HD DStv

[Andrew]

Mostly the problem with that is you have to define bed time :-)
While watching farscape for the first time, after season 3 things got a bit intense in the story line. Every now and then I will find my self at 3AM, saying things like ok.. just one more...

Hehe! Know the feeling - eyeballs dried out.

[naughty]

haha - i know that feeling too - i once watched 4 seasons of Lost within 5 days - it was almost one season per day 

[leonpjhb]

Sorry peeps, I'm too lazy to search the forum checking if this has been discussed and how many times, so I'm just gon gooi.

Is HD DStv worth it?

...
Should I or should I not?

If the following does not bother you, go for it now:
1. Lip synch issue (I have two Pace HDPVR's and the problems is EXTREMELY bad on both of them) irresepctive of whether I use HDMI, optical or Co-axial. Multichoice is not sure when they will have a fix distributed to everyone
2. VERY loud advertisements on the HD Channels (or you could say that it is very soft programming)
3. Limited (but in my opinion worthwhile) HD content
4. Bug-ridden software that takes ages to correct and slow hardware.
5. Unreliable call centre as a backup medium that is non-intelligent and FRUSTRATING

[Mervin]

being sick at home... flicking through DSTV premium channels... If I did not have kids, I would have cancelled.

[duma]

thanks guys for all your inputs...it seems i'll wait a few more months then, maybe the lip-synch issue will be sorted by xmas time...and also the pricing on hardware would have come down and more HD channels introduced...thanks again

[BigWoodenSpoon]

being sick at home... flicking through DSTV premium channels... If I did not have kids, I would have cancelled.

So would I if this country had fast, reliable and cheap bandwidth

[Andrew]

So would I if this country had fast, reliable and cheap bandwidth

Amen to dat.

[Robert_E]

If lip-sync is an issue why not adjust it on the AVR for that input?

[naughty]

If lip-sync is an issue why not adjust it on the AVR for that input?

the sync is out in the wrong direction - you would need to be able to adjust it into negative figures to get it right - and on my AVR as well as on the decoder itself it allows adjustment in the one direction but not the other ..... if it works on the AVR well then theres an adjustment on the decoder itself that should work too

you might have higher end AVR's that possibly allow adjustment like that but none that i know of do it - either way normally when you experience the issue - just putting the decoder on standby and then switching it back on sorts it out - it normally gets to its worst when you rewind live TV or forward and rewind your recorded stuff a lot - but it is easily sorted out as i said by switching the decoder off and then on again or maybe even rebooting it

[Robert_E]

Oh ok, so not just a slight lip sync issue but the decoder completely losing sync between the video and audio... that's dissapointing

[naughty]

there was a time when the lip sync issue did not exist at all - they did something in the last update that caused it - or maybe the problem was very slight and the update they coded made it worse - but to be honest i only noticed it when the new decoders went on sale and they did that update to the older models at that time

but the fact that it didnt exist before makes me think that they can fix it if they work on it and i am sure that they are working on it - they cant keep customers unhappy because it would be a case of biting the hand that feeds them and when competitors arrive on the scene im sure many customers are going to remember these minor niggles that caused them many hours of frustration ....... unfortunately for the consumer there isnt much competiion on the horizon

[Gerhard]

I don't have ANY lipsync issue ATM using coax for audio. If I use HDMI then there is a slight but noticeable sync problem.

[naughty]

I don't have ANY lipsync issue ATM using coax for audio. If I use HDMI then there is a slight but noticeable sync problem.

and thats the problem really - why should you have to use a second cable that you dont really need to - HDMI was designed to get rid of the need to have separate audio and video cables - so its really poor service from multichoice at the moment - moreso when you have a totally entry level receiver that defaults to HDMI for the audio so you cannot manually select to use the coax cable - so for example when i tried the HD DSTV decoder in my bedroom then it landed up a problem ie the lipsync issue was so terrible i had to move it back to the main setup in the lounge cos the Denon receiver there allows the coax to work ie you can manually select which input you want to use from each source - the sony one i have in the bedroom defaults to HDMI even if something else is connected - so if you connect HDMI for the picture the audio automatically defaults to that

having said that though im really enjoying the new HD channel they have introduced - been watching the whole day so far and despite a few glitches here and there its been great having most of the premier league footie matches on HD 

[Gerhard]

... so its really poor service from multichoice at the moment ...

No argument from me! At least there is a work-around for some.

What puts the cherry on the top for me regarding bad service of "NoChoice" is what happened yesterday - AGAIN. THE BIGGEST derby of the weekend rugby-wise between the Tri-Nations finalists takes place @ 17:00 on a Saturday and what do these (I want to put an ugly word in here ) people do? They'd rather broadcast an old game (played on Friday) of the Sharks against the Pumas (I think) on HD and broadcast the LIVE Bulls/Province game in crappy SD on SS1!!! What the hell?! I cannot understand this. What are they thinking. If there had been another MAJOR match (soccer, GP or jukskei) that they had broadcast live that is one thing but to rebroadcast an old game instead of a live one, that is beyond me! 

[xrapidx]

I'd say from a picture point of view its definetly worth it - If I knew the difference would have been this big I would have done it ages ago.

Regarding the lip sync issues, one of the most annoying things is you can't use your receiver or anything to try sync it as the time difference keeps changing.