I believe the PVR box is superior compared to the newer boxes from Astro.
Actually, new Astro boxes like Ulti/Ultra Box are more superior than previous boxes because it supports more features, including streaming apps like Netflix. However, Astro's business direction nowadays is no longer the "built in hard disk inside Astro box, which allow local recordings and download On Demand content". Instead, they are now all cloud recording based, and On Demand streaming instead.

Anyway, it's okay if you're not ready to go for Ulti/Ultra Box. But remember to take good care of your PVR box, cuz once it's faulty, you won't be getting a PVR box replacement for that. Instead, you'll be getting Ulti Box instead.

"Faulty" as in the built in hard disk fails inside the PVR box (which you're unable to record/pause/rewind/download anymore) or some other technical errors.

The hard disk used in PVR box are those CCTV grade ones (means robust type that is designed for 24/7 continuous usage, like CCTV recording systems) rather than the normal consumer grade, so usually won't get faulty that easily. But if it's after many years of usage, then hard to say also, cuz there'll be wear and tear...

This post has been edited by joshhd: Jun 18 2024, 01:31 AM

It is in Full HD 🌚
But the video bitrate that SPOTV use to distribute the feed to pay TV providers including Astro this time, is kind of questionable.
Nah, I'm pretty sure the employees there don't even bother to care. I bet all of the employees are be like "Oh, as long got picture and sound come out, then it's ok. Nothing urgent."
Therefore, they'd rather focus more on bringing revenue to the company.
Bad comment does not mean official complaint.
More official complaints is better. They can keep track on how many complaints they receive about this matter.

However, you'll need to be prepared as I doubt that the agents are trained to attend enquiries related to picture quality like this. I'm pretty sure the agent will give you troubleshooting steps as if they're treating your issue like you're facing SCNA issue, or perhaps eventually propose to send technician to your house to check. 🤣

I disagree with this point. The agent can just Close your case without even telling you, and leave your issue unresolved.
They have their KPI to maintain... They wouldn't want the higher ups to question them why is this case taking so long to resolve, you see... 🤷‍♂️
But if you're referring to the SPOTV Stadia channel's unsatisfactory HD picture quality issue, then perhaps contact SPOTV directly instead?
You can also tell them that the picture quality you see on SPOTVNOW is also bad, even on 1080p quality.

If you go through Astro, you'll have to be prepared with their irrelevant troubleshooting steps, like check your satellite signal reading, check your Internet connection, or even send technician to your house and check. It's going to the pain process if you yourself already know what went wrong here.

They acknowledged the issue is from SPOTV feed?
What picture evidence and recordings you've showed them? Can post it here too?

Who else here have also filed a complaint to Astro about this? What's their response?

From what I see, it's unlikely.

Even if it does (probably many many years later?), they will have other Starter Packs where you can subscribe to get access to TVB channels, so I wouldn't worry about that.

For NJOI related questions, do post on this thread instead: https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/3119762

If I'm not mistaken, TVB channels are considered "Premium" channels, which you'll need to subscribe to Premium plan to watch those channels.
Entertainment tier, I don't think it's eligible for TVB channels including Astro AOD.

I might be wrong... If anyone here subscribed to Entertainment tier of Sooka plan, do confirm on this.

This post has been edited by joshhd: Jun 20 2024, 01:22 PM

Did you ever buy Astro stocks?

This post has been edited by joshhd: Jun 20 2024, 01:21 PM

Why not might as well everything ask for retention offer instead of going through changing account ownership or Sooka all those things?
It's pretty troublesome, don't you think?

Transferring ownership does not literally makes you a "new customer"

This post has been edited by joshhd: Jun 20 2024, 11:14 PM

Euro 2024 game hit by ‘transmission interruptions’, Singapore fans miss out on action
https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football...s-out-on-action
===


This post has been edited by joshhd: Jun 20 2024, 11:39 PM

But for my house getting njoi 😛
You mean buying new NJOI box? Or you convert existing Astro subscription into NJOI (need to pay hefty conversion fee)?

Thank you for the all the advice tho
Astro should have paid u for your good service 👍
That is impossible. An Astro fan like me, is causing Astro company to lose money for giving such brutally honest advices to you.

Well, it's not that Astro's way of doing business is very honest also la

Rest assured. It's coming from them, not you, so you're not the only one.
It has always been a known issue for not only Astro's Smart TV app, but also their Plug & Play service.
Intermittent buffering & video quality fluctuations, is already a known thing.
Doesn't matter if you subscribe to 1Gbps or 30Mbps Internet speed, the issue will still be there.
Yes. Now you can watch CH549 and CH805 on their Smart TV app.
But the streaming performance you get there, will be similar like their Plug & Play service, where "intermittent buffering & video quality fluctuations" is a very normal thing.
Imagine watching Astro SuperSport UHD CH805, it fluctuates from 4K HDR to Full HD, and then from Full HD to 4K HDR, and then repeat...
Mmm, "that is how adaptive bitrate streaming works", so it's very normal

This post has been edited by joshhd: Jun 22 2024, 12:19 AM

Since my parents is on the legacy Super Pack Lite 3 (Sports) and to add the multiroom I need to change to the latest package.
Correct. Astro no longer allow legacy pack customers to add on any kinds of Multiroom, until you switch to the new packs.

The nearest package I saw from the joshhd post is sports pack + News & Documentaries addon which works to about the same amount.
If compare Super Pack Lite 3 (Sports) versus Sports Pack + News & Documentaries addon, price is similar but you will lose these channels:

Moonbug Kids (CH618), 2 Korean channels tvN (CH395) & K+ (CH396), HITS Movies (CH401) and 2 Indian movie channels (CH241/251)

the multiroom RM14.90 price is only for the first 3 months. Can anybody confirm on this?
Their original price is RM29.99.
I remember previously they used to extend that promo price of RM14.99 so many times, until I can't keep track anymore
Anyone here still subscribed to Multiroom Smart TV can confirm?

