Do You Have A Question About Austar?

[takeiteasy]

hey im just here for entertainment - u guys are hilarious - this is a good forum

Nobody except you and AUSTROLL here have called me anything...ever

When you have even half a clue of whats going on .....let me know and Ill be more than happy to "discuss" your manners.. ....until then keep your Dr Phil remedies and advice for your yobbo friends...I dont need your simplistic advice thanks.

By the way.... poster formely known as AUSTAR....I read your PM and I acknowledge that your apology is genuine so I just want to point out publicly that its good enough for me I will cease hostilities....that is unless takeiteasy has anything to add?

[ibanez5]

This question is aimed more at joshstar,

Is there any truth in the persistant rumours that Austar will switch to NDS encryption which Foxtel uses?

[Jamesee]

I have austar satellite. I sometimes find that when I am flicking through the channels using just the search function arrows it always seems to go to the tv guide or tv planner or it sometimes just mutes the tv. (mute button has not been pressed) Has anyone else had this problem???

[jontesko]

I have austar satellite. I sometimes find that when I am flicking through the channels using just the search function arrows it always seems to go to the tv guide or tv planner or it sometimes just mutes the tv. (mute button has not been pressed) Has anyone else had this problem???

I had the same problem a while ago, I reset the box & problem fixed.

[Guest Grumps1]

Hello,

I recently had a technician at my house as I had visible lines scrolling up and down my TV. I have isolated the problem to the Austar box, Ie had the TV alone, only thing plugged in is Austar Box. I have no problems with any other components in my system.

The Tech said that it couldnt possibly be the box even after i showed him the problem. Where does Austar stand on admitting that components are not suited in certain environments, eg, i live in the desert, so conditions for RF flying around are high.

I didnt pay top dollar for good equipment to have a dodgy Austar decoder ruin my viewing.

[moongoose]

2. No negative comments

Haha...the propergander thread...

I have one...is this shotty rip off garbage company run out of someones garage?

Seriously

Edited November 9, 2006 by moongoose

[Yell@Me (formerly AUSTAR)]

Hello,

I recently had a technician at my house as I had visible lines scrolling up and down my TV. I have isolated the problem to the Austar box, Ie had the TV alone, only thing plugged in is Austar Box. I have no problems with any other components in my system.

The Tech said that it couldnt possibly be the box even after i showed him the problem. Where does Austar stand on admitting that components are not suited in certain environments, eg, i live in the desert, so conditions for RF flying around are high.

I didnt pay top dollar for good equipment to have a dodgy Austar decoder ruin my viewing.

Hey there,

What model is the decoder? Is your FTA affected at all, or the AUSTAR affected by any FTA antenna input? (IE If your AUSTAR is fuzzy and you then unplug FTA, does the picture change?)

Depending on the model of decoder, there's a good chance that it will be able to be fixed, unless there is some underlying issue that is causing it, and that issue is not related to AUSTAR. I would say from what you have said it's a fair assumption that there may be more that can be done and I'll be happy to assist where possible if you can provide the model of decoder that you're running, and whether or not you're running FTA through the decoder, and if that FTA input affects the AUSTAR picture at all.

Cheers

[curious21]

Hi Yell@ME,

Was wondering do pay-TV operatives pay attention to forums like this and what customers are saying about the service?

[chatham]

This question is aimed more at joshstar,

Is there any truth in the persistant rumours that Austar will switch to NDS encryption which Foxtel uses?

I'd like an answer to that question !

[Yell@Me (formerly AUSTAR)]

Hi Yell@ME,

Was wondering do pay-TV operatives pay attention to forums like this and what customers are saying about the service?

Hey curious,

Not sure mate, I cruise this forum on a personal basis, I am not entirely certain if this is a form of feedback they accept.

Given that a lot of what is presented here is done so in a mainly negative manner, I'd be inclined to believe that it would be overlooked. The old bees, honey and vinegar analogy would apply really, I'd say.

If requested, I will submit any feedback on the behalf of anyone on these forums, but they would need to provide an account number via PM so that it can actually be done on their behalf.

Cheers

[KT Faith]

"I have created this thread for those who have a genuine question for me about AUSTAR."

OK, I have one for you. My 2 year contract with telstra/ austar has just expired and I am keen to see whether AUSTAR can do a better deal. I mainly subscribe for horseracing (Sky and TVN) with a minor interest in sports channels but nil else.

Over to you.

regards KTF.

[PVR guy]

yell @ me, If I give you my account number will you arrange for Austar technical engineers to give me call.

I have a internet based box that gives austar to all my mates for free, it has 2 tuners and I can connect it to my external hard drives and other networks.

Before everyone PM's me, I'm joking..I don't have enough time to watch TV.....But i do hear the technology exists. :-)

Maybe Yell at me can tell everyone how the NEW "DIGITAL" service was brought in to remove piracy once and for all. LOL.

Still got me stuffed why the ACCC hasn't dragged you and fox over the coals for the misleading propaganda.

My neighbour 68 years young was lied to the other day and told he had to go "DIGITAL". Yet nothing changed for him...go figure. Sheesh it annoys me.

[DrP]

Maybe Yell at me can tell everyone how the NEW "DIGITAL" service was brought in to remove piracy once and for all. LOL.gure. Sheesh it annoys me.

I believe that you have Foxtel and Austar confused. Foxtel bought in 'new digital' partly to solve their piracy problem. Not that it did and worse yet for Foxtel it looks like upcoming revisions of Irdeto2 will be more secure than videoguard.

