New Delhi: There’s good news for those who use cable television services. You can now check your Gmail, watch YouTube videos or connect with friends on Facebook at the cost of the regular cable subscription of Rs. 150-200 per month – without having to pay extra for an internet connection.

Logic Eastern, a Noida-based manufacturer of cable infrastructure, has developed special set-top boxes which come with an in-built patented hardware that enables connections to Gmail, Facebook and YouTube. The company has made possible two-way flow of data, that is, from websites to cable operators to consumers and return by using the existing cellphone technology.

The company has installed large servers which download Gmail, YouTube and Facebook pages on behalf of its subscribers and pushes them on to their television screens. For now, consumers can access this service with a special remote control. However the company is developing a wi-fi keyboard that will be given along with the set-top boxes. Also, apart from the remote control, consumers can use their mobile phones to surf channels or access these websites.

Logic Eastern has already deployed 60,000 such set-top boxes across South Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Nagpur, Bhubaneswar and Jammu. The company has roped in ICICI as an investor. It has bought a 20 percent stake, which is helping Logic Eastern monetise these services that even existing Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) companies and the Direct-to-Home (DTH) operators have not been able to achieve.

“We believe it will be critical for cable operators to differentiate their services by leveraging the massive bandwidth that their cables take to each home. This is something that even DTH cannot do,” says Vineet Wadhwa, Chief Technology Officer and Promoter of Logic Eastern. Instead of value-added services, the company prefers to call them ‘enhanced services.’ But how safe is accessing your email via cable? It is as safe as logging on to the internet on your home computer or laptop, says Wadhwa.

A continuación les presentamos el último vidcast que realizamos para la materia de Estructura y Desarrollo II  sobre la TV por cable, DTH y MMDS

Thanks so much to everyone who made the trek to Local 506 Thursday! Among the night’s three INCREDIBLE bands, the extraterrestrial Acroentertainment crew, the silly string, the balloons, and your soon-to-be cherished copy of Lake Inferior’s newest record “Pegasaur,” we hope you all had as fantastic an evening as we did!

Check out some great photos from the show, featuring all the bands here

Also, peep a Lake Inferior / Vinyl Records interview via Diversions’ video podcast here

For those of you who couldn’t make it out, PEGASAUR is now available for purchase at your favorite triangle area record stores!

Chape Hill – CD ALLEY
Durham – BULL CITY RECORDS & OFFBEAT MUSIC
Raleigh – SCHOOL KIDS RECORDS

ORDER THE ALBUM ONLINE AT http://lakeinferior.bigcartel.com/product/pegasaur-10-to-ship-11-12-09/

Limited copies of the record are still available, so get yours while you can!

If you haven’t done so, grab a FREE DOWNLOAD of the first single “Gepeddo” here: http://www.mediafire.com/?1ijymqoy2qg

Again, LAKE INFERIOR and VINYL RECORDS UNC would like to thank all of you for making last night such an incredible evening. Without you all, we’d be lost in space!

The Eurythmics cover is coming soon!

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Airtel Digital TV

Picture Quality: (5 Stars) Cost Effective: (4 Stars) Tech./Features: (4.5 Stars)

Airtel Digital TV Features

Flawless DVD Quality picture and CD quality
Universal remote which works both with TV and Set top box
Exclusively offers World-space satellite radio channels
Sleek and stylish set top box
Larger dish antenna hence better connectivity
Product Review:

The late entrant in DTH space – Airtel Digital TV – has come up with a completely flawless DVD quality picture and sound.Also while early players were providing different remotes for set top box and television ,which was a big pain for viewer, Digital TV has completely undone that issue by coming up with universal remote.Sleek and stylish look of set top box along with exclusive access to World-space channels add to its clear differentiation from other players.

The biggest negative aspect of Airtel Digital TV is the high cost associated with it.When there are many other players providing lots of channels at a lower price, Digital TV by Airtel stands out as a lot costlier.So if you don’t mind paying a premium for supreme quality and exclusive features like World-space, Airtel Digital TV definitely wins the race.

