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joshhd
post Mar 19 2021, 12:58 PM

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Technical Suggestions/Opinions
Video
It is pretty obvious to me that Tech Storm has better HD picture quality compared to others, as it uses constant bitrate of 5Mbps.
The video compression artifacts for Outdoor Channel and especially GEM, is more apparent... sad.gif
Sirius TV shall consider standardise the bitrate for HD channels too, at least 5Mbps (H.264 video codec) on all HD channels?
I hope the broadcast tech team in Sirius TV would explore further ways to improve picture quality while maintain same 5Mbps HD bitrate, by making some technical adjustments on the video encoder settings, such as larger GOP size (Group of Picture).
These 3 channels (Tech Storm, GEM, Outdoor Channel) are considered to be "premium channels" to some extent/people, hence I believe that Sirius TV should have just make all 3 in HD quality instead... πŸ˜…
Or better still, use HEVC video codec biggrin.gif biggrin.gif

Also, I notice that Sirius TV offers Outdoor Channel in original video frame of 29.97fps (NTSC) instead of converting it to 25fps (PAL).
Maintain original video frame rate. Nice thumbup.gif thumbup.gif

Audio
On the first impression, the TV channel's audio quality seems okay to me, not until I tune to GEM channel, where I start to notice the bad audio quality artifacts only on GEM.
And I check, hmm, it uses MP2 audio codec, and the bitrate choice of 192kbps seems okay to me, but why is it only 96kbps for GEM channel? confused.gif
The audio quality of 96kbps for a MP2 audio codec, are very bad actually. Unless if Sirius TV proceed with HE-AAC audio codec (patent-required) of 96kbps, then it is a different story.
But if it's MP2, nah... sweat.gif
I would suggest that if Sirius TV will be using the royalty-free MP2 audio codec in the long run, consider standardise the audio track bitrate on all channels as 192kbps Stereo...

Conclusion
Anyway, it is still testing phase, and some things may change from time to time... I wish all the best for Sirius TV thumbup.gif
And yes, I will continue to monitor from time to time 😁

This post has been edited by joshhd: Mar 19 2021, 01:10 PM
joshhd
post Mar 19 2021, 10:14 PM

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QUOTE(Sirius TV @ Mar 19 2021, 02:55 PM)
A big  T H A N K  Y O U  to Joshhd. All of us at Sirius TV is digesting Joshhd's review and will take heed in some of his suggestions and observations.

Well said Joshhd...
*

It's my pleasure... notworthy.gif
Btw why is it only 3-4 channels on air right now? I thought there would be up to 15 channels to be included in the test broadcast begins on 15 March?
Perhaps could you share on what are the technical challenges faced right now to uplink/provide the temporary FTA broadcasts to the viewers?
Because I do encounter occasional picture freeze, pixelation and blackouts on all channels as well, yet I see my satellite signal readings remain pretty constant... So it seems that some issue coming from your side?

QUOTE(JuneResources @ Mar 19 2021, 06:08 PM)
Wow~~ As an appreciation, @Joshhd will complementary enjoy free channels in the rest of the life..

Hahaha.. Just joking.. XD
*

Oh yes, I'd love to... HAHAHAHA laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif
joshhd
post Mar 22 2021, 09:34 PM

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QUOTE(surrodox2001 @ Mar 21 2021, 09:58 PM)
Speaking of signal strength and satellite dishes, do we still need a license for satellite dish installation other than the Astro family of providers? (for C and Ku band)

PS: Congrats of Sirius TV getting the first signals on the air  thumbup.gif
*

I don't think so. MCMC better deal with this issue, cuz otherwise, MCMC will be a world class joke to the world for implementing such rule among general consumers that subscribes local satellite pay TV service.
And if the annual fees are to imposed to the general consumers directly like that, people will definitely lambast MCMC for such unfair practice by "protecting" and "in favour over Astro".

