Hdtv Arrives In Bkk

[sahprite]

Shin Broadband just launched high definition TV in Thailand with their 'HD-Cinema' service. They had a launch show at Central World today. I found one english speaker who told me it is a mixture of movies and various TV series. Where these series come from I don't know as UBC has most of them signed up already.

It will cost about 2,ooo Baht per month after a 7,000 baht up-front payment for the equipment. This includes the Ipstar satelite and terminal and a HDTV digital receiver with HDMI output. If you require an internet package, that will be extra.

He said the movies will be upscaled to HD (1080i). You can record them on the receiver which has 80 GB hard disk for storage. That's all I could gather. Most of the literature was in Thai and the website, www.hd-cinema.tv , was just the same. I think it is far too expensive for the tiny amount of channels they provide but it's a start and it might give UBC a push to upgrade their system from its 20 year old technology set-top boxes to something more up-to-date.

Until then I'll stick with Bluray discs, upscaled DVDs and HD downloads to quench my desires.

Sahprite

[youbet]

Shin Broadband just launched high definition TV in Thailand with their 'HD-Cinema' service.

Real 1080i has been here in BKK and here in southern Thailand for that matter for over a year now along with the lesser 756i as well on most HD DVB-s boxes and even on the simple S2 PCI cards like we run in our linux boxes in the office and at home (Bloomberg has no hours they tell me). This type of service you write about is only as good as the broadband connection you have so expect outages, pixaliation etc.. when all the locals in BKK hit download on their pc's.

BTW: UBC's technology is NOT analog which is 20 years old. They do use digital DVB-s Mpeg2 4:2:0 which is only 10 years old.

Edited September 28, 2007 by youbet

[LivinLOS]

Is this HiDef over Thai internet.. Please stop laughing !!!

Also upscaled 1080i.. Upscaled from what ?? Beause upscaling is not HiDef..

As to 'real 1080i' being available ?? Can I have some clues on this.. Am happy to spend to buy the equipment ?? What birds are broadcasting, when encryption is used, etc etc etc..

[lopburi3]

Shin Broadband just launched high definition TV in Thailand with their 'HD-Cinema' service.

Real 1080i has been here in BKK and here in southern Thailand for that matter for over a year now along with the lesser 756i as well on most HD DVB-s boxes and even on the simple S2 PCI cards like we run in our linux boxes in the office and at home (Bloomberg has no hours they tell me). This type of service you write about is only as good as the broadband connection you have so expect outages, pixaliation etc.. when all the locals in BKK hit download on their pc's.

BTW: UBC's technology is NOT analog which is 20 years old. They do use digital DVB-s Mpeg2 4:2:0 which is only 10 years old.

But only if you, as the customer, are willing to pay for the upgrade and higher charges (for equipment rent). We are still using analog Scientific Atlanta 8603 converters and are still expected to pay for damage (scratch marks) if they need to be replaced.

[LivinLOS]

As to 'real 1080i' being available ?? Can I have some clues on this.. Am happy to spend to buy the equipment ?? What birds are broadcasting, when encryption is used, etc etc etc..

Still looking to find out about this ???

[JimmieBlonde]

As to 'real 1080i' being available ?? Can I have some clues on this.. Am happy to spend to buy the equipment ?? What birds are broadcasting, when encryption is used, etc etc etc..

Still looking to find out about this ???

I heard the the system is "cached content" i.e. NOT streaming, but already on the Hard Drive inside the box before you watch it.

This means even if the internet disconects, i.e. a big storm, what ever, you can still watch most of the movies in the box already put there as part of the service.

Therefore don't worry about internet being reliable or unreliable affecting the service, not part of the end product, High Def Movies/series on TV.

It is true High Def, very nice quality.

[LivinLOS]

That doesnt fit with what the poster says about DVB-s (or S2 PCI card).. The 'real' HiDef the poster was mentioning.

Secondly if its an 80GB recording device, its not exactly going to hold a bundle of HiDef ?!?! A single HD-DVD or Blu Ray is going to be 25 - 30 GB.. Even compressed encoded Hidef is 5 - 10 GB per movie.. If its a cached system your going to need to have a lot more 'cached' to make it work.

