Wednesday, March 14, 2007

LBN making a slow and steady rise

LBN which generally does not publicize itself seems to be having a slow and steady come back. As of late the test transmission notice has been removed from their website and we believe that they are either gearing up for their commercial relaunch or may have even had a soft launch.

They too have added a number of new channels but it is sad that they are unable to carry out transmission of the World Cup but we hope that the management is in talks with Nimbus or Dialog TV to carry out transmission.

They have removed some channels from their lineup such as DD Sports and BBC World, not sure whether they are available on LBN digital. We would like LBN analog and digital subscribers to give us a comprehensive list of the analog service channels and digital service channels since LBN has more channels that indicated on their website.

40 comments:

Sudhar said...

For all anonymous blogers, now you can create a gmail account with out any invitation from some one else. So go on and create your own gmail accounts before losing your name to some one else. The gmail (Google mail) account is needed to login to this blog to post messages with name.

Sudhar said...

Similarly LBN and LBN technical staff also should reserve some blog spots for their interactions with customers. LBN can easily publish their blogs on their web sites and ask customers to join. LBN can even go for www.lbn.tv domain, still that domain name is available. Its up to the interested people to forecast the future services and register for the necessary services.

Sudhar said...

If any one wants to send feed back or suggestions to me please use this e-mail address writeback@hushmail.com

Anonymous said...

Seems like LBN have started commercial operations. I am quite thankful that I can watch some interesting Television programms after watching absolute crap for 7 months. I have a basic package and since two days ago LBN has scrambled the premium channels. It was certainly a nice gesture by LBN for letting us watch these channels although we did not pay for them. I in no expected them to continue this as it would have been unfair by the customers paying for the premium package.

However I would like to request LBN to consider adding on one more movie channel to the basic package.

Once again a big thank you for letting us watch some decent television after all these months.

Anonymous said...

I am using a DIGITALConnection. They have also removed “Chanel News Asia” news channel as well.

Anonymous said...

ICC World Cup 2007 - Points Sheet

Please click on the link below to download you very own points sheet for the World Cup.

ICC World Cup 2007 Points Sheet

Anonymous said...

LBN Digital Basic Package Movie Channels and some new channels are their.LBN analog Basic Very Less Channels are their.but Digital Basic is more Channels.i think they are going to change all channel to Digital.i think everybody can watch best picture and sound with digital

Sudhar said...

That's really true, even if any one wants to stay with basic package its better to go digital and stay with basic package. But I seriously doubt whether any one could only stay with basic package. When you see the digital pictures you will be pulled towards premium package, because the pictures are crystal clear.
It may be the beginning for the LBN technical people in their digital operations but once they familiarize with the digital technology we can expect more clear services.

Anonymous said...

LBN Digital service also coming through coax cable ?? or from satellite ??

Anonymous said...

All through cables...but with a different box (decorder)

Sudhar said...

The LBN service is entirely though cable only, but the decoder has some pretty interesting functions. The decoder has AV out and RF out. The RF out is normal analog out put to TV from the decoder, which will not be affected by decoder settings. You can simply consider the Digital decoder as a booster in your home, filtering the noise and amplifying the signals.

Anonymous said...

For BBC,LBN has to come to an agreement with DTV,who are the authorized provider in SL

Anonymous said...

Hello,
i have 3 tvs at home, now i only have lbn on one tv, i need lbn on other 2 tvs,

so what i need to do ?( what you guys have done)

Sudhar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sudhar said...

By the way who bothers about BBC, there are plenty of more important channels to telecast. I am not the entire voice for the LBN customers but to my understanding I don’t feel any importance, others may like this channel. It’s up to them to make the request to the LBN.

Anonymous said...

Hello guys,
lbn has 61 Channels, so what channels do you watch guys ?, i think there lot of channels that are not being watched by any one

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Anonymous said...

Dont promote bathiya and santhush in this blog,They are are singers in the calibre of "MILLI VENELLI",Who pirate other peoples songs and make mokery of them,Santhush actualy can sing a bit,But not bathiya,Just fooling .

Anonymous said...

I agree with the above comment. Who the heck wants to hear about bathiya santhush on this blog.

