Yang penting, pastikan anda mengambil resit pemasangan daripada sipemasang. Setahu saya, resit ini bukan resit resmi dari Astro. Dan juga pastikan nama penuh dan nombor telepon bimbit sipemasang tertulis diresit sebab (kalau tak salah saya) sipemasang diwajib memberi 7 hari jaminan kepada kerja pemasangannya. Dalam masa tempuh 7 hari mulai dari tarikh pemasangan, anda berhak menelepon sipemasang tersebut sekira berlaku masaalah penerimaan saluran Astro yang timbul daripada pemasangan.

Tambahan... Pastikan sipemasang mengunci alat LNB dengan ketat diatas periuk satelit. Ini kerana kerapkali saya terdengar ramai sipemasang cuai atau malas untuk memastikan alat LNB dipegang dengan ketat. Sekira longgar, tidak lama kemudian selepas terkena banyak kali hujan and tiupan angin kencang akan mengakibatkan LNB lari daripada haluan asal kepada periuk. Sekira ini berlaku, gangguan penerimaan kerap kali akan berlaku.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jun 5 2012, 12:43 PM

When you mention "download VOD content", you mean the actual video content recorded to the PVR harddisk for movies or live events that are purchased as Per Per View and ... and you believed the broadband network connection to the PVR is used to receive such video content.

The Astro enginneers knows that not everyone nationwide have superspeed broadband such as TM UniFi or Astro IPTV and many only have 1, 2 or 4 Mbit speed. I think you already know whether the TM streamyx broadband speed is fast enough or not for SD and HD content especially when TM throttle the speed because of FUP.

I do believe that Astro will not take the risk of using the internet broadband to download VOD content ! There is no reason why Astro should change when they can so easily record from the actual satellite feed to the Byond box which have very much faster bandwidth speed capable of transmitting 1080i HD video and Dolby 5.1 surround audio content.

Astro also know that there are people who subscribed to mobile internet from Maxis, Celcom, Digi which have data limits between 4 MB to 12+ MB and such people may not know about the heavy usage to download VOD content so connecting the Byond box to such broadband network connections will quickly and easily finish up the quota... and then Astro will get shot with huge complaints !

Yes, I don't actually know but I can believe data for interactive menus, updated VOD info, confirmation of VOD purchase, VOD activation, etc is possible through internet broadband connections because the data size is very small. Its difficult for me to believe that Astro will be stupid enough to use the broadband to download VOD video content. Why stupid for Astro to do it ? For example... an SD movie with a size of 2 GB can take between 4 to 7 hours to download using streamyx 1 Mbit/s speed. What about a VOD movie in HD with a size of maybe 8 to 20 GB ?

Its possible to apply huge video compression to drastically reduce the video data size but this will greatly reduce the video quality very much below the actual quality from the satellite feed. I also know that many people are already not satisfied with the SD channel video quality received direct from satellite feed.... what will happen if the SD video quality is drop further by 50% to reduce video data size to allow faster download on 1 Mbit broadband ...mmm... (answer) nobody will purchase VOD and forget about VOD HD.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jun 5 2012, 03:36 PM

Its a bit complicated but I do understand your valid explanation and I have to accept that you are right and I am wrong about the video content download using our broadband connection. I did make a detailed check for more info and found out that Astro have actually chosen to use our broadband to download the VOD video content.

This will cause problems for people who have mobile internet broadband (Maxis, Celcom, etc) and use the mobile telco wifi modem (with ethernet ports) or USB modem connected to wifi router with ethernet ports. This is because of the monthly data quota from such mobile telcos. A fair warning should be announced for such broadband connections. So people... take note of this.

After subscribing at RM 10 per month, there is a waiting period for full download of selected movie/content to complete before you can watch the content. Its not the same as Youtube video streaming with buffering. This is what I understood from the "waiting time period" (Refer below).

Here is the link for the setup requirement for Byond PVR, Byond IPTV and Byond box...
http://byond.digitalfive.com/setup.htm

The setup guide for Byond PVR and Byond is the same. No setup is required for Byond IPTV.