Conclusion:

TataSky is the only DTH which provides uniform volume level across channels.
BigTV and Airtel Digital TV comes with MPEG-4 technology. This technology helps in carrying more channels in same band space but doesn’t affect the picture quality.
TataSky and BigTV are better choice for rainy areas because of bigger antenna size.
If you are very selective about channels, TataSky is the best fit as it has lots of small packages and add-on packages so that you can customize the package as per your need.
BigTV stands best if you are worried only about cost per channel. So if you just want to pay least and access maximum channels, Big TV is better choice.
If you need a DTH with classic look or if you are a music lover and listen to lots of music channels, then you can go for Airtel Digital TV which comes with exclusive access to World-space channels.
And last but not the least, if you want to start enjoying DTH experience from today, go for TataSky because that’s the only DTH which will be delivered and installed the same day after you place the order

Picture Quality: (5 Stars) Cost Effective: (4.5 Stars) Tech./Features: (4 Stars)

Reliance BIG TV Features

Only DTH with MPEG-4 technology hence can carry more number of channels
Awesome picture and audio quality
Lots of channels in base pack hence more cost effective
Can watch 12 channels at a time on single screen
Much better performance even if it rains

Product Review:

Reliance BIG TV comes out as the most cost-effective service across all major DTH service providers.The base package comes with large number of channels and on top of that you can select regional package based on your language/regional/cultural preferences.This way you get an option to make a package for you having base package and one of the kannada,malayalam,telugu,hindi/punjabi or oriya/bengali packages.Also we’ve seen very rare cases of disturbance in cases of rain etc. thus it provides almost flawless picture quality.

The few negative aspects of Big TV include the little bit unstable set top box and 3-4 days waiting time for installation.But with time the stability issue of set top box will go away.So if you are planning to go for a cost-effective DTH service which provides true digital quality and you won’t mind waiting for few days, Reliance BIG TV is the best choice.

The constant innovation and technology enhancements by one of the earliest entrants, Tata Sky, are the main reasons behind a very stable set top box.Thus you don’t have to worry a lot about maintenance issue associated with the set top box.Another important feature which might not be the customer puller but is of great value is – uniform volume level across channels.This feature by Tata Sky ensures that you don’t need to keep playing with volume levels as you surf the channels.I’m sure that people who believe in channel surfing will truly appreciate this feature.

One negative aspect of TataSky is that it has lots of add-on packages even for must-have channels with less number of channels in base package.Though it also helps in customizing the packages and lets you chose and pay for only those you actually need.So if you are planning to go for a DTH service with excellent picture/audio quality and need to get it installed within 24 hours, Tata Sky is the right choice.

Flat screen LCD TVs are probably the most sought after gadget today. But their ads are beyond my comprehension. What’s the point of showing attributes of clarity, fidelity etc on regular TVs? The Samsung ad, for example, shows a football game is immaculate detail – the emotion on the players’ faces, sweat trickling off their bodies, the giant-sized football. Well, if I can see all this clearly in my 21″, what’s the point of getting an LCD TV?

Same goes for DTH ads that purpotedly claim to have better quality. I think Airtel has Saif watching a football game – half the screen is blurred to represent regular cable and other is bright to represent Airtel signal!! I feel insulted watching these ads. The BIG TV ad is much better. A wife is talking about the husband’s excitement at purchasing an LCD TV followed by his disappointment when he saw much better picture quality at his friend’s place. Apparently, BIG TV makes the difference, but in doing so the message conveyed is also that you only need such a connection if you have an LCD TV. Chances are, if you have an LCD TV, you are on DTH already and the switching costs are not negligible.

Sun DTH has found the right formula in my mind – the price. When one has to switch from a Rs. 300/mo cable connection, the biggest resistance is in the cost. Yes, there is a segment that wouldnt mind paying a premium for better quality, but I doubt if there is such a perceptible difference between the providers there. Tata is even smarter. They only advertise Tata SKY+ which is the premium offering that comes with a DVR. The ads are exciting but most people would balk at the high price. Oh no problem, sir, we have a cheaper option without the DVR. Bingo!

Doordarshan, the national broadcaster in India, at present has a network of more than 1400 transmitters spread throughout the country and its signals are available to about 90% (DD1) and 43% (DD-News) population of country. The prime duty of any national public service broadcaster is to make the programmes of national importance available to all its people and nationals. It was estimated that the coverage of remaining 10 % population with terrestrial (single channel) broadcast would cost enormously. Besides that, setting up of terrestrial transmitters in the uncovered areas would have taken a number of years (10 to 15 years). Also, operation of terrestrial transmission would have required a huge manpower (a few thousand persons).

With the fast developments taking place in Satellite Broadcasting, it is but natural that Doordarshan has also come up with an alternative to get the required reach with an alternate technology option “Ku-band broadcasting” which is envisaged for the coverage of remaining population. This is a much cheaper and economical option as compared to the coverage through Terrestrial transmitters.

