I have put my DVB S2 analyser on this, there has been no change on the 1st HD transponder, all bitrates are the same as when they launched.

They have however "lit up" a second and third transponder, there are also 5 video streams per transponder on these new. All videos are at 8mbps same as before.

The ESPN thing may be due to ESPN and the feed they are using, this will change from event to event.

Get real everyone!

We are all complaining about the price of the PVR and HD, have a look around the world!

I spent 2 years working in the UK (doing uplinks for the BPL) and paid RM2800 for a 320GB PVR and RM70 per month for the service (it was RM7 to 1 pound at the time)! The price has come down a bit since then, but have a look around!

These guys are a business, they need to make money!

In the UK I subscribed to sport, movies, HD (RM70) and PVR (RM70), at the time there was about 9 HD channels, this used to cost me RM470 per month!

I have worked intermittently in the USA, Oz, NZ, Japan and a few others, this has to be the cheapest PVR and HD service around! Just look at the Direct TV or Foxtel website! What I also know is that these PVR boxes normally cost over 250USD each and have a monthly license fee that the likes of Astro have to pay. This is the same, Astro will get it no cheaper than countries that have 5 times the subscription charges.

Do some basic maths, if your subscription is RM100 and RM30 (10USD) of that is Astro profit, then it will take them over 25 months just to get back the PVR investment, this is probably the real reason for the RM300 install fees!

What Astro does do that not many others do is they "own" the PVR, this means they fix it for free! In the UK they charge either RM700 for a repair (I had to get mine fixed) or offer a RM49 monthly maintenance service!

I am in South Africa at the moment (World Cup :-) ) and will be there until August, as soon as I get back I will be getting the PVR as I know that it is great value! I might even keep my B.yond box and get them to put it in my kitchen and add a hard disk (I am curious to see it work)!

I am sure Astro will give some discounts after the World Cup or towards the end of the BPL, this is normal business, but only to those guys on their top subscription!

Sorry, I had to say something. I love Malaysia, I was born there and spend most of my time at home in Ipoh, but sometimes we think we are so done over and that everyone else has it better. With the old Astro (silver) box I had, I would agree, but B.yond, HD and from the look of the PVR is seems to be better than many I have seen and at less than half the price!

Before you flame me, look around the world! Remember, they are a business and we are getting a reasonable deal!

I have not seen a "plug n play" hard disk any where else in the world, I think this is a world first (or second or third), but not many places have it. In the UK there was one choice take it or leave it, one size HDD (320), one model (two tuner), one purchase price (RM 2800), one monthly fee (RM70). When my PVR was repaired I lost all recordings, I am really surprised that Astro is giving a choice, I thought that they would only offer the PVR!

I was just thinking, in the UK my HDD failed after about 2 years. I could buy the USB HDD and just get a new one every year, keep a library. The HDD is less likely to fail sat on a shelf and only being played once in a while.

The only problem is that when swapping the HDD over to view the library you would have to make sure you had no recordings scheduled, unless it can work on the front USB!!

If it could work on the front USB then I would go for the "plug n play" external unit, it would be an endless library!

While I am on Lowyat (I have been busy in South Africa preparing for the World Cup, the 3D is amazing!) I thought I would mention about the Stacker Destacker that we first used in the UK.

See http://www.globalinvacom.com/products/pdfs/StackDestackW.pdf

It allows a two feed PVR to be used on a single cable. It takes two independent LNB connections, combines them on one wire and splits them back out again at the back of the decoder. I lived in a tower block in London and had to pay RM700 for one to be fitted so I could use a PVR (they didn't have the single tuner option we have with the USB HDD).

The downside is that they are expensive and need very good 2 Ghz cable, most concealed cable in Malaysia is 1 Ghz and really only good for TV aerials, this causes more rainfade than the rain!

If you google stacker destacker (http://www.google.com.my/search?q=stacker+destacker) you will see all the difficulties they have had in the UK. Here in Malaysia we are only now just catching up and having a real satellite TV installation that can do multiple polarities and multiple frequency bands, we were about 12 years behind the UK/USA, but it is still a big problem in Asia.

Depends how they do it, three (or four) competing standards. Some use same as HD, some use a little more, some use a lot more. The more bandwidth the better the quality but many argue that the quality improvements are pointless as your brain cannot process quick enough.

Most are using "split screen" as it is the most compatible with existing equipment and uses same bandwidth as a normal HD channel.