Sophon Cable TV Channels

[thailand49]

I'm reading all the stuff about boxes torrent those who understand all the techno stuff but what about guys like myself that have a hard time even plugging a T.V. in. I'm old school yes too old falling way behind no doubt about it but meantime what does a guy do the last week my favorite channel Fox Life,  Good Doctor, Good Fight,  one <deleted> channel I'm not asking for much. Past year they showed some NBA, once a week NFL, then when the playoff comes everything is gone.

 

I've been down to the office a number of times each time some B.S. reason takes weeks meaning signals are constantly gone. Finally over the weekend I had enough Fox life is now History Channels I took my son down to the office to translate my dissatisfaction to the manager who just stir told him worse business run in Thailand going to end my contracts to house and apartment unit in two months when year contract ends. 

[scubascuba3]

49 minutes ago, thailand49 said:

I'm reading all the stuff about boxes torrent those who understand all the techno stuff but what about guys like myself that have a hard time even plugging a T.V. in. I'm old school yes too old falling way behind no doubt about it but meantime what does a guy do the last week my favorite channel Fox Life,  Good Doctor, Good Fight,  one <deleted> channel I'm not asking for much. Past year they showed some NBA, once a week NFL, then when the playoff comes everything is gone.

 

I've been down to the office a number of times each time some B.S. reason takes weeks meaning signals are constantly gone. Finally over the weekend I had enough Fox life is now History Channels I took my son down to the office to translate my dissatisfaction to the manager who just stir told him worse business run in Thailand going to end my contracts to house and apartment unit in two months when year contract ends. 

Usually I'd say go to tukcom where you can get a fully loaded box but as it's closed another way is to ask on a facebook group like "Pattaya Oracle" usually a few people offer to provide a fully loaded box. If you haven't got facebook maybe ask a family member or friend to post an ad. Or just post a separate thread here

[Kerryd]

I recently got one of those "boxes". Cost 4,500 baht (one time payment - don't have to pay again ever).
(I also had to pay extra because I needed a longer cable to get from my internet modem to the box and I needed an HDMI splitter as well).

The guys who did it don't speak any English at all.

There are 5 "free apps" on it. One "app" is just movies/TV shows, including the newest releases. The other 4 are "program" apps, which take some time to get used to as it's not just "USA" or "UK" programming. They list a series of channels from half a dozen countries.
For example - the "Redbox" app. Select "USA" from the menu bar (you have to scroll a bit) and there are 47 different "American" channels including AMC, CNN, Cinemax, Fox, HBO, NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CBS. (There are 65 channels on the "UK" option).
There is a specific "Sports" option that has 132 channels including 5 TSN and 2 ESPN channels as well as a whack of Sky sports channels and even the NHL Network.

Another app (TV TOP) lets you select the country (or countries) you prefer and then gives you a whole whack of different channels (movie, sports, news, etc) to choose from. I picked "USA" and "movies" and it gave me 18 choices. Selected "USA" and "Sports" and there are 15 channels to choose from.

Swift Streamz gives you 34 countries to pick from. I clicked on "USA" and it showed 80 channels including the usuals (ABC, NBC, CNN, FOX, etc) plus some movie and sports channels.
Nova is another TV Show/movie app but you have to click an option (i.e. "Drama") to see all the available titles and their menu bar sucks.
LiveNetTV also has menus to select "Sports" or "Movies" for example and then lists the channels by country so you have to scroll to find the nation you want. Lots of sports channels listed under "International" (but no separate listing for the USA).

All in all, lots to choose from depending on what you are in to. Having a wireless mouse is a must as trying to navigate using the hand held remote is - frustrating - at best.
Note there are the occasional ads that may pop up - usually when you are changing from one channel to another. Take about 20 seconds or so before you can  "X" (close) them. Only seems to happen when I switch channels. Some dumb@ss "TikTok" or "Facbook" ad usually that makes literally no sense. By the time you go for a whizz or get a fresh drink it will be over.

Also, when you watch some programming (i.e. American network channels) there are ads.

But not on the "movie channel" apps. 

This outfit has a shop in Pattaya (and they also do air-conditioner service) and will come to your house/condo - but again. English is not an option.

I was paying Sophon 3,600 baht a year which was supposed to be their "top" package and it got to the point that I could watch 1 of the 3 English movie channels because the other 2 had <deleted> signals and would "fuzz out" on the screen or had a weird high-pitched audio signal that only happened on that channel. 
Plus half the sports channels looked like the old days of analog TV with a set of rabbit ear antennas on top that you had to constantly fiddle with and almost wasn't viewable in bad weather.

It was also annoying as **** when you'd have to jack the volume up to 60 to hear normal conversation in a movie, then crank it down in a hurry when some "action" scene came on or the movie ended and they played the "Sophon Cable" adverts. There have been movies where even at max volume I couldn't hear normal conversations because they had the audio set so low.
(Maybe it was interfering with the programmers phone conversations he was having with his buddies and girlfriend.)
 

[ehs818]

It always amazes me how quickly the submissions to a post veer widely from the stated topic.

I am not looking for a set new top box, internet options, or any other well meaning suggestions.

I just want what I paid for from Sophon Cable. Why do we allow them to take our money and then reduce what they offer us? I for one don't plan to continue with their service as I have the option of TRUE channels and more from YouTube to check out. Not much different now that they choices have been reduced from Sophon.

[SheungWan]

If you think Sophon is a waste of money at 3600 BAHT a year, then welcome to the vastly more expensive True which I am very glad to say I finally managed to dump last year. I use Sophon for news and that means Bloomberg, CNA and NHK. Sure I would like CNN and CNBC but not enough to sign up ever again with True or mess around with the dodgy boxes.

 

Edited August 10, 2021 by SheungWan

[jacko45k]

7 hours ago, SheungWan said:

If you think Sophon is a waste of money at 3600 BAHT a year, then welcome to the vastly more expensive True which I am very glad to say I finally managed to dump last year. I use Sophon for news and that means Bloomberg, CNA and NHK. Sure I would like CNN and CNBC but not enough to sign up ever again with True or mess around with the dodgy boxes.

 

My True TV and box comes free with the internet package... basic content yes, but it keeps the Mrs Happy and the picture quality and reliability are good. Sure it is mostly Thai and little use to me, and I found that to upgrade and get some UK football was a bit too expensive... so I kept the old Sophon. The Sophon picture quality deteriorates some times of day and weather conditions, and it seems to go off rather frequently.... yet again only recently I see the channels have shuffled around and some been lost, which means at some time I will need to again do the laborious task of retuning and sorting. I really do not need programs in Chinese, Russian, Italian etc.