Ku-band transmission will provide coverage in all uncovered areas including remote, border, tribal, hilly and inaccessible areas in one go within a short time. With this coverage, the national broadcaster proposes to meet its obligation of covering the whole nation and its people not only with national channels, but also make available popular Doordarshan and some other free-to-air channels on its platform. In order to meet its obligations, it has also been decided that 10,000 receive systems (Dish and Set Top Box) would be provided free of cost at public institutions like Anganwadis, Schools, Public Health Centres, Panchayats, Youth Clubs, Cooperative Societies etc. in the uncovered areas.

It may be pertinent to mention here that incidentally Doordarshan would be starting DTH service with Ku band broadcasting as not only uncovered areas are covered with its commencement, but also the whole country gets multi-channel service in one stroke. The signal will be available at each home directly without the use of any cable etc. and one will be able to receive the programmes with the help of a small Receive segment.

This platform has been named as DD DIRECT+

Presently the DD DIRECT+ is envisaged to telecast 50 free-to-air TV channels (containing both Doordarshan and private channels) Satellite Earth Station for uplink of signals has been setup at Delhi. Honorable Prime Minister of India inaugurated the service on 16/12/2004. The high power Ku-band transponders of Indian Satellite INSAT-4B at 93.5º E are being used for hosting the DD DIRECT+ services.

Sun Direct – India’s youngest and most exciting state of the art DTH Company.Sun Direct uses the latest MPEG-4 based technology to increase broadcast capacity. Sun Direct confirms to provide next-generation services in fast-growing and emerging markets quickly and efficiently. Sun Direct will be supported by Irdeto’s conditional access solution to manage content and revenues in the satellite broadcasting venture.Sun Direct selected Oracle based on its convergent multi-service capabilities and proven real-time scalability allowing it to consolidate billing operations, enable powerful new service offerings and improve visibility into customer information across services.

LOS HOSEN PASARON POR NUESTRA CIUDAD CON UN SHOW DEMOLEDOR EN EL GALPON 11. AQUI VAN DOS FOTOS TOMADAS POR MI CEL MULTIUSO -SIEMPRE ME SORPRENDO DE MI TALENTO PARA CAPTURAR IMAGENES PESIMAS- MAS ALGUNOS VIDEOS QUE GRABARON LOS SEGUIDORES Y QUE HAN SUBIDO A LA RED CON EL MEJOR ANIMO DE COMPARTIR SU PASION.

ME QUEDE CON GANAS DE UN RATO MAS DE CARMINA BURANA QUE INCENDIO EL ESCENARIO POR CASI 30 MINUTOS PARA LUEGO DEJAR PASO A LOS MUCHACHOS DE DUSSELDORF.

SORPRENDENTE LA CANTIDAD DE ALEMANES QUE LLEGARON HASTA NUESTRA CIUDAD SIGUIENDO A SU BANDA FAVORITA EN EL ARRANQUE DE LA GIRA ARGENTINA.

LUEGO DE ROSARIO Y BUENOS AIRES EL VIAJE SIGUE POR CIPOLLETI Y BARILOCHE.

SIN DUDAS LO DEL SABADO FUE INOLVIDABLE PARA LOS AMANTES DEL GRUPO Y UN ACONTECIMIENTO INUSUAL PARA NUESTRA CIUDAD. OJALA SE REPITA.

UNA VERDADERA CRONICA DE LA NOCHE DEL SABADO, ESTA TARDE, EN OVS.

SALUT!!

CULTURA ETÉREA – AÑO TRES

ENTREVISTA EXCLUSIVA CON DIE TOTEN HOSEN. A punto de desembarcar en nuestro país, un poco de libros, música y fútbol con la banda alemana más argentina.

Por Lucas Mendoza Canalda

Incorporated in 2004, Tata Sky is a JV between the TATA Group and STAR. Tata Sky DTH endeavours to offer Indian viewers a world-class television viewing experience through its satellite television service.

The TATA Group is one of India’s largest and most respected business conglomerates. It comprises diversified businesses in sectors such as materials, engineering, services, energy, information systems & communications, consumer products and chemicals.

The Group and its enterprises have been steadfast and distinctive in their adherence to business ethics and their commitment to corporate social responsibility. This is a legacy that has earned the Group the trust of many millions of stakeholders in measure few business houses anywhere in the world can match.