QUOTE(JuneResources @ Mar 22 2021, 11:50 AM)
How come you ignore me..  cry.gif
Can I request for the set of Decoder and Dish too? notworthy.gif 

Due to I don't have any dish or decoder to review from Sirius, I wish I can get one set decoder and dish from yours so that can further do some research and improvement.. laugh.gif

I'm sincerely appreciate if you could help me.. cry.gif  notworthy.gif
*

If you want, just spend RM299 for that, which includes 1 year subscription.
Sometimes even if you're interested to do research and stuff, you still have to invest own money on it. sad.gif
If they offer some people "free set" like that, then other people will definitely want also.
QUOTE(shaun_kok @ Mar 22 2021, 12:09 PM)
That's great. Hopefully you may transmit the services on H.265 HEVC mode only (since the set top box supports it).

You mentioned that the box has DVB-T2 support. Does it mean it can be used to watch terrestrial TV channels? (In my area in JB, the usual MYTV DTT and Mediacorp Singapore DTT channels.)

Is your channel list final? I would like to learn the channel list before wishing to subscribing to this
*

No it is not final. More coming soon.
shaun_kokJust go ahead and subscribe lah. 🀣RM299 one-off, with 1 year subscription.

QUOTE(surrodox2001 @ Mar 22 2021, 12:11 PM)
Some features of this STB is interesting...

1. You can have your own channels into it (by way of Auto/TP/Blind Scan features)?

2. Does the PVR record encrypted video like Astro to USB storage?

3. What's the use of the small headphone-style jack on the back? Is it for IR input or composite+audio out?

Extra question (reposted for visibilty and can't find a conclusive answer by google):

4. Do we need license/authorization for installing a satellite (either C and/or Ku band) for non-Astro/Measat/Connectme/Myfreeview DTH use? I'm bit curious on this due to crackdowns by MCMC of said equipment.
*

1) Sirius TV box is officially meant for receiving their TV channels only sweat.gif
2) I guess it would be encrypted.
3) That is for 3.5mm to Triple RCA output.
user posted image

4. Sirius TV is legal, my friend. You don't have to worry about MCMC crackdowns and all those nonsense.
joshhd
post Mar 23 2021, 04:10 PM

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QUOTE(smileguy @ Mar 23 2021, 03:53 PM)
BTW has installation started? When can we expect your call?
*

Just sharing la... Until now (at the point of writing) there's only 3 channels on air, which are GEM, Outdoor Channel and Tech Storm.
The rest of the channels like what you saw on its website, isn't up on air yet, as if like doesn't exist kind.

Plus, I do notice some pixelation, video blackouts or video freeze (that lasts 1-2 seconds) which in my opinion, occurs quite frequently, on all the 3 channels.
It seems to me that Sirius TV still has a lot of work to be carried out behind the scenes, so I personally don't see the rush of getting one install that soon.

This post has been edited by joshhd: Mar 23 2021, 04:12 PM
joshhd
post Mar 23 2021, 07:07 PM

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QUOTE(smileguy @ Mar 23 2021, 05:17 PM)
They did call me 10 days ago saying installer wl call soon and a fee of RM90 will be imposed hmm.gif
*

Seems like the RM90 is the workmanship/service fee that the installer will be receiving directly from customer πŸ€”πŸ€”πŸ€”

Anyhow, just wait for their call then.
joshhd
post Mar 23 2021, 07:54 PM

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Sirius TV Test Broadcast
23 March 2021
Frequency: 12595MHz | Polarity: Horizontal | Symbol rate: 45000 | Modulation: DVB-S2 QPSK | FEC: 4/5 | Satellite: SES-12 | Orbital Position: 95Β°E

Before you read further, do note that I am well aware that Sirius TV broadcasts is still on testing phase, therefore some technical hiccups here and there is expected.
Some intermittent pixelation, video blackouts or video freeze (that lasts 1-2 seconds) appears to be a known, ongoing issue right now. (It looks like playing a scratched DVD disc).
Hence, don't expect everything to be perfect just yet. The purpose of this review post is meant for those who "curious" and wants to keep up to date on the latest happenings before the official launch only.

