Canceling CTH (why)

[roger101]

Thats it. I've had enough. What with the service dropping out ever so often (just for a few seconds,but its still annoying) freezing and a remote that works 3 seconds after you have pressed the buttons.

That I can live with (just) but when you try to find out the schedules of whats coming on what channel its impossible. I"ve just watched 'Children' on FX-HD and I thought I would look at the schedule to find out when its on again. Its a Japenese film with English Subtitles. Its also one of the best films I have ever seen. Based on a true story of 5 children who disappeard one afternoon. Its heart breaking to watch.

I thought I would look up the schedule to find out when it was on again to tell a couple of friends to watch it. I couldnt find it. I had this problem when I first took CTH but I thought in the last year they would improve. I guess not.

So when my contract comes to an end next year (paid for two years up front) I'm going to look for another source for my TV.

I just wonder how many others are thinking the same. I know of two people this month who have got rid of CTH.

[Expattaff1308]

Im in Udon works fine here. The schedule you can get online...http://www.cth.co.th/schedule/

[chris2004]

I had the same problems so i cancelled after 6 months. They ignored me of course and still send bills every month.

[dean008]

It must be tough being unable to tell your friends when the film you want them to watch is on.

[Chicog]

Its a Japenese <sic> film with English Subtitles.

It's a South Korean film.

[brewsterbudgen]

Isn't the only reason anyone has CTH for the footie?

[sparkey]

I had the same problems so i cancelled after 6 months. They ignored me of course and still send bills every month.

You're lucky in 18 months never had a bill. We wait till we get cut off and then pay. They reconnect and we start again

Agree with OP on everything

Only EPL keeps me.

[uptheos]

Isn't the only reason anyone has CTH for the footie?

EPL is it's only redeeming feature, the rest is crap.

[penkrew]

You're right Uptheos, the only reason I got CTH was the footie, but even that wasn't enough for me to keep it.

The process of cancelling CTH confirmed my belief that they're a bunch of amateurs. We called and were told we would have to wait 45 days. After 45 days there was nothing, so I called again.

'Ah, we will come between 45 and 90 days', they said. After almost 90 days of waiting, I called again. They suggested I posted the box and remote back to them. I suggested they should pay for this, which seemed to confuse them.

By way of contrast, we also cancelled True Visions this month. They came within a week and the refunded deposit has just appeared.

[SantiSuk]

You can certainly get an internet schedule, as reported by another poster. Annoying that they can't be bothered to populate their On-screen programme guide - True has been good at that in recent years. However, the most annoying thing is that you cannot get information on what Prem League match is being re-run when and the quantum of re-runs is very low compared to the former True approach.

If you missed your favourite team's game on match day you are going to need to get up before 7:00am (sometimes 5:00 am) in case it is the first re-run, then keep checking every 2 hours through the day until it comes up. If you don't catch it on match day plus one it is pure lottery as to whether it's even going to be shown on following days. Re-runs are only on Stadium 6, meanwhile Stadium's 1 and 2 are full of old matches and Stadium 5 closes down. True used to re-run matches several times in the days following match day and the programme was always set out (ok - sometimes there were glitches between pre-scheduling and broadcasting).

Still - can't complain too much. The broadcast HD quality is great and with their pathetic admin they don't even seem to know I am watching for free this year . They are welcome to have the cash if they ask nicely (or even rudely) and tell me how much they want.

I don't agree with the observation that the rest of CTH's programing is rubbish UptheOs, but that's all a matter of personal preference. Personally I like to catch a bit of the parochial approach to UK news coverage by Sky and Channel News Asia is the only decent coverage of SE Asian news. FX HD does have many dross series but there are occasional gems (ie stuff I like - you may not). At the moment 'Homelands' and the quirky 'Lillyhammer' are good quality television IMO and 'Mad Men' was similarly good when it ran. Fox Premium Movies Channel does have some good 2 to 3 year old movies showing. My 5 year old likes some of the kids cartoon movies on Fox Family Movies. I dislike 'action' movies but I'm sure others can find some merit in the mostly old re-runs on Fox Action Movies. Don't like to plug anything Murdoch but there is wheat in the chaff if you are prepared to look for it. I think the problem is that with all those channels if you are a 'remote hopper' type then you'll quickly conclude that the whole thing is rubbish.

