TATA Sky + HD Review (Hands-On)

Replacing the Cable TV, the DTH operators have a come a long way in creating a strong position in the Indian market. Tata Sky is a DTH (Direct-To-Home) Service which is revolutionizing the way Indians watch TV. Since initial days, Tata Sky offered 3 different types of Set Top Boxes, the one with no recording and no HD, the next one(Tata Sky HD) came with HD, and now the Tata Sky+ HD (which has the feature of playing as well as recording live TV)

I wouldn’t really talk about the “How to Install” and “How to work around with it” as, the Installation part will be done by the executive who will visit your place and the User interface is pretty much self explanatory and easy to use. I would be talking more about the usage experience, its features, the quality and whether its a good option for you or not!

Some Features of Tata Sky+ HD

Tata Sky+ HD box has an in-built 500 GB Hard Drive which enables you to record and save more than 625 hours of HD video (1080i)
Let me tell you, 500 GB of video is a lot! Just imagine watching 625 hours of video. Firstly, You are surely not going to record that much. (Do you plan to record your TV for 25 continuous days?) Assume you do, still you do not need to worry about anything! You wont get any warnings of “low disk space remaining” anytime.

The best part is you can record Two feeds at the same time, the one which you are currently viewing and the one of your choice in the background.

You can Pause and Resume watching Live TV
Imagine watching a Live Cricket match and you get up from in-front of the TV to get something from the kitchen. It happens with most of us, that we miss something very important during this time (like some team losing a wicket). Alas, you just missed the most important part of the Match.

Oops, NO! Now you need not worry about that, as Tata sky+ has brought in a Live TV recording facility which will enable you to save any part of the program you are watching. You can also Pause the Live action and Resume it when you are back. You can resume any Paused content within 45 minutes of its transmission or you have to completely skip that section and move to the Live transmission.

More and more HD Content can be viewed as a wide variety of Indian TV Channels are moving to HD
Discovery Turbo, Movies NOW, etc; were some HD channels already available since the last 3-4 months. But a new group of HD channels have made its way into the Indian market with Star Plus, Star Gold and English Entertainment channels like Star Movies and Star World along with Nat Geo.

Do not forget that the Cricket World Cup 2011 was transmitted in HD and we all TATA Sky users were very happy with it. The Ads free nature of this HD transmission was an added boon!

Video on Demand Facility is Available
You can purchase Movies on Demand from the Video on Demand Section. The best part is that you can view the purchased Movie any time you want. But don’t expect too much, you would only get movies which are more than 6 months old..

Dolby Digital Plus Support
If you have a Home theater system in place then the sound effects are of the ultimate quality thanks to the brilliant Dolby Digital Plus technology. You can actually have a Movie Theatre like experience at home..

USB and Ethernet port for Future use
This is one cool thing. You currently do not have any access to these options, as in, you cannot use it.. But, it keeps us wondering what innovation will Tata Sky bring in soon to incorporate Internet and the USB cable. Thinking with respect to the recent technologies, we expect Internet TV and USB playback facility to come to the HD plus pack soon.

Our Experience

The Picture quality of HD channels is the BEST! You cannot compare the clarity and the sharpness of the HD channels with their non HD versions. I particularly compared, the Live cricket on Star Cricket as well as Star Cricket HD (during the WC 2011), the Sharpness and the contrast ratio was just amazing (I actually started believing in the TV ads)

The Interface is pretty easy to use. If you plan to Pause and Record TV, its simple as usual. You can also use the recording facility by using a Mobile Application.

The Remote control offered with the Box is also easy to understand (not universal) and work around with.

Price and our thoughts

Tata Sky+ HD has truly lived up to our expectations with the Box costing just Rs. 3,999, so its not really an expensive investment given the quality it offers.

Now comes the most important part where you have to decide the channels which interest you. It may require a bit of discussion with your family, but (suggestion) do not miss out on the HD channels pack. You got to buy this one!