Do refer to my previous reviews on their test broadcasts:
19 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100345185
--------
Looks that they have added some new and dummy test channels:
user posted image
Don't get excited just because you see there's "new channels". Those are just showing looping video.
user posted image
Those "new channels" that just appears, I notice that they seems to be "experimenting" different bitrates for video and audio tracks across different channels now.
Maybe they want to experiment how does the bitrate influence the A/V quality, and how obvious would the compression artifacts sounds and look like? hmm.gif
Example 5-6Mbps HD, 2-4Mbps SD.... While audio is MP2 audio codec, from 64-192kbps. It's good to see that the team is putting effort to try something different here and there... thumbup.gif
But at the end of the day, for me, the higher the bitrate, the better tongue.gif As long the bitrate not too low, especially HD channels, then it should be fine.
joshhd
post Mar 24 2021, 10:49 PM

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joshhd
post Mar 26 2021, 01:40 AM

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Sirius TV Test Broadcast
26 March 2021
Frequency: 12595MHz | Polarity: Horizontal | Symbol rate: 45000 | Satellite: SES-12 | Orbital Position: 95Β°E

Before you read further, do note that I am well aware that Sirius TV broadcasts is still on testing phase, therefore some technical hiccups here and there is expected.
The purpose of this review post is meant for those who "curious" and wants to keep up to date on the latest happenings before the official launch only.

Do refer to my previous reviews on their test broadcasts:
19 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100345185
23 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100390432
------------------------------------------------------

Good news if you are a fan of Japanese shows, because GEM is now in HD quality on Sirius TV. biggrin.gif Currently they're testing the video bitrate for this channel of between 5-7Mbps.
And also with all 4 subtitles language options (Traditional Chinese, Thai, Bahasa Indonesia, English). Here's how the channel look like:
user posted image user posted image user posted image

user posted image user posted image user posted image
*click/tap image to view in high resolution

Outdoor Channel, still in the same HD quality bitrate of 4.4Mbps. Although it has 6 subtitle language options (Traditional Chinese, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, Malayalam, Bahasa Indonesia), but respective subtitle language is subject to availability of the particular programme. In simple words, not all programmes in Outdoor Channel has subtitles on all languages.
user posted image user posted image user posted image

Tech Storm, with Traditional Chinese subtitles option selected.
user posted image
This screenshot is some "short video clip" aired during commercial break, where so happen that clip has a hard coded English subtitles, which is rare on Tech Storm channel.
And on top of that, Chinese subtitle appears during that short video clip, which explains both Chinese and English subtitle appears at the same time.
However, do note that only selected programmes in Tech Storm has the Traditional Chinese subtitle appear, especially in TV series.
Don't ask Sirius TV why, because they won't know why. If you want to why, ask the channel provider, Tech Storm. tongue.gif

I notice that the intermittent pixelation, video freeze or blackouts has been significantly reduced. The overall broadcast appears very much "stable" now.
And, they have removed the awful looking of "SIRIUS TV | TEST TRANSMISSION" indicator. tongue.gif

In conclusion, that's a great improvement, Sirius TV thumbsup.gif Of course, I'll still continue to monitor as usual.

This post has been edited by joshhd: Mar 26 2021, 01:51 AM
joshhd
post Mar 26 2021, 01:43 AM

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Oh, almost forgot...
The upcoming Malay in-house channel from Sirius TV, Seri, is just showing the looping animation video of this, with some background music Nothing much to see here.
user posted image
Btw, the channel is in SD quality 2Mbps.
joshhd
post Mar 26 2021, 01:55 AM

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QUOTE(surrodox2001 @ Mar 26 2021, 01:51 AM)
Looks like sirius is using 4:3 style subtitles on GEM, i wonder why? Since most TVs nowadays is already 16:9. I assume its some kind of legacy compatibility like what Mediacorp did with their subtitles on Singapore DTT.
*

No, it's not like that.
Subtitle font and font size of the respective channel, is set by the channel provider, which is KC Global Media.
GEM, is the same TV provider company as ONE, AXN and Animax, which is now known as KC Global Media.
If you have Astro now at home, you tune to those channels, you will realise that the font and font size appears the same on those channels mentioned, including Malay, Traditional Chinese and English.

Sirius TV does not meddle with the subtitle styling provided by channel provider. Same goes to Astro.
They just "take it as it is".

