Dstv Africa

[Chicog]

I think it's Abu Dhabi Sports this year. They've also bought the Premiership rights for 2010-2013.

[astral]

Abu Dhabi Sport 2 did carry the F1 race last Sunday, but no English commentary,

despite the fact that they have two audio feeds on the signal.

However I believe there is a commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live which I can stream from my PC.

Will have to try that for the 28th in Australia.

[Chicog]

Check this site out nearer the time:

http://liveonsat.com/LJsport_other_motor.p...010&selTZ=7

[Mobi]

There are loads of TV streaming feeds on the internet - some free, some by subscription, and I have tried a great many of them over the past few years, downloading all kinds of media players and other widget that may be required to play the feed.

Some have not been too bad, but these have tended to be news channels,but even those have periodically frozen and re-buffered.

I have not found any reliable connections that can provide reasonable quality sports coverage without continual freezing. It gets very frustrating when it freezes at crucial moments and these days I have more or less given up trying.

Some people in Bangkok have very fast connections, and may be more successful than I have been, but down here in Pattaya, with speeds no better than 2 mb, and generally under 1 mb, it is hopeless.

It will interesting to see what the major sports bars in Bangkok, Pattaya and other cities will do when the SA satellite goes down.

They depend on their sports coverage of rugby, F1, cricket etc for a major part of their business, and have invested a lot in the technology.

let's see what they come up with - if anything.

[monty]

It will interesting to see what the major sports bars in Bangkok, Pattaya and other cities will do when the SA satellite goes down.

They depend on their sports coverage of rugby, F1, cricket etc for a major part of their business, and have invested a lot in the technology.

I'm probably one of those, and as of now no solution in sight

[Pdaz]

Yes it's getting worse.. I've been enjoying my DSTV/Dreambox for a few years now.. Been great to have decent programing and a variety of sports and news..

No it's on it's way out along with Guinness and some other beers/ciders that are no longer available..

Why does Thailand like to limit everybodies choices ? Cars, Bikes, Booze and TV ain't much else that I really like apart from food and women (now I've got a live in the choice of women is limited too )

Oh well TiT..

[fft100]

Yes it's getting worse.. I've been enjoying my DSTV/Dreambox for a few years now.. Been great to have decent programing and a variety of sports and news..

No it's on it's way out along with Guinness and some other beers/ciders that are no longer available..

Why does Thailand like to limit everybodies choices ? Cars, Bikes, Booze and TV ain't much else that I really like apart from food and women (now I've got a live in the choice of women is limited too )

Oh well TiT..

pdaz,

have you read any of this thread before issuing that reply ? This decision is nothing to do with the authorities in thailand, or anyone at all in thailand. It is all about a south african company deciding to broadcast on a different band from the one they use at the moment. The band they use at the moment is so wide it can be picked up in china. The new one is very tight (bit like sky in the UK), and therefore cant be picked up anywhere east of madagascar. Unless the S.A. company has a change of heart, then it is very hard to see how this can be got round.

[tezzaaa]

Hi,

The best place for streaming sport is www.myp2p.eu

they have lots of information. You have to download a few softwares, best ones are veetle, sopcast and tvants. If you then check the schedule page on match day you will get links. Take the link with the highest bitrate and you will be amazed. if you have good internet that is. I get 20mb speed (i obviously dont live in thailand.. ) and it's as clear as tv.. was watching chelsea game last night.

You can stream supersport but i prefer channels like fox soccer channel.. picture is clearer..

cheers

T

[Pdaz]

Yes it's getting worse.. I've been enjoying my DSTV/Dreambox for a few years now.. Been great to have decent programing and a variety of sports and news..

No it's on it's way out along with Guinness and some other beers/ciders that are no longer available..

Why does Thailand like to limit everybodies choices ? Cars, Bikes, Booze and TV ain't much else that I really like apart from food and women (now I've got a live in the choice of women is limited too )

Oh well TiT..

pdaz,

have you read any of this thread before issuing that reply ? This decision is nothing to do with the authorities in thailand, or anyone at all in thailand. It is all about a south african company deciding to broadcast on a different band from the one they use at the moment. The band they use at the moment is so wide it can be picked up in china. The new one is very tight (bit like sky in the UK), and therefore cant be picked up anywhere east of madagascar. Unless the S.A. company has a change of heart, then it is very hard to see how this can be got round.

Yes I read (and understood ) the previous posts.. I also understand what DSTV is doing ( I'm an engineer so not hard for me to comprehend the changes ) And that it has nothing to do with the Thai Govt.. However my coment was in general terms about lack of choice in Thailand.. Whether it stems from the Govt or other external factors... After 20 odd years of Thailand and SEA believe me I'm well aware of the plus's and minus's of the place...

