High definition (HD) TV coming soon to India

curious

Friends,

Looks like we will soon have HD TV channels. While the new entrants like Big TV are getting ready to launch their service and talking about providing HD TV channels, DishTV has annonced that its going to launch its MPEG4 based HD platform around Diwali. The DishTV is also in talks with 2- 3 channels to and get into commercial arrangements for High Definition content. Some questions remain unanswered though, are they going to replace STBs of all existing customers? At what cost to the customers? Pricing for the HD channels? Lets hope for the best and get ready with HD capable TVs

Dish TV to launch HD technology platform by year-end

MUMBAI: Direct-to-home (DTH) service provider Dish TV is all set to launch high definition (HD) platform by the end of this year.

The company is planning to introduce the latest Motion Picture Expert Group 4 (MPEG) technology enabled set-top boxes (STBs) along with the HD platform for broadcasting. It is also holding talks with TV channels for production of HD content, reports PTI.

Dish TV managing director Jawahar Goel said, "We will launch HD platform along with MPEG 4 coming Diwali for the subscribers. We are also talking to a 2-3 TV channels and get into commercial arrangements for High Definition content."

High definition content, whether images or videos, have greater resolution than traditional standard resolution. The images and pictures appear more clear and sharp and sound quality is also enhanced.

Existing DTH players Tata Sky and Bharti Telemedia, which are soon expected to announce their entry into the domain, are also equipped to provide HD platforms to its audiences.

Source: _http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k8/may/may224.php

Analoguesat

I can just about guarantee the boxes will be extra cost items to anyone wanting the HD channels. And if its anything like the European markets there will be an extra subscription charge for the HD content as well!

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kreacher

^ I wonder if they have enough bandwidth to provide HD channels, anyway I just hope they launch for real this time. The prices will be very high initially but they will come down as competition increases.

curious

DishTV is getting ready to launch its own satellite by June end. The new satellite will provide 14 additional KU transponders. With the new satellite DishTV will have enough bandwidth for HD channels. BTW, the new satellite would also enable DishTV to provide broadband internet service to its subscribers.

Source: _http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?bKeyFlag=IN&autono=37605

srei

The advancement in technology is good,it will,however,take time.
The so called HD channels will be few,like old friends,the old system
will continue.

RICH

hi curious,
i have heard that sun dth has mpeg 4 format stbs. can it will be used to watch free to channels of mpeg 2 nature. one thing why does the size of dish matters.it is the lnb that catches the signal.

Dushie

the mpeg 4 stb's are backward compatible to watch mpeg 2, both big TV and sun TV stb are backward compatible, HD tuner boxes will be pretty expensive and by the time they are launched, our existing boxes wont be worth a penny, though they may have trade in schemes. already dish TV is giving free stb with subscription and tata stb is costing under Rs 1500

curious

RICH,

The first part of your question regarding backward compatibility has already been answered by Dushie.

On the size of the dish part, it's important as the dish reflector plays a very important role of focusing electromagnetic waves, received from satellite, on the LNB. Bigger the size of the reflector, higher the strength of electromagnetic waves it reflects on to the LNB. So we need a bigger dish to receive weaker satellite signals (e.g. out of satellite footprint reception).

If you have further questions on the size of the dish, please start a new thread or post in appropriate thread as it is off topic for this thread.

RICH

thanks curious,