Why Tv Reception In Bangkok So Bad?

[Pujun]

In other S.E. Asian countries, say, Singapore and Hong Kong where 99% households got perfect reception, in Bangkok, is just the opposite! Almost EVERY TV I've seen in Bangkok has unacceptable poor picture. Ghosting, Distortion, Interference... are MUST...

Let me say...

If 10 is the best, 1 is the worst...

Singapore free-to-air TV via outdoor antenna: 10

Hong Kong free-to-air TV via outdoor antenna: 9

....

Bangkok UBC TV via Cable/other media: 5 (Picture heavily compressed, distortion easily found especially when watching through large screen TV).

Bangkok free-to-air TV via any kind of antenna: 1 to 2...

what i can say is that, UBC picture is marginally acceptable.

and free-to-air TV in Bangkok are completely unacceptable.

i shock when i see that many High-end Audio/Video shops in luxury bangkok shopping centres also couldn't get a decent TV picture !!

there are strict regulations in Hong Kong and Singapore when constructing new buildings. professionally installed communal TV antenna system a must, aerial signal output must be at least 40dB etc

Why Bangkok TV reception is so bad? Even in 4 star hotels like Holiday Inn Silom, You get unwatchable TV !! Go there and check it out!

When Olympic games / World Soccer on bangkok TV (only available on Free-to-air TV) a while agao, I felt so frustrated !!

Typical TV reception via outdoor antenna in Hong Kong...

Edited March 22, 2005 by Pujun

[Pujun]

Last time I send a VHS tape of "The Weakest Link, Thai version" to friends in Hong Kong. The first response from them was "Wow, your TV reception is horrible !!".

I was so embarrased to tell them that .. every TV in Bangkok is look like that !!

Even Pay-TV quality is just marginally acceptable and cost a lot.

Well, compare Thai PAY-TV vs Thai Free-to-air TV, yes, Thai Pay TV is good.

But strictly speaking, Thai UBC is just as bad as many Cable operators around the globe, heavily compresse the picture in order to deliver more channels.

Pay-TV never got quality pictures like free-to-air TV.

The UBC promotion spots in shopping centres, just see closer to the TV, you can easily find distortion (low resolution), seems like watching a good quality VCD, a typical compressed cable TV picture!

Edited March 22, 2005 by Pujun

[sajal]

UBC via cable??

is that possible? or u r talkin abt where appartment managers share UBC illegally through their cheap equipment?

i used to use UBC a few days ago../

i used one dish to access 2 receivers, one samsung 29" flatscreen and a sony 21" flatscreen, both has really good images without any distortion...

the main problem with the normal free to air programs in bangkok is the cable clutter.

bangkok is covered with loads of electric and telephone cables all over the city...normally on any other big city it would be underground, but in bangkok its up on poles and creats an electromagnetic field which causes interference.,....

another thing is thai ppl dont complain....

"tv is not clear....doesnt matter"

[Pujun]

UBC provide more than 1 methods to deliver their signal. One is via cable.

However, no matter whether it is via Cable or via Dish. The picture is not very good. It is good ONLY after you watch Bangkok free-to-air TV for a while.

Hong Kong has more high rise buildings than Bangkok, more crowded.

but 99% households got perfect TV reception.

in case you don't get perfect reception, call Telecommunication Authority (www.ofta.gov.hk)

they can arrange professional engineers to help you get perfect TV like everyone else.

I have both cable TV and free-to-air TV in HK, the cable TV there is IDENTICAL to UBC in Bangkok, signal get compressed, lower resolution. No as good when compare to free-to-air TV. but bangkok free-to-air tv is like watching TV in H.E.L.L. Therefore, the NOT VERY GOOD cable TV become watching TV in heaven !! In fact, the cable tv here just lousy. if you watch the same picture as the one shown below on a cable tv, you don't see pimples.

