I believe it is because Singapore pay TV wants more content, that's why they seal a deal with Astro, especially Malay content produced by Astro.
FYI, Malay content produced by Astro is better and have higher viewership among the Malays audience compared to Malaysian FTA stations like RTM and Media Prima.

You will need either a TV that supports digital TV channels using DVB-T2 standards (do refer to your TV user manual and settings), or buy a set-top-box to receive digital TV channels. And most importantly, a UHF antenna (also known as fishbone antenna or outdoor UHF TV antenna). If you already have a UHF outdoor antenna, then you can still use back the existing one if it is still in good condition.

FYI, Malaysia's digital TV is still under test transmission and will be officially launching on Nov/Dec 2016. But still, you can still receive the signal if it is available in your area.

From what I see, it is unlikely la... Most likely it will be in HD quality because that channel is not free and you got to pay additional fees for that. Plus with HD service somemore. Astro want to earn lo...

They say it's channel 404.
Why? Ask Astro.

Basically there's no disadvantage of using SatCR. Satellite signal strength will not be affected even if using dual input LNB (meaning 2 cables for your PVR box).
Just make sure you set the Satellite Settings right at the "Input Source" section on your Astro STB is set to "SatCR" instead of "LNB".

Remember: Connect the satellite cable (from SatCR) only to "INPUT 1" port on your Astro PVR box, not "TUNER 2".

That's good. Just go ahead and buy UHD TV as it is also one of your long term investment.
Although there isn't much UHD content available for consumer now, but it is just a matter of time for UHD content to become mainstream.
Just like how Full HD content is not as popular and widespread for consumer like 6 years ago or longer.

If you ask me, will Astro introduce UHD quality channels? I would say, yes.
When? Nobody knows. But if you ask me I would say it won't be so soon.

You better clarify with them again.
I do not mean to scare you, but usually your 24 months PVR contract will be restart whenever you replace a new PVR box, regardless of whatever the reason is (unless you are lucky enough that Astro put your case an exception and continue with your existing contract).

You've subscribed to Astro IPTV then only you think of moving to TIME Fibre because of the pricing? Well, too late.

You can choose to subscribe Astro and TIME individually, which is use satellite dish (or centralized dish) for Astro while subscribe to TIME Fibre broadband service separately. So your Astro and TIME is not combined.

But if you already using Astro IPTV with TIME Fibre, then you have to wait your 24 months contract to be over, or pay penalty charges. Once your contract is over, you can choose to migrate from IPTV to normal satellite (DTH) for your Astro, and subscribe to TIME Fibre individually. Of course, if you migrate from IPTV to satellite (DTH) you will get another 24 months contract.

So, make sure you do thorough research before making your decision. Not every words said by the sales promoter can be trusted.

The hybrid mode means, your Astro box will switch its operation mode from IP (Internet protocol) mode into satellite mode whenever there's network disruption occurs, so that you can still watch Astro via satellite.

So if your Astro box's operation mode is satellite mode, and if your condo's centralize dish doesn't support HD channels, then it will back to the same story as what you have previously on the normal Astro (I assume), where you can't watch HD channels.

To be technical, it is not all HD channels cannot watch, but you can still watch selected HD channels even if your condo centralize dish doesn't supports HD, such as Fox Action Movies, Fox HD, Astro SuperSport 4, beIN, Astro Arena....

UHD is still baby stage now. Don't expect TV channels with UHD quality to roll out and as mainstream as Full HD 1080p nowadays in the next few years... Maybe in the next 5-10 years onwards la...

This could be due to stronger satellite transmission power output as you tune to different Astro channels, especially HD channels. To confirm about this, share to us exactly which channel you were watching when you see your signal strength is 89% or 96%?

And also in general, any form of radio signals tends to perform slightly better at night... This is somehow involve in science (physics), you may Google about it if you want to know more.

Thanks for sharing this with us.

