Seeking Help Planning to switch from Airtel to SUN Direct, Need advice

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Nope, I'm talking about the latest Y series box.

BTW, I meant Down arrow/Up arrow button.

I believe the Y Series HD boxes does NOT display the EPG of next/previous channels when we press the Up/Down arrow buttons either. Pressing these buttons instead switch to the next/previous channels. If switching to a channel to read its EPG is deemed cumbersome, then I wouldn't term the actual EPG itself as terrible. It would be the methodology of viewing the EPG of a channel, say, that needs a little more effort.
However, there is always the option of using the EPG button in the remote control, which opens up a new EPG window that lists the EPG of all the channels. If I am recollecting correctly, I believe we can view the EPG of any channel without actually switching to it. Well, that is at least how it works in my SD box to which I have access to right now. The HD box is at my home city.

I strongly disagree with you as well that you say it works in this use case.

You absolutely can do! Let us agree to disagree then. And leave it to the long time Sun Direct stalwarts in this forum, to decide how good/bad Sun Direct's EPGs are. The ones who are reading our banters in zen silence.

Thank you for reading :)
 
I believe the Y Series HD boxes does NOT display the EPG of next/previous channels when we press the Up/Down arrow buttons either. Pressing these buttons instead switch to the next/previous channels. If switching to a channel to read its EPG is deemed cumbersome, then I wouldn't term the actual EPG itself as terrible. It would be the methodology of viewing the EPG of a channel, say, that needs a little more effort.
However, there is always the option of using the EPG button in the remote control, which opens up a new EPG window that lists the EPG of all the channels. If I am recollecting correctly, I believe we can view the EPG of any channel without actually switching to it. Well, that is at least how it works in my SD box to which I have access to right now. The HD box is at my home city.
It DOES, I believe you need to press Ok button before pressing Up/Down arrow to see what's running on the other channels. I don't exactly remember how I used to do it, I wish I had SD with me to test. I think it wasn't working on the N series box which is why I hated it LOL apart from picture quality. Since this use case is not even available on few boxes, that is another big reason for me to say SD epg is far from perfect implementation. And Yes, It's deemed cumbersome to me because I don't really want to switch to that particular channel unless I'm interested in the program that's running right now. It's fair use case in my view and I believe many users does this. This is one of the most important aspects of EPG to me, and Sun Direct better fix this issue on all the boxes. EPG viewing is the most basic aspect in a DTH and It has to be working in these use cases. And on the remote, there are dedicated buttons for vol+/- and ch+/-, why do they need to provide same functionality on up/down and right/left arrow buttons? It does not make sense to me. They must utilize them for other purposes like the other DTH operators like Airtel/TS does for EPG display.
With respect to using the EPG button, it covers half the screen if I use this and that creates more disturbance on the content of the current channel we are viewing. And yes, I tried that option as well as an alternate when I had that N series box and that also displays blank several times.

You absolutely can do! Let us agree to disagree then. And leave it to the long time Sun Direct stalwarts in this forum, to decide how good/bad Sun Direct's EPGs are. The ones who are reading our banters in zen silence.
Sure, why not! I already switched to TS and I believe whoever is using Sun Direct currently are the right people to comment on it. However, I will continue to warn people who are planning to switch to Sun Direct from other DTH providers regarding these issues!

BTW, read post #49 where @Deepu Darling bro has posted the EPG on Airtel. Please do compare it with SD and see if it's accurate.
 
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@Siva and @Sivabhaskar I'm the Sun Direct user since last 1 year and I've Y series HS8101 HEVC HD STB. In this STB to view the EPG of next and previous channels you just need to use up/down arrow keys and yes, the EPG will be blank on many channels sometimes, but will be available most of the times.
 
@Siva and @Sivabhaskar I'm the Sun Direct user since last 1 year and I've Y series HS8101 HEVC HD STB. In this STB to view the EPG of next and previous channels you just need to use up/down arrow keys and yes, the EPG will be blank on many channels sometimes, but will be available most of the times.
Yeah I had the same model number, and that's what I remember. It was working with up/down arrow buttons! @Sivabhaskar needs to clarify this as to why he says it doesn't work. May be it doesn't work on SD boxes?
 