People who are interested in the VOD service should read the setup guide, link here (PDF file)...
http://byond.digitalfive.com/assets/VOD_Connectivity_Guide.pdf

Below is the image extracted from Page 19 of the setup guide which shows the "waiting period before can start watching"...


The normal runtime for a full length movie is about 90 to 120 minutes. Ok, to make it simple, lets say I have a 1 Mbps connection and want to watch a 90 minute SD movie as "Catch Up"... that means after confirming selection, I have to wait about 90 minutes before I can watch it. And that is only 1 SD movie... what about if I want to select more SD movies... then I will choose to pre-select early a few. No problem since I can just leave my modem switched on for many hours to finish download and then watch the next day or later. Just make sure the modem is not switched off during download, because the period to complete will increase.

There are questions that I am not sure of the answer yet. What will happen if a 90 minute movie is downloaded at 20 % and I switched off the modem which breaks the download. When I switched on my modem later, I am guessing that the download will continue from where it stopped, I hope so. If not, a lot of time is wasted to redownload from beginning. What happens if I interrupted the download a few times by switching of the modem a few times ? Will there be a slight possibility that the downloaded video become corrupted ? I think that such corruption is not likely but, still can happen.

Also remember that TM streamyx do have Fair Usage Policy which throttles to snail speed when too much download is detected... and... for many people with 1 Mbps speed streamyx, usually can only get about 70% actual speed. So... the actual time to finish download may not be as good as shown on paper.

From what I understood after reading from the VOD Setup Guide and my phone call to Astro Cust Supp... the Byond PVR, Byond IPTV and Byond boxes uses our internet broadband to download the VOD video content and as I have explained earlier, there is a "waiting period" to finish download before we can watch. PVR recording service must already be subscribed. For Byond box which don't have internal harddisk, either the PVR EASi or WD My Passport AV (320 GB) external USB harddisk is needed.
_______________________________________________________

If anyone find any part of my info here as not accurate, please correct me. Thanks.

Because I did not subscribe to Superpack 3 or PVR Service for my Byond (not PVR), I cannot enter into the "Video On Demand" menu. A message appears that says "my smartcard is not authorized for PVR funtion..." Now I know that there's an option to watch and download at the same time. Good news that there is no jerking with your 1 Mbps speed and downloads continue from where it stopped earlier. Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the pics from inside "Video On Demand" of the PVR. Since I did not subscribe to PVR service, my Byond cannot view inside the "VOD" menu.'

I noticed that from the pics of your Byond PVR, the software version is 7.02 (a smaller superscript text of 2) and for my Byond (not PVR) is only 7.0.

I believe you need to be a bit more patient and wait for the new update to your second Byond (with a bit different design).

At first the Byond PVR was updated and then a few days later the Byond (non PVR) update came. Maybe your second Byond (non PVR) with a bit different design came from a different manufacturer... maybe I suspect manufactured by Kaon or Technicolor... so maybe the new version 7 for this will come a bit later.

Honestly I don't know but I believe the update will come a few days later since its auto-update process so if its not yet ready, nothing you do to manually "force" update will make it change to version 7.

Mmm... for your second Byond (non PVR), waiting time and patience is the only way for you, hehe.

My Byond is not Byond PVR but I think the settings should be the same.

Have you tried this...

Use remote,

1) Press "Home"
2) Select "Settings"
3) Go down to "Installation Settings" (its not seen until you press down button a few times) and select it
4) Press "0" four times to enter PIN and enter "OK"
5) Select "TV Settings"
6) Go down to Conversion for 4:3 Input Video, and use right or left direction (arrow) button to change it to "Fit to screen"
7) Press blue button to apply changes
8) Press "Back" many times to leave menu completely
9) That's it.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jun 8 2012, 09:09 PM

When you first asked in your previous post about paying the RM 100 to the installer, I replied in my Post #1820 which also advised you to make sure the installer did the installation properly by tightening the LNB. Fixing the LNB alignment again will only help temporarily if the screws holding the LNB was not tightened properly so if the screws is still loose, the LNB will move again and mis-aligned after being hit by strong winds and the problem will come again later!

