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Indian TV Channels on Roku

I got a chance to play Roku earlier in the week. Roku's UI is very simple to use. Support for NetFlix is awesome. Roku's UI & the "channel store" reminds of iPhone's AppStore (not sure which came first, Roku's ChannelStore or iPhone's AppStore).

Quite a few providers of Indian TV Channels online (YuppTV.com, ChannelLive.TV, Reliable IPTV,  Tamil IPTV, etc) are available on Roku (complete listing is here). I got a chance to play YuppTV's test channel. The quality is not bad at all. But, the selection of channels is somewhat limited. Wish WatchIndia.TV (which offers a lot more channels) was available on Roku.

PS: My review of WatchIndia.TV is here

EDIT #1: Indian TV channels are now available on Roku, via DishNetwork. Check out this link for more info

Comments

Anonymous said…
Roku seems like a great option for Indian TV channels! I will definitely check it out.
Anonymous said…
One of the problems I see is that these channels are trying to put the same pricing as they do on dish network (~14.99 per channel), which isn't attractive for new customers who dont watch Indian TV right now. Instead of trying to squeeze those who are desperate to watch, they should reduce the price and make it attractive for new viewers. Also, distribution on internet should be cheaper than doing it using dish network or direct tv.
Anonymous said…
I subscribed to watchindiatv briefly and I found their service to below expectation. Technology was horrible CS was terrible (what else can you expect). On top of it, they have their own hardware, looks like there are suckers for that too!
TheBlogAuthor said…
<<< One of the problems I see is that these channels are trying to put the same pricing as they do on dish network (~14.99 per channel)>>>

Actually, most of these IPTV companies charge much lesser than DishNetwork. For about $15/month you can get 3-5 channels depending on the provider (could be even lower with coupons/specials).


<<<
I subscribed to watchindiatv briefly and I found their service to below expectation.
>>>
Can you elaborate? The quality of Watchindia's service is pretty decent. And yes, their customer service is pretty bad.
Anonymous said…
Oh, There were quite a few things that irritated me with watchindiatv. Not sure if they have fixed those (I had their service in sep 09).
Some of the issues:
- High quality preference was not saved, so you have do that everytime you start streaming.
- Content was always expanded to 16:9, making every character in the tv look wide. I wanted a control to make it retain 4:3 even when I am on a 16:9 tv. There was no way.
- Same thing with volume, the volume controls are not the windows volume, but something the window.
- There was no way to change the subscription.
- When I tried to get the high qulaity on kannada channels it would just get struck.
- No vod on kannada channels.

And when I called CS, they used just waste my time with, what broadband you have, what is the bandwidth, high quality does not work for you etc(I had 12+ mbps internet).
Anonymous said…
On the pricing, it is still $15 to get! doesn't matter how many channels you get. The entry point is as expensive as dish. When I had the indian channel on dish, I hardly had time to watch one channel. Also, it is not as easy as dish network to watch it. So, it is all about how badly you want all those channels. It ends up with the calculation that if your parents are here, you get it no matter what. (e.g: Kannada ETV is not available in Dish, so you end up with something like this out of TINA)
TheBlogAuthor said…
<<<
There were quite a few things that irritated me with watchindiatv. Not sure if they have fixed those (I had their service in sep 09).
>>>

You experience with WatchIndia.TV seem to be with their website?? The UI on the website and the set-top box is very different (this is not say that the set-top box doesn't have any quirks in the UI).
rashid1891 said…
I subscribed to watchindiatv briefly and I found their service to below expectation. This is good side I like it so much Thanks MA.03327043387
Anonymous said…
Just checked with YuppTV customer service. They are testing kannada channels now and will start them by the end of this month! They already show ETV Kannada as "Coming soon".
Nice to have a competition for more regional channels.
Anonymous said…
If I opt for a IPTV Set-Top box then I need to buy one subscription for each STB. If I have 3 televisions in the house and I would like all of them to be connected and be able to share the same subscription, I cannot.

The same is not true with Satellite and/or Cable TV providers. I pay a one time fee and I could record, I could watch on any TV.

They should do something like Netflix does. Does not matter where you watch (Computer or Roku or Western Digital), you use the same account.
Arun said…
just got off from the phone with watchindia.tv. Frustrating thing about watchindia.tv is the customer service guys dont know how to spell any of the USA addresses and they were telling me that within the United States it will take 21 days to receive the Box even being in the United States.
Anonymous said…
Currently I have Roku (XDS) players ( 2 nos) . I am so satisfied with the quality.
Pros:
1. Best wireless and it is so small that it is not even visible.
2. Quality from channel live is better than comcast.
3. monthly package so i can disconnect anytime.
4. I get so many other channels via ROKU which helps me watch netflix , yupp tv free channels , you tube etc.
5. Channel Live Tv provides online DVR so I never miss any shows or channels.
6. The remote I get from Roku lets me rewind and play back the same content if needed.


Cons
1. Price ( First I need to pay for the box)
2. The channel live is little expensive than most of the current IPTV available but the quality is worth spending money.


Overall I have never faced any buffering issue or quality degration. Customer service is not great but good. They respond and help.
Ashwini Verma said…
From what I have seen so far, it seems there is a good lineup of South Indian channels. Channels like zee, sony, star + etc. are missing.
Anonymous said…
yeah , there are not enough of Hindi channels except for the News channels
Mitman said…
I bought Roku XDS (HDMI) six months ago. I am quite happy with it. I bet Roku will attract more people if they carry Hindi Channels like ZEE TV, Sony TV, Etc. Currently they are carrying more South Indian Channels which is fine, but I would pay for Hindi Channels. The video quality is better than average. Netflix movie quality is excellent. Again, Netflix movies are very limited in Roku.
Anonymous said…
Mitman could you explain what you mean by "Netflix movies are very limited in Roku"? Did you mean for Roku netflix has limited movies and for others it has more movies? Or is it that Netflix has limited Indian/Hindi movies?
Anonymous said…
<<<
Did you mean for Roku netflix has limited movies and for others it has more movies? Or is it that Netflix has limited Indian/Hindi movies?
>>>
I think the point was that Netflix itself has limited Indian/Hindi movies.
Anonymous said…
I am a new entry in USA and I am missing Indian TV channels badly.
Can anyone suggest me the best & economical IPTV that provides Hindi Channels (Movies, Music & News Channels) and also the Cricket channels?
I love telugulive. It's been there for few months. For 15$ a month, they have lot of telugu channels, cricket, archives and movies.. It's been a lot of fun..
hvs0909 said…
Did anyone try watching popular hindi channles on Roku, like Sony, star plus and Zee? I saw that they offered a lot of hindi movies and maybe even news channesl, but I could not locate hindi channels on Roku. All i could see were mostly south indian channels which i don't care much for. Please help as my mom is coming to visit and I don't want her getting bored.
Anonymous said…
I am also looking forward to watch hindi serials on roku... please advise whats the best way to watch hindi on roku
Anonymous said…
Don't subscribe to Watchindiatv. I subscribed for one year package and am struggling. Their set top box broke after 6 months and they are not sending a replacement. Their customer support is also horrible and they are BIG liers

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