This post has been edited by joshhd: Mar 26 2021, 01:57 AM
joshhd
post Mar 26 2021, 02:07 AM

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QUOTE(surrodox2001 @ Mar 26 2021, 01:57 AM)
Yeah, why they use 4:3 subs in the first place though?
*

Hmm... This one I'm not sure hmm.gif It could be something that the channel provider "overlooked"?

The impression I have is, as long the channel provider sees that the subtitle appears, then they usually would not bother much about the styling of the subtitle font and font size anymore.
Or it could be, they just continue using whatever preset settings available, which so happens that setting is in SD 4:3, so even when the broadcast has upgraded to HD, they didn't change the subtitle styling?

But seriously, not everyone are so particular about the subtitle font and size. sweat.gif
joshhd
post Mar 26 2021, 01:00 PM

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I received an email from Sirius TV. You guys might wanna check your inbox or spam/junk folder as well.
QUOTE
Good day and greetings to our customers,

We are happy to announce that Sirius TV currently is undergoing our final phase of trial. As such, we would like to reconfirm your participation in our trial program.

Kindly be informed that you have to agree to do following in order to proceed with our trial program:

1. The customer is entitled to one year of free subscription with only installation payment to be made at the amount of RM90.00 direct to installer.

2. After the one year period ends, your subscription can be renewed through prepaid monthly payment at the price of RM20.00 per month.

3. The trial program date will commence as soon as your unit is installed.

4. For the participants of the trial program, the channels are gradually rolled out to the total of 15 channels, thus kindly be notified that you will not be getting the full channel broadcast right away. We have also attached the channel list for your reference.

5. Sirius has the rights to take footage of the installed unit and
related content for company usage which will be used internally and for third party endeavours.

6. This offer is valid until the 31th of March 2021. If no reply has been received by the said date, you are considered not interested in joining the program.

7. Sirius has the full right to change the terms for the program and will notify the involved participants.

If you agree with the mentioned terms and would like to proceed with the program, kindly reply this email with the following details for our team to contact you:

Full Name:
Current Address:
Email:
Phone Number:


Also, kindly be noted that by replying to this email with the required details, you are agreeing with the terms and are willingly participating in our trial program.

Thank you for your cooperation and we look forward to working together with you in making Sirius TV a successful endeavour.


Best regards,

joshhd
post Mar 26 2021, 01:01 PM

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But there's no mention about the RM299... πŸ€”πŸ€”πŸ€”
It only mentions RM90 to be paid to the installer.

So I wonder, does trial participants have to pay RM299 or not?
joshhd
post Mar 29 2021, 02:06 AM

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QUOTE(carte82 @ Mar 28 2021, 11:11 PM)
Got this email from Sirius TV few days back:
*

Uh yea... If you scroll up, you can see that I've mentioned the same thing on my previous post few days back sweat.gif
joshhd
post Mar 29 2021, 11:23 PM

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Sirius TV Test Broadcast
29 March 2021
Frequency: 12595MHz | Polarity: Horizontal | Symbol rate: 45000 | Satellite: SES-12 | Orbital Position: 95Β°E

Before you read further, do note that I am well aware that Sirius TV broadcasts is still on testing phase, therefore some technical hiccups here and there is expected.
The purpose of this review post is meant for those who "curious" and wants to keep up to date on the latest happenings before the official launch only.

Do refer to my previous reviews on their test broadcasts:
19 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100345185
23 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100390432
26 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100417107
-----------------------------------------------------------

1) New channel is on air now, called Drama Channel
This channel seems meant for airing Indonesian TV series, without any subtitles available sweat.gif
user posted image user posted image
Note: Original SD resolution is in 720x576 (4:3 aspect ratio). Screenshot above has been stretched into 16:9 aspect ratio (1024x576).

2) The test broadcasts of Seri channel and Sirius News channel previously, appears "ceased" now (as if the channel has deleted or doesn't exist).