Just to share... FYI, Thailand's pay TV, TrueVisions is also has ceased the SD version of National Geographic on 1 Nov 2016 as well as other SD channels. (You will see year "2559" because Thailand use Thailand solar calendar/Buddha Era calendar)
Well, do you think is a coincidence? Hehe

Fox HD is from Measat 3a satellite while Tara HD is from the newly launch satellite, Measat 3b, launched on 2014.

Newer satellites is usually better and has stronger transmission power (thanks to the advancement of technology), which it explains why you got 96% for pretty much any channels you receive from Measat 3b satellite, including Tara HD.

More info:

FYI, Measat 3a was launched on 2009. More than 90% of HD channels are being broadcast from Measat 3a and Measat 3b satellite. All SD channels are from Measat 3 satellite, launched on 2003.

This post has been edited by joshhd: Nov 23 2016, 02:24 AM

Astro use all 3 Measat satellites (Measat 3, Measat 3a and 3b) on 91.5 degrees (East orbit) to provide satellite TV to customers.

If all HD channels move to Measat 3b, then how about Measat 3a satellite? They won't waste the precious and expensive satellite capacity just because new satellite with better technology has launched, unless the satellites has reach its end of life, which it will be more than 10 years from now.

Theoretically it is possible for "upcoming/future" Malaysian DTH pay TV to rent transponders from other satellite operators such as ABS 2 or 2A (75 E) or Asiasat, or others.

By Malaysian law, parabolic satellite dishes (such as C band) are not allowed in West Malaysia except Sarawak (law is there but no action will be taken if you install parabolic dish in Sarawak, so you can take it as legal).

Will C band be allowed to or only Ku-Band allowed like Astro? That is a very good and challenging question. Because this depends on our "very good" government whether they allow C band or not. But for us Malaysians, receiving foreign C band satellite signal is illegal unless you got "permission" to do so by the government (MCMC). Those who got permission to do so are usually TV stations like RTM, Media Prima, Astro,...

Not sure about your case. But I can share with you several cases happened in other customers like this.

If you terminate Astro (after contract period ends of course), you don't need to return decoder and satellite dish to Astro and you can just keep it to yourself. Then, few months later Astro will call you back, asking whether do you want to subscribe back to Astro. If you agree, Astro will offer you all sorts of promos and free previews, such as paying Family pack price but can get free preview to watch Super Pack channels or full channels (except selected premium and PPV channels) for few months, or any other kinds of free previews.

In simple words, they want to "pull back" those customers that has terminated Astro but customer still have the decoder and dish with them.

However based on their policy, if you tell them that you are no longer staying in Malaysia (migrating to other country), then you will have to return the decoder and dish, otherwise penalty will be imposed.

Maybe you try to contact Astro again, tell them (in not so nice words, tell lies to them) that you may be interested to subscribe Astro again at later time or in the future, but for the time being you want to discontinue the service due to some personal issues (make it more drama, tell them you got financial issues also can). Then they might let you keep the decoder and dish.

I am not sure this will work today or not, and I do not 100% guarantee this will work, but you can give it a try. Because this is somehow a "positive" thing that Astro want to hear from customer, so no harm trying, right?

Because, if they ask you the reason why you want to cancel the service, and you tell them "I don't want Astro anymore because Astro is expensive, a lot of repeated shows, Internet has more shows than Astro and I can watch it for free..." bla bla bla, of course this will give an impression to Astro that you are no longer interested to subscribe Astro again, so this also means there's no meaning for you to keep the decoder and dish anymore, right? So they may want to trouble you by making your service termination to be inconvenient by telling you to take the decoder to Astro service centre. After you return the decoder at Astro service, then only they will assign Astro installer to dismantle the satellite dish for you (if you do not know how to dismantle the dish by yourself).

I hope this can help you to decide what to do next.

As long Astro uses Ku band and consumer use 65cm dish to receive the signal, rain fade issue will not go away and forever be exist and you can't escape this. It can only be improve a little bit by increasing satellite transmission output power, which it depends on the satellite design and technology. No matter increase this power, that power, rain fade issue still won't go away.

Don't want to depend on satellite? Another solution is use IPTV, which is what Astro already offering now, Astro IPTV service via Maxis Fibre and TIME Fibre. It solves rain fade issue, but service coverage will be another problem. Not every Malaysians will able to enjoy this service.

