Review: airtel digital TV [HD] recorder

[sonujoshi]

airtel digital TV's 3D ready HD Recorder!

Now enjoy the magic of HD on airtel digital TV's 3D ready HD Recorder!
• Pause, record and rewind Live TV
• Record from anywhere, anytime with airtel's pioneering Remote Recording feature
• Unique features of Automatic Favourites, Search and genre category sort
• Available for existing customers @ INR 3990/- and INR 4490/- for new customers

airtel digital TV HD Recorder
• 3D ready with free HDMI cable
• Pause, record and rewind live TV
• Upto 550 hours of storage capacity
• Digital Dolby Plus 7.1 surround sound for a True Home Theatre experience
• 3 Unique, easy Disk Management modes-Automatic, Warning & Manual
• Time based, series recording feature in just two clicks using the remote
• Advanced Search by programme, by cast
• Most viewed channels that auto remembers the channels you most often view
• Multiple viewing, recording options –Watch 1 Record another, Record 2 while you watch 1 of them, Record 2 while you watch a 3rd recording
• Lock and Parental Control facility

Ajai Puri, Director and CEO - airtel digital TV, bharti airtel, "We've always been at the forefront of anticipating consumer needs and using technology to meet those needs. The launch of our 3D ready HD Recorder reiterates our commitment of bringing in future ready technology for our customers. We have over 15% of our new customers in the top metros already coming in on HD, a trend that is expected to get a welcome impetus with the addition of HD Recorder to our portfolio. Due to the pressures of balancing work, travel, family needs, customers often find it tough to keep their appointments with the TV. The record form mobile and internet feature as also Series and Time Based recording will be of immense value to this set of customers, who no
longer need to be worried about missing their favourite TV programmes."

The airtel digital TV HD Recorder comes with a HDMI (High Definition Multi Media Interface) port for Video output and a HDMI Cable free along with the benefit of a true surround sound experience with the Digital Dolby Plus 7.1 feature, thus giving the viewer a complete audio-video experience on HD.

For activating the mobile recording feature, customers with Java enabled, GPRS handsets just need to send an SMS ‘mguide’ to 54325, from any of their 4 registered mobile numbers. On downloading the mobile recording application, customers by using their customer ID and password to log in and record shows. For recording shows over the internet, customers can use the same to login to their Self Care account www.airtel.in

To avail the service, customers can just send an SMS HDREC to 54325 or call on 12148 (airtel Mobile customers toll free) or 1860-500-6500 (tolled) or 1800-102- 8080 (toll free number).

 

[Jenitkumar]

RE: airtel digital TV's 3D ready HD Recorder!

posted nice and gr8 info but post in correct section. smods should move this thread to [HD] recorder section.

 

[Jenitkumar]

RE: airtel digital TV's 3D ready HD Recorder!

Thread is moved in correct section.

 

[ssparikshya]

airtel digital TV [HD] recorder
Price: Rs 4,890 (new connection); Rs 3,990 (existing connection)
HDD capacity: 320 GB
No. of HD channels: 3
3D Ready: Yes

The CRT has been dying a slow death. Almost all urban households now opt for flat-panel displays instead, which now ship with Full HD (1080p) capability even for the entry-level models. Although the pixel count of these flat-panels has grown five-fold to two million pixels, your average set-top box (STB) still broadcasts DVD quality (480p) content with the same number of pixels meant for the good ol' CRT. Unfortunately, rasterised images do not stretch gracefully, which is why your widescreen Full HD display isn't meant to be paired with an SDTV broadcast. That's a point driven home by the ghastly picture quality evident on HDTVs for the same broadcast that looks gorgeous on a CRT.

While most decent HDTVs have built in upscalers that can convert regular 4:3 aspect ratio SD signal into 16:9 widescreen picture in their native 1080p pixel dimensions, the image quality is nowhere near as good as an original HD broadcast. With an increasing number of HD channels, it's only wiser to pair your HDTV with an HD capable STB. airtel seems to agree with us on that count, and that's why it arranged for the digital TV [HD] recorder to be installed at my residence for review purposes. Let's see if airtel's HD DVR has what it takes to make us junk our regular STB, in order to embrace its HD goodness.




With the airtel, you no longer have to look out the window to tell if it's raining.


