While RTM Klik/MYTV (DVB-T2, Mana-mana) is showing the live Paralympics coverage - TV Okey on Sooka also just show alternative programming (same as Astro) as stated by DoubleM2.

Interestingly - RTM still show the Paralympics promo on Astro feed of TV Okey.

I wonder why RTM can't do proper resolution thing on Analog (4:3 SD)/DTT (16:9 SD/HD) back then, considering that RTM has separate playouts for seperate platforms (at least 3 variants - DVB-T2/RTM Klik, Astro and Unifi TV)

This post has been edited by shaun_kok: Aug 29 2024, 04:24 PM

Well, the newly rebranded Astro sport channels started with very little fanfare (without all those introductions) - they just directly jumped into sport coverage after some placeholder.

For Astro Arena channels and Astro Cricket, they simply changed the on screen watermark from the old one to the new one (which for Astro Arena - the watermark grow in size).

All observed via Sooka.

This post has been edited by shaun_kok: Oct 17 2024, 06:13 AM

8TV has been consistently the second most watched TV channel in the country (and No. 1 channel in the Chinese category - According to the ratings, the ratings of all Astro Chinese channels combined is still less than the rating 8TV has - which have recorded 50%++ ratings consistently for the category) ever since Media Prima repositioned 8TV as 100% Chinese channel and made TV9 showing a lot of Wow Shop back then.

TV9 has more viewers since they adjusted their lineup to mainly movies, Islamic programmes, children programmes and some repeats, (when compared to Wow Shop era), but the ratings is still no where near the channel early years.

Media Prima now has > 50% share on TV (According to Media Prima quarterly reports), TV3 alone already have 47% share on Malay market - that's probably the reason why Astro don't dare to reduce TV3 quality.

I seriously think that Astro is purposely reducing the quality so that they can choose Astro channels (therefore bring more revenue to the financially precautious company) or worst case, chasing away viewers to somewhere else permanently (MYTV, Unifi TV, Tonton), causing Astro even more trouble.

This post has been edited by shaun_kok: Nov 6 2024, 05:28 PM

https://www.digitalbitrate.com/dtv.php?mux=...ive=363&lang=en

Interesting to see that all the transmission data for Astro Satellite is released openly by a scanner in KL, on the famous digital bitrate website.

Of course, all services are encrypted - but transmission data is open to all to see.

Maybe someone can host a DVB-T terrestrial scanner in the future on that website?

Most transponders are on DVB-S2 @ 74Mbps.

The bitrate for each channel ranges from as low as 2.XMbps for some channels (1080i H.264), average 3-6Mbps, and would max up at 8Mbps - which explains the very poor picture quality.

Astro UHD channels is at 18.5Mbps/HEVC CBR + E-AC3 Audio, but we don't know if Astro is going to cut UHD bitrates when they launch more UHD linear channels (unlikely at this point).

For SD channels the bitrate is even lower, at the range of 1.x to 2.x Mbps. 8TV/TV9 is currently transmitting at 1.0Mbps (+ 352*576i combo, which explains the very poor picture quality that people are complaining here!)

Audio quality is 64kbps HE-AAC (AC3 5.1 audio is 384kbps)

For channels still on DVB-S, the channels have audio quality of 128kbps MP2. Radio channels are on 160kbps MP2.

Interestingly, the SD channels are still in the DVB-S transponder (including the old NJOI SD channels, which are still there), but CCM has moved to DVB-S2 transponder.

For comparison - HD bitrates for MYTV is 3.6Mbps-4Mbps (fixed), Unifi TV is 3.6Mbps (for most channels, including sport channels like SPOTV - this bitrate conclusion is after what I have measured over months - must be done to save data costs!)

This post has been edited by shaun_kok: Nov 13 2024, 03:38 AM

I understand that VBR are not the same as CBR, but maxing out at 8Mbps meant that on very extreme scenes, sometimes the picture won't be as good.

However, Astro's bitrate is actually relatively good when compared to Indonesia's Transvision (also on digital bitrate website), and in fact, many TV operators in the world. their HD bitrates are actually much lower than what Astro VBR and even MYTV CBR have and almost all their channels are on 128kbps MP2 Stereo audio.

352x576i means they are transmitting on a lower resolution than what they should be doing so (preferably 720*576i), hence the very poor picture quality.

160kbps is low, but many providers around the world do use this bitrate. When you compare to UK DAB radio - they are even transmitting at 112kbps stereo or 56kbps Mono (MP2)!

For comparison, UK Freeview is transmitting at 544*576i for many MPEG2 SD commercial channels with 128kbps audio (not the main channels like BBC, ITV in SD which are still 720*576, and 192kbps MP2 audio - BBC ones are 256kbps).

The providers are actively compressing the video to the max possible (while still providing acceptable quality) to save cost because more quality = more money.

This post has been edited by shaun_kok: Nov 15 2024, 12:29 AM

Astro is now so so obsessed with the pink and blue theme (and reusing it) - now it has spread everywhere.

This post has been edited by shaun_kok: Nov 15 2024, 12:32 AM

I will say all the Chinese/Indian/Movie channels get the exact same treatment - based on what we see on Astro guide.

AOD/Hua Hee Dai all get the same logo.

The Malay channels will likely be next when they close and merge Warna/Premier with Ria/Prima/Citra.

This post has been edited by shaun_kok: Nov 15 2024, 12:45 AM

Delete

This post has been edited by shaun_kok: Nov 15 2024, 12:43 AM

Learning for Mediacorp who did the same last year - they also standardized their logo into a similar style to all channels and brands they own (???)

MY has reverted to old "MY FM" name for some time, while LITE has been referred as "LITE FM" on radio for some time (logo and RDS text remains the same).
At one point MIX was referred as "MIX FM".

THR GEGAR was referred like that on their website, shortly before the rebrand (like January?)

These all happened after 2018.

Seems like the 2018 major rebrand of dropping "FM" is not that successful in the long term, and some people still actively refer the stations with their old name.

In fact, I sometimes still refer the Astro stations with old FM name - old habits die hard.

Well, the names listed on Astro guide wasn't changed...

Similarly, Astro Radio's app (website), Syok carries all the SPH Media's radio stations. This has been there for some time.



This post has been edited by shaun_kok: Feb 16 2025, 01:39 PM

It looked like MMDS (multichannel multipoint distribution service) - or wireless cable TV. This is a low cost way to develop cable TV especially on a large area (without pre existing cable infrastructure).

Unlike Singapore (the former cable infrastructure of StarHub/SCV - which is physical cable - StarHub have moved completely to IPTV/OTT based pay TV), no physical layout of traditional cable infrastructure is necessary on a MMDS setup (only base stations) - but if the tower is too far away/in fringe areas - the signal quality will be poor. And of course, because it is MMDS, a receiving antenna is necessary - like this kind of fish bone antenna.

The traditional style cable TV requires a lot of coaxial cables, which is suited better for densely populated areas like Singapore. Uniquely in Singapore, cable TV was also used to distribute terrestrial TV signals to local households free of charge - and the latter local channels like CNA and Channel U have different frequencies, to the terrestrial signals (traditionally, cable infrastructure will only be setup when that household is installing cable TV). Analogue cable TV (paid) was ceased in 2009, while cable TV is ceased completely in 2019 (Midnight 2 Jan 2019 for analogue cable as part of the analogue switchover, later for digital cable).

MMDS is more suitable for more sparsely populated areas, like Malaysia in the 1990s.

The MMDS band (2.6GHz) is currently used for mobile phone service (4G).

This post has been edited by shaun_kok: Jun 3 2025, 04:42 PM