Another solution is to use C band to provide DTH service to customers. But question is, which satellite Astro is going to use? It is unlikely they will use C band from Measat 3 or 3a because they use to lease transponders (to earn money and make business) to TV stations or networks interested to distribute their channels within Measat's C band coverage.

Opinion: Unless Measat launch new satellite belongs to Measat but currently unused, which is 148 E with C band coverage beam receivable in Malaysia. So Astro or any pay TV can choose to offer DTH service via C band if they are interested to do so. If the satellite's C band transmission output power is powerful enough, 90cm dish with Conical Scalar Ring (CSR) are able to receive the signal so that customer does not require big ugly parabolic dishes. This is proven to be possible as Transvision, one of Indonesia's pay TV uses this method to offer DTH service via C band using Telkom 1 satellite (located at 108 E), one of Indonesian satellite.

But then, do note that Indonesia has discontinue its C band DTH platform on 2015 and fully migrated to Ku band, using Measat 3b satellite.



The picture above is C band LNB with Conical Scalar Ring (CSR). CSR helps to improve and increase C band signal reception on smaller dishes.

Info: Astro B.yond dish (black colour dish) is 65cm, silver Astro dishes uses 60cm (some older ones are 55cm).

Ideas are there, talking are easy. Doing so won't be as easy as you think, as they are many challenges and technical difficulties needs to go through, such as:
i) C band equipment tends to be more expensive than Ku band equipment, is the customer willing to spend more money in that, in terms of subscription fees or installation fees?
ii) Technically, available transponders for C band is much lesser than Ku band. Meaning that in one satellite orbit, Ku band has the capability to provide more channels compared to C band. So for sure HD channels will take up more bandwidth than SD channels. This will depend the DTH provider whether to rent more C band transponders or not. Perhaps Measat may allocate some C band transponders for other uses (provide more services to earn money) so Measat can't just provide all available C band transponders for TV only.
iii) If you stay in high rise buildings that uses centralised dish like condo or apartment, it will be another new problem such as new equipment to be installed.
iv) New and bigger satellite dishes is required to install at customer premise.
v) For pay TV provider, they may have to bear higher maintenance cost. This could be the reason why using C band for DTH is rarely seen around the world because of its technical difficulties and higher maintenance costs compared to Ku band. So the chances of pay TV providers to use C band is low.

Currently, Astro DTH service is on 91.5 E and your satellite dish is facing west to get the signal. But as for 148 E, your dish needs to face to the east. If you're unlucky to have obstacle at the east position such as buildings, hills, trees, then you'll have difficulty to get the signal, or you can try install at rooftop to avoid the obstacles.

So, after reading this, do you still think Astro will provide DTH via C band as an alternative signal reception option to customers that do not want to have rain fade issue like customers used to experienced on Ku band?

This post has been edited by joshhd: Nov 29 2016, 02:58 AM

As for JuneResources's case, it is completely different. Guys, please don't confuse with his encounter with C band satellite TV case as he uses universal satellite decoder to receive satellite TV channels, not a pay TV decoder. Okay since he mentioned this, I got to change subject into satellite TV topic.

Universal satellite decoder is where the decoder's job is pretty much "everything customize and manual" by yourself. (Take DVD player as an easy to understand example, where you put your own DVD disc to play your movie). What channels/satellites you want to watch/receive, it is all up to you to decide. Because it is customized by yourself, and if you messed up with the channels list, signal parameters and other satellite related settings, you may lose satellite signal, not because of faulty, it is because the user do not know to configure the settings correctly. If you want to scan for channels, you have to manually perform Auto Scan by yourself. Or, if you are so unfortunate that your satellite decoder (usually is older, cheap and low quality ones) doesn't support Auto Scan, then you will have to manually enter the signal parameters such as frequency, symbol rate, polarization, all by yourself, especially when the TV channel change frequency into another frequency or launch new channels. If you are not a tech savvy, and you are still using that decoder, I advice you to upgrade into newer ones that support HD and other new features. Universal satellite decoder is not a pay TV decoder like Astro, where the decoder software already "locked" that it only receive channels from the pay TV provider only and you can't receive channels from other satellites as you wish. Pay TV decoders will automatically update whatever settings, new channels and other stuff that you don't care about, unlike universal satellite decoder is the opposite and manual.