Oh and do you have DSTV ? or are you just another random defender of the magnificence of Thailand.. Don't tell me! You have Banglamung cable and really enjoy the local soaps

Edited March 22, 2010 by Pdaz

[astral]

It is a sad reality that with all the "globalisation", receiving the TV programmes that you want if you are a foreigner, is difficult all round the world.

Satellite companies set up bouquets to suit their local market, not the few expats.

Some services only provide smart cards to cable services, not individuals.

Some countries maintain monopolies to suit the needs of "fat cats" and/ or to control what their people watch.

It can also be a changing situation.

I love to watch F1 racing and I live in the Middle East.

3 years ago it was available on Al Jezeera Sport.

I spent money on a special CAM to decode the signal with the english commentary.

Then found they no longer covered F1.

Last year I installed a new dish to get Bahrain TV and an english commentary.

This year that has stopped and I have to watch Abu Dhabi Sport with an arabic commentary again.

All very frustrating.

PS This weekend I will be experimenting with streaming the english commentary over the internet

from BBC Radio 5 Live

[Mobi]

Yes it's getting worse.. I've been enjoying my DSTV/Dreambox for a few years now.. Been great to have decent programing and a variety of sports and news..

No it's on it's way out along with Guinness and some other beers/ciders that are no longer available..

Why does Thailand like to limit everybodies choices ? Cars, Bikes, Booze and TV ain't much else that I really like apart from food and women (now I've got a live in the choice of women is limited too )

Oh well TiT..

pdaz,

have you read any of this thread before issuing that reply ? This decision is nothing to do with the authorities in thailand, or anyone at all in thailand. It is all about a south african company deciding to broadcast on a different band from the one they use at the moment. The band they use at the moment is so wide it can be picked up in china. The new one is very tight (bit like sky in the UK), and therefore cant be picked up anywhere east of madagascar. Unless the S.A. company has a change of heart, then it is very hard to see how this can be got round.

Yes I read (and understood ) the previous posts.. I also understand what DSTV is doing ( I'm an engineer so not hard for me to comprehend the changes ) And that it has nothing to do with the Thai Govt.. However my coment was in general terms about lack of choice in Thailand.. Whether it stems from the Govt or other external factors... After 20 odd years of Thailand and SEA believe me I'm well aware of the plus's and minus's of the place...

Oh and do you have DSTV ? or are you just another random defender of the magnificence of Thailand.. Don't tell me! You have Banglamung cable and really enjoy the local soaps

Actually I have a strong suspicion, but no way of proving it, that True Visions may well be behind then decision by the Dstv SA to change their satellite signal.

True have been upset for a long time about the SA transmissions which they consider illegal, taking away a lot of business from them. There must be literally thousands of bars and restaurants across Thailand who have been using the SA service for sports coverage, to say nothing of all those at home (I used to be one) who have also used their service.

I have read several articles through the years to the effect that True have been upset with the 'illegal' competition, so it wouldn't take much for someone at a high level to register their grievance with their SA colleagues. After all, the SA African company get very little money out of their "Thai customers" as a vast majority are being unscrambled via illegal servers and hardly anyone has bought a legal smart card which costs a small fortune here.

Even if I am wrong, i still think we can have a justified moan at Thailand, because until recently, (maybe even now, as the current situation is quite confused), True Vision had a monopoly on Satellite broadcasting, and whereas at one time they did provide half way decent rugby coverage and even showed the cricket test matches on a pay per view basis, they no longer bother as they they have spent all their money on the Premier league football, and couldn't give a toss about 'minority' sports.

If fair competition was allowed, I am sure some enterprising entrepreneur would try and provide the coverage.

PS This weekend I will be experimenting with streaming the English commentary over the internet

from BBC Radio 5 Live

Astral I may be wrong but I think you will be disappointed as most of Radio 5's live sports coverage is blocked from the net as they don't have the worldwide rights to most sports and you can only listen in the UK. I am not 100% sure about rugby, but certainly football, F1, athletics and many other sports are blocked when the live commenatry starts. Occasionally you get them by mistake, and they suddenly cut them off half way through the game. On other occasions I have listened to a football BBC radio 5 commentary through Real player, but it has been blocked through Windows Media Player. The BBC engineers aren't always on the ball (no pun intended).

When we had the last world cup, I tried to do something similar to what you have proposed, using a live radio link from the UK along with the Thai TV stream, which had no English commentary. I had a major problem when I found that the TV broadcast had a 10-20 second delay, so it did not sync with the radio. I finally solved the problem by recording the tv broadcast on my dvd machine and playing it back almost simultaneously but with the desired time delay, which changed for each match. Worked fine, but a lot of hassle to set up. Good luck

Edited March 22, 2010 by Mobi

[astral]

Astral I may be wrong but I think you will be disappointed as most of Radio 5's live sports coverage is blocked from the net as they don't have the worldwide rights to most sports and you can only listen in the UK. I am not 100% sure about rugby, but certainly football, F1, athletics and many other sports are blocked when the live commenatry starts. Occasionally you get them by mistake, and they suddenly cut them off half way through the game. On other occasions I have listened to a football BBC radio 5 commentary through Real player, but it has been blocked through Windows Media Player. The BBC engineers aren't always on the ball (no pun intended).

