Not really. The remote works with your TV to control the volume but the audio out is at a standard level. Just like how the stereo out from a DVD player is at a standard level.

Incorrect. B.yond->HDMI->Receiver->HDMI->HDTV. OR B.yond->HDMI->HDTV for video, and B.yond->Coax->Receiver for audio.


fuad

Astro is being difficult. So do this. Cancel B.yond and get the second decoder installed. Then within 1 minute of activation, call Astro IN FRONT OF THE INSTALLER and ask for B.yond. I'm sure the installer will feel the love.

What's the resolution setting on your PS3? If it's 720p or 1080i, then what you could do is swap the PS3's HDMI cable to B.yond - DO NOT CHANGE THE HDMI INPUT on the TV. See if that works. If it works at 720p/1080i, no problem. If it doesn't work, that means the HDMI port on B.yond is faulty OR the HD output hasn't been enabled yet; if it's the latter, you need to call Astro CS to enable HDMI output.


fuad

Firstly, is your HDMI option on B.yond turned on? If not, call Astro and get them to turn it on. Yes, it has to be Astro that can turn it on.

Secondly, if it is already turned on but you still can't get picture, there can be a variety of problems.
1) Bad HDMI port. Could be on B.yond or on your TV. So change the HDMI input to see if it works.
2) Could be a bad HDMI cable. IF you have a spare HDMI cable, use that to see if it improves.
3) The most expensive problem. Your HDTV is not HDCP capable.


fuad

Hmmm. So far the PS3 can let you play 1080i video via component but needs HDMI to play 1080p. Check online resources or your manual to see if your TV has HDCP with its HDMI input.


fuad

Not quite true on censorship. TRUE that any content gets censored first but viewing and censoring are done using BetaHD. It's very quick. Also to some degree, the tapes may contain clean language instead of the R-rated ones.

Once the tape passes the censors, it gets played on the BetaHD decks. The H.264 encoding is done online aka LIVE. The reason for live encoding is simple: the broadcaster is the one that sets the bitrate per channel. If it's pre-encoded, it may be encoded to too high a bitrate.

I don't like censorship but we have to live with it until the majority of Malaysians understand why censorship is not needed.


fuad

Panasonic PT-AE4000 costs RM7000 + Shipping if you buy from the US. Here's the ProjectorCentral.com review. It's the latest 1080p PJ, with auto aspect ratio changing for CIH screens. You'd want to use it with BDs more than with B.yond.


fuad

Thanks for the correction. But delaying a movie for over an hour when you can do it online on the spot doesn't make sense. At most you delay is 15 minutes.

Of course. But they do use tape to download to the servers. But what they can censor first, they will.


fuad

That comes up to RM4 per channel. But right now the RM20 won't be charged until April.

By the time they get xxx number of subscribers, those subscribers will demand more HD channels. Naturally more HD channels mean more cost.

Do you expect Astro should provide the HD channels for free? If and when RTM and others broadcast in HD, you can have those channels for free.

You can use this component cable to get 1080i using your PS3. It's a PS2/PS3 component cable.

See if your TV has any input default. It could be that the HDMI port you used for B.yond is the same port for the PS3.


fuad

RTM would have to have the equipment to handle everything in HD first before you could ask Astro to include them in HD.

MTV's HD is actually MHD which stands for MTV HD. Mostly all music videos all the time, I believe. Their "reality shows" are not shot in HD from what I understand so that's why the content is music videos. However, most of the music videos are not in HD either but upconverted. But that may be MHD before the US stopped OTA in SD. It is a waste that most of the music videos that were shot on film were never mastered in HD.


fuad

Well if it gets parents to subscribe to B.yond...

Local production have always needed to break out of catering to local market. If HD is going to cost them more, they have to figure out how to make their investments work.


fuad

Those who want to split the HDMI signal, you can buy a HDMI splitter like the ones at Monoprice (import). Theirs are HDCP compliant, which means that you won't get video "snow".

What you must remember is that the setup for all rooms that the signal is split must be identical. That is, if the living room has a 5.1 sound system via a HDMI receiver, the other room must also be 5.1 compliant or at the very least, the TV can downconvert 5.1 DD to stereo. I don't think this HD split signal can work any other way because using the coax digital out, you'd need to split that audio signal as well.


fuad

Buy it from Tesco or Carrefour. Under RM20, I think.


Not true.

For Astro, yes no DD for SD channels. But they can do it if they want to. Audio for the SD channels are already encrypted in MPEG-2 audio.

Are you talking about the B.yond decoder or HDMI in general? Because I've heard from other users that they use the B.yond->Receiver->HDTV HDMI connection and they can get DD 5.1

For the record, HDMI 1.3, which is what B.yond has, can support Multichannel PCM 7.1, Dolby TrueHD 7.1 bitstream and DTS HDMA bitstream. So logically, it supports DD and DTS bitstreams as well.


For longer splits, you need to convert the HDMI signal to CAT5 cabling and then back again.

And again, the issue is still the same - DD 5.1 against HDTVs with no DD 5.1 downconversion. If the HDTVs in the house do not have this feature, you need 5.1 receivers in every room to get the HD channels. So you need either HDTVs that can downconvert the DD 5.1 or get HTiBs for each room.


fuad

Not every DVD HTiB in the market has digital (coax/optical) input. The cheaper sub RM500 ones don't. The ones that cost more than that have either optical or coax, and only half have both.

And for those who insist on Monster cable to ensure a better Dolby Digital quality, please stop. If the receiver can decode the DD signal using a simple RCA cable, then it works. Until that cable no longer works (your receiver intermittently decodes the DD signal), enjoy the cheap and easy. The same goes to the HDMI cable!


fuad