Telstra Clear Saturn/Sky packages

StN · 21st May 2007, 13:18

Hmm - this is going to verge on Tech, but I'll stick it in here anyway.

I had a chap turn up door knocking on Friday night (Just after I'd gotten home from the pub, so I asked him to come back this week).

He was trying to get me to move to cable based Sky because it would be $10 cheaper per month. Now last time we had cable, the picture quality was nice compared to UHF, but crap when compared to Sky Digital. He countered that the cable signal is now digital, and that it is the same as Sky. I then said that I had a tandem second decoder with Sky, and he said no worries - they could do that cheaper too.

So my question is - is the Cable TV digital signal a great improvement over what was initally rolled out? I admit it has the potential to be as good as Satellite Sky, but I don't want to go and get the Cable hooked up just to find that it is as crappy as before. I think he mentioned a 1 month trial period anyway. And because its a door knocking offer, their second decoder would be installed for free!

Azmodan · 21st May 2007, 13:39

I prefer the cable based sky tbh, menu's seem more responsive, and there is no loss in quality

my 2c.

Shock · 21st May 2007, 14:05

I have had both and ended up prefering the sky option. No really noticeable difference in quality of picture.

On a side note our decision to move was mainly due to the fact that the programme guide never ever synced up with the live t.v. No matter how many system / modem resets were done it never came right.

2c

[Malks] Pixie · 21st May 2007, 14:07

We get our TV through cable and generally there is no complain of service. Picture quality is always good - I've never been on a sky dish so can't compare sorry, though I've never really noticed any difference in signals from provider to provider.

We have had some issues with our image freezing or our modem falling over (lost TV reception for an entire evening once) - these seem to be very rare though.

Sounds like a deal worth checking out maybe...

Pixie

Spidey · 21st May 2007, 15:00

There is one main difference between the two networks, TV3. Sky gets a direct feed while Telstra uses an ariel to pick up the signal. Other than that they are both almost identical.

Genesis · 21st May 2007, 18:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azmodan

I prefer the cable based sky tbh, menu's seem more responsive

I must have a crappy decoder or something as ours continually crashes, unresponsive as fuck, often loses channels, on occasions we can't access pay-per view and the on-screen TV guide is never, ever up-to-date. The only reason we haven't gone to Sky is because it's quite a bit more expensive.

tln · 21st May 2007, 20:10

We have cable Sky and I believe that the signal is recompressed by TC as there is not as much bandwidth available compared with Sky Digital. Then again I may be misinformed but I "think" that I can see a difference, especially on the LCD TV.

Agree that the remote is more responsive on TC tho!

Rince · 21st May 2007, 20:14

on cable sky (analogue).... have seen friends with digital sky via a dish.... their's was better .....
me =

maybe I'll go digital Saturn one day, and me =

MoP · 22nd May 2007, 12:52

Digital cable is tons better, quality wise than analogue... at least the same as Sky, except you don't suffer from rain fade

Spoon1 · 22nd May 2007, 15:42

Analogue Cable has a smaller selection of channels than Digital Cable/Sky Digital but I know there were some problems in the past with compression on the Digital Cable service - I think they've been ironed out though.

I'm still on Analogue simply because we're lazy and it's a little bit cheaper

[Malks] Pixie · 22nd May 2007, 16:01

Well just to follow up on my post from yesterday - had problems with our reception again last night and lost a couple of channels for about an hour - really bloody annoying... Don't know if it was just a cable thing or what but man it's frustrating...

Pixie

Spoon1 · 22nd May 2007, 16:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by [Malks] Pixie

Well just to follow up on my post from yesterday - had problems with our reception again last night and lost a couple of channels for about an hour - really bloody annoying... Don't know if it was just a cable thing or what but man it's frustrating...

Pixie

Old-school analogue or digital?

Genesis · 22nd May 2007, 17:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spoon1

Analogue Cable has a smaller selection of channels than Digital Cable/Sky Digital but I know there were some problems in the past with compression on the Digital Cable service - I think they've been ironed out though.

I'm still on Analogue simply because we're lazy and it's a little bit cheaper

I loved our old analogue cable decoder. Extremely responsive, never crashed and it displayed the time on the front, fucken ace!

I'll have to see if I can revert back and wait for TC to release some form of PVR functionality.

[Malks] Pixie · 22nd May 2007, 17:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spoon1

Old-school analogue or digital?

Digital I believe. We were on the analogue in our old place but went to digital when we shifted and got internet too...

Weird cause we never had problems before (on the old setup) - this was definate signal disruption, pixilated, pausing audio, unwatchable basically... Hasn't happened often, but often enough (and at the most annoying times) to piss us off.

Pixie

StN · 22nd May 2007, 21:29

Bah - he didn't come back - and just after I'd arranged for a chap at the pub (ex Kordia) to use three of his professional monitors for side by side comparison.

Pimp-X · 22nd May 2007, 23:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by StN

Bah - he didn't come back - and just after I'd arranged for a chap at the pub (ex Kordia) to use three of his professional monitors for side by side comparison.

It'd be better to use a Rohde and Schwarz DVQA.