Plus, he is using satellite dish with motorize system, where there is a motor install at the satellite dish to be able to change satellite dish position whenever the user switches channels from different satellite than the current satellite position. With this, you can receive multiple satellite signals with different positions by using only 1 satellite dish, no need to install 2 separate satellite dishes that facing west and east respectively (for example). In his installation as what he described, he used to receive Asiasat 3S (located at 105 E, this satellite has retired, now replaced with Asiasat 7) and ST1 (located at 88 E, this satellite has retired, now replaced with ST2 satellite). Motorized satellite dish is completely optional (not compulsory) and it is up to you to use that equipment so that you can watch more TV channels from multiple satellites. And, Diseqc is also required to "combine" the signals from multiple satellites output from the LNB into one satellite input to the satellite decoder. As you described earlier, it seems that it is either the motor itself has been not moving for a long period of time, or the motor components inside is rusty or faulty or other problems. Because in general, motorize system do not require maintenance after you configure it correctly.

Parabolic satellite equipment indeed is more expensive in general compared to Ku band equipment. And whether do you need to fork out more money or do maintenance on your C band dish, all these depends on what equipment and it is up to your "creativity" on how you set up and install it. C band dish can be consumer-friendly like Astro Ku band dish, but at the same time it can be very challenging, complex, complicated, and requires time and skills for you to learn. If you use those universal satellite decoder, Diseqc, prime focus satellite dish (in simple words, the big ugly parabolic dishes that you saw the images above) and even motorized system like JuneResources did to receive signals from Asiasat 3S and ST1 during that time, of course it will be more challenging, unlike what I was referring my opinion my previous post about what if Astro uses C band for DTH service by using 90cm satellite dish with CSR just like what Transvision used to do. In addition to that, if you use cheap and low quality made in China equipment, then don't expect it will last for many years time, and no surprise that you may need regular maintenance to maintain the signal reception for that, or even equipment replacement. So choosing the right equipment with good quality is also important. Besides China, you can consider buying some parts of the equipment that is Thailand or Indonesia brand which is known to have better quality products than China ones.

Why C band channels are getting lesser nowadays compared to those days? Perhaps many viewers nowadays especially youngsters watches TV content via internet and watch less TV, this could be the reasons why channel provider are not so focused on C band to gain profit. However, C band TV will still be there for a long time as there are many other viewers still depends on TV as their main source of information and entertainment, and also many other technical advantages.

CONCLUSION (read this if above "essay" is too long for you to read):
Erm, is these stuff above is too complex for you to understand? That means installing C band for yourself to receive other satellite signals is not a DIY choice for you. Or, call an installer to install everything for you and you pay them the money and you will call installer when you got problem to settle for you. Otherwise, you better stick with pay TV service, either using Ku band (that has rain fade) or IPTV.

About my opinion that what if Astro interested to use C band to offer DTH service using other satellite, it will be different story compared to using universal satellite decoder as mentioned above. The possibility will be the upcoming Measat 2a satellite, located at 148 E and expected to be launch on end 2018. If Measat 2a satellite's C band beam is strong enough and can be receive by using 90cm offset dish with CSR exactly just like one of Indonesian pay TV, Transvision previously used to do, then it will be great as customers are not necessary to use big ugly parabolic dish to get the signal if the satellite power output is strong enough. Because of its smaller 90cm offset dish compared to parabolic dish, you don't need to bother about maintenance (unless the dish is not properly adjusted) just like Astro 65cm Ku band dish, and the cost will be way lesser compared to parabolic dish. If Astro use this method, customer may not need to fork out much money or perhaps just little higher than Ku band ones, for Astro C band DTH. And of course only Astro decoders can be used to receive the channels (not universal satellite decoder), so no need to think about manual channel updating, and whatsoever. Don't forget the main reason of using C band is you won't experience rain fade issue, as long you properly adjust the dish.

