DD Direct+ is the India’s one and one only free DTH service from the public service broadcaster Doordarshan launched in 2004. Here we review the service and what it offers to a viewer.

Hardware: The hardware like dish, antenna, assembly and set-top box is for the user to choose as per his budget. There are no appointed dealers or own branded set-top boxes. Any FTA satellite receiver with atleast MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 DVB-S standard will work fine.

Cost: The total one-time cost of installing DD Direct+ DTH may vary from Rs.500 to Rs.3000 and installation charges if installed by a technician. There is no activation charge or monthly subscription charge to be paid. Simple set-top boxes cost cheaper than the ones with some more features.

Support: There is no dedicated support for any issues/concerns and the troubleshooting of issues/scanning channels has to be done by a technician or customer himself.

Channel Line-Up: This is the most important consideration before buying a DTH. DD Direct+ has 59 TV channels and 24 radio services and are planning to introduce more channels over some time. 22 of these channels are the DD National and Doordarshan Regional channels, while the remaining 37 channels are from private broadcasters. There are no premium channels included right now, but maybe added later. Also there are occurences of channels often coming and leaving the platform, so this cannot be thought of as the complete DTH.

Recently there has been a concern amongst existing viewers about the delay in increasing channel capacity. But we can only hope this will be done soon after infrastructure is upgraded.

A few free channels from Dishtv like Zee Tamil, Zee Punjabi, ETC Punjabi can also be received due to nearby location of their satellite increasing the total channel count by a few channels.

Here are the channels names as per their genre currently being shown:

Hindi General Entertainment: DD National, DD India, DD Bharati, Star Utsav, Zee Smile, 9X
Movies: B4U Movies, Dangal, Enterr10, Firangi
Music: B4U Music, 9XM, ETC, MH1 Music
News: DD News, Sahara Samay, News Express, P7News, Sadhana News, TV24, Day&Night News, PTC News
Sports: DD Sports
Educational: Gyan Darshan 1, Gyan Darshan 2, Vyas TV
Religious and Health/Lifestyle: Aastha, Aastha Bhajan, Zee Jagran, Sanskar, Sadhana, Divya, Katyayani, MH1 Shraddha, SVBC, Shakti TV
Others: Chardikla Time TV, Kairali TV, Mega TV, Aalami Sahara, Zee Salaam, Whats On India
DD Regional: DD North-East, DD Kashir, DD Punjab, DD Urdu, DD Girnar, DD Sahyadri, DD Chandana, DD Saptagiri, DD Bangla, DD Oriya, DD Malayalam, DD Podhigai, Rajya Sabha TV, Lok Sabha TV
International: NHK World, DW-TV Asia+, Russia Today

Radio: AIR VBS, AIR Hindi, AIR North-East, AIR Punjabi, AIR Urdu, AIR Marathi, AIR Gujarati, AIR Telugu, AIR Tamil, AIR Kannada, AIR Bangla, AIR Oriya, AIR Malayalam, AIR Assamese, FM Gold, FM Gold Mumbai, FM Rainbow, Rainbow Bangalore, Rainbow Chennai, AIR Ragam, Radio Kashmir, Gyanvani Radio, DWS Radio1 and DWS Radio2

Verdict: Good for instant entertainment, easy setup, no activation/monthly charges. DD Direct+ can be used as primary source of entertainment or for viewing along with other private dth or cable tv.

Here are few images of the channel.

Check the below Video for channel information.

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It’s been more than a year now since the introduction of Airtel Digital TV’s High Definition (HD) receivers in the market. IndianDTH Blog is delighted to publish our exclusive review of Airtel HD receivers and its performance. We would like to enlighten all the readers that this article is neither a comparison of any DTH nor we try to degrade any of the DTH services currently in the market. Here we are simply trying to expose the experience while using this particular DTH with the pure intention to improve the quality of service provided by all the DTH products including Airtel as well as to serve this note as a guide for the new customers. Many of the comments are compiled here based on the comments and compliments from our forum members in the recent past as well as based on the review inputs from Indian DTH Forum experts.

Airtel Receiver & Remote:- Airtel is currently having two kinds of HD receivers in the market, i.e. KaonMedia and Huwei. We have noticed based on the inputs from our forum members, that Huwei receivers perform well compare to KaonMedia, however IndianDTH Blog do not accede with this argument. The KaonMedia Receiver looks sleeky with a stylish full black color. The smart card and cam slot is fully inside the receiver which gives a better look for the receiver. There are ports available for HDMI Cable, Component out, 2 USB ports, 1 Ethernet Port and 1 coaxial out. Airtel DTH HD receivers comes with a Universal remote which is an added advantage.

