Today there are six DTHs in India offering pay digital TV service and another i.e. DD Direct+ which is Free. When choosing a Pay DTH it is very necessary to know its pros/cons before purchase as you’re going to pay for it. So, here I am presenting a Review of DishTV based on my own experience of using it for around one year.The review is categorised under various headings for your better understanding.
Dish TV India-India's First DTH Operator
Purchase/Installation :
I had ordered for a Dish TV connection through DishTV Helpline. It cost me Rupees 3990 with 6 months subscription.Soon, the Local Authorities contacted me and installation was finalised for the next day. The next day the Technician came in my specified time and performed the installation. My signal strength was between 65%-70% and signal quality was 70%-80%.Some channels came within an hour and some did not. The guys left saying rest would come within 2-4 hours. But even after 2 days it did not come.So, I called up the technician and asked him to visit my place to get it corrected but he persuaded I’ll have to take it to DishTV Service Center and he also asked me not to complain with DishTV Helpline. I was a bit unhappy but still went to the Service centre and got it corrected and then after reconnecting I got all channels.
Hardware/Software :
My STB was a VGA STB from Zenega of Model CD-2007V. It’s quite simple looking,good STB. It doesn’t get heated much and has no hanging problems too. The remote is not very friendly though, particularly the Number buttons, but it performs quite well. DishTV software is good though it doesn’t have good graphics and good consistency but it is the most simplest of all DTH softwares I have seen. It has 3 days EPG but only for 60-65% channels; no EPG for the rest which are from DD Direct+
Channel navigation :
The channel change was fast but since last six months it has become very slow due to a bad software update. But one thing, there is no way to select a category of channels hence you have to remember every channel number or surf channels. The channel arrangement was a bit random for a few channels
but now the issue is resolved.
Basics :
The start up of the STB takes around 15-20 seconds but there is a shortcut to dish. As you switch ON the STB, the text “Loading, please Wait” appears. If you switch off to standby(do not interrupt power) immediately as you see the text and then switch on again then it starts instantly. Believe me,in this way the STB starts in just 3-5 seconds ! It takes around 15-20 minutes for the full EPG to load. At times you get only 1 day EPG for some channels or so and you have to restart STB a few times to achieve perfection.
Picture :
DishTV has the least Picture Quality of all DTHs with much MPEG-noise in majority channels. But there are exceptions like Zee Cinema, Zee Classic, DD National, Nat Geo, Zing,etc which have superfine picture quality. There needs a lot improvement in Pic. Quality in other channels.Well, it is of MPEG-2
type by the way, though this has nothing to do with the quality.
Fox History And Ent on Dish TV
Colors on Dish TV
Colors tv On Dish TV
Sahara One on Dish TV
9X On Dish TV
Audio :
Sound is a bit unclear in many channels though it is quite clear in many others but the major problem in Audio in DishTV is it’s high non-uniformity across channels.
Logo Placement :
DishTV logo is semi-transparent but it has the logo at the same place in each and every channel which at times blocks certain content, like scrolling news pieces,etc.. It should be customised as per the requirements of certain channels. Also, the Customer ID appears very frequently,and particularly every time you change a channel and that too as an opaque strip,which is abit disgusting,at times.
Packages/pricing :
No doubt, DishTV has the most economical packaging among all DTHs. Also most importantly, it has a good number of channels in each variety/genre like Music, Movies, Infotainment etc..; only exception is Sports category which is a bit disheartening, particularly for sports lovers due to the absence of Neo Cricket and Neo Sports. DishTV has advantage of so many channels because of the co-location of it’s satellite NSS-6 with DD Direct+’s INSAT-4B and this gets even better if channels are added in DD Direct + as the same is automatically available to DishTV viewers. DishTV also has a good variety of Add-ons. But it has some crap channels too.
* DishTV is the one of the very few DTHs which has all Games and all active Services for free.
* It has a huge line-up of Radio channels.
* It has maximum no. of channels for all regional languages.
* There is a host of SMS-command based services
* It has good recharge offers for even smaller denominations like pay for 3 months and get 4 months subscription etc.
Signal Consistency/Performance during rains :
Well, signal consistency is not very much satisfactory even during Normal Weather conditions, as per my personal experience.That’s particularly due to a couple of DD transponders but also due to a few of it’s own transponders too at times. But that doesn’t mean DishTV causes headache during rains.During heavy rains, signal loss occurs for around 30-45 minutes,nearly same as other DTHs.
Service Support :
DishTV’s Helpline is good but they aren’t quite co-operative; at times give absurd reasons for your problems but local Authorities are usually very helpful and co-operative. Anyway, they have varied ways of communication such as Call, SMS ,e-mail etc.
