Banglamung Cable

[Phil Conners]

Last days it comes and goes, most of the time with either no picture or a picture of a satellite receivers setup menu. Is this what we're paying money for? Are y'all calling them and complaining? I know it's supposed to be counter productive in Thailand but I bet if we all call and let them know they might actually get the message one day.

[barryofthailand]

Maybe theirs a problem with the cable where you live, or maybe they are working on the cable near your home. I live East of Suhkemvit and have had no problems recently. Banglamung is much better than Sophon, and their service has bveen pretty good. Your best bet is to visit their office in North Pattaya and explain your problem in person.

Hard to understand over the telephone unless you speak Thai.

Barry

[Phil Conners]

I dont' think showing a picture of a satellite receivers setup menu can be a local thing, you probably don't watch much tv. Neither do I to be honest, but I like to have CNN or BBC running in the background.

[penzman]

Most of these small companies just rip feeds from satellites and resend it your way through cable. The techs are poorly paid young kids, for Chonburi's PTV anyway (probably the same for Sophon and Banglamung?), as they show screen savers of pc games between movies and childish Power Point presentations.

They just couldn't care less about the service they are selling you.

The most annoying channel these days is Ten Station Movies. A movie plays, then freezes, switches to another movie but halfway through it, freezes again, comes back to the first movie shown, and then again with a third one. I've counted 4 movies within the same hour. This channel has been like this for over 2 months now.

And then they keep interrupting with their own advert saying they use digital technology when most movies shown were filmed in some movie theatre somewhere and the picture quality sucks.

Time to get our own dish.

[doctormann]

I get the impression that BTV don't actually monitor the stuff that they're putting out. It seems to have been especially bad lately - often the picture on some channels will freeze and stay like that for hours!

We all have a laugh when all there is to see is the set-up menu; presumably the tech has gone to sleep or is off on a comfort break. Quite amusing too when the copyright messages get displayed -'not for public viewing'.

I find it rather less than amusing when a movie that has been dubbed into Thai (badly, I'm told) is broadcast along with Thai sub-titles as well! Has anyone noticed that the channel that shows continuous movies (dubbed into Thai) has the colour balance, brightness and contrast totally screwed up?

The most annoying thing, I find, is that the audio quality, especially on the movie channels, is complete rubbish - turn the treble right up and the sound is still muffled because there just isn't anything there above about 500Hz! Must be saving bandwidth (!) Sometimes there seems to be an echo, as well.

They don't seem too good at sticking to the advertised schedules either, and last night, to my dismay, Mr Bean got cut off prematurely.

At least that awful advert with the little girl extolling the virtues of BTV seems to have stopped. Now we just have Cheng Ron Barbecue and Tony's Japanese Spa at every conceivable opportunity. (Anyone tried Cheng Ron by the way? Any good?)

Still, for 350 THB a month what can we expect? A lot cheaper than UBC but I'm getting very tempted to invest in a J-sat system.

DM

[Mobi]

The most annoying channel these days is Ten Station Movies. A movie plays, then freezes, switches to another movie but halfway through it, freezes again, comes back to the first movie shown, and then again with a third one. I've counted 4 movies within the same hour. This channel has been like this for over 2 months now.

Time to get our own dish.

Maybe they shoud call it 'Ten Movies Station'

Not trying to be a smart a..s but anyone tried UBC lately? I know it costs a bit more IMO its worth it. The platinum package gives you 6 English movie channels, loads of live sport, two general entertainament channels -which has some pretty good sit coms - both English and American, and a whole load of other stuff. Does me fine. Only prob I've had is it sometimes crashes in bad weather, but just a quick flick on the remote and it back on. There's a full programme schedule (magazine and on line) which is pretty reliable, and for me, essential so that I can make sure I catch my favourite programmes.

[penzman]

The most annoying thing, I find, is that the audio quality, especially on the movie channels, is complete rubbish - turn the treble right up and the sound is still muffled because there just isn't anything there above about 500Hz! Must be saving bandwidth (!) Sometimes there seems to be an echo, as well.

DM

That's what happens when the movie was illegaly filmed in a theatre using a handheld cam and incorporated microphone.

[Phil Conners]

Try Google for "Dream TV Phillipines" and "Astro Malaysia".

[johng]

Anyone tried Cheng Ron by the way? Any good

I've been there many times..its excelent value for money...you cook everything yourself so don't expect to much in the way of service.

They have lots of competition now though..but their dipping sauce is the best IMHO.

"Dream TV Phillipines" and "Astro Malaysia".

Ahhh the joys of owning and finding a suitable location for a four meter satellite dish

[barryofthailand]

Try Google for "Dream TV Phillipines" and "Astro Malaysia".

I have Dynasat which carries Dream out of thge philippines. By the way Banglamung cable does not have CNN. I also have BTV and have never had a problem. Between my staellite dish and BTV I get all the channels I need.

Barry

[sriracha john]

Most of these small companies just rip feeds from satellites and resend it your way through cable. The techs are poorly paid young kids, for Chonburi's PTV anyway (probably the same for Sophon and Banglamung?), as they show screen savers of pc games between movies and childish Power Point presentations.

They just couldn't care less about the service they are selling you.

The most annoying channel these days is Ten Station Movies. A movie plays, then freezes, switches to another movie but halfway through it, freezes again, comes back to the first movie shown, and then again with a third one. I've counted 4 movies within the same hour. This channel has been like this for over 2 months now.

And then they keep interrupting with their own advert saying they use digital technology when most movies shown were filmed in some movie theatre somewhere and the picture quality sucks.

Time to get our own dish.

Hmm... we seem to always enoy success with the same television cable tv provider. I think it's because PTV puts all it's money and resources into the Sriracha branch and just leaves the crumbs left-over for their Chonburi branch. Perhaps it's due to the Provincial Northerners being too overly aggressive as compared to their peaceful Provincial Southerners.

It provides so much for just 300 baht (4.39 pounds/US$7.71/CAD$8.74 Canadian) , I'm amazed how they do it.

(terrific, except for losing ASTV)

I paid 9 bucks in Canada once for a lousy pack of smokes

Edited March 4, 2006 by sriracha john