True Visions Adding Hd Channels?

[quiksilva]

A couple of years ago TRUE did a test broadcast of all of these channels at IMPACT. I suspect that if take up is good of these two (HBO and True Sport) then we may well see them come to TRUE in the future... no idea about Astro though

[astral]

I can't speak for HD in other SE Asian countries. But I can speak about regular satellite reception here versus in the States. Here is far behind. Although I preferred cable, my son preferred satellite in the States. His regular reception was every bit as clear as a normal professional DVD. That cannot be said for regular TRUE reception here by satellite dish. Not comparable at all.

I have to reinforce that view.

Here in the Middle East even the SD channels have excellent quality when viewed on a 40" LCD screen.

Mind you I am looking at the possibility of getting HD as well.

[gotlost]

Well, the Chelsea game last on HD was sensational quality, I compared it to the ch 101 sd version and couldn't stand watching the sd. The HD was1080i. Crystal clear, sharp colours, reds weren't soft, blurring non existent.. Could see the blades of grass rather than a green block.

One gripe was the audio, which was fluctuating level, but after some switching around I realized it was the source feed that had issues. Once they sorted that it was fine

Can't wait for the world cup on HD now. For those of you who love watching football, this HD is an absolute must.

My bar is having it's SD upgraded to HD as we speak, off there in a minute to make sure everything goes OK. However, I have some slightly worrying news - when I booked the install they told me that the World Cup in HD won't have English commentary!!

Can anyone confirm if they have been told this as well, or was it my call centre staff trying to annoy me...

Tom.

UBC advertises that the WC 2010 will be in ENGLISH on HD. Check out their adverts and personally got to their office.

[Twin]

It is far behind...

Astro has 5 out of the 6 available HD channels (no ASN), and for less extra fees (300 Baht/month) then what true charges for 2 HD channels, HBO and their own sports channel mainly with old content (399/month for Gold subscribers)...

Astro had 2,650,000 customers as of January, 2009.

TrueVision had 800,000 customers at the end of 2008.

Satellites, transmission equipment, broadcast centers, downlink and uplink equipment all cost the same.

So if Astro has 3 times the number of customers, they can 2 things True cannot:

1) Be more advanced technologically and / or

2) Sell its services for less.

I'm not thrilled with True either, but trying to make any direct comparisons with Astro are at best, naive.

[Phil Conners]

You could ask yourself why Astro are so much more successful with their market penetration. Malaysia only have a third of the population of Thailand, yet they have managed to sell 3 times more subscriptions. Food for though.

Edited May 11, 2010 by Phil Conners

[Twin]

You could ask yourself why Astro are so much more successful with their market penetration. Malaysia only have a third of the population of Thailand, yet they have managed to sell 3 times more subscriptions. Food for though.

Good point, although English is taught, used, and understood by a much greater percentage of the Malay population. And satellite television is geared more toward an English speaking audience.

Although all the unhappy farangs here will jump on this, I think True's biggest failing has been it's inability to attract Thai customers. Most of the Thai channels they carry - that Thais watch - are free to air. Any antenna will receive those channels.

With a preponderence of "Pay channels" being English speaking, the penetration rate here will never reach that of Malaysia.

[phetaroi]

Astro had 2,650,000 customers as of January, 2009.

TrueVision had 800,000 customers at the end of 2008.

Satellites, transmission equipment, broadcast centers, downlink and uplink equipment all cost the same.

So if Astro has 3 times the number of customers, they can 2 things True cannot:

1) Be more advanced technologically and / or

2) Sell its services for less.

I'm not thrilled with True either, but trying to make any direct comparisons with Astro are at best, naive.

Here's why I disagree with you. Although I don't recall the exact terms they use, True advertises itself as being of world class quality. I guess that's "third world class quality".

[Twin]

Here's why I disagree with you. Although I don't recall the exact terms they use, True advertises itself as being of world class quality. I guess that's "third world class quality".

Thanks for that value added comment on the subject.

[nikster]

Isn't there a separate True-bashing thread. I dislike True Visions as much as anybody else, overpriced, bad quality, etc, but it's kind of beating a dead horse.

[SoMeOnEnUlL]

... True's biggest failing has been it's inability to attract Thai customers. Most of the Thai channels they carry - that Thais watch - are free to air. Any antenna will receive those channels.

With a preponderence of "Pay channels" being English speaking, the penetration rate here will never reach that of Malaysia.

Not really.. most of the Thai here watch "Soccer", which is not a free-to-air and TRUE Visions is the only choice they can legally have.

[anothertorres]

so, who in the Pattaya area has HD? a friend asked again and they told him to come back next month. sup?

Edited May 12, 2010 by anothertorres

[jazzyp]

so, who in the Pattaya area has HD? a friend asked again and they told him to come back next month. sup?

Mine is being installed right now here in good old Patts will report later on my views

[jazzyp]

Just installed and the picture looks great on the 50" only problem, now you realise just how poor the normal SD picture is, oh well bring on the world cup in HD

[Phil Conners]

That's what we've been saying again and again. The standard (SD?) picture quality on UBC is horrible.

