Philips 8500 series 4K TV review: Great buy, but only when you have 4K content

Smart televisions have been around for a few years now. Bu they have not flown off the shelves because they are both expensive and well, despite being smart, not that easy to use. However, they are gradually becoming popular as the televisions become cheapers and access to high speed internet which is the lifeblood of these sets becomes more ubiquitous in countries like India. The other big pain point, that of controlling a smart TV with a dumb remote, is also being allayed in some of the newer devices. I recently used the Philips 8500 series Ultra Slim Smart 4K Ultra HD LED TV and here is what I felt.

58-inch Philips 8500 series 4K Ultra HD LED TV

The Philips 8500 series has been built to impress and is a stunner in every sense of the term. The first thing that will hit you is the 16:9 ratio of the screen that will set it apart from the other big screens in the neighbourhood. It also make the screen ideal for watching movies. The TV has a very thin bezel and a stylish metal stand, both of which make it easy to blend this large screen into the rest of your home.

Price: Rs 2,35,000

What is good?

First things first, though it is a large smart TV, it is among the simplest when it comes to installation and set up. Most buyers will not have to install the TV on their own, but I had the good fortune of doing it myself. From the moment I opened the box, to watching my first 4K video on the inbuilt YouTube app, there was a gap of less than 30 minutes. That is a great achievement, given that most smart TV users never manage to connect their screens to the Internet.

As I said before, a big pain point is having to use a dumb remote to control a smart TV. Controlling is relatively easy, but you will break into a cold sweat trying to connect the TV to a WiFi network as typing a password is the last thing you want to do on an old fashioned remote. Philips has found a go around by offering a full keyboard at the back of its large remote and this makes life much easier. But with a lot of the Google apps, there is also the option of using a smartphone to do the content selection.

The Ambilight is really innovative. We have all heard how a light behind the TV makes it safer for your eyes. Philips just went a step ahead and incorporated the lights into the TV itself. There are a whole lot of controls available for the lights right from colour selection to different modes. My suggestion is that you keep it static at a low intensity or you will be looking at the lights more than the TV.

Stunning. There is no other way to describe the picture quality on 4K UHD televisions. I stick to my belief that they are better than natural vision, at least my vision. I was equally impressed with the broadcast content that I tested on the Videocon d2h 4K channel as well as on YouTube. The 4K test content supplied by Philips on a USB drive was a notch better. Of course, there is the option to watch 3D or transform 2D content to 3D. Results are good, though I have always ended up with a headache at the end of a 3D session.

Smart features on the TV are really easy to access. The remote is a big help in case you want to browse the web or search for stuff. There are a lot of pre-loaded apps, but they don’t obviously have an India focus. Most of the apps, except for YouTube, might not be relevant for Indian users. But the fact that you can play 4K content on the YouTube app just makes this television much more relevant.

What is not that good?

Not much that I could fault with this television. However, when the screen is all black it is used to kiss some grey blobs on the screen. These don’t bother you at all during viewing, but yes they are there.

Given the size of the television and the quality of the pictures, the audio just does not match up. I would have loved the speakers to be a bit more loud. You might need to invest in better speakers to really enjoy this telly better.

Even 1080p content is not good enough for a 4K screen so there is no way you are going to enjoy regular content on this one. And there is no abundance of 4K content.

Should you buy it?

Yes, if you have the money and don’t mind not having the content to play on your stellar television. If you are playing one channel on a DTH service or watching videos on YouTube then go ahead for sure. Otherwise wait for good 4K content to come to India. When it does this should be on top of your shortlist.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com

Tata Sky Leaves Users Staring At Blank Screens

NEW DELHI: Subscribers to Tata Sky's Direct to Home (DTH) service across the country say they're fed up of no signal message on their television sets instead of actual channel transmission. Anger against the service provider by those who've missed out on cricket and football matches, news and daily soaps, has been spilling out on social networking websites. Hashtag #TataSkyDead was one of the most trending Twitter topics over the weekend. On the service provider's Facebook pages, angry customers have reacted with sarcasm and in some cases downright abuse.

Disruption in services have been reported from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Bhopal, Jaipur among others cities across the country. Problems for Tata Sky's customers are as varied at their locations. Some customers have reported a partial loss of channels, some say they are looking at completely blank screens. Regional channel packs have been lost on some television sets and some have lost High Definition (HD) channel packs. Top officials of the company say the disruptions are part of an upgrade.

