A majority of us are addicted to one or more program on TV. It has become a habit to stay glued to our TVs when our favourite TV program is beamed. But what happens when we miss it? Especially if we are stuck somewhere else during that particular time or another family members want to see different channel at that time? Tata Sky has solution to this problem- the Tata Sky+ Transfer HD set up box (STB).
I have been using Tata Sky STB since it was introduced in India and my experience with this service is excellent. I never faced any issue with STB since its first installation a few years ago. Later on, I got the STB upgraded to HD version and fortunately, this gadget also worked without any problem. Now, I have upgraded my STB with Tata Sky + Transfer and have been using this device for the last few days and my experience with this new device is also good so far.
How Tata Sky + Transfer Works:
Tata Sky+ Transfer STB has recording ability of TV shows and Video On Demand movies, and comes with a Wi-Fi dongle to enable consumers to enjoy recorded content on smartphones and tablets without consuming Internet data. This STB has storage capacity of 500GB which means you can store upto 240 hours of HD content on it. You can view the recorded content on your Android or iOS smartphones or tablets by installing Tata Sky app from Google Play Store or Apple iTunes store. This app is currently available for Android and iOS users only.
You can record those channels on disk of STB which allow recording and all of the channels have this option. Once, you press the Record button on the STB remote, the recording of a particular TV show begins. The beauty of this STB is that when the recording going on, you can switch to another channel and watch it. In this way, you will not miss the recorded show and the show currently being telecast. Your TV can also be off while recording is going on. In fact you can even set a program for record a few hours or even 1 or 2 days in advance. You can even put a whole series on record, so all episodes get recorded. The good part of this is that you don’t even need to be in front of the TV to set the record command. You can do it from the Tata Sky Mobile app.
For transferring or watching the recorded show, you are required to open the downloaded Tata Sky app on your registered smartphone or tablet. Your smart device and Transfer set-top box need to be connected to the same wi-fi, which the installer will help you with. Once the STB is located on your smart device, the app will show list of recorded content with details of channel. You have the option to view the desired content immediately on your smartphone or transfer the same by clicking on the transfer icon. The transfer process will take the same amount of time which was taken while recording the content from your TV to STB. If the recorded content is of 40 minutes then conversion time would be of same duration and another 4 to 5 minutes are taken for transferring on your smart device depending upon the speed of your Wi-Fi.
To enable you to watch the transferred content on your smartphone or tablet, the app gives you leverage of 48 hours to watch it or 24 hours from the first viewing and after which, the transferred content is deleted from your smart devices. However, you can transfer it again. This time, you will only require the 4-5 minutes of transfer time, no need for conversion again.
The other plus point of this technology is that the app of Tata Sky enables you to use your smartphone as a remote for your TV. With the app on your smart device, you can select majority of channels on your TV for viewing them as per your taste and requirements. With this app driven Remote, you can also give recording instructions to the STB even when you are away from home.
The other useful features of this Tata Sky + Transfer is that the transferred content provides crisp and sharp video quality of HD channels. It is another matter that currently there are very few HD channels but in due course, more HD channels will be added. For transfer of TV shows, you can use your home Wi-Fi connection and you need not spend extra money for transfer process. You can directly stream the recorded shows on two smart devices simultaneously, which gives you the option of having two more screens for watching recorded shows.
While using the Tata Sky + Transfer, we did not face any problem except that the app downloaded by us on our Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone is quite slow to open and takes considerable time to accept commands. When we open the app, most of the time, it states can’t find the set up box and after trying for two or three times, it gets synced with STB. This app is should be more intuitive and quick to respond. The other drawback could be for larger family as this STB allows transfer feature on just two smart devices and if more members of the family want to watch the same recorded content on their devices then it could be an issue.
The TataSky + HD Transfer STB is ideal for those who do not want to miss anything on their TV when they are not home or when they want to enjoy two shows running at the same time. This product is targeted for high income subscribers as it has a price tag of Rs. 9300 for first time buyers and Rs. 7890 as upgrade price for the existing subscribers.
The transfer feature is offered by very few DTH operators in the world (it is the only one in India) and Tata Sky + enables you to view at your convenience free and paid content once recorded at your convenience anywhere on your smart devices.