At least, that's what a professional would do.

StN · 23rd May 2007, 09:49

That would be cool, but seeing as he was made redundant last month, he probably can't get one - altough he does have a crap load of gear in his basement - including a remotely controlled ex-TVNZ camera mounted on his garage roof in a massive PVC tube to look at the moon.

Pimp-X · 23rd May 2007, 10:33

Why doesn't he just go outside?

StN · 23rd May 2007, 12:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pimp-X

Why doesn't he just go outside?

It was one of those "Because I can" things. I'm pretty sure he missed seeing the moon from his basement. I haven't seen it working, but I think he has it auto tracking and zoomed into the level you get when the camera man at a day/night cricket match gets bored.

21st May 2007, 13:18	#1
StN I have detailed files	Telstra Clear Saturn/Sky packages Hmm - this is going to verge on Tech, but I'll stick it in here anyway. I had a chap turn up door knocking on Friday night (Just after I'd gotten home from the pub, so I asked him to come back this week). He was trying to get me to move to cable based Sky because it would be $10 cheaper per month. Now last time we had cable, the picture quality was nice compared to UHF, but crap when compared to Sky Digital. He countered that the cable signal is now digital, and that it is the same as Sky. I then said that I had a tandem second decoder with Sky, and he said no worries - they could do that cheaper too. So my question is - is the Cable TV digital signal a great improvement over what was initally rolled out? I admit it has the potential to be as good as Satellite Sky, but I don't want to go and get the Cable hooked up just to find that it is as crappy as before. I think he mentioned a 1 month trial period anyway. And because its a door knocking offer, their second decoder would be installed for free!

21st May 2007, 20:14	#8
Rince SLUTS!!!!!!!	on cable sky (analogue).... have seen friends with digital sky via a dish.... their's was better ..... me = maybe I'll go digital Saturn one day, and me = __________________ Slow internet is worse than no internet. It's like putting your penis in once and then being required to make out for 2 hours --Matt "The Oatmeal" Inman

23rd May 2007, 10:33	#18
Pimp-X Drunken Annoying Superhero Bastard	Why doesn't he just go outside? __________________ If there is one movement I could get behind in this world, it would be the discrimination and abuse of fucking idiots.

21st May 2007, 13:39	#2
Azmodan	I prefer the cable based sky tbh, menu's seem more responsive, and there is no loss in quality my 2c.

21st May 2007, 14:05	#3
Shock	I have had both and ended up prefering the sky option. No really noticeable difference in quality of picture. On a side note our decision to move was mainly due to the fact that the programme guide never ever synced up with the live t.v. No matter how many system / modem resets were done it never came right. 2c Last edited by Shock : 21st May 2007 at 14:06.

21st May 2007, 14:07	#4
[Malks] Pixie	We get our TV through cable and generally there is no complain of service. Picture quality is always good - I've never been on a sky dish so can't compare sorry, though I've never really noticed any difference in signals from provider to provider. We have had some issues with our image freezing or our modem falling over (lost TV reception for an entire evening once) - these seem to be very rare though. Sounds like a deal worth checking out maybe... Pixie __________________ Civilised is as civilised does and civilised people walk among us.

21st May 2007, 15:00	#5
Spidey	There is one main difference between the two networks, TV3. Sky gets a direct feed while Telstra uses an ariel to pick up the signal. Other than that they are both almost identical.

21st May 2007, 20:10	#7
tln	We have cable Sky and I believe that the signal is recompressed by TC as there is not as much bandwidth available compared with Sky Digital. Then again I may be misinformed but I "think" that I can see a difference, especially on the LCD TV. Agree that the remote is more responsive on TC tho! __________________ t.l.n [rd]

22nd May 2007, 12:52	#9
MoP	Digital cable is tons better, quality wise than analogue... at least the same as Sky, except you don't suffer from rain fade __________________ And if a double-decker lol, rofls into us, To lol by your side Is such a heavenly way to lol

22nd May 2007, 15:42	#10
Spoon1 Mmm... Sacrilicious	Analogue Cable has a smaller selection of channels than Digital Cable/Sky Digital but I know there were some problems in the past with compression on the Digital Cable service - I think they've been ironed out though. I'm still on Analogue simply because we're lazy and it's a little bit cheaper

22nd May 2007, 16:01	#11
[Malks] Pixie	Well just to follow up on my post from yesterday - had problems with our reception again last night and lost a couple of channels for about an hour - really bloody annoying... Don't know if it was just a cable thing or what but man it's frustrating... Pixie __________________ Civilised is as civilised does and civilised people walk among us.

22nd May 2007, 21:29	#15
StN I have detailed files	Bah - he didn't come back - and just after I'd arranged for a chap at the pub (ex Kordia) to use three of his professional monitors for side by side comparison.

23rd May 2007, 09:49	#17
StN I have detailed files	That would be cool, but seeing as he was made redundant last month, he probably can't get one - altough he does have a crap load of gear in his basement - including a remotely controlled ex-TVNZ camera mounted on his garage roof in a massive PVC tube to look at the moon.