Tata Sky, launched in August 2006, has so much to offer in terms of world class entertainment. We already have over 4 million connections and are the fastest growing Direct to Home (DTH) provider in India.

dishtv – WISH KARO. DISH KARO.

dishtv is India’s first direct to home entertainment service that has digitalized Indian entertainment to bring to your home the best in television viewing through the latest in digital technology. It not only broadcasts high quality programmes straight from the satellite to your home, but also gives you absolute and complete control of what you watch and pay for. It is almost like having your own satellite up in the sky.

With dishtv you can unleash the true potential of your high-end television set and complete your TV viewing experience with true DVD quality. If you are a connoisseur of good sound then make sure you experience true stereophonic sound effects, which only dishtv can bring to your home.

dishtv takes television viewing to the next level as it supports various futuristic features like Electronic Programme Guide, Parental Lock, Capacity up to 400 channels, Games, Interactive TV, Movie on Demand etc.

dishtv also brings you exclusive National and International channels for the first time in India! You can enjoy all of these never-seen -before channels in uninterrupted viewing without any transmission cuts.

Brought to you by a Zee Network Enterprise, dishtv has changed the face of the Indian television home, bringing it at par with the global entertainment industry.

People Speak

» R.Iniyan,Head – Operations
» Ranjit Srivastava,Dy. Company Secretary
» Manu Sirohi, Executive – Sales Support
» Ashima Sehgal, Sr.Executive – Finance and Accounts
» Anurag Kull, Shift Manager – Quality
» Saurabh Sharma, Head – Key Accounts
» Manprit Singh, Manager – LAN Network

R.Iniyan
Operations

It has been a wonderful experience being a part of the Dish TV family. The Dish family members participate actively in creating a culture of innovation that encourages fun and stimulates creativity. Work gets done in an atmosphere that fosters joy, productivity and integrity. This is one company which really puts the employee first in their agenda. Team members feel really valued & recognized here.

It has been exciting to be a part of the company during its successful transition from a monopoly operator into a fast thinking and fast acting competitive entity.
Top

Ranjit Srivastava
Deputy Company Secretary and Investor Relation Officer

I joined Dish TV in 2006 and am proud to be associated with India’s First DTH Company, and a part of renowned Essel Group and this association has been a source of great learning for me as an individual and as a professional. The Company has strongly focused on strategy, brand building, processes, combating competition and customer orientation and satisfaction.

Across the Essel Group, the management actively plans for developing employee skills and knowledge. During the last couple of years lot of efforts have been made towards employees’ welfare and performance is reviewed, appreciated and adequately rewarded. The management has been able to create a sense of camaraderie among the entire Dish TV force and being in Dish TV feels like being in my own family.
Top

Manu Sirohi
Sales Support

I am grateful to my collegues, supervisors and Dish family as a whole, who have helped me to evolve as a better individual. Here, I have learnt how business can excel even with all ethics and values in place to make organization the best in its endeavor. I wish to provide my services to Dish to retain its no.1 tag in DTH business always.
Top

Ashima Sehgal
Finance & Accounts

Dish TV is like an extended family for me. The greatest reward that my company has given me is freedom to learn and sense of belonging which has resulted in a determined effort to give my best and take ownership of every task in hand. Senior management is highly approachable, open interaction is encouraged and outstanding performance is rewarded. I feel proud to be associated with Dish TV.
Top

Anurag Kull
Operations

Joined in January 2005 as Team Leader- Quality, came from operations exposure.

It’s been a great working experience throughout. Company’s support has enhanced my skills to a great extent. I have been given six sigma training and after completing it successfully, I am also a certified internal auditor (ISO 9000:2000). I am grateful to constant trainings and reviews that has enriched my experience and appreciate the management’s warm approach.

After a year and a half, I have been promoted as a Shift Manager. Unlike other companies, Dish TV possesses a good working culture where you have the liberty to approach the top management. It is a privilege that the company always identifies the talent and gives you the platform to prove self.
Top

Saurabh Sharma
Corporate Sales & Key Accounts

Dish TV has provided me opportunities with a high degree of cross-functional content, thereby adding immense value and rich content to my work profile. Exposure to different functions has broadened my role from a traditional sales manager to a general manager, enabling me to drive my vertical with complete responsibility and accountability.

