Oops ! I missed your post.

Since I am no longer interested in this promo, I have now put parts of my earlier comments inside this "spoiler" for reference only...


Why Astro advertised this promo using interactive screen only on HBO HD and mentioned Sport Pack only. Since I don't have Sports Pack, I don't know if advertised in those channels.

This promo is only 1 month and expires after 31-03-12 and these are 2 super events. For heavens sake, why did Astro only put so little publicity in only a single HBO HD ? And absolutely no info in Astro website. I used many different search words in google and found NOTHING on this Astro promo. If Astro wants to make money from this Special Pack for Non Sport Pack subscribers, why not put much more effort on publicity such as 30 second advertisements shown numerous times in many channels similar to "Pass The Popcorn: The Sequel" promo or Astro First ? Its ridiculous to have a promo with so little publicity and this promo is about to end too !

For me, I think I will just forget about calling Astro to find the full details, don't subscribe to Special Pack and save the RM 50 because Astro seem to have a "tak peduli, tidak apa" attitude in this 2 sport events promo. Little or no publicity from Astro, they don't care and I am not interested.

Where got a salesman who wants to sell something at offer price and still want customers to search, hunt and chase after that salesman to find out the offer price? Unless the salesman is selling medicine which can save my life !

The longer I think about it, I think I am not interested anymore so forget about calling Astro to find the actual details. Banyak kurang publisiti. Tak boleh mati kalau tak mengambil kesempatan untuk melanggan semasa promosi ini.

Finally, this matter is closed for me. Decided not to call Astro to enquire on this promo.

Note : I have sacked Marketing Directors before for poor preparations on many promotional campaigns. And its my personal opinion that the Astro Marketing Head should be called in for some serious talk to find out the reasons. I am not inside the management so I don't know the actual reasons for the poor effort on publicity for this promo.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 23 2012, 05:47 AM

hopefully soon the new pay tv will launch...but no news till now...we need a competitor to ass-thore

About sports pack issue I think most of us are NOT affected cos we are on SP's already,that means less confusion!We cannot come out either cos of savings on HD & PVR services.

Hi all,

I want ask the opinion..

By today the Astro Technician will come to my home to change my current B.yond to B.yond PVR astro. the question is.. it is worthily/possible to me to keep the elder box set B.yond instead of to swap to new one.

What i know is, currently the astro promotion is half price for the actual PVR installation charges. so if my calculation correct, the remain box set packages will charge only RM200(actual-RM400) and swap-box is RM150(actual-RM300). The different both will only RM50.

the reason i ask this because, my current B.yond is only less than 2 month ages. All my set is in excellent condition including the astro IR remote. If i keep all my set, i will have my old satellite dish, cable, satellite box, HDMI cable, and RCA cable back right?. so all that set can be my back up set including satellite dish( which can be my fry pan-hehehe).

tqvm.

How true!!
Astro = Astro....Same difference no matter wat!!
Repeats after Repeats ....
Excuses After Excuses for Repeats...
Do tell wat's new...

---

Added on March 23, 2012, 8:55 amSorry... Yr PVR Smartcard KENOT b used in yr Byond box!!!
So yu really will NOT hv a backup set...juz a DEAD set taking up space...

This post has been edited by zeone: Mar 23 2012, 08:55 AM

hahahaha.. if that so, i just swap for the new one.

My friend suggest me just keep the old one because she think if i subscribe the 2nd decoder with half price Mirror packages. The old set can install to my family house and the 2nd decoder i subscribe can be used to my family house. so i can saved half price packages fee every month.


wow! its look great but i guess the Astro Management will not allowed to do this, myb they hv set any system which locked for certain changes.

ehehehe..


tqvm.

Repeats after repeats, now the new trend change brand rename ,rebrand and repeat all over again, astro is almost good as dead,there is no variety too many In house and repackaged channels with dirty tactics.Now Prima has football too !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This post has been edited by smileguy: Mar 23 2012, 09:23 AM

No way!
Each Smartcard is "locked"/paired with its own Decoder!!
So NO way yu can use yr Smartcard in other Decoder in yr fmly's hse.
Unless of course yu disconnect yr Decoder each time & bring it over to other hse to use...then can.