[Hornell]

In my opinion, CTH couldn't run a 'knees-up' in a brewery! My initial set-up was effed up earlier this year and with all the ensuing hoo-haa about trying to sort it out, I gave up and just unplugged everything. Still have all the bits, no bills, no calls - nothing. Gone back to True, who are marginally better.

[ezzra]

CTH... a motley operation of morons and baboons with absolutely no idea as how to run a TV station

or a business for that matter, and yet, they're still there, bleeding money no doubt, I wonder who's

the ignorant fool behind it all.. probably some one so loaded he/they don't even know what is

going on...

[johnnort]

Try Thai Expat TV. I love it! NB. Just a user, nothing to do with the company!

[Lite Beer]

I switched to GMMZ.

Main reason was the USB where I can put a memory stick and record my team when playing late at night and watch it in the morning.

[sparkey]

Down again

Finally now given up

Options

For EPL live ????

Best is to return to England for the rest of the season.

Get all the cup league champions league one stop shop

Any other options??

[gdhm]

I will give you a summary of my experiences with CTH AND wish to ask you an important question about your Satellite Reception Please (see last paragraph of post)

CTH say they wish to change towards a prepay service key strategy.http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/748156-cth-foresees-much-enlarged-customer-base/

I will leave it to readers what they think about such an Idea. I personally feel trapped having prepaid, as I have not had good service from CTH

I have had a nightmare with CTH for since I paid 2 years in advance (get 3rd free) in Aug 2013

The favourite selection on my Cable receiver has never worked after an OTA upgrade and it has been pot luck and many time consuming attempts each time whether if the channel selected for Favourite is moved there or another . Channel numbers appeared and disappeared in the favourites selection screen and often had the incorrect channel Number for a while. The CTH Call Center person said (words to effect) "programming code for favourites selection complicated so there may be problems" Hmmmmmm!.

E.& O.E

Our Dealings with CTH and its Call Center in the last 14 months and totally impossible to get past the Call Center phone operators to ever speak to a senior, Head Office or someone in charge)

We Paid in advance for 2 years & get 3rd year free promotion in Aug 2013 via Khon Kaen Agent KTV Cable Network. CTH Cable Receiver Installed a few days later.

1) Oct 2013 Received Invoice in post asking for payment. Phoned Call Center and sorted it out that I had paid via KTV Khon Kaen asked for a new statement showing I had paid - They agreed BUT Never got that!

2) Nov 2013 Received another invoice for payment Nov 2013. Phoned Call Center pointing out 2nd time and sorted it out that I had paid via KTV Khon Kaen asked for a new statement showing I had paid - They agreed BUT Never got that!

3) Jul 2014 Lost signal for 3-4 days due to some CTH piece of equipment supplying CTH signal to KTV failing (not a KTV issue).

4) Sep 2013 Noticed BY LUCK that I had a mail message (never flagged up on screen on my cable box) telling me if I did not contact a phone number Accounts I would be cut off 2 days afte rI saw message (message was 2-3 weeks old but who checks mail when it is always in Thai and rare).

I phoned immediately and was told for the 3rd time I had not paid and must send proof I have to avoid being cut off. I I did by email trhat night but CTH being SOOOOO FAST I was cut off for 2 days later and it needed many calls and emails to sort out anf get my channels back 4 days after I first called . I asked for a Statement or letter stating I am paid up to Aug 2016. Approx. 6 weeks later I got a letter (in Thai) which my wife says its a letter saying they will send a letter in due course.

5) Nov 2014 CTH & KTV parted company (seems to have been an ongoing issue between them for months & was always impossible to get either to admit what was going on or if it would affect my CTH signal).

Out of the blue we got a call from KTV 22nd Nov (late afternoon) telling us they had separated from CTH and my signal would be cut Mon 24 Nov. Great warning (they said they called us before but we did not answer neither my wife or I had any log records on out mobiles of any calls (so jury is out on that one). CTH OF COURSE DID NOT BOTHER TO WARN US AT ALL.

I phoned CTH Call Center a few minutes later (still 22 Nov) to arrange a switch over to Satellite (as there is not other Cable provider in Khon Kaen). I was told the receiver would be FREE but I must pay the installers ฿1,000. I was not happy, but agreed as I had little option. (PLEASE NOTE! Ultimately I was NOT charged by the installers ). The Call Center told me we would be contacted about the installation in about a week. I was not happy being cut off for so long but what could I do.

After 4 phone calls and I lengthy email I was contacted on the 19th December by the nominated CTH installers and installation done the next day 20th Dec.

