Astro B.yond - Rediscovering the Xperience

Got my Astro set upgrade to B.yond within the last week, and since then it as really open up a w dimension, plus a new experience, in watching moview/TV. No regrets there.

  

Currently, only 5 channels are transmitted in HD (High Definition) :

831 - Astro SuperSport HD

832 - ESPN HD

431 - HBO HD

573 - National Geographic Channel HD

575 - HISTORY HD

Ok, what's the difference for those who are not familiar with the term HD? Imagine that you have been watcing programmes through your 21" colour TV. Somehow, you decided to take your TV watcing experience to another level and bought youself an 42" LCD or Plasma TV. After painstakingly installing you new set you discover that most of the programmes shown on Astro are blur. That's because the picture set in that particular resolution got expanded to fill up the 42" screen. It's like blowing up a picture of a passport-sized photo to an A4 size.

That's was what I've experienced when I got a 37" Samsung LCD TV, the plus side was it came free thanks to MBF Cards. Months later I upgraded my video cable from the decoder to LCD TV with an S-video cable (RM168)  and the picture improve about 20%. After a while the euporia died down and mostly then I preferred to watch DVD movies.

Now, after having experience the picture quality of HD I was really excited and truly impressed with HD. I never knew D quality would really blow my mind into a new experience! It was like watching Blue-Ray picture! Even DVD quality cannot match B.yond HD quality! With B.yond HD you can experience five times the detail of standard television broadcast. Sharper pictures, more vibrant colours and crystal clear such that you can even spot details on a person's face.

I signed up last month at their roadshow in KLCC concourse after having been briefed that during the promotional period they would change your decode, satellite dish, smartcard and provide HDMI cable - all for free, just top up RM20 to the monthly bill. And I dare say it's worth it. Anyway I was told that Astro would be increasing the number of channels to be broadcasted in HD progressively.

Previously I don't watch History nor National Geographic channel, but with HD I found myself hooked up with it, only if the movies at HBO HD (431) sucks.

Take it from me, if you are those freaks who enjoys better quality watching TV/movies, go for it. It's really about rediscovering new experience and will bring your excitement to a whole new level!