3) Some screenshots from GEM, Outdoor Channel and Tech Storm, with one of the few multilingual subtitles options selected:
user posted image user posted image

user posted image user posted image

user posted image user posted image
joshhd
post Apr 5 2021, 10:37 PM

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Sirius TV Test Broadcast
5 Apr 2021
Frequency: 12595MHz | Polarity: Horizontal | Symbol rate: 45000 | Satellite: SES-12 | Orbital Position: 95Β°E

Before you read further, do note that I am well aware that Sirius TV broadcasts is still on testing phase, therefore some technical hiccups here and there is expected.
The purpose of this review post is meant for those who "curious" and wants to keep up to date on the latest happenings before the official launch only.

Do refer to my previous reviews on their test broadcasts:
19 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100345185
23 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100390432
26 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100417107
29 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100453909
-----------------------------------------------------------

On 1 April 2021, 5 new channels are added, consists of 4 HD and 1 SD.
- FilmBox Arthouse (SD)
- Fightbox (HD)
- Gametoon (HD)
- DocuBox (HD)
- Fast & FunBox (HD)


Here are some of the screenshots:
user posted image user posted image

user posted image user posted image

user posted image user posted image
Picture quality wise, like you see above, when there's isn't much movement/motion in that scene, you'd hardly notice video compression artifacts, and overall not bad.
But if there is fast motion scenes, then the video compression artifacts would look pretty obvious. I still find that the HD picture quality for GEM and Tech Storm is still the best among all of them tongue.gif

However, the availability to watch the TV channels appears inconsistent. Especially these 5 channels from SPI, it kept going either off air and on air again, or it will have lots of pixelation (like playing scratches DVD disc) till it is unwatchable. It's like, now you can watch this channel like normal, and then some of the channels appear black after some time, and vice versa. While other channels are fine most of the time.
When I record/capture the Transport Stream, Fightbox channel and Gametoon channel just appears as "black screen".
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Probably because they aware that the broadcasts of those channels aren't ready yet, or still "working in progress" of setting it up.

Like I said earlier, it's a test transmission. But their test broadcasts overall seems to be pretty problematic though... hmm.gif hmm.gif I wonder what's going on behind the scenes, cuz it's been quite some time already... sweat.gif

Anyhow, 5 new channels... Good progress la thumbsup.gif

This post has been edited by joshhd: Apr 5 2021, 10:38 PM
joshhd
post Apr 21 2021, 01:22 AM

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QUOTE(Sirius TV @ Apr 18 2021, 09:04 AM)
Let me tell you about channel cost and its management of the bandwidth : Each SD channel is about 1.5 -2.0 Mbps and HD channel is about 4.0-6.0 Mbps . The SES-12 Satellite carries a 54 Mhz capacity per transponder which is equivalent to 71.2 Mbps. For Sirius TV to start test broadcast at 11-15 channel on HD , will require around 60 Mbps - 90 Mbps...which is more than 1 transponder. Therefore we need to throttle down the bandwidth utilization to remain at 1 transponder and maintain the signal quality by having a mix with SD and HD channel. Adding more channel will not help. The cost of satellite transponder is not cheap and runs in the millions and thus the reason not many company willing to consider this satellite platform. Therefore ..those unnecessary channel or if there is any mediocre channel , will need to be remove or not included at all. It will be a waste of capacity and costly as well.
*

Thanks Sirius TV for the explanation.

So now the "million dollar" questions here is:

- How is Sirius TV going to attract more customers onto its platform in today's era where majority of the Malaysians today are primarily consumes content online more than TV?
- How Sirius TV could "stand out" from others in terms of its content/channels offerings in this already-competitive market, plus with current and upcoming launches of new OTT services, like Disney+?
- What would be the primary target audience for Sirius TV of its channel offerings, for now? Vernacular content (Malay, Chinese, Indian...) or international content (English, Japanese,...)?
If it's both, then it's gonna involve A LOT of money and manpower., from acquiring to producing content....

