After a period of inactivity in terms of new developments Dialog TV have introduced the Personal Video Recording Feature for an additional monthly rental. Unlike IPTV where all the recording & storage takes place at the service providers end, here it takes place at the subscribers end. Dialog is providing a 4GB pen drive approximately meaning 4 hours worth of recording but you can connect any USB 2.0 large capacity HDD for recording which is encrypted and cannot be watched on any other device.
With Dialog PVR recording can take place for only one channel at a time unlike in IPTV where multiple channels are recorded at the same time allowing the subscriber to be able to access programmes from multiple channels spanning several days.
All in all this feature cannot match the Time Shifting & PVR facilities provided by an IPTV network and is also not close to the PVR features provided by other DTH networks in the region who provide from 130 to 200 hours of recording and remote recording by instructing the PVR to begin recording either from a mobile phone or through the Internet. With Dialog providing internet & mobile services, we believe that this maybe just around the corner.
Dialog TV have taken a step in the right direction but with only a measly 4 hours of recording and less features in comparison to other service providers the rental of Rs 750/= exclusive of taxes for something that will take place at the subscribers end using the subscribers electricity has already killed the service. Dialog TV should immediately reduce the rental, give a decoder with a multiple tuner (the present dual tuner allows to watch one while recording the other) allowing multiple recording of channels at the same time & allow upto 200 hours of recording as standard.
So at the moment our conclusion is that the PVR service idea is good but lacks a lot in terms of recording capacity & features in comparison to the other service providers and is also grossly over priced and will be an utter failure unless Dialog rethinks the pricing and makes improvements to the service. One more thing is that even if Dialog can match the features of other service providers then Rs 750/= will still be considered as being grossly over priced. So a price reduction is a MUST.
With Dialog PVR recording can take place for only one channel at a time unlike in IPTV where multiple channels are recorded at the same time allowing the subscriber to be able to access programmes from multiple channels spanning several days.
All in all this feature cannot match the Time Shifting & PVR facilities provided by an IPTV network and is also not close to the PVR features provided by other DTH networks in the region who provide from 130 to 200 hours of recording and remote recording by instructing the PVR to begin recording either from a mobile phone or through the Internet. With Dialog providing internet & mobile services, we believe that this maybe just around the corner.
Dialog TV have taken a step in the right direction but with only a measly 4 hours of recording and less features in comparison to other service providers the rental of Rs 750/= exclusive of taxes for something that will take place at the subscribers end using the subscribers electricity has already killed the service. Dialog TV should immediately reduce the rental, give a decoder with a multiple tuner (the present dual tuner allows to watch one while recording the other) allowing multiple recording of channels at the same time & allow upto 200 hours of recording as standard.
So at the moment our conclusion is that the PVR service idea is good but lacks a lot in terms of recording capacity & features in comparison to the other service providers and is also grossly over priced and will be an utter failure unless Dialog rethinks the pricing and makes improvements to the service. One more thing is that even if Dialog can match the features of other service providers then Rs 750/= will still be considered as being grossly over priced. So a price reduction is a MUST.
