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Hi All,
I have upgraded my HD box to the XStream Smart box today. We did face a few issues with the PQ initially at my friend's house on the XStream box due to the HDR issue, however, we were able to resolve them, refer the thread below for more info.
Discussion - PQ Issues on Airtel Xstream box due to HDR
After fixing those issues and watching the PQ at my friend's home, I have decided to upgrade my normal HD box. It cost me 2249.
Reasons for the upgrade:
1. My Chromecast is at my native place and I miss this feature many times, XStream box resolves this with in-built Chromecast.
2. I don't have to switch inputs on my Home theater and use different remotes for watching Live TV and OTT content.
3. I felt that the quality is equivalent to my current Flextronics box on HD channels (I only watch HD). This was the primary reason I was keeping the Flextronics box, as I felt it has the best HD quality among all boxes. XStream box matches that quality.
4. Xstream box remote is an excellent upgrade from the previous generation Internet TV remote. Remote was one of the major reasons for me to not go to Internet TV.
The actual process although didn't take much time, Airtel, as usual, messed it up before fixing the issue.
I have raised a request on Saturday late night (Around 11 PM). I didn't receive any call till today afternoon from any team whatsoever. I thought yesterday being a Sunday, no one might have been working from the distribution team. But I still had my doubts on Airtel, so I raised the issue with the Airtel Twitter team. I instantly got a call back from them and they told me that they will check the status of the request and get back to me. Then after 10 minutes, I got another call and this time she told me that the request to upgrade to XStream box can't be fulfilled, as the box is not launched yet in my town. I laughed at her and told her, it was installed before a couple of days in my apartment and I only raised the request for that upgrade as well. She asked for the account number and I gave her the details. She said she will check and get back. She called me again and said that she can see that they have upgraded and asked me how we raised that request. I told here we raised it via self-care. She said she is escalating the issue and the issue will be resolved soon.
Meanwhile, I took the engineer's number who did the installation at my friend's home and gave him a call directly. He confirmed that the boxes are available and he can come and install within half an hour. I told him to come. In another 10 minutes, I got another call from Airtel team and this time the person is from the escalation department and he was also singing the same song, that the box isn't launched in my city and it's only launched in 9 cities. I told him, I already called the engineer who did the installation at my friend's home and he is coming with the box. He was shocked and apologized to me and said he will get back to me. He called again after 15 minutes and said he verified and the box is indeed launched at my place and it's available and he is forwarding my request to the concerned distributor. I told him, the person is already coming to install, so make sure you assign it to the same guy. He said Ok.
The installation guy (Whom I called) came and installed the box and set it up. I received a call from another distributor asking if he should send the box now. I told him the installation is already in progress. He said Ok fine and hung up. Installation was done and the guy left my premises (He took my old box, adapter, and remote but gave me the HDMI cable). After some time, the guy who installed the box called me and asked me to close the request I raised, otherwise, it would be a problem for him. I said fine and tweeted Airtel saying my issue got resolved so you can close the request. Social media person called me again and asked me if the issue was resolved. I said yes, the box got upgraded, however, I asked her to check my account and make sure everything is fine as it should be since it didn't go through the regular process. She checked and said everything is fine.
At this point, I was facing one issue with the XStream content like Hooq, Zee5, and others. Whenever I click on any movie or episode, I was shown an error saying "Your mobile number is not updated, please update your number to enjoy the content" I told her the same while she was on the call and she said it's a known issue and she will fix it. Then she asked me to go to channel number 100 and did something from her end. Then everything started working fine including the Xstream content. All my details like Mobile number, account balance were also updated in the settings screen after she fixed this issue. I said thanks and asked her to close the issue. Finally, I received another call in the evening from the distributor (Who is actually the one who sent the box on my request) and asked me if my upgrade is done, and I said yes. Then I got a message saying, my upgrade is done and they are closing the service request.
You can see from all this, that there is absolutely ZERO coordination between customer care, field, social media and even escalation departments of Airtel DTH. I didn't face much difficulty or didn't lose much time, as I had an example in my friend's home to show them. However, if that wasn't the case, it would have been a nightmare to get this upgrade done, though the box is available in reality.
Coming to the box performance, I personally think this box does what the internet TV was supposed to do in the 1st place. The hardware, box design, remote design, the software looks much much better. PQ, as I said is very good on HD channels. I have paired the STB volume buttons with my Home Theater volume buttons just like I had before.
Issues/Bugs:
1. Audio seems to be having an issue. On my Home Theater, It shows the LFE symbol even for the channels that are not having DD audio. Due to this, there is excessive bass produced on these channels. Prime Video doesn't produce Dolby audio on my Home Theater. On Sun NXT, the DD audio is fine and also on HD Channels with DD audio it works fine.
2. There is lag when we change channels, this was present in Internet TV also. I'm quite surprised they still didn't fix this issue.
3. Sometimes, the box suddenly goes to the home screen and starts optimizing that screen (This is fixed after few restarts).
Some Pictures:
Box:
Front:
Rear:
Front After Switching On:
Remote:
Home Screen UI:
HD Channel:
Channel EPG:
SD Channels:
Overall, this box is a great step forward towards having a one-stop-shop for all our entertainment needs. If Airtel could fix the bugs via software updates, it would be really nice.
I will update this post, as and when I notice any issues or bugs.
Thanks for reading!!
