Tata Sky planning to launch HD channels in India this year

With Sun Direct DTH already offering Discovery & National Geographic channels in HD quality in India, other operators are also exploring the High Definition space. Since the commonwealth games 2010 in India are planned to be transmitted in HD, Tata Sky has revealed its plan to gear up to provide HD transmissions in India ahead of the games.

"Every DTH operator today is offering almost the same channels at competitive pricing. It will be the interactive services and the additional features that would help differentiate between the operators," Tata Sky Chief Marketing Officer Vikram Mehra told PTI.

Tata Sky is placed third after Dish TV and Sun Direct out of the seven DTH operators in India.

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LG launches BD390 Wi-Fi Blu-ray Player

Wi-Fi in a Blu-ray player? Sure, why not?

LG’s $400 BD390 is first blu-ray player with integrated Wi-Fi.

Features:

• BD playback
• 1GB built in memory
• 7.1 channel output
• DivX and XviD playback
• Netflix, YouTube & CinemaNow
• Auto discovery of media on your network

The player got a thumbs up from Gizmodo with easy setup and vast format compatibility as its pros.

[via Gizmodo]

Tata Sky+ Next Gen DTH services in India

The TATA Group in a joint venture with STAR launched the Tata Sky DTH services in India on 8th August, 2006. Taking a majority of market share from DishTV, they have more of less monopolized the market until a few days back. With the launch of Reliance’s Big TV and Airtel’s Digital TV (and all the hype created with the ad campaign wars), Tata Sky might loose a chunk of its market share to these guys.

In an effort to stay ahead in the race, the Tata’s are gonna launch the Tata Sky+ DTH service in India soon. This will be a DVR based service offering MPEG4 compression wherein the user can record, pause and rewind live TV.

How does Tata Sky+ work?

1. Tata Sky uplinks all channels from broadcasters to its satellite (INSAT 4A).
2. The satellite sends these channels in digital format to the minidish fixed outside your home.
3. The minidish relays the channels to the digicomp which decodes the channels and sends them to your television, giving you an unparalleled television viewing experience with DVD quality picture and CD quality sound. What’s more Tata Sky+ gives you the power to plan and control your TV viewing with features such as record live TV, play back a recorded programme and pause & rewind live TV.

How is Tata Sky+ service different from Tata Sky service?

Tata Sky+ has MPEG4 technology, and an in-built personal video recorder that enables you to record live TV, play back a recorded programme and pause & rewind live TV. These features are not available on Tata Sky service.

Tata Sky+ Features:

1. record your favorite programme/movie
2. watch one programme while you record another
3. set your favorite daily soap for recording only once and it will get recorded automatically everyday
4. pause live TV
5. rewind live TV
6. all the current Tata Sky packages will be available on Tata Sky+ as well.

Recording Functionality:

You can record up to 45 hours of live TV with Tata Sky+. At the press of a button, you have the flexibility to:

1. record one channel while you watch another channel
2. record two channels simultaneously while you watch one of the channels being recorded
3. record two channels simultaneously while you watch a previously recorded programme
4. record a TV series automatically

You can playback the recorded programme at any time convenient to you.

If you want to record all episodes of a programme back-to-back, you don’t need to set individual recordings for each episode. Just set a ‘series link’ for the programme after you set the programme for recording. This will ensure that all episodes of the programme get automatically recorded. You can now play back all the episodes at a time to convenient to you.

The hard disk capacity is 160 GB. There are 3 modes to manage the disk space – Automatic, Warning and Manual.

Price:

The price of the digicomp (hardware) is INR 8999. Installation charges INR 1000 are extra. In addition to the standard package mothly fee for the standard Tata Sky service, one has to pay a monthly charge of INR 50 for the Tata Sky+ service. However, the launch offer will include lifetime waiver of this fee.

This is very good news for Indian customers. With major players getting into a war on this front, we can expect better services and hope that some day, we will get HD broadcasts and other services similar to TiVO etc. in the US. The price might be a little high right now, but with the competition pumping up and players like Reliance and Airtel in the field, it is bound to go down.