WE HAD HAD NO CTH SERVICE FOR 26 DAYS for which I had already paid for and that was stopped through no fault of my own BUT due to CTH & KTV ceasing the original contract with CTH of supplying me with 3 years CTH service via the KTV cable system.

NOW I have 119 channels instead of 142, a dish on the side of my house instead of nothing AND after viewing football last night lousy quality (namely great picture via HDMI thta keeps hesitating for a micro second every 10 or so seconds (same on all channels but more noticeable with football). So Monday I contact the installers to ask why this is happening.

A QUESTION PLEASE GUYS & GALS relating to my last sentence "..after viewing EPL football last night on the CTH HS 8871R Satellite Receiver the quality was not SATISFACTORY (namely great picture via HDMI that had continuous irregular micro second hesitations for a every 10 to 20 seconds (same on all channels but more noticeable with football)....... "

or a news channel that has a moving ticker news banner at bottom (.e.g. Fox News) where you can easily see the microsecond hesitations on the moving ticker banner. Clearly channels with fast movement (movies etc.) microsecond hesitations are less easy to observe BUT I believe the micro-hesitations are there it seems for all channels.

With my former Cable Receiver the Stadium EPL HD channels were wonderful NO hesitations or any issues just solid picture quality non stop with VERY rare digital pix elation. Admittedly FOX movies channels tended to have partial pix elation on average once every 10-15 minutes which lasted maybe 1 second before clearing (no idea why)

I have noticed similar with the new Satellite Receiver but I have not viewed much since the receivers installation under 24 hours ago. Fox News today (via HDMI) did totally pixel late and breakup for 30 seconds this morning and Audio went completely out of sync. I have KTV new Digital service and retained its analogue service via a DVB T2 box) so I was able to directly compare Fox news on KTV cable analogue, on KTV cable digital AND CTH Satellite.

ONLY CTH Fox is hesitating and ONLY CTH is partially pix-elating on occasions

Clearly there is an issue with my CTH service but i have no idea if its

1) Poor Satellite Service

2) The LNB on the dish

3) Poor HS8871R receiver

My new CTH Digital Satellite Receiver is a HS8871R

It does not show Signal strength and Quality percentages (as did my Cable receiver 100% and around 85% respectively)

The Signal Strength on the HS8871R is very high I would estimate around 85%-90%

HOWEVER

the Quality seems to be around 55%

The Installers suggested normal was strength of around 80% to 95% and Quality around 55% to 65% (possibly as low as 50%). I do not know if this is truly correct

The quality level of 55% on my receiver seems very low to me (whatever they say) and I am wondering if this would cause the hesitations (these are micro seconds USUALLY and not freezes of 1 or more seconds and only. Occasionally there is some partial pix elation of part of picture but this is rare.

I am REALLY hoping some kind ThaiVisa members reading this post who get CTH Satellite reception via HS8871R will advise me if they get my symptoms or not

AND

What are your approximate Signal Strength & quality percentages.

This information will greatly assist me is how I approach the installers and CTH.

Many Thanks

Edited December 21, 2014 by gdhm

[sparkey]

Down again

Same time as yesterday

RRRRR

One thing

They've yet to go down when there's live EPL.

That would be the end of them

Also at home I don't have the delay problems another poster has but have seen it in bars

[sparkey]

I always thought I was being ripped of by SKY back home.

now I realise how fortunate I was.

[Lite Beer]

Some Options are GMMz , PSI, GMM ZipTV

IPTV 365 Sport

[NE1]

What is it with C.T.H. I have had this Satellite system installed for one reason only , English Premier League football.
Since it was installed over a year ago I have not been able to watch one Sporting event / movie / documentary without the signal freezing or dropping out. This occurs any time of the day , any day of the week , any week of the year.
It is so annoying to watch only 80% of a programme , if it wasn't for the Football I wouldn't bother.

[rwdrwdrwd]

Down again

Finally now given up

Options

For EPL live ????

Best is to return to England for the rest of the season.

Get all the cup league champions league one stop shop

Any other options??

Yep, just sign up to ilikehd and pay 30 baht for all channel access just before the game you want to watch is on. That'll give you 2 hours of footie, can also buy 3 or 5 hours, the latter for 50 baht. Alternatively a monthly package is about 300 baht, includes all premier league as well as all the other rubbish on CTH as well as loads of international satellite channels.

Can either connect the telly to a computer running ilikehd in a browser, or if you have an android box, just install the ilikehd app on it.

