Yes, this is for two reasons. Even on an SD TV the Astro B.yond media box will be better quality providing you connect using the component (RGB) not composite cable. The biggest improvement comes from SD when you use a HDMI cable. Firstly, the Astro B.yond box forces the viewer to keep the correct aspect ratios, no squashed or stretched picture. But secondly, and most importantly, the HDMI connection allows the TV to display the full SD overscan picture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overscan

The analogue connection from the box does not allow for full overscan as it has to assume a lesser quality TV, with HDMI the decoder can safely display the full overscan.

The only downside to the SD overscan being present is that on some channels the data lines will be visible, these are the small white dots that you may see, but its a small price to pay.

Depending on how you do the maths and your old TV quality, the improvement will be between 17 and 30% in terms of visible picture.

I really don't understand what you are saying here?

Measat 3a is only available to Astro B.yond decoders that have had the correct installation done so they can tune to the high frequency range transmitted by Measat 3a. Measat 3a is not available to the older SD decoders as they cannot tune the high frequency range and they can only receive DVB-S not DVB-S2.

The HD channels on Measat 3a (from my testing using a PC card) are at 8Mbits/s using DVB-S2 modulation in MPEG4, for modern encoders, which I assume Astro has, give a really good HD picture.

Your statement of "sholud align back their M3A to reduce Video Gain for SD material" does not make sense to me, can you explain further?

(Just to save further comment, my PC card can only look at the signal and it's parts, I cant see any video or hear any audio as it is encrypted. I use the PC card as an analyzer professionally to check the make up of a satellite transmission.)

This post has been edited by AstInst: Dec 21 2009, 03:33 PM

I think I get what you mean, if Astro was to increase SD MPEG 2 to 9Mbits/s then we would only have 3 channels per transponder, a total of 30 channels... so which 70 channels would you propose to remove in order to do this?

The SD channels on Astro B.yond are the same Measat 3 transmissions that was received by your old SD decoder, they are not specific transmissions to Astro B.yond.

My Astro B.yond gives perfect 5.1 audio, no echo just true 5.1. You should check your audio settings, you could have some post processing that is causing the effect. Some cinema audio systems have mode that turns stereo in to an artificial surround sound, you could have this switched on. As with the TV you should turn off all enhancement modes on your amplifier.

I would also check that you have not got crossed wires, i.e. red on the amplifier connected to red on the speaker, if red is connected to black then you could get all kinds of phasing issues. Also, make sure you are using the digital audio connections, not stereo analogue.

You should switch off all picture enhancements, like 200Hz/100Hz, "True Motion", "Pixel Plus".. all they do is either blur the picture or try to add stuff that isnt there.

The best way to view any picture is to do it as pure as possible, also flatten the color response of the TV itself. Most TVs in Asia ship in "Vivid" or similar mode.

Yes, if there was such a thing as 1080p broadcast, then it would need about 1 transponder per channel, this would multiply transmission costs by a factor of 5 and limit the channel offering. M3a has 12 Ku band transponders, a (theoretical) 1080p offering would be 12 channels, with 1080i this would be 60 channels! What would you rather have!

The increase in costs would be passed directly back to us, HD would certainly be more than 20 bucks a month and the proposed 5 launch channels would mean we would be half way to all the bandwidth gone!

Ah... not forgetting the fact that there is no 1080p standard and wont be for another 2 years, this gives Astro 2 choices...

Wait for 2 years, launch a maximum of 12 channels that are expensive to consumers in 1080p or launch now with a good value proposition and have 5 channels per transponder at a reasonable cost with 1080i... if it were my business I know which I would do!

haha... or even wait for 2160p, in DVB-S3 in MPEG10... I am happy to have it now!