The company has helped me develop/hone skill sets to take on jobs with greater responsibility and I have benefited from company’s policy of Job Rotation, being assigned different roles across functions, over a period of time.
Top

Manprit Singh
Information Technology

Joined Essel Group in 2000, and found out that the company was having multiple projects to work on, which was very exciting. Within a year I was chosen for the DTH project team i.e. from 2002 onwards and became the core team member of Dish TV. For efficient and hardworking person this organization is very good. As different and varied projects are going on and one get the chance to work on them. Here also management gives full freedom to work, and give new ideas. As company takes very minimum consultancy and more dependent on in house resource with that employees get motivation as well as experience in different field.

So then friends, as we all know, Reliance Big TV is now in the market of DTH, and since I’ve been using Big TV for three months now, I feel I should give you some advantages and disadvantages of Reliance Big TV as compared to its counterparts in the market.

BIG TV Advantages:

BIG TV is using the MPEG-4 technology which provides more space to carry channels then MEPG2. At the moment BIG TV channels providing 186 TV channels and 10 radio channels. They also have plan to add more then 250 channels in next few months. The MPEG Compression will allow space for much more channels as compared to Dish TV and Tata Sky.
BIG TV has better picture quality then any other DTH. You can’t find pixellation problems on any channels and really enjoy digital quality. Sounds also better then other DTH providers due it being of Digital Quality, one can honestly say that Big TV can promote true DVD quality pictures as well as DVD quality sound (Although not the best, but still good)
Their starting offers and packages are better then other DTH and provide more channels. Which will mean we will get more while paying less! Reliance is known to crush the market this way and they’re doing nothing different.
One of the big advantage of BIG TV is they have all popular channels except Sports channel in their base pack which only cost Rs 175/month. This package contains all of the most popular channels
You can enjoy crystal clear picture quality with BIG TV.
You can enjoy 12 channels on one screen with their Select option, which means there will be no more troublesome channel switching.
During rain, BIG TV’s signals are working better then other DTH and you hardly found Signals loss. This is because Big TV has learned from the experience of Tata Sky and DishTV about how to prevent signal loss in rain.
You have detailed EPG for 2 days right now and it will be 7 days soon. You will also be able to set reminders for programs seven days in advance so you will never forget or miss another program again!
You have Toll Free numbers for your help.
But as it is said, nothing can really be flawless. Therefore there are some disadvantages with Big TV as well, albeit they are heavily outnumbered by the positive points, nevertheless, here they are:

BIG TV STB has random problems. Possibly because I was trying it when it was still in Beta stages? However all the problems have since been reported and most likely would have been fixed by now.
Channel navigation is slower, it takes a little more time to browse through them.
BIG TV logo is quite big, although it would be corrected in future.

Airtel Digital TV Review:

Package: I have purchased Value Pack (Rs.2000) of Airtel Digital TV. The information about package which I have got from the leaflet as same features as I am viewing today. It is perfectly tuned to our Indian viewers need. Airtel Relationship Centre officials told me that they will keep the price of the Value Pack (after one year @Rs.99 per month) as far as possible to bare minimum which I think our BPL (Below Poverty Line) people can buy it. Rating: 8/10

Installation: Till Today it is best professional installation of DTH have ever seen in my life. They are using best drilling tool (Hilti) with dust control and low noise reduction in the market today. They are using metal anchors for using filling up hole for future relocation. They are very much keen to install dish accurately by using magnetic base. Before starting the installation procedure, the Installation Engineer (IE) asked me for permission to start the job. Every installation procedure is allotted for one and half hours but it may take more time it necessary. Airtel Digital TV is giving you 20 meters of wire for free but you have to pay them more if your installation requires more wire. My installation was completed within 18 hours after purchasing it. They are using a special clipping of wire with an innovative idea. The recharge of installation kit coupon will be activated after 24 hours of installation by calling help line. Rating: 9/10

Manpower: The installation engineers are well dressed with Red T-shirt and Navy Blue trouser with multiple pockets. They are well trained and truly professional in their jobs. The team consists of two IEs. One is IE and another is assistant of IE. They are very much cooperative each other and helpful. If I need some queries about ADT (AirtelDigital TV), they provide me suitable answers to my queries. Rating: 9/10

Documentation: Filling up the ADT documents is very simple and user friendly. But one amazing interest is that you need to fill up your mother’s maiden name in the document. So boys, we need mum and no need any more papa, just think about it. At least the number of abortion cases in India will be decreased as I hope. This innovative idea of ADT is not bad at all. So girls, you are now free and say thanks to ADT. The user manual of ADT is very user friendly and innovative. If you read the user manual thoroughly once, you can operate ADT smoothly. Rating: 9/10