[solo siam]

I think it's a case of certain programs are downloaded to the STB everyday and then you can choose what you want to watch from the 80Gb of space available.

The content is absolutely appalling, the best movie is "Air Buddies", the rest all look Korean or demo HD material.

Its Push VOD, so basically the video is sent to your box (which saves it to the HDD) during off-peak hours.

As LivinLos said 80Gb is about 20 hours of very compressed 720p HD, at 1080i I would guess half that. so like 3 films and 4 of their very poor TV shows.

[Firefoxx]

A translation of their FAQ page:

What is the HD-Cinema (HDC) service?

HD-cinema service is where programs at High Definition (HD) quality are sent via the iPSTAR satellite directly to the HDC STB at subscriber's homes for viewing later at leisure. (Only the programs that have completed download can be viewed)

What are the characteristics of this service?

- Transmission of up to 30 hours of new HD programs per month via iPSTAR satellite to HDC STB at subscriber's homes.

- Ability to watch any programs stored in the HDC STB at leisure.

- Picture resolution up to 2 million pixels, more than 5 times of normal TV.

- Resolution of 1920x1080 lines, more than 5 times of normal TV.

- Surround 5.1 sound system.

- Wild Screen (haha...) all pictures are perfect at 16:9

- Ability to add broadband internet service.

What kind of TV and accessories are required?

- To get HD quality viewing, customers should have a HDTV and use a HDMI cable to connect between the HDTV and STB.

- If internet service is also required, the customer has to provide equipment such as HUB, Switch, or splitter.

A pretty lame faq which doesn't say much. A HDMI cable actually isn't necessary for HD, a component cable is good enough.

[solo siam]

so once a month your STB downloads 80GB of HD? which is somehow 30 hours of programming, from the selection available I can just imagine the choice.

[LivinLOS]

A pretty lame faq which doesn't say much. A HDMI cable actually isn't necessary for HD, a component cable is good enough.

But maybe the box ONLY has HDMI output ??

Tho HDMI can downconvert to DVI I understand.

Much more interested in the 'real' HiDef mentioned that looks to be sat broadcast.

[solo siam]

A pretty lame faq which doesn't say much. A HDMI cable actually isn't necessary for HD, a component cable is good enough.

But maybe the box ONLY has HDMI output ??

Tho HDMI can downconvert to DVI I understand.

Much more interested in the 'real' HiDef mentioned that looks to be sat broadcast.

Its Push at probably 2Mb, no need to downconvert to DVI, it just loses the sound

[LivinLOS]

A pretty lame faq which doesn't say much. A HDMI cable actually isn't necessary for HD, a component cable is good enough.

But maybe the box ONLY has HDMI output ??

Tho HDMI can downconvert to DVI I understand.

Much more interested in the 'real' HiDef mentioned that looks to be sat broadcast.

Its Push at probably 2Mb, no need to downconvert to DVI, it just loses the sound

No Ben,

I mean the offering mentioned here

Real 1080i has been here in BKK and here in southern Thailand for that matter for over a year now along with the lesser 756i as well on most HD DVB-s boxes and even on the simple S2 PCI cards like we run in our linux boxes in the office and at home

DVB-s is satellite no ?? So who is broadcasting sat HiDef ??

Edited September 30, 2007 by LivinLOS

[solo siam]

A pretty lame faq which doesn't say much. A HDMI cable actually isn't necessary for HD, a component cable is good enough.

But maybe the box ONLY has HDMI output ??

Tho HDMI can downconvert to DVI I understand.

Much more interested in the 'real' HiDef mentioned that looks to be sat broadcast.

Its Push at probably 2Mb, no need to downconvert to DVI, it just loses the sound

No Ben,

I mean the offering mentioned here

Real 1080i has been here in BKK and here in southern Thailand for that matter for over a year now along with the lesser 756i as well on most HD DVB-s boxes and even on the simple S2 PCI cards like we run in our linux boxes in the office and at home

DVB-s is satellite no ?? So who is broadcasting sat HiDef ??

One news channel from Sweden or something I believe - if you point the satellite the correct direction, Have no idea what 756i is - some made up resolution (bit close to 768). When people start quoting linux, I always get a bit worried.