"The current upgrade process that we commenced two weeks back was paused and now timed to complete during the short window between World Cup and upcoming IPL. A few thousand subscribers are likely to be impacted across the country from the base of over 1 crore. In fact Tata Sky proactively informed the subscribers about where to go and what to do across our platforms," said Harit Nagpal, MD & CEO, Tata Sky.He added that company's field service personnel are attending five times more calls versus a normal day and that within the next two days they'll be visiting the last impacted customer.

Customers of the DTH service however claim that the company's grievance redressal mechanism was non responsive. It was five days ago that almost all the channels went blank on Harsha Vardhan's television set, he claims nobody's come to visit his place yet despite his attempts to reach out to the company through every possible platform. "My experience has been quite frustrating. Calls to service desk don't get through, SMS help line doesn't work, and Twitter help desk is useless. I pay a premium price of around 600 per month and this is how they treat us. As icing on the cake they sent an SMS yesterday indicating prices of channel packs are being increased," said Harsha Vardhan, from Bangalore.

Bhargavi V Raman, home maker based out of Bengaluru is finding it hard to kill time during evening for the past fortnight. "It is boring to have a television at home and seeing a black screen that just asks me pay the monthly bill. Despite repeated complaints, the Tata Sky cable operator in the locality says it is an internal problem and will get sorted out in some time," she said.

What has irked many customers is how the service provider continues to telecast an advertisement on its home screen asking people not to worry. The advertisement suggests that those who're facing troubles with their service can give a ring or leave a message to their customer service number, to which service provider's executives will respond promptly. Varun Sharma based out of Delhi pays extra, about Rs 800 per month, to Tata Sky just to watch HD quality sports channels, which he isn't receiving on his television set since last Saturday. Several missed calls and SMSes later still nobody's come to fix his issue.

"I've tried to contact them repeatedly however nobody's responded from their end. I found it very funny as well as very stupid that when their customer fails to pay on time they don't hesitate to shut down their service, yet when the same logic is applied to them, their reply is just sorry," said Sharma.

While top Tata Sky officials claim that the large scale disruptions caused by their recent upgrade has started about four to five days ago, customers of the service from various cities claim to have been affected for far longer. Kshitija Awate of Pune said her problems with TataSky have been happening since the last 10-12 days. "I am not able to view any channel of the Zee network. It is particularly the Zee Marathi channel which I am missing the most. I called to complain but was told that the problem is because of climate change. I was assured a visit by a company technician, but I am still waiting for him."

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Dish Network in Merger Talks With T-Mobile (Report)

Satellite broadcaster Dish Network is in talks to merger with telecommunications provider T-Mobile U.S., according to a  Wall Street Journal report, in another deal that reflects the increasing need of content producers and content distributors to gain scale and size in order to stay competitive in an industry that has been disrupted by the rise of digital technology.

Under the terms of the deal being proposed, Charlie Ergen, chief executive of Dish, would become chairman of the new company while John Legere. chief executive of T-Mobile, would serve as the company’s CEO, according to the report, which cited people familiar with the matter.

A spokesman for Dish declined to comment. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed in the report and could not be immediately learned.

The proposed merger, which the Journal said was only in its formative stages and was not guaranteed to be completed, is the latest attempt by media and technology concerns to maintain size and scale in an industry that has seen its consumer base splintered by emerging technologies like video streaming and mobile devices.  Charter Communications Inc. is in the midst of trying to assimilate Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks to create what would result in being the nation’s second biggest cable operator. AT&T and DirecTV are believed to be nearing the end of the process for a merger that would engender a massive pay-TV operation. And Verizon Communications Inc. recently agreed to purchase AOL to gain access to ad-serving technology that would further its efforts to monetize content distributed via mobile devices.

Dish has long seemed like a company that could use a partner. Under Ergen, Dish has accumulated billions of dollars worth of wireless licenses but has yet to put them to full use. What’s more, the company’s broadband subscriber base is small. Yet Ergen has a reputation as a fiercely independent industry maverick, and can be a hard-nosed negotiation. Dish has tangled recently with both Time Warner and 21st Century Fox, letting popular cable networks like CNN and Fox News Channel go dark as Dish and those companies haggled over carriage terms.

If both Dish and T-Mobile and AT&T and DirecTV both merged successfully, the nation’s two biggest distributors of video content via satellite would both be assimilated under broader telecommunications companies.

Source: http://variety.com

Sensex Plummets 660 Points on Uncertainty over Future RBI Rate Cuts

The domestic stock markets plunged on Tuesday despite an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as traders see less scope for such rate cuts in the coming months.The BSE Sensex fell sharply by 660 points or 2.37 per cent to close at 27,188.38, largely led by heavy selling in rate sensitive stocks such as banks, auto, realty and capital goods.Earlier in the day, the RBI cut repo rate by 25bps to 7.25 per cent for the third time this year as easing inflation and falling industrial production provided scope for the central bank to boost the economy with rate cuts.

However, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajam cautioned that the outcome of monsoon rainfall is the biggest risk ahead for the economy."Each path of the sequence is fraught with uncertainty. So we need to figure out how this plays out. And, clearly government action is very important," Rajan told The Economic Times.The government has downgraded its forecast for monsoon rainfall this year to 88 per cent from 93 per cent earlier, raising concerns of drought in the country.

RBI also revised down its growth estimate for the economy in the current financial year to 7.6 per cent from 7.8 per cent previously.The central bank revised up its inflation estimate to 6 per cent by January 2016 on the back of uncertainty over monsoon rainfall and recent increase in service tax.

"Besides the as-expected 25 bps rate cut, the RBI's tone errs on the side of caution on the price and growth outlook. Growth projections were revised down a notch, reflecting the central bank's belief that the ongoing recovery trend will be interpreted as modestly positive and not as strong as new headline GDP seems to suggest," said Radhika Rao, Economist, DBS, Singapore.

The government has raised service tax on food bills on restaurants, telephone bills, air travel and some other services to 14 per cent effective from 1 June.The new service tax will also be levied on using credit and debit cards, cabs, cable and DTH services, beauty parlour charges, courier service, laundry services, ordering stock broking, asset management and insurance.

Further, the markets are also worried over the limited scope for additional rate cuts by RBI in the coming months in the wake of growing uncertainty over monsoon and its impact on the inflation trajectory.Analysts expect the RBI to remain on pause for extended period following today's rate cut as risks to inflation gives little room for interest rate cuts.

"The upshot is that, following today's cut, the loosening cycle only has a little further to run," said Capital Economics in a note.

Source: http://www.ibtimes.co.in

Dish TV beats forecast, turns corner with Q4 net at Rs 35cr

DTH service provider Dish TV surpassed street expectations on every parameter on Tuesday with the fourth quarter profit at Rs 35 crore against loss of Rs 149 crore in the year-ago period. "Our single-minded devotion to being the leader in the DTH industry along with uncompromised financial discipline, enabled us to reach the net profitability milestone much ahead of our peers," said Jawahar Goel, Managing Director, Dish TV. 

Total income from operations grew by 18.5 percent to Rs 754.7 crore during January-March quarter compared to Rs 636.91 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal. A CNBC-TV18 poll had expected a loss of Rs 4.6 crore on revenue of Rs 732 crore for the quarter. Better-than-expected subscription revenue boosted earnings during the quarter. Subscription revenue climbed 24.4 percent on yearly basis to Rs 682.8 crore in Q4FY15. Dish TV said it achieved a strong, sector leading, subscriber growth of 1.5 million net subscribers during the year. 

During the quarter, the company garnered net subscribers that were almost equal to the numbers during the festival quarter of October–December 2014. "While Zing gained ground in Phase 3 & 4 markets, High–Definition (HD) driven sports offerings were the main-stay, in Rest of India, during the Cricket World Cup 2015," Goel said. 

Average revenue per user (ARPU) came in at Rs 179 in March quarter against Rs 177 in December quarter, which was also ahead of street estimates (Rs 177). Goel said the company is confident that pack price hikes, higher HD uptake, as well as industry level developments such as initiation of packaging in cable will be key contributors to ARPU expansion going forward. 

As digitisation spreads far and wide, he continued to believe that there is sufficient headroom to further explore price differentials between key urban markets and their rural counterparts. All pack prices, for new as well as existing subscribers of Dish TV, increased by Rs 10 each in the 42 cities under Phase 1 and 2. Operating profit (EBITDA) shot up 72 percent year-on-year to Rs 221 crore and margin expanded by 910 basis points to 29.4 percent during the quarter due to cost control measures. Analysts had estimated operating profit at Rs 192 crore and margin at 26.2 percent for the quarter. In FY15, consolidated revenues grew by 10.9 percent to Rs 2,781.6 crore and operating profit jumped 17.5 percent to Rs 733.1 crore compared to previous year. 

Net profit for the year was Rs 3.1 crore compared to loss of Rs 157.6 crore net loss in fiscal 2014. At 14:01 hours IST, the scrip of Dish TV India was quoting at Rs 90, up Rs 5.20, or 6.13 percent amid high volumes after hitting a 52-week high of Rs 90.90 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Source: http://www.moneycontrol.com