So, as I mentioned earlier (in Malay)... must make sure the screws holding the LNB has been tightly fixed and the cables to the LNB is inserted and tightened too.

My advise in my earlier reply in Post 1820...

The lousy and poor installation job by your installer when he/she came the first time to your place... prove what I believe is true... that most Astro installers are careless or lazy or "tidak apa" attitude because they want to finish installation quickly, complete more installations and earn more $$$ !!

Hi,

Note: I am only a pioneer Astro subscriber since Dec 96. Because of my handicap, I usually watch mostly HD channels about 8 hours daily. I am NOT an Astro employee, agent or affiliated to them.

Already replied to your pm with very long detailed answers.

Since you also posted here, here are the short answers so that others here knows about it too.

When I received the May 2012 statement, I saw the "Multi-Room Promo" advert printed on the back of the envelope.

I phoned Astro Customer Support about 2 weeks ago so this is what I know...

Multi-Room Promo Details

1) Multi-Room Promo Period Ends : 30-06-2012

2) Additional Byond or Byond PVR : Flat RM 50 per month. All packages subscribed for 1st (main) box can also watch in 2nd box. Except for Astro First, ABO and maybe got some other "special packs" also.

3) Byond PVR installation : Free (Ends On 15-06-2012). Have to pay installation after 15th June. Yes, can change 1st main Byond box to Byond PVR but refer to (5)

4) One account can have MAXIMUM 2 additional Byond or Byond PVR box. Thats means 1 main box with 2 additional boxes total 3 boxes.

5) If did not subscribe to Recording Service or Superpack for 1st main box, then will only get additional Byond (non PVR) box at flat RM 50 per/mth (Multi-Room Promo)

6) This Multi-Room Promo ONLY for subscribers who have subscription ABOVE RM 80 per month ! People with RM 80 or less, can only get the 50% discount for different packages to additional boxes, NO flat RM 50 !

Note : Astro announced in their sat channels and website that their Customer Support will be undergoing system upgrade starting from 16-06-2012 so we will definitely have MORE problems trying to phone them. Mmm... maybe starting today 15-06-12, you may not be able to get someone to answer phone call !

... with that being said, the best 100% sure answer is to call Astro Customer Support.

This is what I understood from my chat with a nice lady from Cust Supp about two weeks ago. Please note that I could have misunderstood so anyone can correct me if I am wrong anywhere.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jun 15 2012, 03:27 AM

Mmm...? Don't understand. One HD (Channel 393) was already launched some time ago which I can already watch now. Various programs in One HD is hard-coded with BM subtitles which cannot change.

How did you guess that test Channel 981 is for One HD ?

Hehehe...

Yes, Astro On-The-Go is browser independent which, at the present time, works for the PC (desktop & laptop) and Apple Iphone but not android phones/tablets.

The video embedded in Astro On-The-Go is encoded using Microsoft Silverlight so this plug-in is required for the video to play from the internet browser. The latest version is Silverlight 5 (5.1.10411.0)

Was Microsoft Silverlight plug-in installed ? If not, then funny that it was not automatically installed when the "video play" was clicked. Yes or no, try install/update it again. Also try updating the browsers (Firefox, Chrome, IE) to the latest version. You should update IE to version 9.



Anyway, to install/re-install/update Microsoft Silverlight, then go here...
http://www.microsoft.com/getsilverlight/Get-Started/Install/Default.aspx

Silverlight installation will automatically identify all the browsers such as Firefox and IE if present. If required, the Microsoft .NET Framework will also be automatically installed or updated during Silverlight installation.

After properly installing Silverlight and updated to IE 9, IF you still have problems, then there should be other causes which I will not be able to help you further. The problem to play the Silverlight embedded video could be caused by OS corruption, incompatible browser add-ons or BHO (Browser Helper Objects) such as toolbars, worms and virus, or various browser add-ons and etc. So I hope others here can provide further help or suggestions.