Edited March 22, 2005 by Pujun

[bkk_mike]

Buy a decent TV aerial - just remember that since the different TV channels seem to all broadcast from different antennae, and are a mix of VHF and UHF frequencies that you'll generally need multiple aerials to get a good picture on all the channels.

(This is also why you can't take a TV from Europe to watch TV here - as it doesn't have a tuner for the VHF frequencies.)

The broadcast quality itself seems fine, allowing for the fact that VHF is more prone to interference simply because it's VHF (so really needs a good aerial). Additionally, the quality of the source can be pretty bad a lot of the time (Especially the game shows), but that's not a broadcast issue.

[Firefoxx]

Hmm, let's do some comparisons on the required broadcast area:

Hong Kong: About 1,000 square kilometers

S'pore: About 650 square kilometers

Thailand: About 500,000 square kilometers

With the large difference in population, density, and economics, I think that you could quite easily afford to put in high-strength and high-quality broadcasting equipment in many places (you wouldn't need that many to cover the entire population). Say, for example, if a TV station had to put up a tower for every 1,000 square KM, it would only need one in HK/S'pore, while in Thailand it would need 500 (of course, this is oversimplifying, but you see the point).

Having said that, I have to say that I haven't lived in HK or S'pore and don't know how different the TV signals are from BKK.

[Sophon]

(This is also why you can't take a TV from Europe to watch TV here - as it doesn't have a tuner for the VHF frequencies.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That might be true for some countries, but it definitely is not generally true. I have never seen a TV without a tuner for the VHF frequencies in any European country I have ever been.

Sophon

[bkk_mike]

(This is also why you can't take a TV from Europe to watch TV here - as it doesn't have a tuner for the VHF frequencies.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That might be true for some countries, but it definitely is not generally true. I have never seen a TV without a tuner for the VHF frequencies in any European country I have ever been.

Sophon

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sure? I have a Sony in the UK, and a Sony here, and it definitely runs through two sets of VHF frequencies here before doing UHF, but only does UHF in the UK).

The VHF frequency broadcasts in the UK were for black and white, and they've been stopped now. Maybe I'm just wrong in assuming that the UK isn't the only country in Europe to move away from VHF broadcasts of TV altogether.

When they were planning for colour in the 60s, they made the decision to only use UHF bands IV and V in the UK.

[Khun Jean]

Perhaps if you said TV's from the UK you would be right.

UK is not Europe anyway.

To be on topic, i think TV quality is bad to start with. Fortunately for tv watching i have bad eyes so from a little distance the picture is just fuzzy enough to hide the individual pixels. But up-close i cant see any difference in quality compared to the Netherlands. Depends on the quality of the antenna, amplifier if used and tv/tuner. I am sure the signal is much worse in higher density areas where the signal can bounce of many constructions and cause interference. I am currently in the outskirts of Bangkok and the quality is good.

[sniffdog]

One advice: Stay in HK, stay in Singapore, don't come to Thailand.

BTW I used to have UBC through dish for years, quality was always good. But if it's raining you're out of luck.

[Pujun]

Wow !! Sharp & Brilliant !!

[Pujun]

Bravo picture quality !! Better than Holiday Inn Silom !!

[Explorer]

to the OP,

Since you are doing this research, why not include ALL S.E.A countries ONLY and compare them to each other.

FYI - Hong Kong is in asia but not in the S.E.A countries

South East Asia countries

- Thailand

- Malaysia

- Singapore

- Myanmar

- Indonesia

- Laos

- Cambodia

- Brunei

- Phillipines

- Vietnam

After you done all the research and comparison for every and each S.E.A countries, tell us your facts and we might let you know why Thailand local TV reception is bad.

Explorer

[lopburi3]

Bkk Mike said it - the antenna must point in different directions if you live inside Bangkok and that can only be done without problems by using different feeds for each channel/antenna. The normal method to keep the customer happy (and able to sit on axx with remote) is to combine them into one feed line. This is not completely successful without much more expensive filtration systems than are currently available for home use. I suspect your cited examples have one transmission site so are able to avoid this problem. Also UHF is much more line of sight than VHF so the building bounce is much less a problem.