Performance: The signal strength and signal quality are excellent. In my Samsung Plano 21″ Flat TV, signal strength is 95% and signal quality is 100%. If you want to get my configuration, just ask ADT IE to tune your dish orient to the number 242 or 231 of signal strength. Picture quality of ADT is excellent. The sound quality is nice. ADT is providing you a Universal Remote which will ease you to operate TV and STB with it. The using of Universal Remote is very user friendly and easy. Rating: 9/10

Help Line: I am not satisfied with Help line number 1800 102 8080 as it take me more than 10 minutes to get contact. ADT should take attention in this segment as it is very much vital for their after sales service. Rating: 6/10

Overall: Rating: 8/10

3 Nov 08, 12:07 PM

techcheat
Overloaded Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Delhi
Posts: 926

Airtel DTH versus TATA Sky Mini Shootout
Just a quick mini review for those considering between Tata Sky and Airtel DTH. Since having both services, I am in an ideal situation to comment:

Tata Sky Advantages:

1) Online Recharge Facility
2) Great Network with more Transponders
3) Reliable Service and Customer Support
4) For tech savy, Tata Sky Plus

Disdavantages:

1) Channel Change takes time (1-2) seconds and is painfully slow
2) Channel Packages are relatively expensives To subscribe to Colors and Star Sports I need two optional packs taking my monthly subscription fee to 340 Rs per month.
3) MPEG 2 Technology
4) Very old and ugly looking Set Top Box
5) Non proffesional installation

Airtel DTH Advantages:

1) Amazing proffesional isntallation, singal showing 90% Strength
2) Installation done using compas, satelite finder and you name it. The guys were more interested than me to ensure proper reception
3) Neat Looking Set Top Box
4) Perhaps the biggest noticable difference to me was the fast channel change, almost instantaneous like regular TV over Tata Sky
5) MPEG 4 technology, though with limited quality gains over Tata Sky as STB doesnt have Component Out (unlike Big TV)
6) The same channel pack as Tata Sky costs me 295 Rs per month. Rs 250 Mega Pack gives me all channels I need, like CNN, HBO, Star Movies, Colors, 9X and all news channels. In addition a Rs45 ESPNPlus Package gives me Star Cricket, Star Sports and ESPN. A saving of Rs 50 per month over Tata Sky.

Disadvantages:

1) No online recharge as of yet as an option
2) Website not as good as Tata Sky
3) Less Transponders than Tata Sky

Overall Winner: Airtel DTH without a doubt. Just the fact that the channel changes and Guide Menu can be done on a fly, makes it a clear winner in my books. Hope this helps the prespective buyers.
Re: Airtel DTH versus TATA Sky Mini Shootout
LOL, My tata sky has 98% signal strength and their installation was **professional**. And ave managed to fit in all the soap channels+sports+lifestyle pack for 200 bucks a month.And the channel change doesnt take 1-2 seconds, wow where did you get that from??@_@.
Re: Airtel DTH versus TATA Sky Mini Shootout

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darthcoder
LOL, My tata sky has 98% signal strength and their installation was **professional**. And ave managed to fit in all the soap channels+sports+lifestyle pack for 200 bucks a month.And the channel change doesnt take 1-2 seconds, wow where did you get that from??@_@.
Dude dont be rude…. We all have a tendency to be defensive about what we have. If you dont own Tata Sky and Airtel you cant objectively tell the difference. I have made this thread not to be a spokesperson for Airtel, but for end users to make an informed decision. There is a significant delay in changing channels in Tata Sky over Airtel. There is also a significant delay when accessing Guide and going to Sports Sub Menu. If you dont believe that, than you must be sm***ing something funny

It would also be good if you can advise how to get all the following channels in Rs 200 Per month on Tata Sky:

1) All western movie channels : HBO, Star Movies etc
2) All Soap Channels
3) All Lifestlye Channels like AXN, NDTV Goodtimes, Colors, 9X
4) Star Sports and ESPN
5) History and Discovery
6) All news channels including CNN and BBC

^^ all of the above for Rs200. If you can do that, you are da man, as I pay 345 essentially for the channels mentioned above on my Tata Sky.

