Your Experience Or Advice With Dtv / Astro

[livinthailandos]

First of all I have true visions for cable. Keep in mind I don't watch tv a lot anymore since i'm either working late or online mostly but Me and the misses are looking into possibly changing over to DTV / astro as it would seem but not much more for the price that i pay of 1,570 per month I could get slighty more channels with them instead of true. I'm not into sports to much but I would like to watch some NFL games if possible. Must have thai tv channels as well. I am aware of price for the dish, installing it no big deal. Curious to know from any of you

1. your experience with DTV / Astro

2. Any advice you might have

3. Quality of satellite connection for Watching TV

4. anything else that would help out.

[apetley]

Dtv, the yellow dish right?

Free after initialy payment for equipment and setup and gives wifey the Thai channels she needs for her soaps.

Signal drops out for maybe a couple of minutes when we get a really heavy shower as the dish is small but this is rare.

Looking to give up my TRUE dish myself so be interested to read more on alternatives too.

[schmutzie]

I would also like to know about this. I'm about to pay a local cable company 2600THB for 70 odd channels but I'm a bit worried about the quality and having seen their office, the customer support.

However, it is dirt cheap compared with True and will give my GF all the viewing pleasure she needs.

But still, alternatives would be welcome.

I've seen a DTV dish/box set retail at HomePro for approx. 4000THB. Is that all that's needed? Can't be...

Is it easy to install?

[Pib]

To Schmutzie, Is that 2600 baht "per month." If so, I don't see how you can say it's dirt cheap when compared to True as True's most expensive package, their Platinum package with approx 90 TV channels, is only 2000 baht per month (plus 7% VAT). True has five packages at various prices with the lower cost package down around 300 baht per month.

TrueVisions - Packages

The initial setup cost and final monthly fee will vary depending on whether you rent their dish/settop box(es) or buy the equipment. And they always have promotions going which greatly reduce the installation costs...heck, the have installation promotions even when they don't advertise them. Other than the settop box deposit, if renting the box, installation will probably be free to around 1000 baht plus a 2000 baht deposit per settop box. If buying the equipment, each seller will have their own promotions.

And if you just want a bunch of Thai channels (around 50 channels) plus another 100 or so channels from the middle east, Laos, Cambodia, etc., and have room to install a 5 foot dish, then going with a C Band system will probably be your best deal from a cost standpoint. No monthly fees, just the initial buy/install cost....and you have TV even when it rains.

Be sure to check around good before you commit yourself to a year long subscription contract.

Edited June 15, 2010 by Pib

[schmutzie]

To Schmutzie, Is that 2600 baht "per month." If so, I don't see how you can say it's dirt cheap when compared to True as True's most expensive package, their Platinum package with approx 90 TV channels, is only 2000 baht per month (plus 7% VAT). True has five packages at various prices with the lower cost package down around 300 baht per month.

That's 2600THB for a year. All included.

Pretty standard for rogue BKK cable providers I believe.

[Pib]

To Schmutzie, Is that 2600 baht "per month." If so, I don't see how you can say it's dirt cheap when compared to True as True's most expensive package, their Platinum package with approx 90 TV channels, is only 2000 baht per month (plus 7% VAT). True has five packages at various prices with the lower cost package down around 300 baht per month.

That's 2600THB for a year. All included.

Pretty standard for rogue BKK cable providers I believe.

Pretty hard to beat that subscription price assuming the reliability/uptime is there and the programming is OK.

[sharking]

hi all

i have a sat dish for 2 years now,at a cost of 1,8000bt had lots of channels, then all was lost,after 10 months,then payed for a new receive,r then after 7 months i lost all of that too,so got fed up with this and went to my satellite man and told him am not a happy chap, then he told me have you got internet sim card?,i said yes, so then i payed more dosh out again but now i get true vision and il tell you its very cheap

now am a happy man

so go to a satelite man and ask him

then you will be happy:D

[nikster]

True is the official provider and very expensive.

All other options have one thing in common: (Relatively) high initial cost, and the possibility that the signal suddenly disappears.

The UBC internet sharing package is illegal and can't be discussed here. I hear it works well though ...as long as your internet stays up. But even for that, you can bet that once it becomes very popular, the government will intervene and cut this off at the ISP level. It's easy enough to do even now, that is the authorities could just check those IP addresses that are used as servers and block them at an ISP level. In Europe that probably wouldn't work as the government can't easily restrict the internet - you need court orders and so on. But in Thailand... this is the anything goes country.

External providers, e.g. Astro, are a safer bet. A legitimate provider won't suddenly disappear. But from the Jsat site, I see Astro costs 23,000+... I don't know if that is a one time cost, but since they call it "subscription" I assume it's per year. So it costs as much as True Platinum??

Any of these options might work well for you. But before you invest your money, make an informed decision.

I actually had one of those 6000 baht satellites once - only startup cost, nothing per month. Great. Then after a few months the signal was gone. The shop that had sold the dish was also gone.