TallJustin,

What is the online B.player?

One question about the PVR, would it also be able to accommodate an external HDD?

I took a look at V2.0 last night briefly but did not see any major changes to the EPG. Is there more work being done on the EPG?

While the majority of this thread is reserved for b**ching abt the broadcast and lack of channels and monopoly, I hv to say that last nights broadcast of the WC Opening game was extremely good. The 5.1 channel was mixed very well. The subwoofer channel was very active through out the broadcast with good LFE from the drums, really deep but not overpowering. The buzz was great and the surround channels very well used. It really enhanced the feeling about being there. The feed was adjusted after about 15mins in the game where the balance of the centre channel was slightly increased as it was getting drowned out by the noise, whether it was done at the source transmission or by astro I don't know, but it was good.

There was no interruption and the feed was of high quality.

Sports in HD is really something else. Hope they keep up this throughout the WC feed.

I understand what u mean, my wife actually could not stand it, it was pretty low frequency and travelled all over the house!

Someone even mentioned that a bee was trapped in my speakers.

However, I guess its a true reflection of how it sounded if u were at the stadium.

If u see, the top part of the picture was brighter than the bottom part. The feed contrast needed to be adjusted on the fly to ensure that the action is clear where it matter, that is why u feel like there is a lag. It seems better now, since the sun has gone down on the 2nd game.

I do not see a lag in the feed. What display r u using?

See which looks better to ur eyes. Yes u r right that the display needs to deinterlace the signal if it is 1080i. However, u need to decide which does a better job, ur display doing the deinterlacing or the box.

The important thing to find out is if Astro is broadcasting in native 1080i or 720p. Sending that stream to the display would be best. On my set, I find the picture slightly sharper at 1080i, softer in 720p. Slightly more deinterlacing errors in 1080i but I can live it for now.

talljustin,

Is the broadcast from Astro 720p or 1080i or is it mixed for the HD channels?

Known problems with these kinds of devices are handshake problems and sometimes when the lan cables are too short there are problems getting the oicture to show up

Do u use a Panasonic?

If yes, then the Panny does not scale a 1080i signal. So I would suggest to change the zoom on the beyond to stretch to fit.

To fix ur problem on zoom, no it will not make a different to set to 720p. The panny does not scale a 4:3 HD signal. So u hv to use the b.yond to scale ie fit to screen.

IMHO the Just scaling of the Panny is better but u don't have an option else, u need to have 2 ouputs from the b.yond box one for SD or for HD and its not ideal.

Other brands allow scaling of a HD source.

The backlog for the PVR must not be too much now. Called CS on Sunday, installer called on Thursday, installed on Saturday.

Pretty fast if u ask me.

I'm based in Penang.

The signal strength with the dual LNB is definitely lower. Not sure if it will cause me to be more prone to rain fade, of course the installer said no. Will have to see. I believe I used to get something like 200. Now on one tuner its 179 and the other lower I cannot remember.

He did not change the dish as it was already the odu65. He did move the dish and check the signal with his signal strength checker and the lnb was changed.

apex,

Very similar with mine. However, I do not see any problems as yet.

For the PVR or normal B.Yond?

The installer set up custom/user entry point for me.

Cool. Not that it means much to me as I do not have a 3D HDTV and don't really enjoy 3D for now. Are we adopting the Sky 3D HD approach? I would assume we would as it would mean no change to the infrastructure.

SiriuslyCold,

To be fair, the decision to broadcast in 3D seemed to be made kinda late. Let's look at the bright side, they seem to be at least trying to catch up for being late to the HD party in Malaysia.

BTW : Checked out the Porcupine Tree BD yet, seems to have some mastering issues with black levels.

OT : Until I saw yr previous avatar, I had not heard of PT, but I listened to some samples and like what I hear. Was planning to get the BD but with the mastering would like to wait to see if they re-issue. Maybe u can PM on their better albums so I can get the DVD-As for now.

Has the World Cup channels broadcast been stopped? If not, if u removed sports pack, how could the PQ improve? The bitrates shd be the same. I'm confused.