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Review: WatchIndia.tv set top box

Options to watch Indian TV channels used to be somewhat limited in the US (especially for regional-language channels). Sometime ago I came across http://www.watchindia.tv/ , but never had a chance to try it out. Finally, I decided to give it a try & ordered their set-top box (I got the newer version with HDMI output & WiFi support). My experience so far has been pretty good...
  • The device is slightly larger than the size of a wireless-router
  • Setup of the device was pretty easy. It came pre-configured to log-in with my watchIndia account
  • Video/audio quality is reasonably good (I use a wired ethernet connection). The video quality reminds me of an average quality SD channel (or a video-cassette). The picture does have some pixelation, but I found it to be tolerable. Check out the pictures below.
  • The overall UI has some constraints, but it is not horrible (the UI does have some latency, but it's not too bad)
  • The remote is OK; most of the buttons don't seem to be functional/used. I ended up using an universal remote.
  • The device lacks support for 2-3 very useful features
    • Channel-guide on the TV. AFAIK, the channel guide is only available on the WatchIndia website. I wish they at least had a mobile-phone app for viewing the channel-guide :)
    • DVR-functionality (they do have a "video-on-demand" feature by which some shows are recorded & stored on their servers, but it doesn't include all the shows/channels).
    • Support for controlling the TV's power & volume.
There seem to be a couple other companies that offer a similar service -- YuppTV, ChannelLive , DishNetwork IPTV . YuppTV looks especially interesting since they support a wide variety of devices (iPhone, XBOX260, Roku, etc, etc).

Would love to hear your comments if you have used any of these services

EDIT #1: I called WatchIndia to downgrade my subscription (to fewer channels). It's hard to reach their customer-service on the phone -- i ended up being on hold of 60-90 mins sometimes. Even after calling 3-4 times, they haven't yet made this change. It is somewhat frustrating to deal with their customer service

EDIT #2: I was able to configure the Logitech universal remote to control the WatchIndia device. Since WatchIndia device is still not in the Logitech database -- I had to "manually"  program the buttons :-(

EDIT #3: None of the iPhone browsers (Safari, Opera, AtomicLite, etc) support scrolling down the watchIndia channel guide -- making the guide pretty useless. The only usable solution for viewing the channel-guide on the iPhone is using this link . This is not pretty, but provides you the info. I hope that WatchIndia.tv will offer a better solution soon. If you know of a better solution, do let me know.

EDIT #4: It's been more than a couple of weeks since i got the device; the quality is still pretty reasonable (even on a big-screen TV). Here are few pictures of my TV playing from the WatchIndia set top box.

"Main lobby"


"Main Menu"




"Channel listing"


"Video on demand (by channel)"



Playing the"NDTV Profit" channel (the slight blur at the bottom is due to my camera shaking).


Comments

Welcome said…
Hi
Thanks for ur review. I too recently subscribed with WatchIndia.tv. I have few questions;
I got my setup box 2 dasys back and got connected. I cant see any channels in Live TV except for Zoom channel. In order to go to channels I need to go to Lobby and use right ,left, up and down bottons to go the channel you want and click ok. I cant use the ch's buttons provided on the remote to move to diffrent channels. Is it same with you ??

More over my headach's are more now, I have subscribed for Mega Pack but right now I can only see 5 channels. I called cutomer support (who doesnt know anything about thier work), said they are also facing the same issue and asked me to send my Box MAC address. I dont belive them, can you pls confirm if it is haeppening to you also??

Pls respond to my questions.

By subscribing to Watchindia.tv, I have got nothing except for headache. I strictly dont recommend it as they r too immuture to provide service at even at average level. I am stuck with them as they already robbed my money.

Hope my issues will be resolved soon.
TheBlogAuthor said…
The Channel-up and channel-down button don't seem to work even for me. The way I work around it to use the "info" or "i" button. Just click this "i" button twice & you will seen a popoup on your screen, and now you can use up & down arrows arounds the OK button to navigate through the various channels.

Sorry to hear that you are facing problems with WatchIndia's customer service. Hope you get them resolved soon.

So far, I haven't had any problems with their customer service (though it's a little hard to get hold of someone during daytime in the US).

Good luck!
Welcome said…
Thanks very much for your reply. I tried the way you suggested to move arround the channels, but it did not work for me.

By The Way you did not answer my 2nd question. Right now do you have any problems with viewing all the channels. As I mentioned I am getting only 5 channels right now even though I have subscribed for Mega Pack. Customer service told that it is problem with everyone and they are also getting 5 channels only. I know they are bluffing me but just want to make sure with you.

I am getting frusted with them. Not sure how far will I be able to resolve this.