Anonymous said...

Hey LBN,

Will you be able to get us a channel like super sports. It shows a lot of rugby. That will be a real treat. Just wondering if it's possible cos i heard it has foot prints over SL as well.
Anyone from LBN .....

p.s.

On a post above you failed to mention the S-Video output on the LBN digi box. The best way to get your pictures onto TV (If available on your TV)

Anonymous said...

Guys,

LBN has started billing from Jan 2007 (half month) and Feb in Full. I received my bill today.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, It was from Feb 2007. Half rate for Feb & March

Anonymous said...

Yes. I too got the invoice with a explanation letter.

Thanks LBN for all hard work. You have been very reasonable to charge 50% with most of the premium channels.We will definitely pay the bills ASAP.

Sattvasia.Com said...

LBN & DTV should have to face strong competitor, "SLT IPTV" within next few months. SLT already take steps to launch SLT IPTV, which is Internet Protocol based cable TV system. IPTV comes to home through ADSL telephone line. That means IPTV available, ware ADSL available. IPTV technology is newer and handy than DVB (But there are some limitations).

IPTV is packed with High speed internet, TV Channels and VOIP (Voice over internet protocol). And TV decoder can simply plug with PC. Then you can fully control your TV on your PC. IPTV is provided conjunction with "VIDEO ON DEMAND (VoD)". That means viewer can request what they want through the decoder. Other reason is now ADSL available most parts of the island. I live in small village which is 23 km s away from Matara town. But my phone line already ADSL available. These days SLT is upgrading their all exchanges in the island for ADSL and other data services. My friend who works in SLT engineering division said SLT planned to give both TV and Internet at very low cost

Anonymous said...

Dear Mihitha,
It is not so easy to feed all those facility through SLT ADSL. Why, if low cost also mainly it need a pc & very difficult to download apicture through SLT. If u tell or u're SLT friend tell, SLT cannot reach to the Television market.
Mostly only western province people will buy Televition channels. Don't worry u try a DTH to u're home. Unless You have to wait till they[SLT] reduce there noise level as well.

kamal rathnapala

Sudhar said...

Dose any one know the exact cost involved in installing ADLS connection??? Well a small break down, ADSL modem, any modem with Ethernet port RJ45 is above 13,000 /- and modems with USB interface is above 9,000/- (http://www.slt.lk/teleshop/inpages/products.asp?CategoryID=ADSP , other places it may be little cheap, but you have to buy from SLT shop because then only they will install). Service provision fee is 2,000 /- one time fee. Installation fee is 2,000/- one time fee (http://www.slt.lk/data/forhome/105adsl_charges.htm ). Then comes the micro filter and splitter, if the modem doesn’t have then you have to buy. Then comes the package, for IPTV or else even for internet 1 GB is nothing (1,000/- package), if you browse 4 hours a day, 15 days is enough to reach the limit. Then next package is 2,250 /- + VAT, the download speed is only 512Kbps (I don’t know whether any IPTV providers tested with this download speed). Well then comes the IPTV rates and the necessary devices, well on the long term these prices will tend to get reduce but till that what!!!! Now you can sum to find the total.
If there is any correction regarding the rates of the above said items, please post a message, even I want to get the latest prices.

Sudhar said...

Oops I forget to say this, even after installing all these, dose any one believe it will come near to cable bandwidth and the channel list that LBN offers. Still no technical information is published about the LBN broad band, when LBN introduces broad band I can say more, why it’s not necessary for people around LBN cable line path not to think anything else. For outstations subscribers it’s a matter of satellite vs. Broad band.

Anonymous said...

The Audio levels on LBN are inconsistent. I suggest that LBN adjust their audio output to a standard level. If not we will have to adjust the volume every time we switch channels.

Right now as of this morning (and yesterday) CNN audio quality has been quite bad.

Anonymous said...

Dlink ADSL router (ethernet) is available in Sri Lanka for Rs.6000/- and in Singapore for about Rs.4000/-. The microfilter is included in the package.

As for the quality, I also doubt that they can give good quality through 512K but I presume they can match the VCD quality of DialogTV. If 512K is used the streamed picture is quite good.

