The Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will call for tender bids in the third quarter of 2009 for the UHF 470–742 megahertz spectrum which will pave the way for the country to move into the digital television era. The awarding of the spectrum will see the winner having to build a single digital terrestrial transmission/TV broadcast (DTTB) infrastructure for all broadcasters to ride on to transmit their TV programs. The winner will be announced at the end of 2009 or early 2010 and has to commence digital roll-out soon after the award where the analog switch-off is planned for 2015.

I have been getting 255 signal strength the day i install my byond until now, whatever transponder i set is also 255.

WOW !!!! That's must be a good Installer.........he is able to align the dish exactly pointing to the satellite i guess.

Actually my area of reception is very good, before that, the old decorder i am  getting around 93-95 also, about 5-7 marks to maximum of 100. Even the installer dont believe until i show him my signal strength.

  ........looks like you are staying on top of a mountain with no inteference to the signal from the satellite.

Hehe..........

edbravo, to answer your questions from my personal perspective and experience.

1. From the screen shots I have seen (I am out of the country at the moment) it looks like zoom was intended to make 4:3 letterbox broadcasts go full screen. This is a feature of some TVs (my Sony at home). You should not have to switch inputs between channels. When I am at home I watch TV in the correct way, 4:3 pillarbox, if a program is letterbox then I have to pick up my Sony remote control and zoom it. My problem is that when I zoom the TV I loose the subtitles, even when they are closed caption. If the b.yond box did the zoom then my picture would be bigger, fill the screen, not distort and I will see all the subtitles. In the rest of the world (except India), 4:3 letterbox with open captions is an all but dead format!

2. There is no "law" on stretching. But Astro will have to have their HDMI output approved by the standards body, the stretch is most certainly out of the standard guidelines. If Astro has the certification on HDMI (it may not) the stretching may make them loose it! That would be a tough call, annoy the stretchers again or comply with certified standards. Astro also license channels and programs from the big studios such as fox and disney, the stretching could easily breach their license and the channel could withdraw or force Astro to remove stretch, a tough decision should it happen!

3. I think the zoom was intended to make letterbox 4:3 go full screen, like my sony TV at home. Yes this is better (in my opinion) stretching almost makes me ill (as a professional).

4. You will never have the option for all channels in HD, look around the world. Sky in the UK, 400+ SD channels, 32 HD, they have had HD for 4 years! Direct TV in the USA has also 400+ channels and about 80 in HD. These HD channels cost the customer about RM60 a month! The decision for HD or SD depends on the number of subscribers for that channel, HD cost 4 times more to transmit and double to buy or produce the content, if the channel is a minority one then it stays in SD. If we start talking about 16:9 SD then this is possible as almost zero cost, often they just change settings in the studio or production!

5. Do you think I am happy having to view letterbox content as a postage stamp on the screen? This is a personal thing, I hate stretching and I can not see why someone who has paid a fortune for an LED TV would want distorted video? The CNET article here explains it very well, see the 16:9 (widescreen) page.

6. All other HD boxes that I have seen do not offer anything other than Pillarbox for the reasons detailed in answer 1. Astro is the only operator that allows stretch. Many BluRay and HDMI devices do breach the aspect ratio but their model is different to a broadcaster. A broadcaster continually updates the software in the box, requires ongoing certification and has to keep the program owners happy, like Disney. I actually applaud Astro for at least trying to do something other than forcing everyone to pillar box with no choice, but if they actually sorted themselves out and did 16:9SD then we would not have this problem in the first place!

The SD has not got worse (I actually look at their broadcast on a PC card analyser), your personal standards have got higher now you have HD, this happens in nearly every country that launches HD! Your mind and eyes change to the better quality, at some point you will see stretching as I do! ;-) All business  have to listen to customers but also move forward, did Apple or Sony listen to the "backwards compatibility" argument for Mac OS or PS3, no... sometimes the customer does not alway want what is right and sometimes they do. Sometimes businesses have to make tough decisions, stretch and continue bad viewing habits and put your license and approval at risk or zoom and force people to change an old habit. Its a tough call, I am please I only install them and do not have to make decisions like this!



BTW I am doing some massive installs in Japan for a Ultra HD demo, amazing. What makes me laugh is when I see a 100 inch Ultra HD TV and think of Astros 4:3 Letterbox with open captioning, it would just look terrible. Like playing a VHS in a cinema!

Its not staying on top of the mountain, forgot to tell u guys i install a signal amplifier n at the same time my area of reception is also good without mountain n building blocking.

Buy a Logitech Harmony universal remote.

Signal amplifier will boost your signal and also boost a noise. But it not a bad product.

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Added on March 17, 2010, 4:33 pm
Can this remote control everything on TV like to access menu, sleep mode, zoom. I means it functionally is exactly like TV remote. All function are accessible. Or it just control volume, input, on/off like byond remote. 

Just wanna ask u guys opinion. I got 3 plasmas at home. Gonna get Byond for the 1080p TV downstairs for sure. 1 is a SD plasma in my children's bedroom so definitely don't need. However, my bedroom got a 720p plasma, thinking whether I should also get Byond for it. Is it gonna be a lot nicer than SD on a 720p TV?

For those who are interested to integrate Astro B.yond with Windows Media Center.


This is Astro B.yond HD feed via Windows Media Center using DVBLink.

Test clip. This one using Arcsoft Total Media Extreme.
http://hotfile.com/dl/33103480/b609910/Ast...pture_3.TS.html

And this one using Windows Media Center 7. It's WTV format so you'll need Media Center 7 to view it.
http://hotfile.com/dl/33111586/c40df55/Ast...apture.wtv.html

The SD has not got worse (I actually look at their broadcast on a PC card analyser), your personal standards have got higher now you have HD, this happens in nearly every country that launches HD! Your mind and eyes change to the better quality, at some point you will see stretching as I do! ;-)

AstInst,
Any idea how RTM channel looks better than any Astro SD channel 

Can this remote control everything on TV like to access menu, sleep mode, zoom. I means it functionally is exactly like TV remote. All function are accessible. Or it just control volume, input, on/off like byond remote. 

most probably through component video  to capture card

got ppl still watch RTM.      

Astro B.yond output via HDMI
HDMI signal converted to Component and Audio using HDFury2
Capture via Hauppauge HD-PVR via Component and Optical-in (with DVBLink plugin)