Edited December 21, 2014 by rwdrwdrwd

[Jip99]

A friend recommends Sun Box - anyone have experience of this.

[elfpattaya]

To gdhm.

I also paid for the same package as you via a satellite dish, everything was OK, until I moved, about 6 months ago. I thought everything was OK then, as I only watch the live football.

It was only when my son was on school holidays and he wanted to watch cartoons and movies during the day, that I noticed that I was missing or very badly pixelated, about 38 channels. These channels would all come back at about 5pm. every night, no problem.

We reported this to their Bangkok office, who to be honest were very helpful and tried to fix it remotely, unsuccessfully. Eventually we had to agree to a visit from an engineer at a cost of about 520 Baht, (not happy at that) as I thought it was their problem.

The engineer tuned up promptly the next day, only about 3 hours late, and informed us that the signal was not strong enough and he'd have to move the dish. This he did, and we now have a signal of 85% and quality of 56% and everything is now perfect. Watched the football last night on channel 61(the English version) and it was perfect, no pixelation at all.

So gdhm I would suggest you get your installer back and make sure the dish is properly aligned.

No one could explain to us why everything worked OK at night and not in the day....

I live in the Pattaya area and have 133 channels, mostly rubbish.

Edited December 21, 2014 by elfpattaya

[gdhm]

To gdhm.

I also paid for the same package as you via a satellite dish, everything was OK, until I moved, about 6 months ago. I thought everything was OK then, as I only watch the live football.

It was only when my son was on school holidays and he wanted to watch cartoons and movies during the day, that I noticed that I was missing or very badly pixelated, about 38 channels. These channels would all come back at about 5pm. every night, no problem.

We reported this to their Bangkok office, who to be honest were very helpful and tried to fix it remotely, unsuccessfully. Eventually we had to agree to a visit from an engineer at a cost of about 520 Baht, (not happy at that) as I thought it was their problem.

The engineer tuned up promptly the next day, only about 3 hours late, and informed us that the signal was not strong enough and he'd have to move the dish. This he did, and we now have a signal of 85% and quality of 56% and everything is now perfect. Watched the football last night on channel 61(the English version) and it was perfect, no pixelation at all.

So gdhm I would suggest you get your installer back and make sure the dish is properly aligned.

No one could explain to us why everything worked OK at night and not in the day....

I live in the Pattaya area and have 133 channels, mostly rubbish.

Thank you for your information elfpattaya. It seems your Signal Strength and Quality are virtually the same as mine (here in Khon Kaen City. I think my Quality using a ruler and scaling is actually about 53-54% but that may be distortion on my CRT TV and not an exact science).

May I ask 4 questions questions

1) Is your Digital Satellite Receiver a HS 88871R

2) If it is, were you able to see the percentages (if so how do I find them) or did you do (like me) estimate the bar lengths or are the percentages based on what the engineer told you.

3) Do you not get even any microsecond hesitations as described by me in my last post.

4) Today I catalogued all channels viewable on my Digital Satellite Receiver and have exactly 123 (of which 2 are SD duplicates of HD channels PPTV HD & Fox Crime HD)

The 123 INCLUDES the 8 Future Channels, BUT EXCLUDES the 16 channels that show a "No valid entitlement" message on a black screen

I attach the list which I have been working on and just finished and would be very interested if your viewable channels differ.

[elfpattaya]

Hello gdmh,

I'm sorry I don't know what sort of dish I have, have had it since day 1, I have 133 Channels which include the duplicates, I don't really know which ones, as I only really watch the football, (half time at the moment), but looks very similar to your list.

To see the quality settings, go into menu-settings-auto search, the signal and quality is at the bottom. I hope that helps, sorry I couldn't give you too any details.

If you go into the auto search and press the red button to search network it will refresh you list. Afterwards you will maybe need to press the green button to change the language.

Edited December 21, 2014 by elfpattaya

[gdhm]

Hello gdmh,

I'm sorry I don't know what sort of dish I have, have had it since day 1, I have 133 Channels which include the duplicates, I don't really know which ones, as I only really watch the football, (half time at the moment), but looks very similar to your list.

To see the quality settings, go into menu-settings-auto search, the signal and quality is at the bottom. I hope that helps, sorry I couldn't give you too any details.

If you go into the auto search and press the red button to search network it will refresh you list. Afterwards you will maybe need to press the green button to change the language.

