My second eye on MiTV

I have a very high expectation on how MiTV should be. This entry of mine already imagining that MiTV should be that powerful, that it is closer to how TiVO works.

But when my eye first land on MiTV, I’m so frustrated. Those crappy JPEG image quality display really turns me off. I guess it is due to the Internet Protocol (IP) over Ultra High Frequency (UHF) used, where the stream has to be compressed so it flows seemlessly in the bandwidth that IP over UHF offers.

The broucher use all the jargons out there about the technology that MiTV uses; that can impress most of the people.

So, I really want to have my second look on MiTV. And I get the following promotion broucher at the MiTV Road Show in Times Square.

Talked to the MiTV salesperson there. Huh! As expected, they are only good with sales and persuading people to buy, but when it comes to answering the question about the technology behind MiTV, they failed. I can sense the answers that they give is somewho a pre-written answers for to common question that MiTV prepared for any technical related queries.

Some bad asses side of MiTV

• Expensive start-up cost. RM799 for the IMT???!! Man. How can you expect to sign up. Spending RM799 in one shot is really a lot for most of the people.
• Lossy image compression used for the video – no pure satisfaction when watching the TV
• Crappy channel selections – other than TV1, TV2, TV3, NTV7 and 8TV that I can watch for free using my antenna (and also already included in Astro), there are only 3 other Malay channels that MiTV offers, and 2 Indonesia Channels. Others, chinese channels and Indian channels

And on the other hand, the good things about MiTV are

• Reasonable monthly subscription price – RM30
• Current promotion gives you 4 months free subscription, and RM30 per month subscription until December 2007
• Uses “reload” basis. Meaning, you are not bound to compulsory monthly payment. If you short of money this month, you can choose not to top up your account for that month
• Works over normal UHF antenna and no satellite disc installation required. Meaning, if MiTV has been deployed throughout Malaysia, during my holiday, I can bring back my IMT and Smart card back to my hometown, plug it to my mum’s TV and can watch MiTV from there
• Cool web based services. Imagine you can write email to your friend, surf internet, chat, browse for Electronic Program Guide and manage your MiTV account (check balance & top up) all from your TV set with USB keyboard and Streamyx internet connection hooked up to IMT.
• MiTV has MTV Indonesia. Yeah!! I can capture the very hard to get Indonesia song video clips using my TV capture card
• I just love trying new technology
• Isn’t it cool to have another pay TV service accompanying my usual Astro pay TV?

So the Pro and Contra list of MiTV really put me in doubt now. Should I, or shouldn’t I get it? The only barrier that you have to pass is spending RM799 for the IMT. And also, you have to live with the lossy, pixelated JPEG image quality video shown on MiTV. But MiTV is relatively new. Every new thing has teething problems. Really hope that MiTV will improve in the future.