Hi all,

I have a few questions that wish some of you can help answer:

I only subscribe to very minimal channels, paying RM62.90 per month.
Last week, I received a postcard from Astro asking me to call their number, urgently!
I called and they said they want to replace my old Nokia decoder to new one, absolutely free of charge.
I agreed and I got the new B.yond and new disc installed today.
The installer said it needs 1~2 hours for my Smart Card to activate.
So leave the smart card in it and don't turn off the B.yond decoder.

This is already more than 6 hours now, and I still see "Please insert your Astro smart card. (1)" on the screen.
I can listen to Radio channels, and that's all.
I can see the UI, go to Setting page etc..
The decoder is connected using HDMI cable.
I called the installer earlier, he said he will call Astro and check for me, but he never call me back and it is late now, not good to call him and disturb at this time.

Now my questions are:

1) Should I call Astro myself at this time? What is the operating hours or Astro customer service at 1300-82-3838?

2) How do I insert Astro smart card properly and correctly?
Whenever I insert the card into the slot, nothing will happen and "Please insert your Astro smart card. (1)" message stayed on!
If I gently push the card further in (meaning totally in), the screen would go blank and a moment later, it display I insert the wrong card or the card was insert incorrectly.

3) I read some forumers here said HDMI interface only available if I subscribe to HD.
Now I haven't subscribe to HD (yet) and am using HDMI connection, but I can still see all the on screen display, menu, TV channel guide etc...
Am I having the HDMI issue? If my HDMI interface is not activated, can I see all these information on TV?

I think this message already too long and I apologize if this post annoyed someone.

Thanking you in advanced for any help!

Many many thanks for the information....!!!!
I will call Astro NOW...!

Regarding the smart card, yes the chip is facing up...

Thanks again, I will call them now and will let you know how they say..


<< EDIT >>
Phew....! Called Astro customer service.... it's ok now...
The guy said my card already activated, and the proper way of inserting the smart card was the way I did, gently push it till the end.
But the reason why the machine can't recognize my card and it even not responding to any key pressed, that's because I need to "reboot" the decoder which I also did that but still can't?
The key is, I need to switch the decoder OFF for at least 15 second (I was earlier switch it OFF for 5 to 10 seconds then on again, which was incorrect, and it was not working ).

By the way, I may be one of the lucky batch or Astro changed their policy?
I can use HDMI interface despite I haven't activate / subscribe to HD package.
In System Version inside Setting menu, HDMI is stated ON.
Anyway, I will study and find out which HD channels I will get if I subscribe to it.

Once again, I really would like to thank you again, AjkR06, for your assistant.




This post has been edited by G K Lai: Nov 5 2010, 11:48 PM

Hi all,

There are currently 13 HD channels available, can someone please help point out which HD channel is tied to which package?
For example, some of the below I already knew are:

* OLI HD
* Astro Zhi Zun HD (Dynasty)
* ONE HD
* HBO HD (Movies)
* Star Movies HD (Movies)
* National Geographic HD (Learning)
* History Channel HD (Learning)
* Lifestyle HD
* AXN Beyond HD
* AXN HD (Family)
* FX HD
* Astro SuperSport HD (Sports)
* ESPN HD (Sports)

Thank you in advanced...


_________________________________________________________________________________________________

<< EDIT >>

Another thing, from the first page, it shows the software version as below:

B.yond Box - "2.0.3.001 Sep 02 2010" Watermarks shows "b.yond v2.1s"

but I just checked mine and it is:

B.yond Box - "2.0.4.001 Sep 30 2010" Watermarks shows "b.yond v3.0s"

Does that mean, there are more than one variant of B.yond box from Astro?





This post has been edited by G K Lai: Nov 6 2010, 02:54 PM

Awaiting for your answer...




What? Are you using Astro disc with third-party decoder then you could receive all these channels? For free? Any link for the instruction?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

<< EDIT >>

I Googled and found more information, in case someone also needs to know:

* OLI HD (Temporary?)
* Astro Zhi Zun HD (Dynasty)
* ONE HD (Preview channel)
* HBO HD (Movies)
* Star Movies HD (Movies)
* National Geographic HD (Learning)
* History Channel HD (Learning)
* Lifestyle HD (Preview channel)
* AXN Beyond HD (Preview channel)
* AXN HD (Family)
* FX HD (Variety)
* Astro SuperSport HD (Sports)
* ESPN HD (Sports)

All the above information were collected from Googling and digging from Astro Facebook page etc...
Kindly correct me if there were mistakes in the list.



This post has been edited by G K Lai: Nov 7 2010, 12:34 AM

Thank you,
Meaning, it will be impossible for me...

LOL....!
Sarawak is beautiful, I especially saw a lot of nice photo of Kuching...

By the way, does anyone know how long it will take for Astro to activate HD capability?
Because they just changed me a B.yond decoder, but I'm still in normal package and cannot watch any HD channel yet.
I thought of call them earlier but then I realized the time already over 12am, so I will have to call them Sunday morning.

Many thanks for the correction...
It is quite worthwhile because not many HD channels were tied to their expensive package.
I just called Astro to activate my HD service actually, still waiting for it to take effect.

I'm so sorry buddy...
Didn't notice the same colour text you inserted... my careless...
Many thanks for your info...





This post has been edited by G K Lai: Nov 8 2010, 12:17 AM