Leasing satellite transponders aren't cheap, and overall operating costs could easily goes millions.
Yes, the one-off RM299, no contract, and then "RM20 for 30 days" offering is indeed an unique selling point to consumers compared to other pay TV operators. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to the quality content.
If viewers finds that Sirius TV's offerings doesn't suit them well, they could just stop paying RM20/month and eventually goes back to wherever they come from...
What can Sirius TV do to convince its viewers to keep paying RM20 per month (without contract option) to keep the money flowing? hmm.gif
How would Sirius TV do, to at least be able to cover the capital cost, cuz it seems to me that this would be a difficult business to sustain in the long run... hmm.gif
Acquire rights to more premium channels/content to attractive more viewers into the platform? That will be a "gamble" that easily involves millions, which is not everyone dare to go down that path.
"Go slowly", you say? Well, how slow can you go before money is running out? Lots of planning needs to be done...? hmm.gif

Anyway, it will be a tough road to go through for not just Sirius TV, but even to any potential/upcoming pay TV service in Malaysia. What to do? Malaysians are "spoiled" by Astro. rclxub.gif
*I'm just "throwing out" questions only... no need to be so serious to answer them... sweat.gif
----
Talking about bitrate, alternatively, maybe could consider to throttle the overall bitrate only when ALL of the SD/HD channels are nearly fully utilises the total 71.2Mbps bandwidth in the 12595MHz transponder? Like what Sirius TV said before...:
QUOTE(Sirius TV @ Jan 19 2021, 08:53 AM)
At the moment , it does not matter on bandwidth saving as we have more than sufficient capacity on the 1 transponder at 54 Mhz providing only 12-13 SD channels and 1 HD Channel when we launch. Certain IRD Box provided by the Channel owner are H.264 in spec , thus the reason why we need both H264 and H265.
*

That's back then. Sooner or later, bandwidth aren't gonna enough as more number of channels increases. And viewers aren't gonna like watching bad picture quality in low bitrates.
Like I said before, if Sirius TV would to broadcast all channels in HEVC video codec onto the transponder, then it will be much more bandwidth savings compared to H.264 now...
But maybe things aren't as simple as it seems. We'll see how it goes first la, cuz until now Sirius TV is still on test transmission. sweat.gif
joshhd
post Apr 25 2021, 05:26 PM

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Sirius TV Test Broadcast
25 Apr 2021
Frequency: 12595MHz | Polarity: Horizontal | Symbol rate: 45000 | Satellite: SES-12 | Orbital Position: 95Β°E

Before you read further, do note that I am well aware that Sirius TV broadcasts is still on testing phase, therefore some technical hiccups here and there is expected.
The purpose of this review post is meant for those who "curious" and wants to keep up to date on the latest happenings before the official launch only.

Do refer to my previous reviews on their test broadcasts:
19 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100345185
23 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100390432
26 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100417107
29 March 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100453909
5 April 2021: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=100524056
-----------------------------------------------------------
Sirius TV's in-house Malay channel, Seri, is now in HD quality. Video: H.264 6Mbps Constant | Audio: MP2 64kbps Stereo
user posted image

user posted image
*click/tap images to view in original resolution

MediaInfo for Seri (HD) channel:
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Seri appears to be the only channel on Sirius TV right now that has EPG (Electronic Programme Guide).
However, the EPG data is not accurate as it appears to me that the broadcast guys have mistakenly set the EPG data that was meant for the Drama Channel, as Seri channel.
As some of you know, "Drama Channel" is mainly showing Indonesian TV series and movies.
So, if you're curious on what programmes that Drama Channel offers, I copy pasted the EPG data as text file here:
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Meanwhile, here's the MediaInfo for Drama Channel:
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Video/Audio quality
For demo purposes only, here's a random sample of how the channel look like, and sounds like below. I hope Sirius TV don't hate me ya biggrin.gif
Meanwhile, another in-house channel, Sirius Media, is just showing some looping video of this. Nothing interesting here.
user posted image
----------------
Here's a complete list of TV channels that Sirius TV offers on its on-going test transmission:
As of 25 April 2021
Channel Name Video (H.264)* Audio (MP2)**
Outdoor Channel HD 4.4Mbps 192kbps
TechStorm HD 5Mbps 192kbps
GEM HD 6.8Mbps 192kbps
Seri HD 6.1Mbps 64kbps
Sirius Media SD 2Mbps 64kbps
Drama Channel SD 2Mbps 128kbps
FilmBox Arthouse SD 1.45Mbps 128kbps
FightBox HD 2.8Mbps 128kbps
DocuBox HD 5.3Mbps 112kbps
Gametoon HD 3.5Mbps 192kbps
Fast & FunBox HD 3.1Mbps 128kbps
Note:
"*" = based on bitrate graph | "**" = based on MediaInfo data

