DTH Dish TV Options in India

Roof top antennas are made of aluminium and catch nearby TV station signal which is free of charge in India. Telecast is done by Doordarshan. These antennas catch analog signal which is not of good quality. Many of hilly region, valley houses or remote houses do not get good signal quality. There are not many channels available with old aluminium pipe antennas.

How does Cable TV work?

Cable TV was invented to solve the problem of the people who live in valley or remote locations where signals are not strong. Cable operator use to put antenna up on hill and send amplified signal to multiple houses in valley.

Nowadays cable operators installs Big dish antennas to receive TV broadcast from channels and pays on behalf of us to TV channel network. Cable Operator receives many channels through multiple dish antennas and puts them into single wire with different frequencies. You can take the same cable to multiple TV sets in the home and play different channels by paying minimum charge or no extra charge.

What is Set Top Box (STB) for Cable TV?

CAS is set top box for conventional cable TV. Years back Indian Government tried to enforce consumer rights with the help of CAS (Conditional Access System). With the help of CAS on cable tv it is possible to offer different set of channels for each consumer. in 2001 Government attempted to bring Free To Air channels to subscribers for as low as Rs. 80. Because of issues from cable operators, Satellite TV operators, set top box manufactures & political parties CAS didn't succeed. This has given great opportunity to Satellite TV operators to increase their penetration in ever growing Indian Television Market.

What is DTH Dish Television?

DTH stands for Direct To Home service which is terminology for Satellite Television. Compared to Cable TV here you have your very personal equipment which allows you to speak to distributor directly through Satellite. No hassles or chaos of Cablewalas.

What you need to have to receive Satellite TV signal (DTH Dish)?

You need to have these

• Digicomp set top box.
• Dish Antenna (LNB).
• An account with Service Provider (Smart card).

What is IP TV?

IP TV runs on ethernet network. There is better uplink bandwidth available in IP TV which assures more interactivity. There are limited vendors offering IP TV. These are MTNL, BSNL & Airtel.

What are the options available in India for DTH Dish TV (Satellite TV)? ---- Comparison Table Revised on 17-Dec-2012