CULTURA ETÉREA – AÑO TRES

“Otra parte del aniversario…”

“GrrrrrlsGames. El bizarro mundo de las mujeres y los juegos” – Zeithgeist
“Sesga” – LMC
“Tengo bici” – Manuela Suárez
“Invisible” – YUB le
“Las extravagantes aventuras de Don Benito Lope” – Zeithgeist
“Colectivo Imaginario” – Tobías De La Torre

“Albert Camus 1957, un Nobel y un puñado de pasiones”

Además:

“LA INFLUENZA DE MINGUS”. Por Homero Ontiveros

REPORTAJE A ROBERTO ALIFANO. Borges, Neruda y otros gigantes de las letras Latinoamericanas desde una perspectiva privilegiada. Por Karolina Alarcón.

ENTREVISTA EXCLUSIVA CON DIE TOTEN HOSEN. A punto de desembarcar en nuestro país, un poco de libros, música y fútbol con la banda alemana más argentina.Por Lucas Mendoza Canalda

GO!

CULTURA ETÉREA – AÑO TRES
“Otra parte del aniversario…”

“GrrrrrlsGames. El bizarro mundo de las mujeres y los juegos” – Zeithgeist
“Sesga” – LMC
“Tengo bici” – Manuela Suárez
“Invisible” – YUB le
“Las extravagantes aventuras de Don Benito Lope” – Zeithgeist
“Colectivo Imaginario” – Tobías De La Torre

“Albert Camus 1957, un Nobel y un puñado de pasiones”

Además:

“LA INFLUENZA DE MINGUS”. Por Homero Ontiveros

REPORTAJE A ROBERTO ALIFANO. Borges, Neruda y otros gigantes de las letras Latinoamericanas desde una perspectiva privilegiada. Por Karolina Alarcón.

ENTREVISTA EXCLUSIVA CON DIE TOTEN HOSEN. A punto de desembarcar en  nuestro país, un poco de libros, música y fútbol con la banda alemana más argentina.Por Lucas Mendoza Canalda

GO!

Read about a new in the US, that allows TV viewers to click the remote control in order to request a coupon, sample or other takeaway from the marketer whose ad they are watching.  

Read more here via AdAge.

Read about a post which talks about one successful application of this service! With DTH and IPTV set to grow exponentially in India, such services if marketed and supported well, might just offer excellent commercial opportunities for brands. With technology like this, just imagine- a faster way to interact with an advertising message with just a remote button click as compared to dialing a number or accessing a web site !

(Left to Right) Dexter Strickland, David Wear, John Henson, Travis Wear, Leslie McDonald

Another Daily Tar Heel project that deserves a lot more attention than just this post, the annual basketball preview was released today. Below is a link to a nice browse-able version of the print edition. Good features on Tyler Zeller, Will Graves and the five freshmen.

Check out Out of the Shadows

This probably deserves many more blog posts or a more well written one, but The Daily Tar Heel has put together a huge project in celebration of the 100 years of UNC basketball. There’s a timeline for each deacade, the top ten players according to the DTH, profiles on Dean Smith and Roy Williams and recaps of every championship year. It’s really nicely put together and a lot of stuff to waste time reading.

Check out the whole project.

I talked about a different model of television here and the unique advantages here. Here, I just wanted to talk about the possible hurdles in that model

1. Cable operators: Practically, in India, they are a powerful albeit invisible lobby. Politicians are rumored to have their sticky little fingers in this business. The operational model lays waste to this middleman and they won’t go down without a fight

2. The dumb TV: Well, this is one of the biggest problems in the expected setup. For one, the service would have to be IP based and except for the higher-end televisions, televisions do not have their own IP or Internet address or any kind of unique identifier. Apple tried to create a smart box for the TV called as Apple TV. But that flopped because:

• It was configured to play only HDTV. Hence, normal resolution TVs would not work or create intensely grainy images
• Apple TV only displayed movies that were first downloaded on to your PC hence making it duplicating the effort required
• Limited format support.

If, however, we have a smarter set-up box to do some other operations, this kind of service could explode. These other operations would include:

1. Authentication: Already done by set up boxes for DTH or  cable
2. Profiling: Currently, a DTH set up box only acts as a filter blocking signals from some channels and allowing others. A profiler would basically allow you to create profiles for each member with an authentication protocol. It would track the profile’s viewing habits and log the same for further customizing the service. This is an implicit profiling pattern. The box would combine this data with the explicit profile (where the subscribers state what content they like to see or want to see)
3. Updating: The box would typically query the content server to check for any new content (episodes, songs, etc.) that have been updated in the server. This would be based on the profile (explicit / implicit) of the particular login id (unique identifier for the profile).
4. Advertising: This would work on a client-server basis. The advertiser would choose the content and the location (e.g. Bombay, Nagercoil, Dadar, if possible) and based on the IP address of the box, the advertisement would be correspondingly displayed.
5. Reaction: Part of (4), but like Google ads, ads which are ignored are subsequently removed from the system. This would help even the advertisers to choose which ads to broadcast and which are not worth the money spent on it.
6. Assistance in transactions: Not to get too detailed on this, but if we have a common pipe, the box can direct the customer to a site for purchasing items displayed in the ads.