Yeah I had the same model number, and that's what I remember. It was working with up/down arrow buttons! @Sivabhaskar needs to clarify this as to why he says it doesn't work. May be it doesn't work on SD boxes?

Based on my previous replies on the whereabouts of my HD box, along with my skepticism on the things I was mentioning as to exactly which button does what, it is imperative that I was not 100% sure of the accuracy of my statements.

Because, with the newer model HD STBs, if I am recollecting it correctly (anyone using Y/U Series boxes, correct me if I am incorrect here), I believe we cannot use the right/left arrows to view other channel EPGs. It only increases/decreases the volume like it does in the latest SD boxes.

If I am recollecting correctly, I believe we can view the EPG of any channel without actually switching to it. Well, that is at least how it works in my SD box to which I have access to right now. The HD box is at my home city.

Thank you for reading :)
 
Nope, I'm talking about the latest Y series box. I used N series box only for 2 days and switched back to Y series after realizing that picture quality is bad on it. Rest of the time it was latest Y series box. BTW, I meant Down arrow/Up arrow button. It's a little different on Sun Direct than other DTH. I strongly disagree with you as well that you say it works in this use case. Nope, unfortunately, it doesn't! Your solution of switching to that particular channel and if it doesn't work then switch one channel back/forward and switch back isn't applicable for my use case. I don't want to switch to the destination channel at all just to check epg. It is cumbersome process. It was another frustrating part of using Sun Direct DTH for me and that's why I clearly remember it doesn't work most of the time. I would like you or the other active SD users to test this particular use case. As I said, I don't even get to the part of the description of the program/movie.


I explained the use case, and Airtel never fails in that use case (Clicking right/left arrow while watching one channel). It correctly displays the program name. And I can't talk about the english entertainment channels program description on Airtel, as I never used to watch them. However, for English Movies channels, the EPG description was always accurate for the 8 years I have used Airtel. I was never disappointed with EPG on Airtel!! It would be great if @Gobinaath bro or @Deepu Darling bro can post the screenshots of the EPG on the channels that we tested on TS and SD and we can cross check the descriptions if they are accurate or not.
Sorry anna for the late reply

Currently in Chennai(out of station) not possible to post epg snaps anna
 
I believe the Y Series HD boxes does NOT display the EPG of next/previous channels when we press the Up/Down arrow buttons either. Pressing these buttons instead switch to the next/previous channels.
I had to answer this part since you were very confident and used capital letters for "does NOT".
Based on my previous replies on the whereabouts of my HD box, along with my skepticism on the things I was mentioning as to exactly which button does what, it is imperative that I was not 100% sure of the accuracy of my statements.
Not a problem, everyone makes mistakes!

In any case, Sun Direct's EPG implementation (Both at Remote level and STB level) is far from perfect and to compare it with Tata Sky or Airtel is not ideal at this point of time in my view. BTW, Did you get a chance to compare the EPG of Airtel posted by @Deepu Darling bro with SD EPG?
 
** ATTENTION EVERYONE **
Please bear with this me on this very long post. I was given no other choice. You will hopefully understand if you could spare a few minutes to read along. I do not want this to continue.
** **

I had to answer this part since you were very confident and used capital letters for "does NOT".

The usage of uppercase letters was merely a means to differentiate the rest of the sentence with that word. A little something so that one does not misread the sentence. It had nothing to do with confidence.

Not a problem, everyone makes mistakes!

I don't think it equates to a mistake, when I had made it clear beforehand (multiple times) that my statements (about the remote control functions) could well be incorrect and that I currently do not have access to my HD STB. Utmost, it would equate to an error, which I had already predicted could be the case. That is why I had used the word 'imperative' in my latest reply. That was why I wasn't apologizing either.

BTW, Did you get a chance to compare the EPG of Airtel posted by @Deepu Darling bro with SD EPG?