Installation
Ideally, the installation for the airtel digital TV [HD] recorder should be a quick and hassle-free affair thanks to its single HDMI link to your HDTV. The only other wires hooked to the device are two separate antenna cables feeding the DVR with two discrete input streams and a 12v DC adapter cable. The twin antenna input cables enable the much touted watch one record one DVR feature. It lets you to record two separate channels simultaneously, or watch a program while you record another.




That's airtel's way of telling you to head out and enjoy the rain.


I say ideally because the ninnies airtel had sent for the installation had a hard time setting up the dish antenna. They could have got the job done quicker if they weren't so rude and uncooperative. For some strange reason, installation personnel were more interested in knowing if I had paid for the STB, as they begrudgingly went about doing what they have already been paid to do, like it was a huge personal favour extended upon me. I understand that when you pay peanuts, you are bound to get monkeys, but that still is no excuse for rudeness and unprofessionalism.




Confucius say small dish equal small signal.


The airtel dish was the same size as that of my tiny Tata Sky antenna, which is a problem because the latter loses signal every time someone decides to take a piss off the roof. It's no surprise that the reception on both the airtel and Tata Sky STBs would conk out at the slightest hint of rain. My doubts were confirmed by the signal strength read-out maxing out at 35%. This is a problem easily avoided by using larger dish antennas. The guy who showed up to disassemble the antenna post-review was a lot more amiable, and he revealed that airtel only recently switched over to smaller antennas. It looks like the bean counters got the better of the engineers yet again.




Front view (click to enlarge).




Front fascia (click to enlarge).


The Set-Top Box
The airtel digital TV [HD] recorder simply isn't as gorgeous as its Tata Sky counterpart. It features a matte finish box reminiscent of the old-school VCRs of yore. That means the build quality isn't any better than the STBs provided by your local cable guy. The front fascia is no exception with a rather ghastly airtel logo flanking the status LEDs for power, signal, message, recording, and USB. The bottom edge contains a row of buttons housing power, play, pause, stop, forward, and rewind buttons. The four-way D-pad at the centre flanked by the menu, back, and enter buttons will prove to be a godsend the day your remote control disappears in the all-consuming void between the sofa cushions.




The View Card is neatly tucked away.




Nothing but a glorified SIM.


The panel on the right hand side pimping the STB's features, opens to reveal a slot accepting what airtel calls the View Card, which is something we already know as the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM). Strangely there's a USB port at the side, albeit with no official statement on what it's supposed to do. The cheap STBs provided by the local cable operators allow playback of DiVX and MP3 files through similar USB ports. Who knows, airtel may even enable that feature through firmware updates in the future. The Ethernet port is another mystery. I surmise it will come handy if and when airtel delivers broadband satellite internet access through the Stb

techtree

---

smods should move this thread to [HD] recorder section

and see this -http://dreamdth.com/Forum/Thread-airtel-digital-TV-s-3D-ready-HD-Recorder

---

smods should move this thread to [HD] recorder section

and see this -http://dreamdth.com/Forum/Thread-airtel-digital-TV-s-3D-ready-HD-Recorder

Done.

And great work by ss.

---

smods should move this thread to [HD] recorder section

and see this -http://dreamdth.com/Forum/Thread-airtel-digital-TV-s-3D-ready-HD-Recorder

Your thread is similar to this thread.
But this one more informative.
I think both the thread should be merged.....

 

[Jenitkumar]

Threads merged.

---

 

[sonujoshi]

i am very happy:dance3: and great work by team:thanks:

 

[Jenitkumar]

i am very happy:dance3: and great work by team:thanks:

if u like and very happy then add +1 to them, inplace go offtopic

 

[dino29]

what the hell, u r copy pasting it word to word from website and saying its good work. see this , its been taken from here and pasted.

http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Review_airtel_digital_TV_HD_recorder/551-115474-621.html

---

 

[surendermehta]

Nice info dear.

 

[Bapun Raz]

yes brother that's the reason he is not a star which u r with lower post count den him
i am here to see everyone don't worry dear

what the hell, u r copy pasting it word to word from website and saying its good work. see this , its been taken from here and pasted.

http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Review_airtel_digital_TV_HD_recorder/551-115474-621.html