Yes. In this world, the box is the centre piece.

3. Adoption: The toughest part. It would all hinge in how user friendly the interface is, how the pricing structure should benefit the subscriber, what technology is being used, e.g. I could recommend HDTV quality movies if I know that the subscriber is using a plasma or an LCD TV. The benefits of customization should benefit the customer first and only then the service provider.

4. Security: If I recommend a profile, I have to recommend that there should be adequate security controls and permission controls so that the personal habits of a person is not displayed for the world to see. Also, if the content is streaming, no subscriber should be allowed to hack the box to download the content resulting in copyright infringement.

5. Architecture: Joost has launched it own peer-to-peer technology for on-demand TV for desktops. Given, that PC penetration in India is abysmally low, a parallel paradigm would be required for television. A PC will just not do. The question is what would be more appropriate: A client-server model, mainframe or the brilliant P2P model.

Wait a minute ? Instead of a setup box, could I use a mobile phone as a profiler?

In the previous post, I talked about a different model of content delivery and what are the upfront benefits we see. Now, for the unseen advantages of such a delivery mechanism

1. Pay models – With DTH and Setup boxes, we have been able to create bouquets of channels so that it becomes easier for subscribers to choose specifically which channels they do not want to pay. However, the problem with this is that the creation of bouquets is standardized and may not match what we want to see. For example, in our family, I watch Star World, Star Sports, ESPN, Discovery Travel and Living and Discovery, CNN IBN, VH1. Dad watches Nat Geo, Star Cricket, NDTV, Animal Planet. Mom watches soaps occasionally and Marathi channels while my Granny watches the Tamil language channels. In such a scenario, we end up choosing a large number of bouquets (courtesy the mode of creation of bouquets by the channel providers). This basically makes it more expensive for us to actually choose a DTH connection and hence, we revert to the original cable channel providers.  The model I describe can be actually used to create bouquets a content level rather than a bouquet channel. Example, a bouquet that allows me to watch F1 on Star Sports, NBA on ESPN, Engineering Marvels on Nat Geo and Hip Hop Hustle on VH1. That would be a bouquet I would prefer to buy and if the same is cheaper than what I pay, then why not. I could also add Animal Planet wholesale to this bouquet. Actually, rather than a bouquet, I would prefer to call it a shopping cart where I can add and remove channels and programs (“content”) at random.

2. Interactive TV:  Not the way that DTH operators define it. Given the previous analogy of a shopping cart, this model would create an Amazon.com for television where I can read other people’s reviews on that program, movie or whatever. I could add discussion forums and stuff on a separate server which I can access prior to acquiescing to content delivery. This is a benefit of delayed watching (asyncronous delivery again)

3. Better targeting of advertising. With the current broadband operations, it is incredibly difficult to clearly identify customer preferences and dislikes. Everyone depended on TRP ratings for the same (which in my understanding is incredibly suspect) for the lack of a better mechanism of rating programs. Advertisers could only take a stab at the demographics of the people “consuming” (watching) the content (programs broadcast). Now, if digital delivery is based based on the IP of the “television” (will come to this later), it is very clear what each “IP” is watching (An IP would pertain to the particular node where this content is being delivered. In the current explanation, that would be the television). Hence, two people watching the same program would have different advertisements displayed based on not just the program that their currently watching, but what they have watched previously as well. It’s a kind of profiling which I will come to in another post.

4. Oops! Did I just make the cable operators extinct? Considering that Airtel and Tata both provide the pipe, the DTH infrastructure and the internet services, the extinction has already been set in motion.

Obviously, there ARE problems in the proposed model. Most of which pertains to the dumb TV. More on that in the next post

Update: Just realized another real brilliant advantage is to create a mini-youtube kind of thing. Not to simply replicate the original one but to give a subscriber multiple points of view of the same action for example in sports. Details are in this post.