By the way, what I am able to watch in Astro On-The-Go for Euro Cup is only video "highlights" of previous matches, NO Live videos of any matches. Mmm... maybe good for people who wants to catch-up on important parts of any matches but not good for me because I can watch live matches from Astro Channel 801 (eventhough not all matches). I don't subscribe to Superpack, Sports Pack and never pay the RM 50 Unmissable pack.

Thanks for your confirmation input. Yes, as I have already mentioned inside my reply spoiler that I already knew the Astro On-The-Go video works properly for all the different browser versions you stated.

The issue here is that Pyca did mention he re-installed IE 8, the videos can play and then "cannot" the next day.

To be more clear, I repeat my earlier suggestion briefly using short explanations...

1) Although I am not sure, its possible that updating to IE 9 may help to fix an already corrupted IE 8. Pyca mention that Firefox and Chrome did not work too and didn't mention about re-installing them so updating them may fix corruption or very old incompatible browser versions.

2) Pyca completely did not mention anything about Silverlight so I don't know whether he is aware of this requirement or not. If Silverlight not installed for whatever reasons, then must install it. If already installed, its possible that re-installing Silverlight may help to fix a corrupted or incompatible very old version of Silverlight.

Hehe, so we wait for Pyca to reply loh.

In all my technical work, its a process of elimination of possible cause scenarios. If after trying all my suggestions and the problem still persist, then the finger can be pointed to other possible causes which I have already explained, such as issues with the Windows OS corruption, BHO, worms and so on. Pyca may even need to bring his laptop to a PC technician to hands-on check his laptop software. Unfortunately I cannot do more without checking his laptop personally because its not possible for Pyca to bring his laptop to me.

Are you a new subscriber ? If not, then I don't know the answer.

http://www.astro.com.my/packagepromo/greatpackages

Currently, there is a "The Best of Chinese Pack Offer" promo (8 Jun – 31 Jul 2012) for new subscribers who signed up for a minimum of RM 50 monthly subscription. This promo allows free view for 2 months on non-subscribed packages except for the following packages: Astro First, Astro Box Office Movies, and Astro Box Office Sports and do not include HD channels and HD and PVR subscription fee.

Mustika HD ch 134 was launched recently so all subscribers to HD service can watch until ?? July 2012 (cannot remember the exact date)

Hehehe... your ID suggests that you are malay or at least not chinese BUT... mmm... I suspect that Astro also opened this promo for ALL new subscribers during this promo period. Well... I am only guessing !

For your subtitle issue, please contact Astro Customer Support by phone because they are the best people to help on any technical issues and its much easier by direct person-to-person conversation. Since a few months ago, I did comment a few times before, about Ast Cust Supp as the first preferred contact for help. Your Astro subscription already included paying for their service support so don't be afraid to call them even for minor issues OR for any advise such as Byond settings.

Hehe... the only problem that many people will face is difficulty to get someone to answer the call BUT its the only way to get problems fixed a bit faster. Try calling at about 8 to 9 am. Hehe... by the way, their Astro support staff will always try their best to ignore or avoid answering in twitter and facebook which is NOT their official duties there !

Sorry for not answering your "subtitle" issue.

Thanks for the "fix" by giving the exact date of 31st July 2012.

I do have some personal opinions about your serious macro-blocking and pixelation issue with your Byond PVR. Remember, whatever comments below are only my "non expert" opinions based upon what I thought is logical and may not be accurate. Just for discussion purposes only.

I do agree with the others who have advised that you call Ast Cust Supp to check your Byond PVR and replace whatever parts found to be defective.

There is ONE important and obvious difference between (1) the firmware/software operating system installed in the Byond PVR and (2) the software and operating system installed in the computer... and this is... Byond PVR users cannot make full configuration setting changes, cannot install and uninstall software such as codecs, mediaplayers, choose whatever to be installed.

From the link you gave, the explanations on the "pixelated faces" relates to the HTPC (Home Theatre Personal Computer) which allows users a much higher level of control to the choices of configuration and settings changes to the codec, drivers or software installed and include the ability to choose and change to whatever hardware decoder cards used.