Samsung SyncMaster 2243 NWX – Great Monitor, Crappy Controls

The Samsung SyncMaster 2243 NWX is one of the popular 22” monitors in the market. It is well placed above its very worthy competitors from LG & Viewsonic. Its a great monitor for all home based purposes like watching movies, playing games and surfing the Internet.

Specifications

The package comes with a RGB cable and a table top stand. The monitor can also be mounted on the wall to save desk space.

The monitor looks great thanks to the pitch black screen. The 5 ms response time is good enough for watching movies or playing games. However, a response time of 2 ms would have added more value to the package. The max resolution is near Full HD. Watching movies off DVDs is great on this one. To watch HD videos, you need to couple this up with a powerful graphics card which can handle 30 fps at such high resolutions without tearing the frame.

The monitor can be rotated almost 360 degrees without moving or rotating the base. This is helpful if your desk is in a corner – usually the case with home PCs. However, the monitor has a large viewing angle so you won’t have to keep rotating it.

Everything looks great on this monitor. Its a different experience all together to work on a (relatively) large screen. You have so much more space where you can keep much more windows. Apps like Gmail and Google Reader will look awesome at these resolutions and the wide aspect ratio (16:10) serves as cherry on the cake.

The monitor scores well in looks section, Its the most symmetrical monitor out there. It will give your desk a trendy as well as an elegant look.

Sadly, to improve the looks, Samsung probably completely ignored usability. The controls are at the bottom right corner of the screen on the front. But they are not visible to naked eyes. Only when you put your head dead close to the screen, you will be able to spot the “touch” controls. It is almost impossible to control this thing. To make matters worse, the “Power on/off” control is right next to the ”Auto Adjust” control. So every time you try to reach out to switch it off, you end up auto adjusting it. To understand what I mean, click on the above image to enlarge it and look hard at the bottom right end of the screen. You will be able to spot the almost invisible controls.

Conclusion

All in all, even with crappy controls, this is a great monitor. At the end of the day what matters is the display quality and the looks – and it scores well in both the categories. The monitor is available for approx 12500 INR at Nehru Place. At this price, it is definitely a value for money option which also delivers great performance. Additionally, Samsung monitors are known for their maintenance free operation. And even if you need it any time, Samsung’s on site service kind of rocks.

Review: Logitech Z – 5500 Digital 5.1 Speaker System

The Logitech Z – 5500 Digital is currently one of the preferred 5.1 speaker systems in the market. This THX certified speaker system is primarily aimed at gaming enthusiasts and movie buffs. I got a chance to try out this beast at one of the electronics mega store in Noida. Here is a review:

Specifications:

Package Contents:

- Logitech® Z-5500 Digital: 4 satellites, 1 center channel, 1 subwoofer - 6-channel direct cable - Digital SoundTouch™ control center - Wireless remote control, batteries included - User manual - 2-year warranty

Sound Quality (Gaming):

This speaker system seems to be specifically designed for serious gaming.  Hook it up with a PS3 or XBOX 360 and it will simply blow you away. Performance with a 5.1 PC sound card was also mind blowing.

I played a couple of racing games and the experience was leaps ahead of that on a 2.1 speaker system. You can actually hear cars overtaking you from left or right. The excitement doubles when you enter a tunnel.

Score: 5

Sound Quality (Movies):

This is another area in which this speaker system beats all others by several laps. I watched a couple of scenes from The Matrix and it felt like I was watching it in an IMAX. If only I had a 6 storey high screen .

The center speaker is far more powerful than it actually looks. This little wonder reproduces crisp and clear sound so that you do not miss even the slightest of whispers in the dialogues.

Score: 5

Sound Quality (Music):

This is probably one area where Logitech didn’t pay much attention. The speakers sound pretty good compared to the other 5.1 speaker systems in the market when it comes to music. However, the bass is a bit loose. This might not be noticeable while you watch movies as there are no continuous beats or rhythm. However, when you listen to some music numbers, you will notice little delay (microseconds) in beats due to this. Many people might not be able to notice this. However, serious audiophiles will find out immediately.

