proof signals. But every time it starts to rain/thunder i always do not get signals since the LCO's are scared of losing their precious equipment due to it. If anything the signals go off way before DTH does. So i call this false advertising and BS by Den which still makes the "Weather Proof Signal" claim on their site.
I must thank TRAI for exposing these LCO's who are still looting us by making it mandatory to get the first 100 channels (BST). On top of that the local channels are chargeable as i said. So one will definitely end up more on NCF than usual since additional slab will be applicable. There's no more bills so there's no way of knowing which channels you're paying for and how much is charged as NCF. Didn't TRAI ensure this will be transparent and that the customers won't have to worry? Hmm, guess not eh? I backed up cable for years and didn't want to switch to DTH after my poor experience with Dishtv but i was forced to make the switch and don't regret it.
Now i'm enjoying Tata Sky HD and paying way less than before and have the option of dropping and adding channels/packs whenever i want to without needing to call anyone. Again thanking TRAI for making this happen for me. LCO's are still not transparent and i doubt they will ever be no matter which new rule is introduced. That's all folks
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