Sudhar said...

I think you did not read my post message properly, SLT will not guarantee the speed and download rate, if you did not purchase the modem and installed by them, please visit this site, http://www.slt.lk/data/forhome/107adsl_faq.htm . They are clearly mentioning the terms for good service. I asked for latest price from SLT related shops. Thanks for the information you provided, as many people will know the cost.
It’s very important to read the FAQ of SLT because they are defining the conditions for download speed. I am not promoting any services but I am only making aware about the services.
http://www.slt.lk/data/forhome/107adsl_faq.htm

Anonymous said...

IPTV services needs at least 4Mbps bandwidth for a reasonable quality video streaming.
In Sri Lanka the Max offered by SLT is 2Mbps. ALso for IPTV, the subscriber needs unlimited data download capacitiy but SLT will have to impose data quantity caps when it introduces IPTV for their system stability. So we are talking about minimum Rs.7,500 per month ADSL+ connections for IPTV ( Present 2Mbps link is almost Rs 6,000 and 512kbps link is almost Rs2,000)
I wonder anyone is willing to spend Rs 7,500 per month to watch TV.
LBN and DTV do not have to bother that much about SLT IPTV unless they come out with a cheap ADSL+ package for IPTV ( Which is very unlikely)

P

Sudhar said...

Well I have received the invoice and I find it clear and accurate. There is an additional document attached with the bill explaining how the rent is calculated and how the advance credits are adjusted with current invoice.


For people with interest with IPTV visit this site to find how it works with a leading satellite services provider, http://www.intelsat.com/services/media/Iptv-work.asp . Nothing to do with our country services but the architecture is interesting.

Anonymous said...

To Sudhar,

I read the post carefully. But any service provider will tell that to sell their overpriced stuff. The latest price are the ones listed on the net. Those prices have not changed in almost 4 years. That is enough to know that the stuff is overpriced.

Whatever they may say if you buy equipment from a known brand like Dlink or Netgear there is no reason why it shouldn't work properly. If it works then its unlikely that the speed will be lesser than they get with SLT supplied routers.

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 3/22/2007 8:54 AM

Can you reveal the source of the figures you have quoted?

Or is it your own costing?

Sudhar said...

What you said is true (message at 3/22/2007 4:47 PM ), most of the web sites are not updated properly with the latest information, when I post any information I am not only using the web site info but adding my own experience. Not for IPTV but for ADSL internet connection I gave a application on the second week of September 2006 (at that time, I was told with in a month I will get the connection and I took all the prices related to ADSL connection and all the prices they said match with what they put on the web site) but it took them four months to give the response of “connection available”, till that time only reply was no ports available in dehiwala area to provide ADSL connection. So far I have not installed ADSL because during that four months I bought a CDMA connection, which has no charges to short code calls(which means, calls dialed to connect internet is free of charge only the browsing cost)

I know in the market there are cheap but good quality items available. I am going to talk to them and find out how to install if they refuse to manipulate the items purchased out side. I also request if any one come across the same items teleshops sell in the market find out that price to compare the price with SLT shops

Anonymous said...

You don't have to ask them to install. If they setup the connection on the side of the exchange then you only have to ask 3 settings from them and enter it to the router/ modem. Its very simple. Not worth paying extra to buy items from them.

Anonymous said...

This is crap,When you come to internet there is no provider who can even come close to SLT ans specialy the home user on ADSL.Dont worry about the quality and the requirement of IPTV as telecom has the money,infrastructure and resources for upgrade to any level they want,So dont question their capability and they will be there in a big way.

But i dont know how they are going to compete with LBN and DTV and the pluses and minuses of IPTV.But take it for granted that their is no operator who can even come close to telecom in Broadband,That is the fact and talking baseless rubish is not going to deter their plans,and neither will any operator have a chance of competing with telecom when it comes to broadband

TG's Blog Owner said...

See this article regarding MTV Networks Sri Lanka:-

http://anaeblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/mtv-networks-sri-lanka-our-countrys-top.html

My longest article yet.

Sudhar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

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to explore and express your thoughts on sri lankan DTH