Receiver (STB) Program/Software:- The software and menus provided by Airtel DTH is really awesome with its advanced menus. Although, it may difficult for a beginner the remote gives you various options and an advanced user would love it to play with. Functions such as “Genre-Search, Program-Search, Weather and sports gadgets, Program Reminders etc. are some exceptional plus points in ADTV. At the same time we have noticed some minor bugs in the existing software such as ‘popping up of program bar’. Some users have also commented automatic booting of stb’s. We hope Airtel may look into these concerns and fix these bugs in their next over-the-air (OTA) software updates.

Picture Quality:- Airtel is maintaining a very good Picture Quality for both High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) channels. However some comments have also noted that some SD channels are compressed below average bit-rate and visible on a ‘32’inch or bigger LCD, Plasma or LED Televisions. Airtel may have to review this area of concern as we IndianDTH blog believe this particular concern can be resolved by improving the compression rate and maintaining a standard rate for all SD channels. Airtel DTH is currently providing a total of ‘11’ True HD channels on their bouquet, and all the HD channels are found to be excellent in their picture clarity. IndianDTH forum have seen various positive comments in this regard and would like to applaud ADTV for its efforts in maintaining the excellent quality particularly in HD channels.

Audio Quality:- As noted earlier, ADTV is maintaining an excellent audio quality for all their channels. The stunning quality of 5.1 audio output will give an added effect on all the programs viewed though Airtel HD receiver. However, while we publish this review we have seen some audio issues in the recently introduced HD channels such as UTV Stars HD and Colors HD having low audio quality compare to the other channels. We believe ADTV will fix these issues at the earliest as these channels are recently launched or introduced in ADTV platform.

Channel Offerings:- Airtel DTH is currently offering a total of ‘262” channels in its platform which is the second highest in the industry. Being a younger player in Indian DTH market, Airtel have maintained its momentum by introducing various popular channels in all genres and languages. One of the major advantages in Airtel DTH is its focus in all the local language. Be it north, east, west or south you will find most of the popular channels from all Languages and this has played a vital role for Airtel to clasp their market all over India.

Airtel is also keen in introducing new HD channels in its bouquet. ADTV is currently offering Eleven (11) True HD channels out of the available Twenty Three (23) HD channels currently having downlink permission in India. Airtel DTH currently in Third position in providing the highest number of HD channels, next to Dish TV and Videocon D2H. However, one of the bad impression in this aspect for ADTV is the lack of Sports HD channels in their bouquet. IndianDTH blog hope ADTV will sort out this concern at the earliest as this has been a long pending concern for Airtel DTH.

Channel Packs, Chhota packs and Add-ons:- Airtel is offering a diversified categories of channels packs making it easier for the customer to choose for their favorite channels. Sports Economy, Two/Three Language packs, South Economy are some of the examples. Based on TRAI regulations, Airtel DTH has also introduced the A-la-Carte pack in their bouquet, where customer can choose their channels at a minimum of Rs.150/- monthly rate. ADTV has recently introduced All-Round pack costs Rs.550/- per month where all the channels (excluding SuperHitz Channel and VOD services) will be added to your pack. This also include any new addition of channels for the next 12 months. The add-ons provided by Airtel are comparatively low-cost. Airtel also offers free preview of channels for 1 to 2 weeks of its introduction. Airtel’s also offers Four video on demand (VOD) channels caters block buster movies from all the languages. Customers can subscribe to it for a full day view of it, at a minimal rate.

Online Self Care Portal :- Airtel provides the self-care portal for its users which is an added advantage for ADTV customers. Customers get the freedom to subscribe to channels, subscribe to VOD programs, online recharge and to review their daily burn rate etc. through their online portal.

Customer Relation/Service:- We have seen various comments pertain to poor customer relation of AirtelDTH. Various comments were seen on poor handling of customer complaints, and ADTV must shed light to improve the customer care services.

Channel Line-up and Order:- This has been one of the cons from ADTV that a particular genre or language of channels are scattered around and you have to remember a particular channel number to tune to it. Also, Airtel should have atleast made some effort to segregate and arrange particular channel categories and line them up in a proper way.

This exclusive reviews was written by Mr.AB from Indian DTH Forum

Fore more comments and reviews visit our Forum: Airtel Digital TV HD Receiver Review and Picture

Pictures of all the 11 True HD Channels available on Airtel Digital TV

As of now 23 Full Time True HD (1920 X 1080i pixels) channels are available in India, but sad part is that not even a single DTH operator in the country is providing all True HD Channels under their platform. Currently 6 DTH operators are providing HD Services in India naming Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Reliance Digital TV, Airtel Digital TV & Videocon D2H.

Here is the list of Full Time True HD channels available in India as on 31st October, 2011.