Thanks again for your updates.
TheBlogAuthor said…
@Welcome,

Sorry to hear that you are running into so many problems.

I have subscribed to the mega-pack as well & I'm able to see all the channels.

Regarding changing channels...did you press the "info" button twice (at this point, you should see the pop-up cover about half the TV screen) and then use the up/down arrows ?

Hopefully you will be able to resolve the issues.

Note that WatchIndia's return policy is 7-day only :-(
TheBlogAuthor said…
I just added a few more points to my review on WatchIndia
Anonymous said…
Thanks. This was very helpful and pretty detailed.
Anonymous said…
Is there any other TV box to see Indian channels which is better than watch India box. My Mom is here from India and she really feels board at home. I tried to hook with online channels which are free but they work one or two day.
TheBlogAuthor said…
<<<<
Is there any other TV box to see Indian channels which is better than watch India box. My Mom is here from India and she really feels board at home.
>>>>
Currently, WatchIndia.TV has the best selection of channels. There are some (south-indian) channels available via Roku. Check out my posting at http://smariner.blogspot.com/2010/08/indian-tv-channels-on-roku.html

The Roku box is cheaper, easier to use and can work with a variety of services. If the channels that your mom wants is available via Roku, I'd say go with Roku.
Anonymous said…
How did you configure your universal remote with the watchindia tv box ?
TheBlogAuthor said…
<<<
How did you configure your universal remote with the watchindia tv box ?
>>>
I have a Logitech Harmony universal remote. Since the WatchIndia set-top box is not one of the devices that Logitech recognizes, I "manually" programmed the Logitech remote (point the WatchIndia and the Logitech remotes to each other while programming).
Unknown said…
I have subscribed to the Zee Marathi yearly subscription. The channel is down for last 2 months and I called them numerous times. They do not have any answer and they are not ready to refund back the money. They tell me that they are not allowed to connect us to the manager or Supervisor. Their customer service is so bad, that i am totally frustrated. Never make a mistake of subscribing to their yearly pack.
Anonymous said…
The watchindia.tv set top box sucks. No Guide. Channels take seconds to change. And picture quality is VERY poor.

Do yourself a favor - do not subscribe to this lousy service. Here are the big problems:
1. TV Guide is always messed up. Either no information or wrong information
2. The channels seems to be unauthorized content. DD India always says 'Test Feed'. Zee TV channel always display WITV. They lead me to believe that the content may be unauthorized.
3. Zee TV channel on 11th Oct is showing stream from Oct 9. The 3 Hr SAREGAMA special that aired on Oct 9th is yet to show up till Oct 11th.
4. There are hardly any Video On Demand shows available.
TheBlogAuthor said…
<<<
Their customer service is so bad, that i am totally frustrated. Never make a mistake of subscribing to their yearly pack.
>>>
I agree with this feedback....if you aren't sure about keeping service for a year, avoid signing-up for the yearly pack.

<<<
The watchindia.tv set top box sucks. No Guide. Channels take seconds to change. And picture quality is VERY poor.
1. TV Guide is always messed up. Either no information or wrong information
>>>
Are you using the older version of the set top box? I haven't had these issues with the latest model of the set top box (the newer model doesn't have the Guide feature).
Anonymous said…
Hi,
I subscribed watchIndia TV in August.Took there independence day offer for 199$ yearly package.
Also ordered Set top box.
The experiance with them is pretty dissappointing.I should have read review before buying it.
There customer support sucks.
Many buttons dont work in the settop box.
The Wi-fi doesn't work well with setop box so i had to connect through the cable.When I spoke to there custom exec she was rude and said they cannot take the box back.There is nothing wrong with it.

VOD is just for name-We have to wait 3-4 days to get something on the VOD.

Also setmax VOD not working...making short this long story...Please dont subcribe there service.

They are hopeless and have no ethics.
TheBlogAuthor said…
>>>There customer support sucks.<<<
Agree on this one.

>>>Many buttons dont work in the settop box.<<<
This kinda maybe "by-design"....i think they have left room for additional features.

>>>The Wi-fi doesn't work well with setop box <<<
sorry, i didn't try connecting via the wifi connection.
Anonymous said…
I am using watchindia TV HD set top box since last 4 months and I am facing lots of issues with the service. Sometimes it doesn't stream at all and sometimes STB hangs automatically. The customer service is very pathetic...you will never be satisfied by their response even after waiting for 20-25 minutes for connecting to an agent.
They will never connect you to their supervisor or manager and will always say that within an hour you will get a call but you will never get any call.
This company doesn't have any ethics to listen to customers and their problems. They don't have any say to regret for their issues. Most of the times their servers runs into upgradation.
I have taken my new package last month and it has been 22 days passed and I am not able to see any channel on STB and my account is about to expire now and they are not listning anything not even their manager or supervisor talked to me about any issue. Why the hell they charged my credit card if they know that their servers are under upgradation since last 22 days.
I will not refer to anybody for this service.
Anonymous said…
I am watch india customer for last 5 months.
Pro
Only source for regional channel.
Set top box.

