ESPN HD replaces Ten HD

ESPN HD has officially replaced Ten HD as a full time channel on the HD pack. It is still unclear whether AXN HD & Ten HD will continue to share one channel, however it's its highly likely that it will be shared whenever a cricket match is telecast or some other important "live" sporting event is telecast.

As of late ESPN HD has been very popularly requested to be incorporated as a permanent channel on this blog & it's great to note that Dialog have made an attempt to satisfy subscriber requests. However this has come at the cost of dissatisfying Ten HD fans.

As far as we are concerned Dialog cannot continue with this present trend of replacing and time sharing  channels because one of these days subscribers may begin to replace their Dialog TV connection. So in light of present trends Dialog should immediately invest in some transponder space or urgently speed up the MPEG2 to MPEG4 conversion, so that more HD & SD channels can be added to the Dialog TV lineup. It's quite surprising that Dialog TV have carried out some real short term planning when it comes to their HD channel lineup & future expansion plans.

Please continue updating us on the latest regarding Dialog TV as the days progress.

ESPN HD full time, AXN HD/Ten HD time shared

Dialog are time sharing AXN HD with Ten HD whilst keeping ESPN HD full time. This could be applicable either for the period of the olympics only and then ESPN HD & Ten HD might time share and AXN may be available full time.

Whatever the case is, Axiata should make a considerable investment into Dialog TV in order to improve the situation otherwise in a few years, all the channels will be time shared and we will not have any channels available 24hrs a day.

SD channels are being time shared, high cost HD channels are being time shared. This should come to an end and Dialog should carry out the MPEG2 to MPEG4 conversion on all channels immediately.

Please keep us updated on the latest on  Dialog TV as the days progress.

Channel "Time sharing" spreads to HD channels

In a not so surprising move, Dialog have followed up the positive HD channel launch with a negative move. The time sharing of channels has spread to other channels and this time the highly priced HD channels are being targeted. Ten HD will be time shared with ESPN HD from today or tomorrow. According to official information on the Dialog Facebook page, it was indicated that the time sharing will be for the F1 races but other information suggests that it would cover the time period of the Olympic games too.

Regardless of how and when it will take place it's now almost certain that Dialog has no more capacity to add another HD channel to their brand spanking new transponder otherwise why would they want to time share Ten HD with ESPN HD. Which means that Dialog will have to purchase additional transponders to add new channels or accelerate the MPEG2 to MPEG4 conversion programme to free up space in other transponders.

Dialog haven't learnt from the past that time sharing is not an option for them and continue to do so despite protests raised by subscribers. If time sharing of HD channels occurs then many subscribers will discontinue the HD pack that they activated only a month or so ago. Dialog in a hurried effort to launch HD before others are now in the process of messing it up.

We urge Dialog TV to immediately scrap the planned time sharing move and add ESPN HD as a separate channel to the HD pack or refrain from adding it totally until transponder space is available.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Dialog TV as the days progress.

MPEG4 conversion to be resurrected

Several years after abandoning the MPEG4 conversion program, Dialog seems to be resurrecting it after launching HD and incorporating MPEG4 based broadcasting into their system. According to reports being received, one or more transponders will be converted to MPEG4 initially. New subscribers will be issued MPEG4 compatible decoders plus existing ones will be converted. A few years back Dialog TV did convert some of their existing subscribers to MPEG4. If they are converting to DVB-S2 MPEG4 then we believe that all the decoders will have to be replaced once again or if its going to be DVB-S MPEG4 then it's only the ones who were not issued with MPEG4 decoders who should be issued with new decoders.

We are unable to confirm which broadcasting standard Dialog TV will adopt, this move will benefit Dialog V on the long run since they will be able to free up space for new channels and would be able to add more channels without leasing new transponders.

If Dialog TV are able to carry through with this project & complete it, then Dialog TV would be able to provide their subscribers with a much better service. Unlike in previous years where a lot of negativity has engulfed Dialog TV as each year progressed and drew to a close, now with just over half the year gone Dialog TV can end the year 2012 on a positive & successful note if they are able to stick through and complete everything satisfactorily.

Looks like the rumored developments at a particular competitor has awoken the sleeping giant, who hopefully for everyone's sake does not go back to sleep again.

Please keep us updated on these latest developments on Dialog TV as the days progress.

PVR tips for recording with incorrect EPG information

We have received several comments about the problems with EPG on Dialog TV resulting in problems with recording since the programme being recorded doesn't get recorded properly. Dialog TV EPG mostly reads the wrong information specially on Star Movies India HD & SD.

As one of our bloggers pointed out the safest way to make sure a movie is being recorded proper is to record using the "Timer" record function rather than the "EPG" record function. The most accurate EPG is on the channel website. But we do know that sometimes that too is wrong but in rare cases. Most of the Star Movies "One Break Movie", "Sunday Firsts" & "Movie of the Month" start & end according to the information given on the website but some of the others do tend to start late and end later than the stipulated time. 

Therefore when doing a "Timer" recording, please set the scheduled start time to at least "15min" before the stipulated start time on the website and set the end time to at least 1/2 hr after the stipulated end time for a Movie, if there is sufficient space even a 1hr late end time would mean that the entire movie would be recorded. If its a regular TV series then an end time 15min later than the stipulated end time would be sufficient we believe. 

We do hope that Dialog TV take immediate steps to sort out problems with the EPG.