Hi elfpattaya,

Thank you very much. Your new information has been extremely helpful

The Signal Strength on my HS8871R is: 87%/88% (alternating)

The Quality on my HS8871E is: 54%

I auto-searched and it too reported 133 TV and 1 Radio. Checked my list and it matched exactly EXCEPT Channel 71 GMM Football extra should not have been on it as there is no channel 71

I gave up watching Liverpool v Arsenal after 30 minutes as I found myself watching and seeing all the micro hesitations and one total pixelation breakup lasting 15 seconds rather than the match. SO IRRITATING.

I went to watch Fox Family channel and after a minute display totally pixillated and when it started to clear the audio sync was way out and did not correct. I flicked though a few other channels and went back and it then displayed OK with correct sync.

Clearly something is not correct with my set-up which could not be simpler. TV in Bedroom (the CTH aquamarine dish is on wall directly behind it (our upper patio) and the cable between LNB and HS8871R is a tiny 3 metres (so no chance of long cable losses).

The last 2 days and nights in where I live have been essentially windless, almost cloudless and no rain. I can only guess what I will (NOT) get if wind, clouds or rain pick up EVEN SEPARATELY if I have such poor Quality consistency now (HD pictures sharp and great and perfect if without the constant many micro-hesitations (average maybe 5 to 10 a minute) and odd periods of pix-elation breakup and audio sync failure .

As for the HS8871R I hate it. I cannot believe how slow it is in most of its responses to the remote control. Many times whilst setting up Favourites I thought it had failed to recognize a key press and I pressed again and it belatedly responded 2 seconds later. I can only assume the unit has a very slow CPU or control chip.

I have no idea if all HS8871R are as bad or just mine (some).

Compared to my old CTH Cable Receiver:

I do like the multiple Favourites option. My old cable box only allowed ONE. What I do not like (or have not found a way to do it) is (unlike my cable box) having selected Favourite there seems no way to moves between the selected Favourite group channels only using the up/down keys. Seems only selectable via Home Menu>Favourite>Favourite List Favourite Group and scrolling its list.

I also note if pressing OK when watching a channel and selecting FAV in the left pop-up list shows that it will show ALL Favourites from ALL the existing Favourite groups set up by user. There seems (to me) no way to make the unit display only a particular Favourite group (VIA THIS POP UP (great shame because if Fav groups have been made up of say Movies, Sport, News, Music Thai TV etc. then this FAV option shows almost all the channels as it combines all the Favouite groups (not helpful ).

Thanks again elfpattaya I really appreciate your useful input.

Edited December 22, 2014 by gdhm

[elfpattaya]

I have just checked and I do have the HS8871R box. I agree it is a little slow to react, but I've probably got used to it. I've not set up any favorites as I only watch the sports and Sky news, and I remember the numbers for them.

I watched the 2 games last night, no problems at all, maybe a little pixelation on the Liverpool game, but not enough to spoil the game (both watched on channel 61).

I still suggest getting your installer out and show him the problems, Maybe you have a faulty box.

[gdhm]

I have just checked and I do have the HS8871R box. I agree it is a little slow to react, but I've probably got used to it. I've not set up any favorites as I only watch the sports and Sky news, and I remember the numbers for them.

I watched the 2 games last night, no problems at all, maybe a little pixelation on the Liverpool game, but not enough to spoil the game (both watched on channel 61).

I still suggest getting your installer out and show him the problems, Maybe you have a faulty box.

Thanks again elfpattaya.

I have noticed that moving between the channels with up/down and obtaining channels by direct number input do seem to be some of the fastest and reasonable responses. I suppose there is a possibility the OTA is out of date but I fear risking trying an update even if there is one.

I agree that I need to call back the installers. I somehow suspect they will blame everything but the system but maybe not. Certainly they can retest the alignment etc. Who knows if they can get a few extra Quality percentages that may be enough especially as you are OK with 56%.

As you say maybe the box is faulty and not error correcting properly or able to cope.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year elfpattaya

[JestersShoes]

Has anyone had any experience actually cancelling?

I've got a set-top box and a dish and moving out of my condo in a month or so. I tried calling them this morning but the lady at the call centre was baffled as to what to do (she said it was her first day) so I've emailed them instead.

It seems like it's going to be one of those frustrating experiences again...

[Henryford]

I cancelled a few months back and found it impossible to actually contact them to confirm it. In the end i just stopped paying and sent them (several) registered letters saying i had cancelled. I never heard anything back from them but stopped getting the bills eventually.