778 replies to this topic

[Yell@Me (formerly AUSTAR)]

Quote

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.

Ahhh my apologies, I must have inadvertedly skipped over it. Sorry abou that.

Depending on how minor your interest in sport is, you may be able to get a service as low as $39.90 for Starter Pack (Includes Fox Sports News) and TVN. This gives you Skyracing and TVN, with a little sports news to keep you updated.

If your interest in sports spans a little higher than that, you can shell out for the Sports option on top of that for $14.95 on a monthly basis, which would take you to about $54.85 (that was off the top of my head, but that's about the right price). You can add/remove Sports option as with any other package, so if nothing grabs you for the month, you can save $13 by removing it, and readding when something of interest to you comes on.

Sports has Fox Sports 1, 2 and 3, and also ESPN with Eurosports news.

Hope this helps.

[lukeonfire]

hey im just wondering..i just bought a FTA optus c1 satellite thingy..which gives me free to air channels and we have a little card that gets us some others..just wondering i beleibe that foxtel/austar are on the optus c1 satellite...i was wondering if i get a foxtel/austar or something differant card subscription could i use the foxtel/austar services with my already set up satellite?
cheers
Luke

[duke]

Will Austar have this On Demand like Foxtel?

[clarke]

Hey yell@me when will sci-fi have widescreen,letterbox ect..seem a waste of a good channel without it'll end up like the Disney channel. Why go to all that effort and hype if it's meant to be the best thing since sliced bread.
And to follow the shows I've been watching on TV1 I have it turn on!

[Yell@Me (formerly AUSTAR)]

lukeonfire, on Dec 1 2006, 09:13 AM, said:

hey im just wondering..i just bought a FTA optus c1 satellite thingy..which gives me free to air channels and we have a little card that gets us some others..just wondering i beleibe that foxtel/austar are on the optus c1 satellite...i was wondering if i get a foxtel/austar or something differant card subscription could i use the foxtel/austar services with my already set up satellite?
cheers
Luke

I don't know to be honest, I'm not sure about what it is you have set up there - never heard of that particular setup.

If you were to sign up with AUSTAR you would get a box and card from the technician as a part of the standard install.

I don't know if it would work in your decoder there.

clarke, on Dec 1 2006, 10:57 AM, said:

Hey yell@me when will sci-fi have widescreen,letterbox ect..seem a waste of a good channel without it'll end up like the Disney channel. Why go to all that effort and hype if it's meant to be the best thing since sliced bread.
And to follow the shows I've been watching on TV1 I have it turn on!

I don't know.

I would have thought (as previously discussed in the scifi thread) that the new channel would have had WS support, but I can tell you without fail that the channel is not a standard 4:3 ratio due to AUSTAR... it's broadcast in that way.

[jontesko]

Hey Yell@me, I emailed Austar a few weeks back asking if Nat Geo & Discovery were going to go widescreen any time in the near future as i love docos but hate watching the WS programing on a 4:3 channel on my WS TV & they informed me "No". But too my surprise, Nat Geo has gone WS today. Obviously they don't know to much at Austar, but would you know if Discovery is gonna change? Just thought you might have so inside info.
Cheers.

[tech_head123]

jontesko, on Dec 1 2006, 05:42 PM, said:

Hey Yell@me, I emailed Austar a few weeks back asking if Nat Geo & Discovery were going to go widescreen any time in the near future as i love docos but hate watching the WS programing on a 4:3 channel on my WS TV & they informed me "No". But too my surprise, Nat Geo has gone WS today. Obviously they don't know to much at Austar, but would you know if Discovery is gonna change? Just thought you might have so inside info.
Cheers.

I emailed them the same query at the same time  

I also queried the History channel, because they are letterboxing as well. The response:

Quote

Thanks for your email.


Unfortunately, not all channels have made the transition from 4:3 to 16:9 widescreen on the FOXTEL platform. At present, The History Channel is currently still broadcasting in 4:3.


FOXTEL is committed to have all its channels (including The History Channel) broadcast in 16:9 widescreen in the future. However, this is rather expensive and technically difficult process.


Another issue being that all programming content acquired by the channel will need to be available in 16:9 Widescreen format. At present, not all content is available in 16:9 - making it even more difficult to make this transition.


The History Channel will eventually broadcast in 16:9. However, no future dates have been confirmed for this transition.


Kind Regards,

The History Channel

[Yell@Me (formerly AUSTAR)]

jontesko, on Dec 1 2006, 04:42 PM, said:

Hey Yell@me, I emailed Austar a few weeks back asking if Nat Geo & Discovery were going to go widescreen any time in the near future as i love docos but hate watching the WS programing on a 4:3 channel on my WS TV & they informed me "No". But too my surprise, Nat Geo has gone WS today. Obviously they don't know to much at Austar, but would you know if Discovery is gonna change? Just thought you might have so inside info.
Cheers.

tech_head123, on Dec 1 2006, 04:48 PM, said:

I emailed them the same query at the same time  

I also queried the History channel, because they are letterboxing as well. The response:

The people that man the email address enquiries are usually not the "right up there" correspondance people so usually they'll give you the worst case scenario I'd say.

Ultimately at the bottom rung of the ladder where I exist in the AUSTAR food chain, there is never any talk of pending WS channels. Infact without this forum I'd expect that there weren't any at all.

The answer to your question is no, I don't know if Discovery is going WS at all. If I find anything out I'll let you know.

[celebraces]

Two questions:

1. Once apon a time, you could press yellow to show closed captions... What happened? It seems whatever channel I'm on, it does not work, even when it's expressly stated before a TV show.

2. Why does FOX8 and some other TV channels have black borders around every edge when channels like [v] go full-screen when the screen mode is set to Letterbox? It's a pain to change channels then change screen types everytime.