Thanks for that warning.

It will not be a problem as I use StrongVPN and have a UK IP address.

I could even watch the BBC TV coverage, IF I had enough bandwidth.

[Twin]

To Mobi.

With all due respect, it is myopic to think DSTV's decision to terminate the C Band signal has much, if anything at all to do with Thailand or True Visions.

There are 3 specific reasons I've learned for the cancellation of this service at this time.

1) FIFA made it a requirement before awarding SuperSport the rights to televise the 2010 World Cup. There were massive complaints from the cable companies in counties with high percentages of English speaking population. during the last World Cup. Hence the termination of the signal a week before the World Cup begins.

See the IS10 satellite's C Band coverage map here.

http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/maps/intel10_c.html

2) Indian and Pakistani Cable companies on a regular basis pirate the DSTV signal and offer them in their package of services to their subscribers. This is financially painful to the operators and content providers who have paid enormous sums for the rights to cricket.

Those countries have no dominant national operator like TruVision, so piracy is much more lucrative and more difficult to police.

3) With the launch of the W7 Ku band satellite, DSTV now enjoys complete coverage of the African continent, with "spot beams" only visible in Africa.

When IS 10 was deployed, it was the only satellite capable of beaming the DSTV throughout Africa. The use of the spilled over signal by other countries was not anticpated at all.

Oddly, DSTV stands to lose a certain amount of revenue when this signal is turned off. There must be thousands of subscribers, like me, throughout the signal's coverage area who have "legitimate" cards with "real" accounts back in Africa.

[monty]

2) Indian and Pakistani Cable companies on a regular basis pirate the DSTV signal and offer them in their package of services to their subscribers. This is financially painful to the operators and content providers who have paid enormous sums for the rights to cricket.

Those countries have no dominant national operator like TruVision, so piracy is much more lucrative and more difficult to police.

Actually a lot of cable companies in Thailand do as well. All three in Pattaya sure do, so I guess other area's will be the same!

[bobby57]

Does anyone khow if Al Jacera TV can be recieved here - especially in Isan? I'm seriously missing my rugby (except of us kikking the Brits while I was in Bkk on the 2nd!) and searching for a source! Internet is out according to TOT as 10kms outside our small local town! My son in Dubai had the same problem with his cable provider and now has a card from Al jacera which he substitutes in his normal provider box and it works great (card about 3500 baht a year). Can the same be done here with the True box???????

[Phil Conners]

Al Jazeera is FTA on Intelsat 7/10 (Same as DSTV/Multichoice)

[Twin]

Al Jazeera is FTA on Intelsat 7/10 (Same as DSTV/Multichoice)

The Al Jazeera channel on IS 10 is free to air, not encrypted. It is not part of the DSTV bouquet of services.

It is also Al Jazeera's news channel, from their studios in Doha.

It carries no live sports programming.

[astral]

Most of the Al Jazeera Sport channels are encrypted, Irdeto and Viaccess.

I do not think any of the ME sats will cover Thailand.

The signal is available in Europe via Hotbird at 13E

[astral]

Astral I may be wrong but I think you will be disappointed as most of Radio 5's live sports coverage is blocked from the net as they don't have the worldwide rights to most sports and you can only listen in the UK. I am not 100% sure about rugby, but certainly football, F1, athletics and many other sports are blocked when the live commenatry starts. Occasionally you get them by mistake, and they suddenly cut them off half way through the game. On other occasions I have listened to a football BBC radio 5 commentary through Real player, but it has been blocked through Windows Media Player. The BBC engineers aren't always on the ball (no pun intended).

Thanks for that warning.

It will not be a problem as I use StrongVPN and have a UK IP address.

I could even watch the BBC TV coverage, IF I had enough bandwidth.

It works

Amongst the Arabic I heard BBC Five Live mentioned and remember that this is an alternative commentary.

"On the red button" of the digital service in the UK. So this morning for the practice,I set up my computer alongside the TV

and tuned in. "Not available in your Area" Well OK turn on the VPN, I use a UK server at the moment,

and through came the signal.

Lots of useful technical gossip, which was good to catch up on. When they really started commentating I realised they

were over a minute behind what I was watching.......... Latency in the net I guess. My connection is not brillaint

and dropped out a few times. Hopefully it will be better on Sunday for the race.

