Comparison of major dth players in India & ranking. Review on General Tips on DTH Service

I was looking for a good DTH HD connection for my Samsung 32" series 5 HD  LED TV. I decided to search the net for customer reviews, tech reviews, feedback, & forums, and also visited shops to clearly understand features, strengths, & weaknesses of major players in DTH market. Finally I have ranked the service providers as below and purchased the product that I thought is the best at present considering all aspects. I will share my findings below. Some good offers on DTH are also available on https://86brands.com.

1. SUN DIRECT: The last contender. May be strong in south India but there are better players in the market. Overall, reviews were not good in any of the aspects.

   
   




2. DISH TV: Oldest player in DTH market in India. Reviews were average. Apparently, Customer service is not up to the mark, Picture & Audio quality is at best average. They offer almost all channels. But there are better players in the market.

   
   




3. BIG TV: DTH service from Reliance Anil Ambani group. Customer service seems to be very poor. Picture & Audio quality is good. Their large & bright onscreen logo is a problem. There were lots of complaints about unauthorised deduction of money, etc. from customer's accounts. I didn't consider this service as I don't really have faith in this company.

   
   




4. TATA SKY: Many consider it as the best DTH service in India. Customer service is very good, Picture & Audio quality is also good. Has good features. The reason it is in number three in my list was for its lesser number of available channels, and very high monthly cost. In fact it is "The most expensive DTH service" in India. Even if you compare A-la-carte channel price, Movies Now is Rs.50 in Tata Sky, Rs.20 in Airtel & Videocon. I have checked almost all channel prices, each of them is priced higher by Rs.2 to Rs.10 in comparison to Airtel & Videocon.each of the channels! And that is really expensive. They also frequently drop channels from packages, even from annual packs, hence, customers don't get what they have paid for. Overall, good service, bad pricing.

   
   




5. AIRTEL DTH: Coming form a very big brand name. Customer service seems to be the poorest, Picture quality is good, but there are complaints about Audio quality. There must be a problem with their STB quality, I have read numerous reviews about Airtel STB's need repair / replacement within 1 - 1.5 year. And after 1 year they charge. Airtel channel offerings and package pricing is good. Overall, a good service.

   
   




6. VIDEOCON D2H: The newest player in DTH market, coming from a not-so-reputed(in my personal opinion) brand name. Initially I didn't considered it at all. But the more I researched, the more I was convinced about the product. Initially they had some issues with Picture & Audio quality, menu, EPG, etc. But they seem to have improved a lot over time. Customer service is good, Picture quality is also good, but Audio quality could have been better. But I have checked both Airtel & Tata Sky PQ & AQ, Videocon is very much comparable, if not better. As per different reviews performance during rain and cloudy weather is also better in Videocon. They offer almost all channels available with highest number of HD channels(Real HD, not the up-scaled SD channels). Best part is their package pricing, it is the lowest among all players. Now, this is the company which is offering good customer service, comparable Picture & Audio quality in comparison to any other player, doesn't seem to have any specific problem, offering almost all channels with highest number of HD channels, and charging the least! In technology front, only Airtel & Videocon is offering the latest MPEG 4 DVB-S2 technology, and Videocon is the only 3D ready DTH HD box available in India as of now. I thought this is the best DTH service available considering all parameters.

   
   

I must also add one major negative policy of Videocon d2h, that is to take back all the hardware(STB, Dish, LNBF, etc.) if a customer discontinues his/her monthly subscription. But they would not inform you about this policy during the online buying process, once you pay, the service engineer will come and install the dish & STB, and before leaving he will hand over a "Customer Application Form" that says that when you clicked "Buy Online" tab in their official website, you were not actually buying, you were renting. This is non-disclosure of crucial information to customers during the sell process. I must say this is unethical considering the amount of money that a customer pays for the Hardware+installation charges, 1390+200 for normal STB, 1890+1000 for HD STB, 4490+1500 for HD-DVR, and 2690+300 for Satellite DVD. Note that they are actually taking money for the hardware, highest among its competitors, and still retaining ownership rights of the hardware with themselves. This is clear violation of customer rights and must be corrected. As per the TRAI guidelines customers must be given options like "Rental", "Outright Sale", & "Hire Purchase" to chose from during the sale process only, i.e. when a customer clicks on the tab "Buy Online", these three options must appear with detailed Terms & Conditions. Otherwise, in its present form of online purchase, Videocon should honor customer's ownership rights on the hardware. Further, as per the TRAI guidelines, even if a customer discontinues monthly subscription, Free to Air channels should be available on that connection.

Please read my review on Videocon d2h as a customer in Videocon d2h review section: "PART 2: DETAILED PRODUCT REVIEW".