[thetron]

Yell@Me (formerly AUSTAR), on Nov 19 2006, 09:51 AM, said:

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.

That is correct

Wide-screen channels require more bandwidth than 4:3 channels do. Most 16:9 on Foxtel/Austar is takening up by Box office channels (which are hidden). Until D2 is launched and operation this won't changed, Only channels with a majority 16:9 content will have a widescreen or "hd" channel.

Eg; TV1 won't have widescreen cause most of it's content was recorded in 4:3 and this won't change until more content is in 16:9 to fill the schedule

Btw. I'll be interested in reviewing your new austar decorder for my internet tv show/vodcast. I send an email to you guys and never got a reply

[DrP]

thetron, on Dec 4 2006, 11:18 PM, said:

That is correct

There's quite a bit of unused capacity on the Foxtel/Austar transponders.

[foxtail]

I gave up Austar about 2 years ago, the main reasons were the huge amount of repeat series and the continual promos over and over again from Austar during and after shows that drove us mad, has this changed?.

[Yell@Me (formerly AUSTAR)]

foxtail, on Dec 5 2006, 06:34 AM, said:

I gave up Austar about 2 years ago, the main reasons were the huge amount of repeat series and the continual promos over and over again from Austar during and after shows that drove us mad, has this changed?.

No, there are still repeats on most channels.

The packaging has changed fairly dramatically since you gave up the service, give sales a call on 132 342 and ask about the pricing as you might be able to get the channels you like for a rate much cheaper than 2 years ago.

or www.austar.com.au for more info.

[DrP]

So here's a question.  How come the guide - consisting a goodly number of pages and flashy glossy artwork on the cover - costs $2 (including postage) while a single sheet high speed laser printed, delivered in a standard envelope at bulk postage rates, statement costs $3.  

Only sane reasonable explainations accepted.

[lukeonfire]

so will a coship decoder with correct satellite allingment and subscription card to austar..will a coship decoder accept austar channels when all set up correctly and everything..thanks

[stunts]

I don't think you'll be able to answer my query, but I'll ask anyway incase you've run into it before.

Is there something that I can buy for my PC that will allow me to plug the AV leads into my computer and watch austar in a window instead of on my TV?
If so do you know of any brands I can buy? I've been looking around and so far haven't found any TV tuners that allow me to plug AV leads into it.

[Hosko]

Yell@Me (formerly AUSTAR), on Dec 1 2006, 02:14 PM, said:

I would have thought (as previously discussed in the scifi thread) that the new channel would have had WS support, but I can tell you without fail that the channel is not a standard 4:3 ratio due to AUSTAR... it's broadcast in that way.

What the man is trying to say is that any technical broadcast questions he can't answer because Austar simply distributes what Foxtel sends them. So any question about why a channel is 4:3 and not 16:9 isn't really a question for Austar.

I have a question, Are you just a member of the Austar call centre??? Because you seem to be able to answer easy STB related issues but anything else you struggle to answer.

[DrP]

stunts, on Dec 5 2006, 08:13 PM, said:

you know of any brands I can buy? I've been looking around and so far haven't found any TV tuners that allow me to plug AV leads into it.

You can't be looking too far.  Most analogue video capture cards for PCs have audio line level input, composite and svideo.

Try here

[Dubby]

stunts, on Dec 5 2006, 09:13 PM, said:

I don't think you'll be able to answer my query, but I'll ask anyway incase you've run into it before.

Is there something that I can buy for my PC that will allow me to plug the AV leads into my computer and watch austar in a window instead of on my TV?
If so do you know of any brands I can buy? I've been looking around and so far haven't found any TV tuners that allow me to plug AV leads into it.

I use the s-video out from my austar box into on of these

http://www.hauppauge...ata_pvr150.html

[Yell@Me (formerly AUSTAR)]

Hosko, on Dec 6 2006, 08:23 AM, said:

What the man is trying to say is that any technical broadcast questions he can't answer because Austar simply distributes what Foxtel sends them. So any question about why a channel is 4:3 and not 16:9 isn't really a question for Austar.

I have a question, Are you just a member of the Austar call centre??? Because you seem to be able to answer easy STB related issues but anything else you struggle to answer.

You're on the money there my friend.

I can answer any question about AUSTAR's business rules and packaging and so forth, but the "technical" knowhow I have is basically what I've picked up on the job.

I do know that ratios are controlled by the broadcast at the FDC, and I know that AUSTAR attempts to marry all smartcards to decoders, hence the whole 3rd party decoder warning in DrP's sig.

I'm just here to help where possible. Sometimes I get myself into discussions that are out of my depth but as far as the business is concerned, I can give advice on just about any situation.

[thetron]

DrP, on Dec 5 2006, 04:57 AM, said:

There's quite a bit of unused capacity on the Foxtel/Austar transponders.

Most of the channels space are taken up by box office channels

[DrP]

I was referring to the amount of nulls (as in there ain't nothing there) being transmitted on any given mux.  Take a look at the figures listed in one of my earlier posts.  The FBO muxes are mostly fully utilised.

[irma]

Can anyone tell us what versions of austar smartcards are out there.... and if there are different versions what are the differences between  them?

[Yell@Me (formerly AUSTAR)]

irma, on Dec 9 2006, 09:53 AM, said:

Can anyone tell us what versions of austar smartcards are out there.... and if there are different versions what are the differences between  them?

Currently in distribution there are Version 4 and 5 cards.

I can't tell you the differences specifically, I can just tell you that the version 5 cards are apparently much harder to use in 3rd party boxes. Apparently.

[LOGTECH 1]

I notice the other day that the world games channels are all going to 1 channel 555, ? is does this make channel 565 & 585  not in use and if so can we expect some new channels coming soon or what. please explain if you can