Isn't technology wonderful?

[Forkinhades]

Has an official statement been released by DSTV?

[astral]

Has an official statement been released by DSTV?

Did you read the e-mail in the 3rd post (Peder) from the start of this thread??

That seems to confirm the situation.

[Forkinhades]

Has an official statement been released by DSTV?

Did you read the e-mail in the 3rd post (Peder) from the start of this thread??

That seems to confirm the situation.

does it? I guess time will tell

I have read ALL the posts

did you mean the 4th post?

Edited April 8, 2010 by Forkinhades

[dsfbrit]

I thought this thread would be more 'active', but nothing for a couple of weeks.

I guess we are just resigned to the fact this is going to end.

Simple as that!

I have read on various forums there are several dates that this service will end (and yes I have read the 4th post...), including middle of May and end of May.

No posts on any forum seems to think this service will continue on C-Band beyond the end of May.

Does anyone have any updates on this date.

And what are you considering doing instead???

I have looked at various options including Astro (Ku-Band) and even returning to True - oh dear....

[Phil Conners]

Well what do you suggest? If DSTV shuts down not much we can do about it, is there? //snip// Thailand is not famous for being pro-active so I don't expect this will become a choice until DSTV is definitely gone. Both Dream and UBC are so poor quality that I won't even consider them so if nobody offers Astro I'll be without TV. Not a big deal, I get movies from Torrents anyway and news are easily available from the Internet.

Edited April 22, 2010 by astral
Mentioning illegal activity - Astral

[dsfbrit]

Agreed - nothing that can be done about it.

The timing makes a bit of a difference though. If Mutlichoice is running until the end of May, then at least I can watch all the European football on a decent link until all the competitions end.

I then have a couple of weeks to get something sorted out before the World Cup starts.

As an interim solution I have reconnected my small TRUE dish and am getting that working again now.

My provider has provided the image so I will set up the Dreambox to test it next week.

I will use the current coax from my 10 foot dish to my Dreambox as I dont want to mess about with installing another run of coax nor switching etc... As soon as Multichoice ends then I will switch the cable across and simply 'suffer' TRUE until I can find a better solution.

The hardest part has been cutting away the 'hedging' that has grown around the old dish - those red ants are a pain for sure.

At the moment I cannot be bothered with all the hassle trying to watch TV via the Internet 'real time'. If necessary though I will look into that later. I personally like to just switch on a TV, push a remote and 'flop out'

Edited April 22, 2010 by dsfbrit

[astral]

There may be another possibility here.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Indovision-S...ml#entry3528314

[dsfbrit]

Thanks Astral. An interesting link. To be honest I have quite a few thoughts on this problem longterm.

The trouble with the Thai Visa forum - as good as it is - is that we cannot discuss certain topics that are deemed 'illegal'.

Fair enough.

So discussing this at all is not easy.

I see that the guy on that other thread is still reading the 'terms and conditions' of the providers of the services such as Astro. If you follow those rules too strictly then you will just end up with TRUE or some manky local setup (ie Sophon or BTV) - which is about all you are allowed 'legally' here in Thailand. yuk

Edited April 22, 2010 by dsfbrit

[Forkinhades]

@n dsfbrit

pm me if you want to discuss this further, and any other TV member

[dsfbrit]

Forkinhades, I am 'sorted' thanks.

I was just trying to let some other posters referenced on a thread above realise that if they see 'terms and conditions' from satellite providers like 'Dream' or whatever saying they cannot have the service in Thailand as its outside the country, then that is not the reality as long as you are prepared to do something that is considered 'illegal' here in Thailand.

As 'illegal' subjects cannot be discussed too openly in Thai Visa - then they should realise anything that people like me say here has to be written with that in mind.

Fair enough - all sites have their rules and TV mods interpret them in a reasonable way in my opinion.

So thanks a lot Forkinhades, but I am in the process of connecting up my old True dish as an interim solution anyway.

Good Luck

[Forkinhades]

Forkinhades, I am 'sorted' thanks.

I was just trying to let some other posters referenced on a thread above realise that if they see 'terms and conditions' from satellite providers like 'Dream' or whatever saying they cannot have the service in Thailand as its outside the country, then that is not the reality as long as you are prepared to do something that is considered 'illegal' here in Thailand.

As 'illegal' subjects cannot be discussed too openly in Thai Visa - then they should realise anything that people like me say here has to be written with that in mind.

Fair enough - all sites have their rules and TV mods interpret them in a reasonable way in my opinion.

So thanks a lot Forkinhades, but I am in the process of connecting up my old True dish as an interim solution anyway.

Good Luck

This can be discussed on other forums, that are purely based on satellites, google and you will find.

I had a DREAM, that I was living in a BOX, playing a game of CARDs, and I just wanted to SHARE it with you