Score: 4

Ergonomics:

Table Top

Wall mount

The satellites stand serves 2 purposes. It can be used to keep them on a table top and can be swiveled to serve as a wall mount. Cool eh?

The controller’s rear panel has optical and coaxial digital audio inputs as well as three 3.5mm inputs. These 3 inputs can be configured as a group to connect a 5.1 channel PC sound card. They can also be used independently for three separate stereo sources. On the side, there is a 3.5mm headphone out and one 3.5mm aux input to connect an iPod or other portable music player. I think giving so many inputs on a small desktop remote controller will result in cable clutter and make the controller dis balanced.

The controller also has a big volume control knob, a power button and 6 buttons to use the menu system. A 2 line blue backlit LCD displays the menu system.

The wireless remote works pretty well from a distance of 20 feet (that’s as far as I could go). It has extensive buttons to adjust the sound and select different audio input sources.

The 10” sub woofer is probably one of the biggest in this category. You might be surprised by its size as it is much bigger than it looks in the images. WARNING: Do not try to move the sub woofer on your own. It might give you hernia.

Score: 4

Overall Score: 4.5

Conclusion:

The MRP of this speaker system is approx 25k INR. However, you can get it for as low as 17k at many electronics mega stores and even for less at Nehru Place. At this price, this is a great buy for people looking for an integrated Home Theater and Gaming Speaker system with good music performance.

Pros:

- Powerful yet crisp sound output
- Multiple format decoding
- Plethora of input options
- Full functional remote
- Stylish controller

Cons:

- Expensive
- Loose bass. Not good for music enthusiasts.

woikr explains: Full HD and HD Ready TVs

If you are in the market for a new flat panel TV, you will be overwhelmed with a lot of brands and models. Finding the right one to fit your needs can be a tough task. The dilemma that Indian customers face is whether to go for Full HD or just HD Ready TV. Since the price difference is substantial, it is important to make an informed decision.

To understand the difference between Full HD and HD Ready TVs, it is important to know some basic display jargon.

Screen size: This is the size of the display measured diagonally. In the image below, the length of the red diagonal line gives the screen size of the TV.

Resolution: The number of distinct pixels in each direction that can be displayed on the screen. More the resolution, better the image quality.

The primary difference between Full HD and HD Ready TVs is resolution. Resolution of a Full HD TV is double of that of a HD Ready TV.

Resolution of Standard Definition (Conventional) TVs is 720 H x 480 V = less than 1 million pixels.

Resolution of HD Ready TVs is 1366 H x 768 V = 1 million pixels

Resolution of Full HD TVs is 1920 H x 1080 V = 2 million pixels.

* H = number of Horizontal pixels, V = number of vertical pixels

The image above (captured from Sony Bravia Website, India), illustrates the difference in SD, HD Ready and Full HD TVs. Clearly, the image quality of Full HD TVs is far better than that of SD and HD Ready TVs.

What are “i”s and “p”s appended at the end of resolutions?

You might have come across TVs capable of displaying 720p, 1080i and 1080p resolutions. The “i” and “p” stand for Interlaced scan and Progressive scan respectively.

Interlaced scan displays each frame by dividing it into odd and even horizontal lines and displaying them consecutively. The switching is too fast for human eye to catch on standard definition TVs. However, in high resolution TVs, it is easily noticeable.

Progressive scan draws all the lines of a frame in one go.

The above image from wikipedia illustrates the difference between interlaced and progressive scan.

To cut a long story short, “p” is always better that “i”.

Verdict: You should always go for a Full HD TV. Even though Full HD broadcast is not yet available in India, it will be in a few years time. Moreover, once Blue Ray and Playstation 3 gain popularity in India, your Full HD TV will be able to play it the way it is meant to be played.

[Home page image courtesy by Jesper Voetmann]