Features/ Vendors	Dish TV	Tata Sky	Airtel	Reliance	Sun DTH	Videocon D2H	Apna DTH
Logos
Website	http://www.dishtv.in	http://www.tatasky.com	http://www.airtel.in/digitaltv	http://bigtv.co.in	http://www.sundirect.in	http://www.videocond2h.com	http://www.apnadth.com
Standard Defination (SD) Equipement Cost	Rs. 990 SD Recorder Rs. 1490 (1 months Any Pack)	Rs. 999 or Rs. 1399 with No installation cost 1 Month Grand Sports pack and 4 showcase movies Free	Rs. 1290 (2 month any pack free)	Rs. 1490 (4 month service free)	Rs. 1156 with 1 month free service or Rs. 1640 with 6 month free service	Rs. 1390 with 75 days New Diamond pack free or 60 days Platinum free Buy online for Rs. 1690 and get Rs. 200 cash back	Details Not Available
Installation Cost	Rs. 200	Rs. 400	Free Installation	Free Installation	Installation charges extra	Rs. 300	Details Not Available
Radio	22 Radio Channels	Not Available	10 All India Radio channels - FM Gold, FM Rainbow, AIR Punjabi, FM Rainbow-Bangalore, AIR Tamil, AIR Ragam, AIR Telugu, AIR Bengali, AIR Gujarati and AIR Urdu.	10 Audio Channels	Available	20 Active Music Channels for Rs. 20 / Month Extra	23 Radio Stations Available
Minimum Plan	Rs. 200 / Month with 208+ Channels & Services	Rs. 165 / Month with 89 Channels & Services	Rs. 210 / Month for 157 Channels. or Rs. 120 / Mon (South Value Pack with 119 Channels)	Rs. 132 / Month for 102 Channels.	Rs. 123 / Month Details Not Available for total number of Channels	Rs. 150 / Month with 196 Channels & Services	FREE 59 Channels Available
Long term Plan	Rs. 4990 for 12 months (272+9 channels)	Rs. 1815 for 12 months (89 channels & Service)	Rs. 2784 for 12 months Economy pack (157 Channels) 45 days extra	Rs. 1366 for 12 months Value Pack (102 channels)	Rs. 1596 for 12 months Value Pack for India. (1 month free)	Rs. 1650 for 1 year New Gold pack	Not Applicable
South Pack	Available	Available	Available	Available	Available with classification of Tamil, Telegu, Kannada & Malayalam	Available	Not Available
Active/Interactive Applications	Available	Available	Available	Available	Not Available	Available	Not Available
Latest Movie releases with pay per view /On Demand Service	Available as Movies on Demand	Available as Tata SKY SHOWCASE	Available as Airtel Movies	Available as Pay Per View Movies	Not Available	Available as d2h movies	Not Available
Unique Selling Points	Cheap Monthly Plan All Doordarshan channels available First company to bring DTH to India. Maximum number of HD Channels Traffic Updates and ICICI bank active Mobile STB for Cars/Vans	Active Darshan for religious people Active Games & Festival stories. Topper channel for 9th to 12th std students. Tie up with Global leader SKY Network iPhone/iPad App and Remote Control	MPEG 4 quality set top box. Topper channel for 9th to 12th std students. Worldspace Radio offer is no more offered.	Cheapest Monthly plan MPEG 4 quality set top box Universal Remote	Great channel offerings for Regional Channels South Indians CINEMA Plus pack where South movies are shown without any break Tamil and Telegu HD Services.	Televisions and LCD with inbuilt set top box. DVD player with inbuilt set top box. Only set top box options also available Free Lifetime Warranty. 11 languages user interface 12 Picture in Picture (PIP)	One time cost No Monthly burden. Options available to recevie directly on Computer. PVR option also Available
High Defination (HD) Box	Not available without recorder	Tata SKY HD for Rs. 3050. No Installation cost. 2 month state pack and HD GOLD Free	Airtel HD for Rs. 2390	HD Box for Rs. 2590 or Rs. 2790 with 3 month HD service Free	Sun Direct HD for Rs. 2940 with 2 month free service (South) or Rs. 3690 with 6 month free service (South) 5 months for non-South pack	HD Satellite Box with 3D for Rs. 1690 with 3 month New Gold Sports+45 days of HD Globe Free Installation and Activation charges Rs. 1000 extra Buy online for Rs. 2590 and get Rs. 400 cash back	Not Available
High Defination (HD) Box with Recording facility	Dish TrueHD for Rs. 2290. Installation Charges extra and 1 month HD pack free	Tata Sky HD+ gives puase, replay, recording option. You can record from Remote, Mobile or Internet. Available for Rs. 3990/-	Airtel offers HD DVR Recorder at Rs. 4390 /- You can record from TV remote or Mobile.	Reliance Big HD DVR is available for Rs. 4490/- or Rs. 4790/- with 3 month HD service free	Not Available	Available for Rs. 3990/- Installation Charges Rs.500 extra	Not Available
HD Box can Record Programs upto	Unlimited recording on USB. You have to spend additional money on USB storage.	625 Hours	550 Hours	200 Hours	Not Applicable	200 Hours
HD Channel Service Charge	TruHD Royale pack for Rs. 550 per month with 276 + 43 HD Channels/Service TruHD Premiere Pack for Rs. 450 with 261 + 27 HD Channels/Service	HD Gold Pack Rs. 75 per month for currently available 8 HD channels.	Rs. 81 / Month for HD Plus. Movies Now, Star PlusHD, Star World HD, Star Movie HD, National Geographic HD, History TV HD, Star Gold HD, Colors HD, Discovery HD, UTV Stars HD. Choice based per HD channel available.	Ultra Sharp I for Rs. 55 / Month for Nat Geo and Movies Now HD. Ultra Sharp II for Rs. 83 / Month for Nat Geo HD, Movies Now HD, Star Movies HD, Star Plus HD, Star Cricket HD, ESPN HD iConcert HD (Free for limited period)	Recharge options for HD not available on site.	Star HD for Rs. 55 / Month for Star Plus HD, Star Movies HD, Star world HD, Star Gold HD HD World for Rs. 55 / Month for Nat Geo HD, Discovery HD, Movies Now, Travelxp HD, Active HD 3d HD Globe for Rs. 110 for Nat Geo HD, Discovery HD, Movies Now HD, Travelxp HD, ESPN HD, Star Cricket HD, Star Plus HD, Star World HD, Star Movies HD, Star Gold HD, Colors HD	Not Available
HD Channels offered	Discovery HD, Nat Geo HD, Zee Cinema & Zee TV. Event based sports in HD. 40+ HD Channels More details about Channels	Discovery HD, Nat Geo HD, Star Plus HD, Star Movies HD, ESPN HD, Star Cricket HD & Showcase. Event based sports in HD. Assures there will be more HD services soon.	Movies Now, Star PlusHD, Star World HD, Star Movie HD, National Geographic HD, History TV HD, Star Gold HD, Colors HD, Discovery HD, UTV Stars HD.	Nat Geo HD, Movies Now HD, Star Movies HD, Star Plus HD, Star Cricket HD. Others are not HD but Like HD. Don't get fooled with 250 HD like Channels.	Discovery HD, Nat Geo HD, Tamil HD Movies, Telegu HD Movies. Movies Now HD.	Nat Geo HD, Discovery HD, Movies Now HD, Travelxp HD, ESPN HD, Star Cricket HD, Star Plus HD, Star World HD, Star Movies HD, Star Gold HD, Colors HD, Active HD 3D	Not Available
Multiple TV connections	Yes	Yes	Additional TV for Rs. 145. You can use the same Channel package on additional TV.	Discount of 50% of parent connection or Rs.150 (whichever is higher)	Details Not Available	Details Not Available	FREE

