Set-Top Boxes In India are mainly available by the two leading manufacturers – Dish TV and TATA Sky. The analog Cable TV system that most of the Televisions In India operate one is soon to be ‘switched off”. When that happens our old Analog TV won’t work without a STB plugged into it. STB is a Digital TV Receiver that enables CD Quality in audio and DVD Quality in picture reception.Digital TV offers a complete palette of quality and entertainment options that were a dream in regards to the old Analog TV System. It includes:
- Clear, crisp, ghost-free pictures
- CD Quality surround sound
- Widescreen format (when transmitted)
- Extended program information (when transmitted)
- DVD Quality viewing
- Multiple viewing angles (especially for live sport)
- Closed captions (when transmitted) and teletext service
- Additional information channels for special events (such as the Olympics, football, cricket, car racing etc).
The additional options to maximize the viewing pleasure would include a Wide Screen; surround sound system, DVD burner or hard-disk drive based recording system. Digital TV is now available 24 x 7. TV stations currently transmit the same programs using Digital And Analog signals. The easiest manner to have the benefits of Digital TV would be to attach an STB to our existing television. Normally, this would be a Standard-Definition (SD) STB rather than a High-Definition (HD) STB, because a HD-STB is needed only if you have a high-definition screen for view.
In India, the TV Channels available DTH (direct to home) free-to-air systems are:
- Entertainment- DD (National, India, Bharati)- Jan TV, Zee Muzic- Star Utsav, Smile TV
- Sports – DD Sports
- Education- DD (Gyan Darshan)
- Punjabi Channels – ETC Punjabi,MH1
- News – Aaj Tak, DD (News), TV-9 Telugu News, BBC,Headlines today, DD (Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha)
- Regional Language- DD (Bangala, Chandana, Gujarati, Kashmir),DD (Malayalam, North East, Oriya, Podhigai),DD (Punjabi, Sahayadri, Sapthagiri)
- Radio Channels Available – Vividh Bharti, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Marathi, FM Channels.
The most bought STB’s In The Market at present are TATA Sky and Dish TV. They also provide user interactivity, which is quite popular among the kids.