Many people in India are still using cable connection for TV entertainment. However, top DTH services in India has been successful as compared to traditional cable TV networks over the last decade. Check out these pointers to choose between cable TV, and DTH.
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Technology
There are two types of the cable network- Analog and digital cable. Digital Cable broadcasts its channels via Digital Fibre Optic and Coaxial Cables. Every consumer needs to have a Set Top Box installed to receive digital channels. DTH technology broadcasts via geostationary satellites directly to the house of the customers.
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Quality of Set-top box:
The set-top box of digital cable providers uses MPEG-2 broadcasting technology. It comes with 1-year warranty. In this case, the quality of the set-top box is average. The set-top box of best DTH in India uses MPEG-4 broadcasting technology. It comes with a 1-year warranty. The in-built hardware is of great quality.
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Audio/ Visual quality:
Digital cable broadcasts superior quality of picture and sound compared to the analog cable network. Digital cable has a large bandwidth, which enables broadcast of more channels with lesser compression. In DTH network, the picture and sound quality are excellent. It broadcasts both standard definition and high definition picture quality. The quality depends on the type of compression technology used by the DTH provider.
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Price:
The set top box of a cable TV costs around Rs.1000/-, which includes installation charges. The mode of payment for most cable TV networks is postpaid. The set-top boxes of all leading DTH companies cost around Rs 1600/- which includes installation charges. The HD set-top boxes are priced at a higher range. The mode of payment for DTH networks is prepaid. Cable operators charge Rs 100/- for their economic and basic packages and Rs 200/- to 250/- for all the channels, depending on the area of connection. The basic packages of most of the DTH providers start from Rs 150/- onwards.
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No. of channels:
Cable TV operators provide more channels compared to DTH providers. However, the focus of cable TV networks is on regional channels.
DTH providers have started promoting south Indian and other regional language channels in Tamil, Telegu, and Malayalam to its customers.
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Service:
Cable TV operators do not offer 24/7 customer care and portability services. In this case, the time required for grievance redressal is much more. The service and response to customer grievances of most of the DTH companies are quick. They offer 24/7 customer care to address most of the problem within a short period of time. The quality of after-sales service varies from one DTH company to another.
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Live TV:
Cable TV operators do not give any recording service of live TV. DTH providers offer to record of the live TV at no extra cost. It requires you to buy a set-top box with inbuilt storage capacity. You can also check the channel schedule on a channel, in advance.