Comparison Table Revised on 17-Dec-2012

What is DVR ?

DVR stands for Digital Video Recorder. This is special set top box, which is also doing recording while you are watching any channel. So you can pause the channel and resume where you left. You can also do recording of some other channel while you are watching different channel. Tata SKY Plus was first to be offered in this category. Each DVR box comes with different quality of content to be stored and limits on hours of recording.

What is HD set top box?

Usual Television set with CRT tube is not capable of producing picture more than 480 lines with limited depth of colors. New Generation LCDs can reproduce image quality upto 1080 lines detailing and beyond. If you have LCD with 1080i or above resolution, this is known as High Defination television. 1080i gives you 5 times clearer picture quality. Unfortunately Cable Transmission or Regular DTH dish tv transmission is not capable of utilizing your LCD capability. Old standard transmission works with 4:3 aspect ratio which is like square where as HD offers you 16:9 aspect ratio which is like rectangle the way LCDs are designed today. Old starndard give mono or stereo sound output. HD offeres you 5.1 audio output. This goes to two rear left+right speakers, two front left+right speakers one center and one to woofer. Giving you realistic natural sound quality. Earlier TVs were connected with RF cable, current set top boxes offer 3 pin AV cables. For HD you need to have HDMI port on television. HDMI port is essential part of HD set top box.

If you do not have LCD with 1080i resolution or 5.1 music system, you wont be able to take advantage of HD channels. Regular CRT television is not made for HD transmission. Currently there are only few channels which are offered with HD broadcast. So if you think you are ready to experiment with this new technology you can go ahead with this.

HD Captures from Tata SKY HD Box (Click on images to see the full size capture)

T20 Indian Cricket Match

T20 Indian Cricket Match

T20 Indian Cricket Match