Hi all... I'm in dilemma whether want to subscribe Astro or not.

Some questions I have in mind:
1. Live badminton usually is in which channel? If only get Sports Lite (ASSP 1 and 2 only) enough to watch?
2. How fast new movies/dramas will be available in On Demand usually?
3. Can Ultrabox pause on one channel A, switch to another channel B, and then come back resume channel A after a while?

Thanks for any help.

1 and 2) It depends. There's no fixed answer to that.
For live sports events, you can think about that once the live sports events worldwide goes back to normal.
Now don't have major live sports events also. Even if have, very likely that the stadium or badminton court has very little to no audience.

For movies, all those new movies are likely to go to Astro First or Astro Best first. Usually, it's from 2 weeks (Astro First) to 6 months (Astro Best) after theatrical release.
For TV series, it depends. If it's same day as the country's telecast, usually it shall be available within 24 hours after the country's telecast, or right after TV telecast.

3) No you can't do that. You can't even do that on PVR box also.
It's better that you record the programme on Channel A, then tune to Channel B and watch your whatever shows.
Later, you can view back the recording made on Channel A.

If you want to upgrade your Astro STB, they would probably offer you Ultra Box as the only option, since there's no new stocks for PVR box since last year or longer.

Oh, then probably it is the refurbished unit.
If you prefer the PVR box, go ahead.

There's no short answer for this, especially about Ultra Box.
Some would say it's okay, some would say they made the most regret decision ever in life.

I'm an Ultra Box user here. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Overall how is it, you ask? Okok lo.

Some people experience the Ultra Box keep restart for no reason, and WiFi disconnects itself.
Some people use no major issue, like me la.
Cuz when it comes to issues/software glitches, sometimes it depends on luck also.

Any question you want to ask, specifically?
What feature or function concerns you the most?

.....I think I'll just let other forumers here to give you their review.

Later people say I'm like a keyboard warrior, trying to tarnish Astro's reputation on Lowyat forum....

Many changes being done in Astro..
I mean the pack pricing & contents @ channels...

I suspect something big gonna happen few month time.
Astro simply won't do so much changes within short period of time...

Maybe new rival to Astro gonna start operation 😁
Another DTH service provider???

My guess is there will be price hike for full Sports Pack. Hence Astro now create many sport packs like sport lite, premier league pack, astro supersport can even be subscribed per channel (1/2/3/4). This is to maintain sport subscribers and so that they won't terminate sport pack altogether. So the new sport packages are more flexible. If one only watches EPL, no need to subscribe fox sports and bein sports.

Astro Technician's Diary

It's been a tiring day, with so many pending/backlog appointments still needs to be cleared. I'm so stressed.

"I just want to get things done fast"
Many customer's homes couldn't get signal due to dish misalignment and other issues. They're waiting for us to come and fix their Astro so that their family can enjoy watch Astro in this coming Raya.
Some has waited since MCO started until now, and we are still trying our very best to complete as much technical visits as we can.
Our working hours is being restricted, so it will still take time to clear the outstanding visits. We are humans too, we are not robots.

We're sorry, and we hope the customers would understand... 



       

Fast fast install, can get signal, ok, leave the house then proceed to next job. We still have total outstanding technical visits of 99,999 to be cleared off in a short period of time. (Of course, that 99,999 is not real  )
Messy cables? Let other technician who is not so busy to do it lah. 

🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

Upgrade from Njoi to Ultra Box should be okay, since it's just swapping STB to the Ultra Box, as well as installing new DCSS LNB on your satellite dish. So for this part, don't worry.

However, another part that maybe you might wanna worry is, I noticed some customers complaints that they just their Ultra Box installed, and the technician left their house before their smart card is being activated.
Technician told them that the Astro smart card will be activated within 24 hours, so "don't worry". 
But in some cases, more than 24 hrs has passed (some even 3+ days), and customer still unable to watch Astro, as it still shows that 'please insert correct smart card (CA 14)' message, because the card is not yet activated by Astro.
According to them, they could only watch TV1 and radio channels, and nothing else.

When contact Astro, they say another agent will get back to you, and at the end, nothing happens.
So it's like this agent throw to another agent, then throw to another agent, throw here and there, at the end you sit down and wait lo.

So, you want fast? I give you fast. 

Perhaps, it is advised that you should be mentally prepared that you might not able to watch Astro for a few days.
Maybe because they wanna "mass activate" all the accounts, instead of technician activate the accounts one by one per technical visit like that, which is maybe kinda time consuming to them.
Even if they go for the "mass activate" method, you wouldn't know whether they would 'accidentally' skipped yours or not.
Like I said, you want fast, I give you fast.

Or maybe, it's just an isolated case... Maybe it wouldn't happen to you, I dunno 

Erm, what do you mean based on bootstrap/WEB UI? Can explain a bit? 

How to Configure Your Astro Ultra Remote
Here you go:

To turn off and on your TV using Astro Ultra Remote, press and hold the power button a little longer.

You can sign up auto debit via online at https://selfservice.astro.com.my/
Login to your Astro ID (if don't have, just create one, and then link to your Astro account).
Select Personal Info, then... You'll see "Auto Debit" there.