I believe that such macro-blocking and pixelation issues can be caused by 3 important factors...

1) Interference to the signal path to the Byond PVR causing a serious drop in signal strength or corruption such as bad weather, poor cable connections, mis-aligned LNB, etc.

2) Too high video compression and too low video bitrates used.

3) Fault caused by firmware/software and/or hardware from the Byond PVR. This included the codecs used, harddisk problems, etc.

Yes, factor (1) can cause such issues due to weather but its NOT possible to 100% happen all the time which your PVR is exhibiting. For factor (2), I believe a very very high lossy MPEG compression combined with very low bitrates is needed in order to cause such serious macro-blocking and pixelation issues from your PVR BUT I think Astro will NOT use such extremely low quality video because they will definitely face complaints and "fire" from 100% of their subscribers including myself !

If the signal is still strong, then cable connection and LNB should NOT be causing such issues. Then what is left is factor (3) which needs to be checked whether its internal hardware is faulty or not. I don't think its the software codec bug in Version 7.0s because IF it is, then the same issue will occur in everyone's Byond PVR, not just your PVR only.

I contacted my installer friend for his feedback on the Byond PVR (with internal 500 GB harddisk) and he told me that he had been called many times to check many PVR sets after complaints were made. He found many PVRs were found to have "problems" and replaced them but he cannot tell me what the various faults were because he just returned the faulty PVR to the Astro service department. Such "incidents" were quite high, even happened to PVRs installed less than a month.

There is another PVR type used for school installations, the Byond X-Plus which also can record to its 500 GB internal harddisk BUT have only 1 tuner. Here is a photo...


My friend also told me that he had never replaced any Byond X-Plus which he thinks is somehow better than Byond PVR. Mmm... I think better maybe because of less usage hours in schools and less harddisk stress without "instant replay".

Please bear in mind that I cannot check or verify what my installer friend said is true or not.

Anyway, true or not, I suspect the most likely possible fault is usually the internal harddisk. For our computer, whenever we saved any huge files (many gigs), the reads and writes to the harddisk lasts only a short while, maybe a few minutes or more and most of the time the harddisk goes to power saving mode with the disc platters and heads remaining idle. I believe the situation is different for the Byond PVR internal harddisk. This is because of the "instant replay" of any channel being watched, which the PVR is actually buffering the video to cache memory and then records at short constant intervals. This continues as long as the PVR is still on. Imagine the constant harddisk read and write activity continuously for many hours everyday which I believe many many times more stress, wear and tear put on the PVR harddisk when compared to the harddisk inside a computer ! Maybe the PVR engineers do implement some method which help to reduce harddisk stress so I don't know BUT I suspect any such "method" if any, is not working. Even the internal fan to reduce heat may not be enough. Well... only my opinion.

To be fair, I believe the same stress issues can also possibly happen to many other "non Astro PVRs" with "instant replay" function.

I connected my Byond (non PVR) HDMI directly to my LCD TV, not to my Yamaha amp. Switched to HBO Ch 411 (SD) and took 2 snapshots using my 8 MP phone camera and shown at actual size (no resize or edit). May take a longer time to load due to the size.

Slow action snapshot...

Fast action snapshot...


Enough said. Anyway, I would like to know what you and others think about my opinions here so I welcome any feedback. Thanks.



This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jun 22 2012, 08:43 PM

Short answer... yes... IF you have subscribed to Byond HD service and already activated. If your computer LCD monitor do not support the exact standard 1080x720 (720p) or 1920x1080 (1080i) screen resolutions, then you may find incorrect size ratio with some side areas of the screen not shown. Example.... monitor with a maximum resolution of 1366x980 pixels.

Also, there will be no sound if your monitor do not have builtin speakers and do not accept audio from HDMI.

If your monitor have builtin speakers, can receive audio from HDMI, and cannot decode Dolby Digital audio received from HDMI connection, then the Byond "Digital Audio Setting" must be changed to Stereo (Analogue and Digital).