Perhaps someone getting confused with the standard 576i that UBC seems to broadcast.

[sahprite]

After reading some of the literature they handed out I noticed that they had put 'Playboy' on their list of channels. Somehow, I don't think it can be the real thing.

Yes, they appear to download it to the receiver and you watch it when you want to within a 30 day period. The shows and movies look truly awful and don't look worth 20 Bt a month, let alone 2,000 Bt. The movies won't be true HD, only upscaled versions so they won't take up the same space as a Bluray or HDDVD, as far as I know. I am guessing that it's another way for Shin to try and get their Ipstar systems into houses and get folks signed up for internet as well.

[Plus]

But they are LEGAL.

They legally let you download fully legal HD content. Though "upscaled" feature is rather scary - upscaled from VCD?

Illegally you can donwload HD stuff to your computer and watch it at leisure without handing money to Shin and it would cost nothing.

[LivinLOS]

Well upscaled is so easy that lots of DVD players can do it anyway.. Upscaled is worth nothing to me.. Upscaled from what ?!?!

[china075582173350]

hi.i am from shenzhen,china.you know.in70E(W5 satellite),ku band. luxe tv is hdtv,is free.at thai you can watch!!!www.aluo-sat.com can help you!

[LivinLOS]

http://www.lyngsat.com/hd/index.html

Still trying to find this 'real HD' content..

Starting to look like theres some scrappy content in DVB-S..

[ironhut]

As to 'real 1080i' being available ?? Can I have some clues on this.. Am happy to spend to buy the equipment ?? What birds are broadcasting, when encryption is used, etc etc etc..

Still looking to find out about this ???

I heard the the system is "cached content" i.e. NOT streaming, but already on the Hard Drive inside the box before you watch it.

This means even if the internet disconects, i.e. a big storm, what ever, you can still watch most of the movies in the box already put there as part of the service.

Therefore don't worry about internet being reliable or unreliable affecting the service, not part of the end product, High Def Movies/series on TV.

It is true High Def, very nice quality.

I was at Impact MTT today and saw the same setup at Thailand's IT show (I also saw the presentation at Central and/or Siam Paragon). The price is now 5400 for the initial equipment and installation with the 2000 per month charge, but I can't see dropping this cash for a few movies that I can watch on an upconverted DVD player. The quality is good on the Cinema HD, but not enough to justify the leap.

I'll write a separate post on what True had to offer.

Edited November 18, 2007 by ironhut

[nikster]

Wake me when they have live sports in HDTV.

[zzSleepyJohn]

hi.i am from shenzhen,china.you know.in70E(W5 satellite),ku band. luxe tv is hdtv,is free.at thai you can watch!!!www.aluo-sat.com can help you!

Just wondering if there's anyone here in Thailand with an HD satellite receiver who has tried tuning in to the free Luxe TV HD programme on Eutelsat W5. If so, what's it like quality-wise? and content-wise? It's quite easy to receive Eutelsat on an ordinary 75cm ku band dish here, so I'd have thought folks with an HD TV here would be interested in giving it a try, especially since it's free!

China075582173350 - I saw the Unisat HD-S2 FTA Satellite Receiver on that Shenzen website, but how could I buy one in Thailand, and how much would it cost in Thai baht?

+ SJ

[astral]

An 80Gb disk will hodl about 30 hours of normal TV programming at good quality levels.

About 2 hours of HDTV.

What is the point of having HDTV and then compressing the cr*p out of it???????????????

[pumper]

the 80 gig HD from the service provider is the 1st I've seen mentioned.

a TIVO device connected to a dish is not as beneficial as an integrated programing guide / HDD.

do other content providers offer a factory HDD box integrated with the program guide?

80 gig is a lot of regular programing .. way over 100 hours with the factory dish compression, not noticeable 98% of the time... 'dark scenes' are pixelated at the factory set compression ..

after 6 years with a Dish Network's (us) integrated HDD I would hate to go back to live TV!

I never watch movies twice, most modern movies are hard to sit through once.. .. occasionally I'll watch a documentary more than once.

