Guide to select DTH in India. Review on Dish TV

Guide to select DTH service in India

I intend to discuss DTH options available in India here and present their true experience honestly. I am not considering DD Direct plus because it is free of cost.

Other available options are DishTV and TataSky. I have purchased both of them in past 1 year. I shall compare them below.

1. Availability and dealer experience:

DishTV has many dealers hence good availability. But it is not a very pleasant experience with them. Dealers claim to be trained by DishTV but their approach is very unprofessional. The set top box and all other hardware is brought by dealer and installed on site. Payment needs to be done on installation. There is a 3 year contract till which you need to keep the hardware and after that on returning, they promise to return the deposit.

TataSky also has many dealers. Basically they are electronics showrooms. Hence experience varies based on the showroom staff anyway this only to buy Set top box kit. There are demo kiosks installed, so you can experience remote etc on your own. Also you can order online. Installation is done by trained TataSky employees. There is no deposit. Price is fixed for all dealers - Rs 3999.00

1. Installation:

DishTV is installed by Dealers who claim to be trained by DishTV but their approach is very unprofessional. They did not have Power tools, no scientific and diagnostic tools for alignment and signal measurement, not even a compass to check the direction. All they did is trial and error. Left loose wires, no proper grouting and the support board, screws etc were supplied by me. Documentation was done and features were briefly explained.

TataSky: After purchasing the hardware you need to call the customer care to schedule installation. Customer ID is given at this time. Though customer care said it will take 2 days, they came very next day. They called me before coming and maintained the timings. TataSky people were very systematic and skilled. They had power drill so that wall was not damaged. They did proper grouting so alignment will not change post installation. They had compass etc to check direction and leveling, Electronic instrument to measure signal, had all hardware to fix antenna. No loose wires were left. They even fixed a dribble point so rain water does not dribble inside. See the contrast in Installation Pictures. No payment needs to be done during installation. Documentation was done and executives explained everything in detail.

1. Hardware and software quality:

DishTV antenna, STB and Remote all are (KAON or ZENEGA) substandard Korean products. Software has bugs. After a few days, on accessing mail box, STB started shutting down automatically, so memory related issues. DishTV advertised that they will upgrade the software for past 2 months but the upgrade has never happened. This upgrade would allow us to access “Active” features. In built games are primitive.

TataSky has definitely better hardware and software quality. It supplies well known “Thomson” STB and antenna is better and firm. Software is also more user-friendly; so far no problem with software. Active channels are simply great. See the contrast in Set top box and Remote control Pictures. In built games are better and improved.

1. Reception:

DishTV does not live up to standard. Many channels show pixilated video, sound motion mismatch. Sound is not too great either. Volume levels differ too much between channels. Even a slight rain stops signals; probably related to improper installation. Awfully, they accept it in manual supplied! Though manual says “Interruption for few minutes”, we experienced interruption for hours.

TataSky Lives up to “DVD quality video and CD quality sound”. No channels show pixilated video, sound motion mismatch. Volume levels differ very little between channels. Rain interruption happens only on too heavy rain that too for few seconds.

1. Channel package:

DishTV has more channels than TataSky. But hold on all is not well. There is welcome + regional package starting at 160 Rs + tax. This is divided as north and south language. I had biggest problem here. When they launched Sony package, they announced that 12 new channels will be available at 50+Rs per month more. But this was misleading. Based on north or south one would get 6 different channels out of that. If you are subscribed to south, you can not watch MAX! I called up customer care and they were really rash and did not want to entertain. In fact they proposed me to subscribe for north and for regional (I am in Bangalore and I prefer Kannada channels) channels, go for DishTV pick. This means in place of 160 Rs, you will be paying 300 Rs, wah! So the packaging strategy is foolish and you will pay more than cable TV and pay for channels that you never watch! Subscription needs to be renewed monthly quarterly or yearly by paying upfront.

TataSky presently has 107 channels. They advertise it will cost 200Rs/month. But currently they have a system like prepaid mobile phone which costs 550 Rs and lasts for 3 months. So approximately 180 Rs/month is the cost. There are no packages announced yet, you get all 100+ channels.

1. Manuals:

DishTV manual is thin, A4 size colorful but not good technical content. If you loose it, you can’t get another one. You can’t download from website.

TataSky manual is thicker, about 6x8 in size, less colorful but has better technical content. A warranty card is also supplied separately. Also a small colorful leaflet about features is given. If you loose it, you can download from website.

1. After sales service, warranty and Customer service:

DishTV entirely relies on Dealer network for after sales service (onsite). These guys are neither trained nor skilled, nor qualified. In my case, due to heavy storm antenna alignment had changed so reception stopped. I called up customer care (which is a pain in itself) they asked me to contact dealer. Dealer was not willing to visit the place. Somehow I corrected it myself remembering what they did during installation. But this would not have happened if they had done firm and proper installation. There was no warranty when I purchased. They are now advertising 1 year warranty after TataSky announced it. Customer service is a lifetime pain. On an average it takes from 20 to 40 minutes to reach a representative. People are not polite, not willing to listen and they don’t solve anything.

TataSky relies on own employees which are qualified, trained and skilled. They appeared very professional and polite during installation. For any after sales problem or shifting, you can call toll free customer service (not a pain to call for now) or do it on website. So far I did not have any reason to do so. TataSky has 1 year onsite warranty. They charge 1000 Rs for installation and warranty which is included in 3999 you pay when you buy hardware. As of now customer care is good. You can reach a representative almost immediately, may be now there are less number of callers. People are polite, willing to listen, they explain well and they appear to solve problems.

Conclusion:

TataSky beats DishTV in all aspects. Only grey area is Channel package and its cost. Still it can’t be too different than DishTV because of competition. Considering the quality and service, TataSky is correct choice.