Hi,

i think u misunderstanding.

my friends mean that.. if i keep my old set and after that i subscribe the 2nd decoder with Half Price with mirror packages. So my supplement/2nd decoder can bring to my family house and can watch with the packages same with my primary decoder.

so,

1st decoder (RM125++)- remain to my house.
2nd decoder(RM62.50++)- bring to my family house and install my used satellite dish, cable, n etc(excluding my old decoder which i hv been terminate before)

Advantage will be = e;g - Superpack packages - RM125++, 2nd Decoder Promotion(half)- 62.50++. So for my 2nd decoder which use by family only pay for RM62.50++ instead of normal rate RM125++/monthly. then, My monthly total will RM187.50++ instead of RM250++.


From what i heard, if i subscribe the 2nd decoder promotion price, they will not give a extra satellite dish and with joined together with existing satellite dish. so my friend look the useful of my old satellite dish n etc(but not to the old decoder set which u mention as Dead Set. ehehe)

Correct me if im wrong.


but as i mention b4, myb the Astro will not allowed to do that and myb they already locked any system which for certain changes.




tqvm

Sorry 4misunderstanding...

Yup, Astro will install splitter to existing dish or a 2-output LNB.
So wat yu suggest is possible...if yu can get installer to agree to do acc2 yr plan.

This post has been edited by zeone: Mar 23 2012, 11:58 AM

never mind..

its too late to me now cz already surrender my old box-set to Astro. ehehehehe..~


tqvm

I think you need to pay Rm100 to keep the old decoder, actually old decoder can be a very good digital radio

This post has been edited by neb: Mar 23 2012, 09:25 PM

asking... if i upgrade to pvr, how to pay upgrade (rm150) cost? to installer or it will appear in next month bill?

This post has been edited by Zulguamusang: Mar 23 2012, 02:18 PM

Just directly paid to installer after installation success.

thanks bro for the answer..

This is what you have done. Upgraded your Byond box to Byond PVR and subscribed to one SuperPack which have HD and recording service.

You have done correctly... returned previous Byond box and pay RM 50 less. I do have one old Astro DMT box with 50% monthly subscription and I was given a new "box" for "free".

Not necessary to keep your previous Byond box. In the future, when half price promo comes again, you can then decide to grab it. Astro will 100% provide you with a new Byond box + 2nd smartcard.

The smartcard is activated and locked to the Byond PVR box using very strong encryption generated from combining smartcard serial number with the Byond PVR box serial number.

You already know that you cannot use this same smartcard in PVR on your previous Byond box, if thinking of "sharing" the card. So, keeping the previous Byond box is useless for "card sharing". Many people knew that "card sharing" can be used for different old Astro DMT boxes BUT not for Byond and Byond PVR.

Ok, now you know that Astro will provide a new Byond box + another smartcard when you subscribe to a 2nd Byond box in the future. Remember that Astro only allow 2nd Byond box for half monthly subscription price (during promo) installed at the same address as the 1st Byond PVR box.

So you will be thinking of bringing this 2nd Byond box + its smartcard to secretly use at another location which already have an old LNB + Satellite dish. Yes, its against Astro's agreement but everyone (including me) don't care and say "go to hell with the agreement". Just don't get caught by Astro, hehe. Nay, not to worry lah.

No problem, you can do so BUT you will have some problems when you want to watch HD channels. Its because of the old Single LNB, old sat dish and RG5 cables used.


* I was one of the early pionner subscribers since 1996 so I was stupid enough to have bought the previous Philips old decoder box for about RM 1400 ! This ancient box was later changed twice for free. So when I upgraded to Byond, I decided to pay RM 100 to keep the extra Astro DMT box just for decoration and because I feel that I have paid so much for it. Yea, stupid to pay the RM 100. Photo above shows the useless Astro DMT box. Already connected to dish, switched on and still working.

I know your previous one was the Byond box, not the old Astro DMT box as shown in above picture.

The old Astro DMT box used a Single (cable input) LNB and a slightly smaller satellite dish than the one used by Byond.