My computer Samsung LCD monitor supports Full HD video at a native resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and have builtin speakers BUT cannot receive audio from the HDMI connection so I have to use separate stereo jacks.

ADDITION : Almost forgot... your LCD monitor must also be HDCP compliant... so if not, then no display.
HDCP : High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jun 22 2012, 09:16 PM

Yes, your monitor with HDCP support maximum 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution which is compatible with Byond 1080i video setting so you can use HDMI connection.

Yes, you have to use a separate and different connection for the audio from the Byond to another audio device such as to a AV amplifier, the computer sound card, Audio DAC decoder box or others.

The Byond (non PVR) and Byond PVR (with 500 GB internal HDD) have 3 possible audio output connections... (a) from HDMI Out, (b) from Co-Axial Out and (b) from RCA Out (Red and White).

Without HDMI audio, you have 2 different possibilities for audio connection from the Byond to the computer sound card... (1) using cable with two stereo RCA (white and red) to earphone jack which is connected to the Line/Audio In of sound card, (2) I don't know if any sound card is available with Co-Axial Input but if there is, then use co-axial cable from Byond Co-Axial Out for much better surround audio.

The best connection for the maximum audio quality at Dolby Digital 2.0/5.1 surround is to use a proper AV receiver amplifier. Byond HDMI Out to Amp HDMI In... then Amp HDMI Out to your Samsung LCD PC Monitor. IF the Amp got 2 HDMI Out, then one to LCD TV and second to your PC Monitor.

Mmm... why use your Samsung LCD PC Monitor at 27 inch which is a bit small for HD enjoyment. An actual LCD/LED TV from 32 in to 52 in is much bigger and nowadays the TVs come with builtin Dolby Digital Decoder too.

On a budget and cannot afford a LCD TV ? OR intend to use your monitor as a second screen in a different location ? If the HDMI cable distance is very very long (about 12 metres), then be aware that signal quality may drop and its also difficult to find such lengths to buy. I have used 5 metre HDMI cable from my computer graphics card to my Amp with no drop in signal BUT I haven't tried longer lengths. I think not advisable to use 15 m to 20 m HDMI cables, only my opinion.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jun 22 2012, 10:17 PM

So you managed to use your new Astro ID and Password to login to your account ? After login... Only have problem with using NRIC and Smartcard Number to "Link" account ?

Note : You can only login with the new Astro ID and Password after the verification link in the email received have been completed and confirmed.

After successful login BUT cannot "link" your account with invalid NRIC or Smartcard Number, then I suspect the same problem happened again. I have heard a long time ago that many people got "link" problems and it seems (oh my god !) that they still have NOT corrected it ! Phone to Ast Cust Supp and tell them that you can login successfully with your new Astro ID and Password but cannot "link". The support person will be able to help by doing "something" on their side AND request for an explanation, hehe.

If I am not mistaken, I think people have posted about this "link" problem in this thread (already over 100 pages) somewhere in pages 50 to 70... hehe... lazy to search lah.

* Astro Cust Support is closed at midnight so call early tomorrow morning (about 8 to 9 am)

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jun 22 2012, 11:54 PM

Yes. You need to call As* Customer Support to fix your problem from their side. Too late to call now as its almost midnight now, hehe.

ADDITION : Almost forgot, when you first subscribed to Astro and used "New NRIC", then cannot use "Old NRIC". If both old and new NRIC was used during registration, then ok to use either one.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jun 23 2012, 12:01 AM

In my opinion, I believe that this problem was caused by detailed subscribers info that was not properly updated in their web online system from their main accounting system so this is what I suspected. Why ? This was because I called them in 2010 to activate Auto Debit online payment using my credit card so I believe that they have "manually" updated my details in their online system because a few months after that I registered my email and Astro account ID and successfully "linked" without any problems. So no need for me to call them again.

Anyway, since I recalled that some people reported about the same "link" issue in this thread before and have solved it by calling cust supp, you can also do the same thing by phoning them. Whatever, no harm to call their support centre because only their support people can help you.