Hmm... Thanks for sharing us this info. Very good observation.
From what I see, it seems to be a deliberate delay for either censorship (in case if anything obscene) or giving enough time for them to plan to slot in ads.

Well erm, not obscene. Some scenes that they won't want viewers to see, as it may be irrelevant, for example.

As long there's high viewership and the audiences enjoyed watching the channel, then I don't see a problem of upgrading the channel to HD.

Wikipedia can be edited by anyone. Don't rely information from Wikipedia, especially about channel availability. There are some people trying to vandalise the Wikipedia pages.

As of 5 May 2017, MTV (ch713) is now the one and only channel that is broadcasts in native 16:9 format but transmits in 4:3 format. Prior to this, only Go Shop (ch118) transmits using this format, but now the channel has upgraded to HD. In simple words, still in 4:3 but no letterbox, so when you watch it on your 16:9 TV, it will display as the correct shape if you don't set the viewing setting as pillarbox.

Now as what I see, besides correct picture shape (aspect ratio), the picture quality of MTV has improved a lot, but still not as good as native SD 16:9 channels like Astro Arena, Bloomberg, Disney XD, etc. But at least, better than nothing.

I was like, finally after been sooo many months, Astro only take action about the aspect ratio thinggy.
Nice one, Astro! Thumbs up!

As for AFC and Nickelodeon, I believe Astro are already receiving the HD feed from channel provider. But Astro transmits the channel in 4:3 with pillarbox.

As for Cartoon Network, Astro receives the SD feed instead of HD feed. Because Cartoon Network has dedicated SD and HD feed, they are not simulcast, so Astro or any pay TV providers got to have another new agreement with the channel provider to obtain broadcast licence for HD feed (in layman terms, pay more money, or new broadcast licence exclusively for HD feed). So as of now, apparently Astro's agreement with the channel provider is only SD feed.

Also, Cartoon Network transmits the channel in 14:9 format.
As what I remember, the channels that Astro uses 14:9 format for SD channels are KBS World, BBC World News and Cartoon Network.

What is that and what will you notice? A smaller little letterbox at the top and bottom. It is to create a balance looking picture between the 2 aspect ratios, rather than "big 16:9 letterbox" looking on 4:3 video, or "big 4:3 pillarbox" looking on 16:9 video. You may not notice this if your TV connects to RCA input (not HDMI).

If you are interested to know more, go Google about this.

You guys don't forget the fact why they chose to transmit most of SD channels with letterbox instead of native 16:9 aspect ratio.
I think this time, they chose to upgrade MTV is because they have no plan to upgrade the channel to HD for now.

MTV's viewership isn't very high as other in-house channels. Astro knows that upgrading the channel to HD won't encourage more customers to subscribe to HD. Ask yourself, how often will you watch MTV channel in your leisure time? If MTV really upgraded to HD, and customers are forced to subscribe to HD + Variety pack, will you subscribe them? Do you think Astro will earn more money, or lose money because customers chose to give up and don't wish to watch MTV anymore?

Unlike the Lifetime channel now (ch709), part of the reason why they chose to upgrade this channel is probably due to well performing viewership ratings, or they find out that certain group of viewers enjoy watching this channel, so after upgrading the channel to HD, they hope those group of viewers will pay more money (if they haven't) to continue watching Lifetime channel in HD quality. As for FYI (ch736), it is the opposite of this.

So if you want to convince Astro to remove pillarbox on those highly rated channels like HBO 411, Fox Movies Premium 413, all Astro SuperSport SD channels, Astro AEC 301, Astri Shuang Xing 324, etc. I can tell you is, it won't be easy.

Because if they really do, they will lose marketing advantage to convince customers to subscribe to HD service. Majority of the customers will react like this: "Ehhh, I watch HBO 411 no letterbox and all, the picture quality looks great to me, looks almost like HD, so why would I pay more money for HD?"

Hah, see that? Now even if you go compare with Astro Arena 801 and Astro Arena HD 802, then you will get what I mean. Majority of viewers like us are just being materialistic. We want to see BIG difference by paying more money, not small differences and we pay nothing and hey gain nothing. Get it now?

This post has been edited by joshhd: May 6 2017, 02:32 AM

No lah... That's the same kind of nonsense as our minister say Malaysians love cheap and slow Internet. I believe you heard about the news long ago, right?

Customer service representative are just a customer service representative, they're not professionals and necessarily good in tech stuff.

Just contact Astro Customer service about this. Astro is no longer having third party installers like last time. Now all authorised Astro installers and contractors are assigned by Astro themselves.

Unrelated to Astro: Malaysia digital TV viewers in Johor Bahru and Singapore, read this.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/mytv-broadca...12882578730260/

Gunung Pulai transmitter will go off air starting everyday from 8 May till 13 May 2017 at 9am to 6pm daily due to maintainence works. You can still continue watching Malaysia digital TV outside this period, or temporarily watch from analogue TV.

Contact Astro customer service about this. There are several users complained on Astro Facebook pages some of them experiences the same issue as you.

As I mentioned previously about the change of aspect ratio of MTV channel, here's how MTV channel on Astro looks like now.

This is how it looks like when I press "change viewing format" button.

Astro get Chinese movies from Star Chinese Movies (SCM) On Demand and then air it on Astro Mustika HD??


I thought Astro got some strategic partnership with Celestial Tiger Entertainment, where Astro has own Malaysia feed of Celestial Movies, isn't?
Why is Astro doing that???? Take Chinese movies from another channel, and then air it on Malay HD channel? LOL

By the way, the Hong Kong movie airing now on Mustika HD (as seen on screenshot) is "Royal Tramp"

This post has been edited by joshhd: May 10 2017, 11:38 PM

Astro ain't show any mercy on that. Not only they want to earn money, but also earning more Singapore Dollars...

Someone asks Astro relating to this, and this is what Astro replied.

They don't seems to acknowledge that they are reluctant to use 4:3 aspect ratio with letterbox on it. As if they put all the blame to the channel providers.

The channel provider of Channel E! actually transmits in HD quality from other commercial satellite, only thing is Astro transmits it in SD quality.
And yes, the viewership of the channel is low, not very high, but still got people interested to watch it.

Channel E! is basically all about celebrity programmes, mainly from Hollywood celebrities.

Nah it's not about cost. They just don't want to "waste resources" on channels that don't seems to give them much benefit and profit by upgrading the channels to HD.

Astro is "doing good", are you?

Thanks for the update.

Can. As long the cable is still good in condition. If you connect it and you see lower signal strength (e.g. less than 70% at STB Diagnostics") even your satellite dish is properly adjusted, then it is you got to replace a new cable.