In future, if you want to use the 2nd Byond box (not PVR) connected using previous type RG5 cables to the old LNB+dish, you will have problems with poorer signal quality which can affect your HD channels. For HD and SD channels reception, the slightly thicker RG6 co-axial cable is recommended for connection to LNB because of the 2 different frequencies (9.75 and 10.6 MHz). In simple explanation, HD (High Definition) have larger data size so, for proper HD reception, RG6 cables and a slightly bigger sized dish is needed.

Look at my handphone picture of my LNB used for my Byond (inside this spoiler)...


Byond box with the old LNB+dish > Okay for SD Channels only
If you intend to watch only SD (no HD) channels, I believe no problems and can use Byond box with the old LNB+dish. Problems come when HD channels are watched because HD reception is "heavier" and more "sensitive" which can be affected by higher signal loss + transmission noise caused by "smaller" dish, not recommended LNB and cable type used.

I have 3 decoder boxes (1 Byond, 2 Astro DMT). My satellite connection used Quad LNB as shown in above picture. This Quad LNB can connect 4 different cables to it. Since you only have 1 Byond PVR, I think you are using Dual LNB which accepts 2 separate cable connection.

I have a friend who is an Astro installer who also goes out to solve problems from other idiot installers. There can be mistakes done by installers who came and installed Byond PVR. Check to see if 2 separate cables are connected direct from the LNB to your 2 input behind your Byond PVR. Your PVR have 2 tuners inside for 2 channels simultaneous recording. My friend previously did tell me that there are idiots who only connected 1 single sat cable to the PVR and later the subscriber complained cannot record 2 channels. Another installer is even more "smart"... took one single cable from LNB and used cable-splitter connector (1 in - 2 out) to split to 2 cables and connect both to the PVR.

Oh, about the cable-splitter connector... if you can avoid using it, its much better NOT to use it. Sharing same cable with such splits can cause signal loss and "interference" between old Astro DMT and Byond/Byond PVR. As you can see from my picture above, I have 3 decoder boxes which used 3 different cables directly connected to the Quad LNB. No cable-splits and no unnecessary joints.

For the most optimum quality to receive HD channels, its important to use RG6 cables, no cable-split joints, each decoder box used direct cable connection to LNB, use the bigger grey satelite dish (not the old smaller one). Not a problem if used for SD channels only.

I hope I have not confused you with my long answer, as usual, hehe.

For Others In This Forum
I also use 2 normal Astro DMT box with active subscriptions. So I did try to receive satellite radio channels after removing its smartcard. Well... silent and completely cannot hear any radio channels from the RCA (Red & White) connections. I have heard from others too.. that they can listen to radio channels without a smartcard. I hope someone in this forum can show me the secret, please. Just curious.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 23 2012, 06:20 PM

Hi guys, it's been a few days since my last post. Just a small update for you guys, the HD channels seem to be fine in the morning and gets a bit worse as the time pass by. BUT nevertheless, i'm gonna change the cable to RG6 and i'll update here again.

Something is definitely wrong/not functioning as it shld be.
Why not inform Astro CS (Tech Dept) directly & let the headache be theirs, NOT yrs?
It's their job & responsibility!

Hi again,

So you decided not to use the existing in-wall cable and change to RG6 ones. Mmm... yes, does not look neat and tidy... same for my cables which can be seen running through my room walls, hehe. For me, I don't mind.

Before you start changing cables, is it possible to cut a small length and ask someone who is expert in such cables to check if it is RG5 or not. If RG6, then the correct cable was used and did not cause your signal drop-outs. Well... of course you can just change without checking, to make sure.

I do not know the full situation on the cable connection used in your home. After saying that... avoid using any cable joints or cable-splitter connectors... use only continuous cable connection direct from LNB to your Byond box, without any of such "joints".

I hope that changing to RG6 cables solve your problem. I should let you know that there is a small chance that changing to RG6 cables may not solve your problem if this is not the actual cause. If not... then you will start to get heated up again and I will start scratching my head.

I fully agree with you.

I have given this advice before at ... http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2114557/+980#

Here's a part from my previous reply...


This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Mar 23 2012, 07:30 PM