[anothertorres]

so, who in the Pattaya area has HD? a friend asked again and they told him to come back next month. sup?

Mine is being installed right now here in good old Patts will report later on my views

can i ask how you procured the service? did you go to an office here in Pattaya or did you call the BKK number? also, when did you place the order and how much did you pay out of pocket.

thanks for being the guinea pig

[anothertorres]

so, i have ordered the service. they will call back within one month for install. there will NOT be english commentary for world cup games.

[jazzyp]

Ordered from the Bangkok number last Monday and they came Thursday, didn't pay anything extra. True Sport HD is ASN at the moment showing reruns of NFL NHL etc which is rather boring but the French Open tennis will be on the channel, I think we will find that all the major sporting events will be on this HD channel, I am surprised they didn't give you a fixed date and time.

[joncl]

Stanley Cup matches ...

[anothertorres]

Stanley Cup matches ...

that's some nasty digital squelch you got going on there. i would love to have this in place by the start of the Stanley Cup final.

[jazzyp]

Just as an update, The FA Cup final was superb viewing in HD, another real plus point was a 1hour live pre-show all in English. Very impressed so far

[bkkmick]

Just off the phone with TrueVisions. We have two access points and one of them has PVR. True say that they want 4,000 baht to install HD, then when I mentioned that I have PVR they say that I can't have it. Ah well.

[maamoot]

Had the HDTV installed 2 days ago here in Chiang Mai . So far the sports channel picture is pretty much perfect , but the HBO HD channel is crap most of the time . About 90 % of the movies they are showing are stretched versions of the movie they are showing on reg hbo . The Life and Death of Peter Sellers was in hi def and in the correct aspect ratio but every other movie that I have seen so far has being a sdtv pic stretched to fit .

I don't speak Thai well enough to contact true visions and then wind up talking to a "tech " who is less informed about the service they are offering than I am .

But it seems to me that somebody has screwed up somewhere .

The sports channel looks great though so far and that is pretty much all I am interested in as I download most of what I want to watch from rapidshare or the like in hi def .

[anothertorres]

so, i've had the HD service for a few days now and i'm pretty happy overall. the sports HD is excellent. it took me about 30 minutes to tweak my TV and the receiver to get the best picture possible but it looks great. HBO HD is a little different. not all movies will look good simply because it's sent off in HD. at times i am getting a little distortion which if it becomes a consistent issue, i'm going to have to call tech service and have them come down.

otherwise, it looks great and i'm happy. i will say, some of the other channels even look a little better even though they aren't in HD.

FYI, if ayone is locked out of their box and the usual password of 0000 is not working, try 2321 or 1232.

Edited May 22, 2010 by anothertorres

[Rossivillan]

H All

Could some0ne with a True HD receiver pls let me know if there is a "normal" output line, as well as HDMI?

I have HDMI input on TV, but not on my Philips Hard Drive recorder. At the moment (standard receiver) one output goes to TV , one to Recorder. (When recording 2.00 am football, need only to leave on True receiver, not the TV). Don't fancy getting up to switch on TV, then switch off again if the series is HD receiver- TV - then Hard Drive recorder! I know it (recording) won't be HD, but better than nothing.

Thanks

Rossivillan

[anothertorres]

you should ok...

[astral]

Has anyone explored that ethernet connection?

[doctorproc156]

Regarding the use of the Astro HD (Astro B.yond) service in Thailand, it is currently not possible due the the fact that the signal does not correctly cover all of Thailand. As well as the fact that you would need to import the dish from malaysia as well as the corresponding decoder. I already tried asking a friend who works in the industry about this and that was his response. The quality of astro HD destroys that of true HD though...

[astral]

There would be no need to import the dish and lnb for Astro, just make sure you have the right size of dish

to receive the signal adequately.

Judging from the footprint map only southern Thailand is covered http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/maps/mea3a_malaysia.html

but I beleive there have been reports of reception in the north?

Only the receiver and card are needed. It maybe necessary to set it up before leaving Malaysia

as I beleive there is a scheme to match the card to the receiver

[maamoot]

Just a heads up , something I just figured out , but maybe obvious to others .

Watching the French tennis open , the audio was in Thai . I had the settings set to English audio but it was still in Thai .

If anyone else is having the same problem , there is a button on the very bottom of the remote , second from the left that has a little speaker icon on it . If you push this button a little audio window comes up with one Thai selection and two English selections , pick the middle English selection and the commentary will change back to English .

Fantastic picture from the open as well !

[rixalex]

Just a heads up , something I just figured out , but maybe obvious to others .

Watching the French tennis open , the audio was in Thai . I had the settings set to English audio but it was still in Thai .

If anyone else is having the same problem , there is a button on the very bottom of the remote , second from the left that has a little speaker icon on it . If you push this button a little audio window comes up with one Thai selection and two English selections , pick the middle English selection and the commentary will change back to English .

Fantastic picture from the open as well !

Even easier if you set up English as your default language for all channels.