Here's the bitrate graph of the TS Capture for 2 minutes. Filtered view to show only VPID (video) and APID (audio) tracks. Click/tap the image to view in higher resolution.
user posted image user posted image

I don't understand why Sirius TV set the audio bitrate for Seri channel as 64kbps, which sounds very terrible for MP2 audio codec. I guess is because they "overlooked" it? Consider increase it to 192kbps maybe? sweat.gif
I also notice the inconsistent bitrates being used for SPI channels (FilmBox Arthouse, FightBox, DocuBox, Gametoon, Fast & FunBox).
Not sure is it because that's what SPI provides to Sirius TV, or Sirius TV just throttle the bitrate for the channels? hmm.gif
Cuz yes, I do notice that the HD video quality for SPI channels is bad, except FilmBox Arthouse where the channel is in SD, and it looks just like what SD channel should look like, so I got no comment about that.
QUOTE(Sirius TV @ Apr 18 2021, 09:04 AM)
Therefore we need to throttle down the bandwidth utilization to remain at 1 transponder and maintain the signal quality by having a mix with SD and HD channel. Adding more channel will not help. The cost of satellite transponder is not cheap and runs in the millions and thus the reason not many company willing to consider this satellite platform. Therefore ..those unnecessary channel or if there is any mediocre channel , will need to be remove or not included at all. It will be a waste of capacity and costly as well.
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I agree on this point though... After been watching SPI channels occasionally, I find that SPI channels are targeted among niche audiences in Malaysia. hmm.gif
What I am saying is, I "predict" that only a minority of viewers would enjoy watching content from SPI channels... sweat.gif An obvious sign that the channels is not gonna "last long" in the platform? sweat.gif
QUOTE(Sirius TV @ Apr 14 2021, 07:45 PM)
By June 2021 should have 30 channels..
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user posted image

8 HD channels, 3 SD channels, 0 radio channels
user posted image
With the current video bitrate usage now for the 11 channels now, bandwidth used now is about 45Mbps already. Out of the of 71Mbps, there's a remaining of 26Mbps left.
I wonder how Sirius TV gonna fit 19 more TV channels with the remaining 26Mbps, if you demand for better video/audio quality? Uh oh.... sweat.gif

- Broadcast all channels in HEVC? nod.gif
- Reduce video bitrate or downgrade some of the channels from HD to SD? cry.gif
- Change satellite modulation technique from DVB-S2 QPSK to DVB-S2 8PSK as well as the FEC, to accommodate more bandwidth (~80-110Mbps), but sacrificing satellite signal robustness (means you will lose satellite signal faster during heavy rain/bad weather). To compensate that, use bigger size satellite dish (>75cm). sweat.gif
- Add 2-3 more transponders? πŸ’ΈπŸ’ΈπŸ’ΈπŸ’Έ
joshhd
post Apr 26 2021, 01:52 AM

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QUOTE(Qash-M @ Apr 25 2021, 07:41 PM)
could be 19 radio channels instead, else the "Radio" section on the channels list would be useless. icon_idea.gif

In comparison, the other prepaid satellite has 20 radio channels.
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Errr... I don't think Sirius TV should consider focusing on offering radio channels on its TV platform at this moment.
I would rather see them focus more on getting more nice-to-watch channels instead.
Those never-seen-before pay TV channels among Malaysians, or premium channels that only offers on Unifi TV (previously known as "HyppTV") to being offered on Sirius TV may be an added advantage.
joshhd
post May 1 2021, 11:50 PM

Look at all my stars!!
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Joined: Dec 2014
From: Malaysia


Any Sirius TV trial user here? Feel free to share some reviews here... biggrin.gif
Alternatively, if you've been watching/observing Sirius TV's FTA test broadcasts by aiming SES 12 satellite on your own (like me), do share some reviews here also eh... sweat.gif

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