I am in preparation for a move / extended stay / to LOS in early 08 & was already missing my HDD box .. if i'm watching live tv, I f'ed up.

this weeks example: this week the dish 'blues channel' has had different allman brother band guys playing their favorite tunes for an hour each night at 1 AM .. no way I'm going to hear.. but I record each evening & listen at a reasonable hour.

(+ as I listen, I am recording the shows as .wav files with my arcos hd multimedia player / 'corder)

howlin woof, johnny winter, willie dixon .. lub it tu mutt.

Edited December 20, 2007 by pumper

[zzSleepyJohn]

hi.i am from shenzhen,china.you know.in70E(W5 satellite),ku band. luxe tv is hdtv,is free.at thai you can watch!!!www.aluo-sat.com can help you!

Just wondering if there's anyone here in Thailand with an HD satellite receiver who has tried tuning in to the free Luxe TV HD programme on Eutelsat W5. If so, what's it like quality-wise? and content-wise? It's quite easy to receive Eutelsat on an ordinary 75cm ku band dish here, so I'd have thought folks with an HD TV here would be interested in giving it a try, especially since it's free!

China075582173350 - I saw the Unisat HD-S2 FTA Satellite Receiver on that Shenzen website, but how could I buy one in Thailand, and how much would it cost in Thai baht?

+ SJ

Since my earlier post, I've discovered that Luxe TV HD has moved off Eutelat W5 and reappeared on AsiaSat 2 100.5deg E on 4000H 28125, and there's another free one called Voom HD on Measat 3 at 91.5deg E on 3752V 14259. Both easily receivable in Thailand if you've got a dish and an HD box. Content looks to be mainly promotional, so would hardly warrant purchasing an HD TV specially, but my curiousity remains, so I'd like to rephrase my original question to : Has anyone here with an HD satellite receiver tried tuning in to either of them?

Or should I be asking: Has anyone here actually got an HD satellite receiver box?

+ SJ

[klikster]

Is this HiDef over Thai internet.. Please stop laughing !!!

Also upscaled 1080i.. Upscaled from what ?? Beause upscaling is not HiDef..

As to 'real 1080i' being available ?? Can I have some clues on this.. Am happy to spend to buy the equipment ?? What birds are broadcasting, when encryption is used, etc etc etc..

Not only internet, but IPStar!

I had so many packet losses on my IPStar that I couldn't ftp .zip files of 300 k to my server.

[markuk]

A pretty lame faq which doesn't say much. A HDMI cable actually isn't necessary for HD, a component cable is good enough.

But maybe the box ONLY has HDMI output ??

Tho HDMI can downconvert to DVI I understand.

Much more interested in the 'real' HiDef mentioned that looks to be sat broadcast.

i have this problem with my PS3, no HDMI input on my 1 year old LCD TV can you convert to DVI? and any loss of quality?

[LivinLOS]

http://www.hdtvsupply.com/hdtodvico.html

Google is your friend.

I should point out that the full HDMI spec will not pass over DVI.. Thats obvious however as HDMI 1.3 carried the hidef AUDIO bitstreams also.. You cant expect to get them over the DVI can you.. The HDMI to DVI conversion is merely a plug configuration so its still the digital bitstream and still in the digital domain so I am guessing no signal quality loss whatsoever.

I guess its posssible to have problems with HDCP handshaking.. Tho thats a massive topic and depends on the source and display and HDCP implementation.. Dont you just love copy protection !!

[ironhut]

http://www.hdtvsupply.com/hdtodvico.html

Google is your friend.

I should point out that the full HDMI spec will not pass over DVI.. Thats obvious however as HDMI 1.3 carried the hidef AUDIO bitstreams also.. You cant expect to get them over the DVI can you.. The HDMI to DVI conversion is merely a plug configuration so its still the digital bitstream and still in the digital domain so I am guessing no signal quality loss whatsoever.

I guess its posssible to have problems with HDCP handshaking.. Tho thats a massive topic and depends on the source and display and HDCP implementation.. Dont you just love copy protection !!

www.monoprice.com is my favorite site for this stuff. It's cheap and it's quality. I used them several times prior to moving to Thailand, but you'll have to check if they ship here.