Important Notes:
Important Notes for Dishtv users to avoid delay in recharging etc and loosing your channels.
1. If recharging with Dealer, make sure that he pays the recharge amount in front of you and do take the Reference number / UR xxxxxxxxx once the payment is made. Most of the subscribers just pay to dealer and walk off with the cash received receipt given local dealer and most of them don’t get the channels back soon because of delay from dealer’s end in paying the amount in customer’s account on time.
2. If a subscriber is recharging a deactivated package then he should put the Box on some Pay channel and then make the payment for fast and quick Re-activation of his channels.
3. Also do check from time to time the monthly packages introduced from time to time and get benefit.
Overall, DishTV is very economical and has satisfactory channel line-up but you have to be running behind it at times for enjoying the services; after all you have to bear with the inconvenience in contrast to the low-cost factor. But if DishTV improves it’s software a bit and works a little to provide good Picture without grains and provide Audio gain control for uniformity of Audio, it can be the one of the best DTHs, even if it slightly increases the cost for the improvements. I hope with Launch of HD, DishTV will certainly achieve this.
This Review is Written our reader A Mohapatra and he share his own experience to ShaswatPatel.com.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Little good review,but few points looked biased as if you are against dishtv.Who are you to decide what are “crap”channels.I will sue Admin for this.How do you expect DD DTH EPG on dishtv when DD itself does not provide? Also I do not agree about the rain effect taking 35 -40mins in any DTH.Have you kept your dish fixed in some pool that it stagnates water and then until that water goes out after rain after about 30min that you get signal.comeon chap growup and not sure if the Admin here has read it before giving it a Go. @admin your previous reviews were unbiased but this one comes from a biased member for sure who is hating Dishtv.Never expected Shaswat patel to give such poor review.
Well if you read in right manner then he mention information not show it as negative points! Also Dish TV can capable to provide EPG of DD Direct+ Channels by doing minor changes in data file same as Sun Direct showing for it.
Second point,as a 4 years Dish TV user I also can confirm that Dish TV signals gone for longer time for DD Direct+ due to 1.5 angle difference between two satellites. It’s known fact nothing else!
Also this is review is just personal review provided by reader! If you are keen to share your thoughts then write it here, people also read your points too!
Dear readers, for rain outage the value given is max value for very heavy rains which is why I have said same as other DTHs. Sorry for inconvenience.
Dear Admin,coming to EPG part Sundirect DTH does not provide EPG for channels beamed from DD DTH tp.i am sorry to say that you dont have any idea on SunDirect DTH services.I dont know how on earth can Dishtv provide Data for DD DTH services channels.
Now on second part, i dont know what you are calling as Known fact because 4 years ago Dishtv was on same satellite named NSS6, and it was just few years ago that DD DTH shifted to insat 4b and that started giving some signal issues due to that 1.5deg margin as you said.So even in this case you are wrong.
Just a note for you,before giving a goahead for a review do check it twice or ask anyone atleast to check it before you post so that you dont get insulted due to the errors made by the person who gave the review as sometimes they will be biased.
Nice review Mohopatra. Thanks Admin for giving such a nice review.
Suresh what admin says is DD+ signal goes for 40mins when it rains. He is correct.
Did I said DD Direct+ beaming from Insat 4B since 4 years? Well DD Direct+ moves from NSS6 to Insat 4B in 2007 and since then signal issues started particularly for Middle East users who can’t get signals for DD Direct+ channels. Don’t say they are watching illegally as Dish TV have numbers of connection in Middle East!
DISHTV Recharge System is most Faltu, Poor, Underdevelop website who have no any facilities on their site like credit card, debit card, online banking etc, even it shows they have but not work perfectly,
I RECOMMEND to all viewers, Not to purchase DISHTV, rather you can try other brands…
Worse customer service, complained lot of times to different service agents and customer care, funny thing is nobody responded to the complaint number but got a message from Dishtv that “WE HOPE ISSUE HAS BEEN RESOLVED LET US KNOW YOUR FEEDBACK”. How stupid question it is when they are not able to resolve after contacting lot of service agent numbers sent by DishTV only over the SMS.
Nice review, but misses one point: and that is the volume of advertising. I have only tried DishTV, and I can honestly say it was a painful experience. For all of these broadcast companies, it is a very simple business model, and that is to cram as much advertising down your square eyes (or 16:9 maybe) as they can. Oh yes, I forgot……….. you pay for that privilege too! What could be better for the broadcasters? It’s all very simple folks: Don’t waste your hard earned cash! Get a hobby, or go walk the dog, or maybe just get a life rather than wasting it drowning in a sea of adverts.
send me packages price list of DTH Service pack