DesiDabba - Boss, Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jaye

Television viewing has changed a lot with time. Our parents watched Doordarshan (which comprised of just handful of channels) on their ordinary looking 27-inch black-n-white picture projecting idiot box.

Then things started to change with the introduction of color and suddenly it added a certain life-like quality to our television viewing experience. Later on things only got better and bigger with the inclusion of international channels via the cable network.

And we thought our experience couldn’t get better. But guess what - our TV sets are soon going to be classified as one of the most popular interactive medium. Thanks to two high-tech systems; both of which our desperately bidding against each other for our living room space. DTH (Direct-To-Home) and CAS (Conditional Access System) guarantee to take our television experience to a completely different level and thereby make us, the customer its sole priority.

In order to help you decide here is a look at both of these powerful tools, separately.

Direct-To-Home aka. DTH is for those wanting superior audio visual quality and having enough money to spend over it. It basically provides you with a world class satellite Television service right in your living room. All it requires is a one-time investment of around Rs. 5000 and its best feature is that it takes away your dependence on your local cable operator.

The installation process is quite simple as well. All you need to do is fix up a prior appointment with the company providing DTH facility, for example TATA Sky. Their engineers then take on from there with the installation of the DTH box at your desired location. Moreover, you can take the box anywhere in the country as per your convenience.

However everything is not as perfect as it sounds, DTH has its downside too. It requires monthly re-charge, just as we re-charge our pre-paid mobile sim-cards. DTH uses prepaid vouchers which costs anywhere from Rs. 300 to Rs. 550 and in order to continue with un-interrupted transmission you have to fill up this beauty every month. Also many DTH service providers may tempt you to subscribe for bunch of channels instead of individual channels which turns out a lot cheaper.

On the other hand, Conditional Access System aka. CAS transmits television channels through a Set-Top-Box. If you decide to go with CAS then you will continue rely on your cable operator. They will install and maintain your STB and you will be charged on monthly bases depending on the number of channels chosen by you. The most attractive feature of CAS is that it gets rid-off all those channels that you never land up watching or are not interested in thereby assuring a low-monthly bill. Its picture and audio quality is more or less same as DTH minus the jazzier stuff like the interactive menu system, pre-installed games, etc.

DTH and CAS, I would say both have arrived with impressive features (and no so good ones) however its best advised to do a little research work, not be hesitant in asking for detailed information from your CAS or DTH service provider and finally settling with the one that fits best with your needs.

One way or the other, your living-room experience ain’t never goona be the same again.