As another poster pointed out - living outside of Bangkok his antenna can point at the city and get good reception. My reception is much, much better than your examples and only have analog cable.

Cable is available in both analog and digital forms and digital DTH is also available.

But this seems to be a "mine is bigger than yours" type post rather than a serious query.

[bkk_mike]

The real question is, why do Thai broadcasters all have to broadcast from separate transmitters?

Why were they unable to colocate on the same transmitter so that people could get a decent signal with one aerial (or maybe a couple of aerials - one UHF, one VHF).

The picture you're showing above is standard reflection issues. - which really means you need a better aerial, pointed straight at the transmitter for that channel. Until the switch to digital transmission reflection will always be an issue. (Depending on the digital transmission method, reflected signals are expected and can actually improve your picture...)

Digital will happen eventually - parts of Germany - you no longer have analogue TV broadcasts, and large swathes of Europe intend to turn them off in 5 years time. Thailand will follow at some point...

[Firefoxx]

The key word here is "some point". Thais have a saying "sometime in the afternoon of the next life", and that's the way a lot of things are in Thailand. Broadband in Thailand actually started within a year of its neighbors, but look how long it took to play catch up (something it still hasn't succeeded in).

I say that not within the next 5 years will Thailand see any significant broadcast of digital TV.

[bkk_mike]

I say that not within the next 5 years will Thailand see any significant broadcast of digital TV.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're probably right.

I did some looking, and they actually did a trial of Digital Terrestrial back in 2000. (NTL believe it or not).

However, it seems nobody's taking a decision until the new regulator is set up. and that's already running a few years late, isn't it...

[Pujun]

Hong Kong - All stations transmitt from one transmitter and all on UHF band just like UK. One single UHF antenna points to the correct transmitter can get you a perfect picture. In fact, there are more than 30 low power transmitters across Hong Kong.

Main transmitter - Temple Hill

10kW (ERP) covers Kowloon downtown and Hong Kong Island north.

Secondary transmitters (6 of them) - Kowloon Peak, Castle Peak, Golden Hill.... etc - 1kW (ERP) each and covers different districts, coverage 3km

Other transmitters (more than 30) - 0.0001kW and up, for dead spots since Hong Kong is hilly, coverage around 1km

Even the main transmitter (10,000W) is so weak and cannot penetrate buildings well. Indoor TV antenna basiclly NEVER work in Hong Kong. Outdoor antenna + booster is almost a must for every HK household.

Surprisinly, lots of professional Antenna Service companies available in HK and they can get everyone PERFECT TV reception. you either get no picture (try an indoor antenna in HK) or get perfect picture ( a professional engineer installs a TV antenna for you). New buildings with decent TV/FM antenna installed and must meet standard set by OFTA, are required by law.

In Bangkok,

ITV - 1000kW (1M W) or ONE Million Watt (ERP)

Wow! sounds great! Indoor antennas works in this city...

But in a high density city like Bangkok,

indoor antenna never give you perfect reception. High power doesn't mean better reception.

There is no telecommunication law on how TV stations should tramit their signal.

Most buildings in Bangkok DON'T have decent antenna system.

Every station set up their own transmitter....

Also, Thai people don't like to complain....

How can normal people stand for such inferior TV pictures for life?

Edited March 25, 2005 by Pujun

[lopburi3]

How can normal people stand for such inferior TV pictures for life?

Perhaps they can find more to do than watch TV?

[Firefoxx]

After looking at the sample pics of Thai TV, I think that your aerials are setup incorrectly. A well setup aerial would give a much better picture than that. I live in the burbs and when we were using normal broadcast TV (now using UBC) we got very good picture reception. Nothing fantastic, but nothing nearly as bad as your examples. A well setup aerial would have many different antennas pointing at the different stations. Of course, if you're in a high-rise, it's up to the building manager to properly setup a main aerial and boost the signal for the tenants.