Cheers,
Siva
I have upgraded my HD box to the XStream Smart box today. We did face a few issues with the PQ initially at my friend's house on the XStream box due to the HDR issue, however, we were able to resolve them, refer the thread below for more info.
Discussion - PQ Issues on Airtel Xstream box due to HDR
After fixing those issues and watching the PQ at my friend's home, I have decided to upgrade my normal HD box. It cost me 2249.
Reasons for the upgrade:
1. My Chromecast is at my native place and I miss this feature many times, XStream box resolves this with in-built Chromecast.
2. I don't have to switch inputs on my Home theater and use different remotes for watching Live TV and OTT content.
3. I felt that the quality is equivalent to my current Flextronics box on HD channels (I only watch HD). This was the primary reason I was keeping the Flextronics box, as I felt it has the best HD quality among all boxes. XStream box matches that quality.
4. Xstream box remote is an excellent upgrade from the previous generation Internet TV remote. Remote was one of the major reasons for me to not go to Internet TV.
The actual process although didn't take much time, Airtel, as usual, messed it up before fixing the issue.
I have raised a request on Saturday late night (Around 11 PM). I didn't receive any call till today afternoon from any team whatsoever. I thought yesterday being a Sunday, no one might have been working from the distribution team. But I still had my doubts on Airtel, so I raised the issue with the Airtel Twitter team. I instantly got a call back from them and they told me that they will check the status of the request and get back to me. Then after 10 minutes, I got another call and this time she told me that the request to upgrade to XStream box can't be fulfilled, as the box is not launched yet in my town. I laughed at her and told her, it was installed before a couple of days in my apartment and I only raised the request for that upgrade as well. She asked for the account number and I gave her the details. She said she will check and get back. She called me again and said that she can see that they have upgraded and asked me how we raised that request. I told here we raised it via self-care. She said she is escalating the issue and the issue will be resolved soon.
Meanwhile, I took the engineer's number who did the installation at my friend's home and gave him a call directly. He confirmed that the boxes are available and he can come and install within half an hour. I told him to come. In another 10 minutes, I got another call from Airtel team and this time the person is from the escalation department and he was also singing the same song, that the box isn't launched in my city and it's only launched in 9 cities. I told him, I already called the engineer who did the installation at my friend's home and he is coming with the box. He was shocked and apologized to me and said he will get back to me. He called again after 15 minutes and said he verified and the box is indeed launched at my place and it's available and he is forwarding my request to the concerned distributor. I told him, the person is already coming to install, so make sure you assign it to the same guy. He said Ok.
The installation guy (Whom I called) came and installed the box and set it up. I received a call from another distributor asking if he should send the box now. I told him the installation is already in progress. He said Ok fine and hung up. Installation was done and the guy left my premises (He took my old box, adapter, and remote but gave me the HDMI cable). After some time, the guy who installed the box called me and asked me to close the request I raised, otherwise, it would be a problem for him. I said fine and tweeted Airtel saying my issue got resolved so you can close the request. Social media person called me again and asked me if the issue was resolved. I said yes, the box got upgraded, however, I asked her to check my account and make sure everything is fine as it should be since it didn't go through the regular process. She checked and said everything is fine.
At this point, I was facing one issue with the XStream content like Hooq, Zee5, and others. Whenever I click on any movie or episode, I was shown an error saying "Your mobile number is not updated, please update your number to enjoy the content" I told her the same while she was on the call and she said it's a known issue and she will fix it. Then she asked me to go to channel number 100 and did something from her end. Then everything started working fine including the Xstream content. All my details like Mobile number, account balance were also updated in the settings screen after she fixed this issue. I said thanks and asked her to close the issue. Finally, I received another call in the evening from the distributor (Who is actually the one who sent the box on my request) and asked me if my upgrade is done, and I said yes. Then I got a message saying, my upgrade is done and they are closing the service request.
You can see from all this, that there is absolutely ZERO coordination between customer care, field, social media and even escalation departments of Airtel DTH. I didn't face much difficulty or didn't lose much time, as I had an example in my friend's home to show them. However, if that wasn't the case, it would have been a nightmare to get this upgrade done, though the box is available in reality.
Coming to the box performance, I personally think this box does what the internet TV was supposed to do in the 1st place. The hardware, box design, remote design, the software looks much much better. PQ, as I said is very good on HD channels. I have paired the STB volume buttons with my Home Theater volume buttons just like I had before.
Issues/Bugs:
1. Audio seems to be having an issue. On my Home Theater, It shows the LFE symbol even for the channels that are not having DD audio. Due to this, there is excessive bass produced on these channels. Prime Video doesn't produce Dolby audio on my Home Theater. On Sun NXT, the DD audio is fine and also on HD Channels with DD audio it works fine.
2. There is lag when we change channels, this was present in Internet TV also. I'm quite surprised they still didn't fix this issue.
3. Sometimes, the box suddenly goes to the home screen and starts optimizing that screen (This is fixed after few restarts).
Some Pictures:
Box:
Front:
Rear:
Front After Switching On:
Remote:
Home Screen UI:
HD Channel:
Channel EPG:
SD Channels:
Overall, this box is a great step forward towards having a one-stop-shop for all our entertainment needs. If Airtel could fix the bugs via software updates, it would be really nice.
I will update this post, as and when I notice any issues or bugs.
Thanks for reading!!
Cheers,
Siva