Angel TV HD, CNBC TV18 HD, Colors HD, Discovery HD World, ESPN HD, History TV18 HD, iConcerts HD, MTunes HD, Movies Now HD, National Geographic Channel HD, NGC Adventure HD, NGC Wild HD, Star cricket HD, Star Gold HD, Star Movies HD, Star Plus HD, Star World HD, Ten HD, Travel XP HD, UTV STARS HD, Zee Cinema HD, Zee Studio HD, Zee TV HD.

Note: As on 31st October, 2011 in the above True HD Channels list, some of the HD channels like Angel TV HD, Zee TV HD, Zee Cinema HD and Zee Studio HD are not available on any of the Indian DTH services. Angel TV HD is available only on C Band on Intelsat 17 at 66.0° East which is FTA. Presently upscaled versions of Zee TV HD, Zee Cinema HD & Zee Studio HD are available on Dish TV only. As Zee channels started showing AD of the availability of their networks True HD Channels like Zee TV, Zee Cinema HD & Zee Studio HD. Chances of replacing these 3 upscaled HD channels with Full Time True HD channels is very high on Dish TV.

Starting with Dish TV, India’s first DTH company which claims to have 44 HD channels, but in reality Dish TV provides only 10 Full Time True HD channels. Dish TV has some exclusive True HD channels like “MTunes HD, NGC Adventure HD, NGC Wild HD, Ten HD” under their platform.

Total Count of Full Time True HD channels available on Dish TV: 10

Dish TV HD Channels List: Discovery HD World, History TV18 HD, MTunes HD, Movies Now HD, National Geographic Channel HD, NGC Adventure HD, NGC Wild HD, Ten HD, Travel XP HD, UTV STARS HD.

Tata Sky, India’s second largest DTH operator in terms of number of subscribers. As of now Tata Sky provides 8 Full Time True HD channels. As Tata Sky is facing big satellite space crunch issue, they are bound to add only popular & limited number of HD channels. As per some recent media reports, Tata Sky will not be able to add any more HD channels on their platform until they resolve the space issue. To be in competition they are still proving event based HD channels on their platform.

Total Count of Full Time True HD channels available on Tata Sky: 8

Tata Sky HD Channels List: Discovery HD World, ESPN HD, National Geographic Channel HD, Star cricket HD, Star Gold HD, Star Movies HD, Star Plus HD, Star World HD.

Next in the list is Sun Direct, the first DTH operator to introduce High-Definition television service in India, but presently offering only 3 Full Time True HD channels on its platform. Sun Direct also broadcast 2 Regional HD channels like Tamil HD Service & Telugu HD Service, but we are not counting these 2 HD channels because they are broadcasted by Sun Direct only specially for their DTH platform.

Total Count of Full Time True HD channels available on Sun Direct: 3

Sun Direct HD Channels List: Discovery HD World, Movies Now HD, National Geographic Channel HD.

Coming to Reliance Digital TV (earlier known as Reliance Big TV) is providing 7 Full Time True HD channels. Reliance Digital TV has one exclusive True HD music channel named “iConcerts HD” on its bouquet.

Total Count of Full Time True HD channels available on Reliance Digital TV: 7

Reliance Digital TV HD Channels List: ESPN HD, iConcerts HD, Movies Now HD, National Geographic Channel HD, Star cricket HD, Star Movies HD, Star Plus HD.

Moving on to Airtel Digital TV which is offering 11 Full Time True HD channels on its bouquet. Recently Airtel Digital TV moved to (SES 7 at 108.0° East) bigger & better Satellite. Airtel Digital TV has one exclusive True HD channel named “CNBC TV18 Prime HD” on its bouquet.

Total Count of Full Time True HD channels available on Airtel Digital TV: 11

Airtel Digital TV HD Channels List: CNBC TV18 HD, Colors HD, Discovery HD World, History TV18 HD, Movies Now HD, National Geographic Channel HD, Star Gold HD, Star Movies HD, Star Plus HD, Star World HD, UTV STARS HD.

Moving on to the last Videocon D2H, which offers 11 Full Time True HD channels. Videocon D2H also broadcast 1 Active HD 3D channel, but we are not counting it because they are broadcasted by Videocon D2H only specially for their DTH Platform.

Total Count of Full Time True HD channels available on Videocon D2H: 11

Videocon D2H HD Channels List: Colors HD, Discovery HD World, ESPN HD, Movies Now HD, National Geographic Channel HD, Star cricket HD, Star Gold HD, Star Movies HD, Star Plus HD, Star World HD, Travel XP HD, UTV STARS HD.

Stay tuned with us to get latest updates about Indian DTH Services. Discuss more about it in our forum:

Complete List of True HD channels available in Indian DTH Services.