Yes, I did. I had not replied because I didn't see the point in extending the argument while it was more than clear to me about your obvious reservations about Sun Direct's EPGs even after my multiple attempts of reasoning with your repeated arguments, which were clearly fixated on Sun Direct's EPGs being poor.

In any case, Sun Direct's EPG implementation (Both at Remote level and STB level) is far from perfect and to compare it with Tata Sky or Airtel is not ideal at this point of time in my view.

Again, I did not (and I still do not) see the argument proceeding towards a fruitful result that both parties could amicably agree upon. That is why I tried to put an end to it by explicitly requesting you to 'agree to disagree', so that we both can settle upon the issue, keeping our own notions about the subject to ourselves. And you seemed to agree to it too, albeit also stating that you will continue to warn people about Sun Direct's EPGs (eventhough you are now using Tata Sky). I did not respond to that either. Because I didn't see the point in countering back and forth, on and on about almost the same points that had been stated several times earlier. However, here you are. And now you seem to be wanting to dis Sun Direct on any account, and more than eager to continue this a lot further. No, please count me out.

I strongly disagree with you as well that you say it works in this use case.

You absolutely can do! Let us agree to disagree then. And leave it to the long time Sun Direct stalwarts in this forum, to decide how good/bad Sun Direct's EPGs are. The ones who are reading our banters in zen silence.

Sure, why not! I already switched to TS and I believe whoever is using Sun Direct currently are the right people to comment on it. However, I will continue to warn people who are planning to switch to Sun Direct from other DTH providers regarding these issues!


Now, as far as your below statement goes:
and to compare it with Tata Sky or Airtel is not ideal at this point of time in my view.

Not ideal !? Really? When did I ever compare (or speak ill of Tata Sky's EPGs) with Sun Direct's? If anything, I had only praised Tata Sky's EPGs after seeing the first set of screen shots (Tata Sky's EPGs) posted by you.

It is good to know that Tata Sky's EPGs one ups Sun Direct's EPGs. That was why I was skeptical and did not get into the details of their EPGs.

On the other hand though, Tata Sky seems to be leading in this department. I mean, for example, like I can see in your screen shots, displaying Season and Episode numbers with indication of repeat telecasts is a huge huge plus if you are a regular viewer of English Entertainment channels. So, good for you that you now own a Tata Sky connection!

When it comes to Airtel DTH though, I strongly believe I was clear about the reasons behind my reservations. When I had mentioned that Airtel DTH's EPGs (the program descriptions) were not accurate for English Entertainment channels, I had also mentioned it was better when it comes to English Movie channels.

To elaborate, even Sandeep's latest screen shots (of Airtel DTH) are only from English Movie channels, and not English Entertainment channels. That was one more reason as to why I had not replied earlier. Because I had already acknowledged that Airtel DTH's English Movie channels' EPGs were better than their English Entertainment counterparts. That is why I had mentioned Airtel DTH's EPGs completely fails to me. Also, like I have stated above earlier, I did not want to extend the argument any further.

On the other hand, even though Airtel DTH correctly displays the Name and Time of all shows, the information about what is happening in a particular episode of a tv series/show or what is happening in a movie, is not as accurate as Sun Direct's EPG. That information is very generic in Airtel's EPG. On that note, in comparison with TV series/shows, I might say that the EPG description of English movies is bit better.

Again, like I had explained in detail in my earlier post, even though Airtel DTH seemingly displays the EPGs alright, it completely fails to me -- because of the very basic, generic descriptions of the programs when it comes to their detailed description area. While I agree that Airtel DTH always displays a EPG for all channels, their inner program descriptions themselves are not accurate 80% of the time. So, that is a huge downer for me.


To Surmise:
It is now more than clear that you hate Sun Direct's EPG to the core. And, even though you now use Tata Sky, you have made it clear that you will willingly disrupt (by elaborating on its negatives) anyone who mentions (in the Sun Direct thread) of availing Sun Direct's services for their homes.

And it would have been more than clear to anyone who has been following our rantings, that I am no fan of Airtel DTH's EPGs either. However I don't hate it as much as you hate Sun Direct's EPGs. I have no plans of visiting Airtel DTH's threads in this forum and warn new users trying to avail Airtel DTH.