But even if it's only 3 months, pay the original price of RM29.99 / month is still cheaper than you get a new Multiroom (Box) or even new Astro subscription, so....

Right now Astro has an ongoing campaign where legacy pack customers using old boxes can upgrade to Ulti Box (if monthly fee less than RM100) or Ultra Box (if monthly fee more than RM100) for free.
This campaign is not eligible if you've switched to the new packs.
So, no additional monthly fee, no installation fee, and no contract. However, for those who are on monthly fee lower than RM100 ones, and insist to proceed with satellite, then you'll need to commit 12 months of box contract.

Since you're on Super Pack Lite 3 (Sports), then you're eligible for free Ultra Box already. Therefore, what you did is the right thing. Proceed with this upgrade first, and then switch to the new packs later.

By switching to the new box, do note that the agent will create your order as Plug & Play, as it is their default installation mode nowadays. If you still want to use your satellite dish to receive channels, you need to inform the agent ya.

Although using Internet streaming (Plug & Play) means no more rain interruption like satellite, that does not mean it is the best for you, as you might encounter scenarios like intermittent fluctuating video quality (adaptive bitrate streaming) regardless of how fast your Internet is, streaming latency of up to 1 minute, loading cursor always appear when tuning channels, and the box tend to be slightly more lag compared to receiving via satellite dish.
Not everyone will particular in things like these, so if you don't mind all of these, then it's ok.

In case if you want satellite but didn't tell that agent you want satellite, and you haven't receive the box yet, try contact customer service and tell them to cancel the Plug & Play order, and then create new order as Satellite.

Impossible they will sweep under the carpet... It's already on the news, so SPOTV can't run away. 😆😆

As a customer, we can only do that much only.

Even if filing complaint to MCMC, and then it routes to Astro, and then it routes to SPOTV, and if SPOTV say "nothing much we can do right now", then what can we do?

Refund? Provided if SPOTV themselves are willing to issue a refund to pay TV providers
Otherwise, I doubt that Astro/NJOI/Sooka would entertain such refund requests for something that is out of their control.
If it's just a few, then maybe ok. But if it's thousands, hmmm I doubt...

This post has been edited by joshhd: Jun 22 2024, 06:50 PM

Of course. What I'm trying to say is, manage your expectation.
Relax. It's just a popup channel from SPOTV, to air additional live matches.

They must be hired an intern to do the job
Actually, why not SPOTV just relay and passthrough the world feed to MY/SG pay TV providers instead of getting the clean feed and create all sorts of problems to viewers here?

Rarely see this clean without any watermark lol
Enjoy while it lasts LOL
Correction: It's not "Euro add-on". It's Sports addon, which is meant for non-Sports Pack customers to subscribe it, and those who subscribe it will get access to all Sports channels (CH805-820) just like the usual Sports Pack customers, which inclusive of Euro 2024.

This post has been edited by joshhd: Jun 23 2024, 02:19 AM

You tried toggle between WiFi and mobile data? Still same?
Or use someone else's phone that uses different telco than yours, turn on the mobile hotspot, connect it, then see if issue persists?

And try clear app cache also?

This post has been edited by joshhd: Jun 23 2024, 02:17 AM

Apps that are not properly optimised is like that one lor...
Have to "Force stop", "Clear cache", launch again, then repeat when s**t happens again.

That CK guy is just the CEO of the company.
It doesn't mean that he would go and hands-on do those broadcast engineering stuff, as he'll be too busy to bother those "technical stuff" until complaints comes in.

Now that the CEO acknowledged, and this issue is not something that just happen only on day 1. It's been happening and persists till today, and it shows no obvious signs of solving the issue. Also not to forget, their terrible editing of the highlights video on YouTube and they broadcast the repeat matches on SPOTV Stadia channel in 25fps rather than 50fps.
So, what does that mean?

The root cause of the issue is definitely coming from their broadcasting team, plus some other teams that involve in distributing Euro 2024 content. Maybe they opted for a lousy backend solution that caused all these mess, and/or they hired an intern to do the job. Also, no official announcement released from SPOTV about all of the Euro 2024 issues coming from SPOTV itself, other than news articles of Singapore customers complaining and some online discussions, so it means that they don't intend to be transparent to their customers, and they're doing their own damage control. Like what pokemon pointed out, that CEO used to work under Astro many years ago, so it is possible that he just continue or allow that not-transparent culture to SPOTV Asia.

From what I see, I doubt they'll have enough time to find a proper solution for this, because they could've done so long time ago, and EURO 2024 is already ongoing. I have a feeling that whatever broadcast problems going on, whether it's big or small issues, it will likely continue as-is until Euro 2024 ends on 15 July, and all we as a customer can do is just complain.

This post has been edited by joshhd: Jun 24 2024, 01:45 PM

They have a term for it. It's called World Feed, not "International feed".
My instinct tells me that it's either:

Astro receives SPOTV Stadia channel through Internet as a backhaul rather than satellite.

OR

SPOTV receives the clean feed via Internet rather than satellite, before it is transmitted as SPOTV Stadia channel, which to be distributed to MY/SG pay TV providers.

OR

Both of the above simultaneously.

So it is possible that this contributed to the broadcast latency/delay when comparing with other country's pay TV provider's channel that takes the World Feed of Euro 2024 via satellite.

This post has been edited by joshhd: Jun 24 2024, 01:40 PM