[Pujun]

After looking at the sample pics of Thai TV, I think that your aerials are setup incorrectly.  A well setup aerial would give a much better picture than that.  I live in the burbs and when we were using normal broadcast TV (now using UBC) we got very good picture reception.  Nothing fantastic, but nothing nearly as bad as your examples.  A well setup aerial would have many different antennas pointing at the different stations.  Of course, if you're in a high-rise, it's up to the building manager to properly setup a main aerial and boost the signal for the tenants.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sir, I'm talking about Bangkok city.

Years ago, I was in Bangkok for a month during world-soccer event.

I changed hotel 4 times just want to get a reasonable TV reception.

I didn't notice that TV reception is really that bad in Bangkok.

From low budget hotel like Pinnacle to 4 star hotels like Holiday Inn Silom....

All of them gave me shitty tv reception.

Back to 1992, my first time in Bangkok, it's also like that.

I even tried indoor antenna and the reception slightly improve but still very bad... after watching a soccer I got head-ache!!

Huh? Indoor antenna gave better result? Obviously, these bangkok people never ever own a decent outdoor antenna installed by a qualified engineer!

I just don't understand, how difficult / how expensive it is to install a decent TV antenna on the roof? Even a shop selling expensive Video/Audio system, large screen TV don't have a professional communal antenna system. Instead, they just play DVD.

[Gleen_tea]

I live in a brand new condo in downtown Bangkok. There's a huge dish on the roof and yet I can only get channels 5 and 7, and the picture is totally crappy. The rest of the channels, I can't even get them. But maybe that's a good thing?

[Pujun]

tv reception in Bangkok (or maybe the whole Thailand) is as bad as 15 years ago.

Bangkok doesn't need Plasma TV / large screen new model TV if TV reception like that forever !!

i suggest TV stations in Bangkok cut their transmitting power, itv for example, from 1000kW to only 1kW. so that indoor antenna or poorly installed antenna no longer works and just couldn't pick up any signal...

now every household need to install a powerful and professional tv antenna like Hong Kong. as a result, everyone gets perfect tv picture.

[Pujun]

If you come to Hong Kong, you don't see people using indoor antenna.

TV transmitters are very low power. Indoor antenna and poorly installed antenna simply couldn't pick up anything. however 99% of households in Hong Kong watching free-to-air TV in perfect picture with professional TV antenna installed! Ghosting FREE TV !!

[Pujun]

I bought a TV antenna from BigC. well, this is the latest model and people there said that it would give me Brilliant Picture !!

[Pujun]

Just now, I returned the antenna and get refund from BigC!!

[Pujun]

Channel 3 move to UHF channel 32 and share the same transmitter as ITV at Baiyoke Tower 2.

"UHF Clear" (promotional slogan) + "Sharp & Brilliant antenna from BigC", after nearly 15 min of tuning that indoor antenna. this is the best picture I can get, and it's horrible !!

[Pujun]

Not via Satellite, not via optical fibre.

Just an UHF antenna point to the transmitter and that's the typical TV reception here in Hong Kong.

Bangkok is way far behind !!

[Crossy]

Perhaps if you said TV's from the UK you would be right.

UK is not Europe anyway.

Er, now I'm insulted..... The UK is in Europe and European Union !!!

We do not use the Euro.

And, yes you are right, most mainland European countries are still using some VHF frequencies, although they use a different flavour of the PAL system.

[Pujun]

I wonder how come everyone in Hong Kong don't have to pay $$$ and can get perfect picture on every channel. While people in stupid Bangkok, no matter using indoor or outdoor antenna, no matter where they live, no matter how new is their TV set, no matter the reception is in a household or in a shop, no matter it's Sony Pro Shop or a professional Video/Audio showroom, They never get a decent picture like us.. FOREVER !! Even they willing to pay UBC for free-to-air TV, what they get is a typical digital signal with pixel problem (similar to VCD you see some small square on screen often)