And that is okay to me. Really. Because it doesn't really matter to me. Because no matter what reasons we put forth, whatever the reasons are, that matter to one of us for hating something (or loving/defending something), at the end of the day, it is the person in question who at last opts for the DTH of their preference.

Like for example, the person who started this thread. I believe he chose to go for Sun Direct, regardless of its several negatives that have been repeatedly emphasized in this thread.

Still I m going for it as my family only watches DTH for tv serials, which don't have appreciable surrounding sounds. For movies, I never relied on DTH, but most of the time I will watch through laptop on TV or Amazon prime pr Netflix. So, Today Im calling SUN DIRECT as ADTV annual subscription expires in 5 days. Thanks guys for your valuable inputs. Hoping SUN DIRECT watching here and looking forward for improvement in audio.


So, I want no part your hatred toward Sun Direct, after using it only for a mere 1.5 months.

I am done with reasoning. So, like I had stated in my earlier reply (and again today), please count me out of any further arguments.

Thank you for reading :)
 
@Sivabhaskar you have gone way too far now! I understand that you don't want to continue further, however since you have put serious allegations on me in your latest reply I will have to clarify each point to our beloved forum members.

The usage of uppercase letters was merely a means to differentiate the rest of the sentence with that word. A little something so that one does not misread the sentence. It had nothing to do with confidence.

I don't think it equates to a mistake, when I had made it clear beforehand (multiple times) that my statements (about the remote control functions) could well be incorrect and that I currently do not have access to my HD STB. Utmost, it would equate to an error, which I had already predicted could be the case. That is why I had used the word 'imperative' in my latest reply. That was why I wasn't apologizing either.

I believe the Y Series HD boxes does NOT display the EPG of next/previous channels when we press the Up/Down arrow buttons either. Pressing these buttons instead switch to the next/previous channels. If switching to a channel to read its EPG is deemed cumbersome, then I wouldn't term the actual EPG itself as terrible. It would be the methodology of viewing the EPG of a channel, say, that needs a little more effort.
However, there is always the option of using the EPG button in the remote control, which opens up a new EPG window that lists the EPG of all the channels. If I am recollecting correctly, I believe we can view the EPG of any channel without actually switching to it. Well, that is at least how it works in my SD box to which I have access to right now. The HD box is at my home city.

You have posted this reply after I have clearly mentioned that with the Up/Down arrow buttons we can view the other channel's EPG. My reply was after you being skeptical about the right/left arrow buttons. Then you again tried stress on a point on which you were not clear. If I were you, I would have bothered to check the functionality that the other person is talking about through any possible way available and then comment against it. You did not bother to do it. You continued saying it doesn't work and at the end you clearly understood that you made an error and you did not even know that such functionality exists. Having used Sun Direct for such a long time, this stressing without checking is not expected from you. And till now, you don't know if my point of EPG being blank for this particular use case most of the time is correct or not, because you never knew that this use case works on Sun Direct.

Yes, I did. I had not replied because I didn't see the point in extending the argument while it was more than clear to me about your obvious reservations about Sun Direct's EPGs even after my multiple attempts of reasoning with your repeated arguments, which were clearly fixated on Sun Direct's EPGs being poor.

Again, I did not (and I still do not) see the argument proceeding towards a fruitful result that both parties could amicably agree upon. That is why I tried to put an end to it by explicitly requesting you to 'agree to disagree', so that we both can settle upon the issue, keeping our own notions about the subject to ourselves. And you seemed to agree to it too, albeit also stating that you will continue to warn people about Sun Direct's EPGs (eventhough you are now using Tata Sky). I did not respond to that either. Because I didn't see the point in countering back and forth, on and on about almost the same points that had been stated several times earlier.
You should have replied, because you said Airtel's EPG "Completely Fails". If you needed the EPG screenshots from the English Entertainment channels, you should have asked for them from the ADTV members like @Deepu Darling bro. The whole point was about this and there is no point in running away without doing this comparison. Please read on to know why I will continue to warn people!