Oh, should Austar implement the full feature set they have at their disposal with the existing ver 5 cards in the field, you can kiss that 3rd party box goodbye if it happens to rely on one of those cards. Also if Austar perceives there is enough benefit in rolling out the next upcoming revision of Irdeto cards to all subscribers, you'll certainly be kissing that 3rd party box goodbye.

[Yell@Me (formerly AUSTAR)]

AUSTAR's "digital" service wasn't brought in to remove piracy. Smartcard marraiges were designed for that. "Digital" was introduced as a new and improved service over what the "Anologue" service was. If you've seen "Anologue" AUSTAR, you know that Digital is much better.

I can guarantee you, someone probably has tried to have the ACCC whip PayTV over the "digital" name, and it was taken care of. Probably.

[duke]

the Austar didital pic looks crap on my plasma. Especially Sport.

Standard Def FTA Digital is a far superior pic than Austar Digital.

[chatham]

"Digital" was introduced as a new and improved service over what the "Anologue" service was. If you've seen "Anologue" AUSTAR, you know that Digital is much better.

and what analogue would that be, the one coming off the digital satellites?

[Yell@Me (formerly AUSTAR)]

the Austar didital pic looks crap on my plasma. Especially Sport.

Standard Def FTA Digital is a far superior pic than Austar Digital.

Is that a question or a statement?

AUSTAR Digital is not categorized the same as FTA Digital. As a result, your SD FTA picture will be better than the anologue AUSTAR picture. Yes, the AUSTAR decoder decodes the picture to anologue so that all customers can receive it.

and what analogue would that be, the one coming off the digital satellites?

The use of inverted commas was to emphasize that the nickname is not what the actual service is called.

Before "Digital" AUSTAR came out, "Anologue" was actually just called AUSTAR. To avoid confusion around the office, we call old AUSTAR either "old" or "anologue" and we call new AUSTAR "Digital".

Forgive the jargon.

[duke]

Is that a question or a statement?

AUSTAR Digital is not categorized the same as FTA Digital. As a result, your SD FTA picture will be better than the anologue AUSTAR picture. Yes, the AUSTAR decoder decodes the picture to anologue so that all customers can receive it.

The use of inverted commas was to emphasize that the nickname is not what the actual service is called.

Was a statement.

I nver knew it was decoded to analogue. I assumed it was digital and had been told so by Austar before that it was and always had been.

Will it ever be Digital then?

I just get really annoyed with the crap picture quality.

[DrP]

FTA Digital for most people consists of:

Digital terrestrial transmission from FTA networks > FTA STB where the picture is decoded to some form of analogue which is connected to a display.

Austar for most people consists of:

Digital satellite transmission from FOXTEL > Austar STB where picture is decoded to some form of analogue which is connected to a display.

Austar via sat has been digital since day 1. 'Digital' is used as a marketing term to distinguish the old lineup offered by Austar that did not include +2 channels.

The reason the picture quality on Austar is lower than that of FTA is due to Foxtel's image processing to keep bitrates down.

Austar's STBs also aren't known for high quality video output, but that is another story.

[chatham]

analogue...digital...more bull**** from the pay-tv spin doctors in australia, no wonder consumers are confused

[ibanez5]

analogue...digital...more bull**** from the pay-tv spin doctors in australia, no wonder consumers are confused

The only pay tv thats analog is Foxtel/Optus cable in metro areas and Austar cable in Darwin.

[Simo123]

why are so many of your channels not in widescreen- I know your going to say its up to the individual channels but dont austar/fox own some channels (and als int impossible to get replys from individual channels)

say the xyz channels (owned by aus/fox) channel v, max most videos already in w/s why not do it

arena??

sky news??

its slack that in 2006 so many are not in w/s

why are so many of your channels not in widescreen- I know your going to say its up to the individual channels but dont austar/fox own some channels (and als int impossible to get replys from individual channels)

say the xyz channels (owned by aus/fox) channel v, max most videos already in w/s why not do it

arena??

sky news??

its slack that in 2006 so many are not in w/s

[Yell@Me (formerly AUSTAR)]

why are so many of your channels not in widescreen- I know your going to say its up to the individual channels but dont austar/fox own some channels (and als int impossible to get replys from individual channels)

say the xyz channels (owned by aus/fox) channel v, max most videos already in w/s why not do it

arena??

sky news??

its slack that in 2006 so many are not in w/s

I am told that the issue with this kind of broadcast is the traffic limitation (eg throughput) of the C1 satellite. I do not have the background information to substantiate these claims.

[KT Faith]

I am not an official AUSTAR representative. I am here to help with queries where I can

So when are you going to answer the question I raised a week ago on this forum?? (see p2). Or is that oputside your brief?

KTF.

[DrP]

I am told that the issue with this kind of broadcast is the traffic limitation (eg throughput) of the C1 satellite. I do not have the background information to substantiate these claims.

Just as well no one tries to substantiate it either. There is enough space free on Foxtel/Austar transponders on C1 to make TV1/+2, Arena/+2, National Geographic* and SCIFI widescreen.

I can't speak for the cable platform since I'm some distance away from the nearest Foxtel outlet. Next time I'm near by I'll hook up a DVB-c card and report on that too.

*depends on the source, if its sat from overseas, its going to be 4:3 letterboxed probably.