This one you can understand easily, right? Hope you can now understand and differentiate between the different uses of C band in satellite TV.

It seems that you are strongly referring to Videocon d2h, which is known for pay TV service from India that is easily receivable in West Malaysia, am I right?

For Malaysian Indians, Videocon d2h is the best option if you are craving for more Indian content as Astro doesn't provide much Indian channels, which is an disadvantage among Malaysian Indians. For non Indians, there is still English in-house channels, movies and sports channels to enjoy. Many Malaysians prefers to watch some in-house channels that Astro provides but Videocon d2h doesn't have, especially Malay and Chinese channels. So eventually it is all depends on individual taste, no right or wrongs here.

Because it is a universal satellite decoder, it is better that you do some research by yourself on the types of satellite decoder models available, instead of just accepting whatever decoder that the installer provide to you. And of course you can't compare with Astro decoders. May you share with us, what decoder brand and model you are using now? And why do you want a smart card slot for? What channels do you want to watch that uses smart card to decrypt the channels?

Well, there is other alternatives to watch channels from multiple satellites besides motorize system because motorize system itself is not cheap (I think it costs thousands of ringgit if not mistaken) and not everyone willing to spend money on that. The easiest one is to buy another satellite dish to receive signals from another satellite, which is easy and straightforward. If you don't want to spend money to buy another dish and other equipment, you can put multiple LNBs on your satellite dish, but this is quite challenging and time consuming to set it up but of course it saves cost, or you can ask an installer to help you. It looks something like this:



Yes, Astro exclusive DTH license expires on Feb 2017, while non-exclusive license expires on 2022. And yes it means companies can introduce new DTH pay TV after Feb 2017. But this is just DTH pay TV company, not TV content. Astro holds quite an amount of exclusive content/channels across several TV networks for several years, such as HBO, Fox Network Group, etc. The future DTH pay TV might struggle if they couldn't offer TV channels that aren't so attractive to customers because Astro still owns those exclusive rights to those "nice" channels. Pretty much almost every channels you saw on Astro that Hypp TV don't provide such as HBO, Discovery Channel, Nat Geo, others are exclusive by Astro. Unless the new DTH pay TV willing to bid over Astro for the content, and not to forget about sports content as well.

It depends whether Astro interested to provide C band DTH or not, since that is one of the easiest solution to solve rain fade issue and all Malaysian customers can enjoy the service, unlike Astro IPTV where it is limited to service coverage as the area must have fibre broadband service to enjoy the service. Yes I am very aware that Astro FB page are full of negative feedback and complaints. You say their sales drop? Nope. The number of subscribers kept increasing non-stop quarter by quarter, year by year and the graph never drop, plus Njoi also provided some support too. Currently there are 5 millions and growing subscribers, including 1 million Njoi customers. Thanks to Astro's monopoly, despite how much effort the customers tries to complain, cancel Astro service and even tells people to boycott Astro, Astro will still continue to stand as "No. 1 pay TV in Malaysia" and win some sort of awards (such as Putra Brand Awards) that we don't care. Because they know that there's no other pay TV in Malaysia provide the channels as good as Astro. Ask yourself, do you prefer the channels you see on Astro or Hypp TV, or both? If you cancel Astro, you can't watch those channels, as simple as that. Even there is those Internet TV, watch TV shows on Internet for free, Netflix, iflix, Hypp TV or whatsoever, Astro aren't afraid about this because as long the number of subscribers is growing and profit are there, it's fine for them. Remember, whatever they do, they will prioritize on money first, not customer first. It sounds like I'm giving hate speech towards Astro, but it is the truth. Like it or not, we Malaysians just have to accept it.

Exclusive DTH license means, no other satellite pay TV is allowed to be in Malaysian pay TV market until the exclusive license expires. If our "very good" government wants to renew and extend their exclusive license again, then literally Malaysia no hope already. Whether to use C band or not, it still have to depend on our "very good" government allow the usage of C band for the particular DTH pay TV or not. But that one is future thing la...