However, here you are. And now you seem to be wanting to dis Sun Direct on any account, and more than eager to continue this a lot further. No, please count me out.

Read my below reply to the member who asked the question about switching. I clearly gave the Advantages Sun Direct has compared to the other DTH. Now, If I want to discredit Sun Direct on any account why would I give these?

@SridharV Below are the points to consider before switching.

Advantages:

1. Sun Direct has excellent pic quality on HD channels, better than Airtel and Tata Sky.
2. It's cheaper and provides excellent value for money.
3. Has the highest number of Telugu HD channels.

Read my other reply on this very thread post #43 to a member who was planning to switch to Sun Direct from d2h. So much for discrediting Sun Direct huh!!

Nothing else. In fact, you might get it for 4000 if you talk to the local dealer. I got it for 4000.

I'm not sure how is the d2h UI. The audio issue is the major one on SD for me, apart from that everything else was manageable.

From the above two replies, it should have been clear that I'm no means here to discredit Sun Direct where it truly excels. I'm just a person who talks fact as a fact and won't shy away from bashing a company on it's shortcomings!! It's true for Sun Direct or Tata Sky or Airtel or anything else!!

Not ideal !? Really? When did I ever compare (or speak ill of Tata Sky's EPGs) with Sun Direct's? If anything, I had only praised Tata Sky's EPGs after seeing the first set of screen shots (Tata Sky's EPGs) posted by you.

When it comes to Airtel DTH though, I strongly believe I was clear about the reasons behind my reservations. When I had mentioned that Airtel DTH's EPGs (the program descriptions) were not accurate for English Entertainment channels, I had also mentioned it was better when it comes to English Movie channels.

To elaborate, even Sandeep's latest screen shots (of Airtel DTH) are only from English Movie channels, and not English Entertainment channels. That was one more reason as to why I had not replied earlier. Because I had already acknowledged that Airtel DTH's English Movie channels' EPGs were better than their English Entertainment counterparts. That is why I had mentioned Airtel DTH's EPGs completely fails to me. Also, like I have stated above earlier, I did not want to extend the argument any further.
Agreed, you praised the Tata Sky EPG. However, when it comes to Airtel DTH you are still at your strong beliefs stage and you don't really know how the EPG actually is, though you now seemed to agree that it's accurate on English Movies channels. You have initially stated the below in your P.S 1st point.

3) The main difference between Sun Direct's and Airtel DTH's EPGs, from what I have observed all these years, is that, Sun Direct's EPGs display not just the Name and Time of the current program, but also a little sentence or two about what is happening in that program right now. For example, if it is a TV series or show, it exactly displays what is happening in that particular episode airing on any given day/time. If it is a movie, it correctly displays the story of the movie. On the other hand, even though Airtel DTH correctly displays the Name and Time of all shows, the information about what is happening in a particular episode of a tv series/show or what is happening in a movie, is not as accurate as Sun Direct's EPG. That information is very generic in Airtel's EPG. On that note, in comparison with TV series/shows, I might say that the EPG description of English movies is bit better.

P.S:
1) My above observation is based mainly on English Entertainment channels (STAR WORLD & ZEE CAFE), English Movie channels, Sports Channels and English GEC channels.
This stands true, to a certain extent I believe, to Tamil channels as well. Meaning, obviously I am not aware on how far this stands true as far as all the other channels go.

Have you changed your opinion on English Movie channels after Sandeep posted the images Or you still think English Movie channels EPG on Airtel is not as accurate as Sun Direct? Now you are any way out of this argument and are in no mood to do this comparison even if our Airtel users posts the EPG screenshots of English Entertainment channels!! This is quite surprising because you said the Airtel's EPG "Completely Fails" and on the other hand say it's Ok in English Movies channels where you say Sun Direct's EPG is good when it displays blank for the said use case most of the times. Why different opinion?

To Surmise:
It is now more than clear that you hate Sun Direct's EPG to the core
. And, even though you now use Tata Sky, you have made it clear that you will willingly disrupt (by elaborating on its negatives) anyone who mentions (in the Sun Direct thread) of availing Sun Direct's services for their homes.

And it would have been more than clear to anyone who has been following our rantings, that I am no fan of Airtel DTH's EPGs either. However I don't hate it as much as you hate Sun Direct's EPGs. I have no plans of visiting Airtel DTH's threads in this forum and warn new users trying to avail Airtel DTH.

And that is okay to me. Really. Because it doesn't really matter to me. Because no matter what reasons we put forth, whatever the reasons are, that matter to one of us for hating something (or loving/defending something), at the end of the day, it is the person in question who at last opts for the DTH of their preference.

Like for example, the person who started this thread. I believe he chose to go for Sun Direct, regardless of its several negatives that have been repeatedly emphasized in this thread.

So, I want no part your hatred toward Sun Direct, after using it only for a mere 1.5 months.

I am done with reasoning. So, like I had stated in my earlier reply (and again today), please count me out of any further arguments.

Thank you for reading :)

Willingly disrupt by elaborating on it's negatives?? What are you talking about? I have no business to willingly disrupt anyone who plans to switch to Sun Direct! Even in this thread, I DID NOT initially elaborate anything, I just gave the advantages/disadvantages briefly. It was you who came in between and started an elaborated discussion on the EPG point with a big post and I had to answer from my point of view which continued as both of us were not willing to budge. This particular comment (Willingly Disrupt) was totally inappropriate on your part, because you clearly did not read my countless posts on the excellent HD picture quality Sun Direct provides. I always praised Sun Direct in multiple threads for their HD channels picture quality and affordability and will continue to do so. You can check on Tata Sky threads and Airtel threads and everywhere on this forum where I said on multiple occasions that Sun Direct provides the best HD picture quality!! And, even though I'm now using Tata Sky I'm highlighting it's HD channel picture quality issues on multiple threads as needed. For the members who wanted to switch to Tata Sky, I warned them about the regional HD channel picture quality issues because that's a fact! And For the members who would want to switch to Airtel, I would warn them about non-availability of multiple important HD channels on their platform.

You did not seem to understand the essence of being a member of this forum AT ALL! We are the No 1 DTH forum and several people come here to ask for expert opinion before buying/switching to a particular DTH. You may not have any plans to visit Airtel DTH forums to advise the members who are looking for help. However, that is the essence of this forum, HELPING MEMBERS to make the right decision. I will always try to provide advantages/disadvantages of a particular DTH I have used and then it's up to the member to make the choice. And in this particular case, the member was given advantages/disadvantages of the DTH he is willing to go with and he made the decision accordingly. I don't remember what were the several negatives that were repeatedly emphasized on this thread. We were only discussing about the EPG issue and nothing else was repeatedly emphasized. The advantages/disadvantages were only mentioned once and if the member asked any further clarification that would have been answered, that's it!!

You seem to be of an opinion that I just used Sun Direct for 1.5 months and have not used it enough to comment on it. You stressed this point multiple times. However, I seemed to know what you did not know about the up/down arrow button usage for EPG viewing of other channels! And as a matter of fact, I have noticed the clear difference of HD channel picture quality on Tata Sky on the very first day of installation and raised that issue on this forum. Read below.

Good News - Bought Tata Sky HD Connection

That issue is still being discussed in a separate thread and I'm working with the Tata Sky technical team to get it fixed. Thread link
below.

Discussion - Tata Sky Picture Quality Issues On Few HD Channels

So, please don't come to conclusions on people's ability to notice things in short span of time!

Let me also clarify you one thing since you concluded I hate Sun Direct! I spent 4000 rupees on Sun Direct and used it for 1.5 months, and the main reason for me to switch was the DD audio issue. If Sun Direct fixes this issue next month per say, I won't hesitate to spend another 4000 rupees on Sun Direct to get it again. If I hate Sun Direct, I wouldn't do this would I?

Finally, I would advise you to visit all the sections of the forum that you have experience with, to help the members rather than sticking to a particular section. That's why this forum was created, to help each other!!

Till next time!!

PS: @Chezhiyan can you please clarify why did you like @Sivabhaskar latest post? Are you of the same opinion that I hate Sun Direct?
 
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