Cons
Most channel were down most of time.
From last two week whole system is down for server upgrade.
Customer service wait at least 40/50 min.
No refund possible of your package.
Poor Customer support.


So end suggestion don't go for try something else and let every one know.

Thanks
Yogesh Dhake
Anonymous said…
I think for me its working fine - I have only used it a couple of days yet but seems to be working great for me and also picture quality is pretty good - People need to realize you get what you pay for - Its by far the cheapest option... If you cannot take it go for Dish that charges 2X the money for the same channels! I have had a couple of calls to customer service and they have been answered pretty quickly - maybe I have just been lucky but the VOD feature is pretty good... Bottom line - there are snags but for $10 per month for their annual package of 5 channels - I have no complaints!
Anonymous said…
I bought watch india TV box couple of weeks ago and still not able to pair single time. customer support really bad. You can't directly talk to advance technical support. Basic support will tell you that someone will contact you but no one contacts.
TheBlogAuthor said…
<<<
still not able to pair single time.
>>>
What do you exactly mean by this?
Anonymous said…
Basically I got the box. I did steps to setup the box. After saving the setting TV screen showed WatchIndia TV and it got hung for more than 30 minutes. So I rebooted the box and now my TV shows "No Signal" and blue screen. TV box is not able to connect to the TV at all.
TheBlogAuthor said…
<<<
TV box is not able to connect to the TV at all.
>>>
This definitely seems like an issue for tech support. Did you ask them to replace the box? I assume that you've tried all obvious things checking cable connection, rebooting a few times, etc, etc
Anonymous said…
yes, I tried rebooting multiple times. I also removed router from the path and gave a direct Ethernet connection. I asked them for replacement and they says technical team in still working on background and they will get back to me. Its been week and no progress from their side.
TheBlogAuthor said…
<<<<
Its been week and no progress from their side.
>>>>

Sorry to hear that! Hope that they resolve the issue soon.
Anonymous said…
Very bad don' ever go for Watchindia.tv. Using last couple of months, always had some problem, sub scribed for Megapack. I could have visit this page before i go for that. Other imp be careful about the details you give, i got charged twice, still struggling to get credit into my account. Customer care is very very bad no response but you're too lucky if you get chance talk to someone.
Suhas said…
I recently subscribed to watchindia.tv and got the latest set top box. I have a question about its remote. Its forward button is not working. When I press it, I see "2X" showing on TV but it does not fast forward at all. Did anyone face this? It will be great if someone can provide solution. Overall I am happy with watchindia.tv especially I can watch Marathi channels.
TheBlogAuthor said…
Hi Suhas,

<<<
I have a question about its remote. Its forward button is not working. When I press it, I see "2X" showing on TV but it does not fast forward at all. Did anyone face this?
>>>
I assume you are referring to the video-on-demand feature -- I haven't tried using the FF button. But, some of the buttons on the remote are not currently active. I assume that WatchIndia may support it in the future.
Anonymous said…
Waited 15 day to make it work, bought around Nov-10
1. 15-30min wait to get phone answered
2. Live or VOD with 3.5 software does not work
3. Customer support asks for nslookup/traceroute, serial etc but cannot figure out what is the problem.
4. Sent refund email, no reply

Simply sucks...
Unknown said…
I agree with the comments for watchindia customer service, technical support and tv box. They sucks. I got my tv box on 8th of this month and could not connect it because of faulty remote control. Everyday I am calling them and their response it technical team is working on this. What they are working? Cant they replace the remote immediately? I never refer anybody to subscribe to this service. I am totally frustrated. Never go for this service.
rashid1891 said…
I am getting frusted with them. Not sure how far will I be able to resolve this.

Thanks again for your updates.
Anonymous said…
DO NOT ever subscribe to WatchIndia.tv!

I have the old STB and I made the biggest mistake of signing a 1-yr discount deal about 6 months ago. It has been down for more than a month now, not a single channel! Even before that, I only got about 75% of channels. Their customer service is HORRIBLE! They have no decency and lie through their teeth. I have called about 10 times and wasted few hours and it seems like they are not even trying to fix the issue. Every time, they keep telling me upgrade bullshit- it'll be fixed in 24 hrs, 48 hrs and so on, but nothing gets done! I already have the latest firmware! I have had many cable services in last 10 years, but watchindia is THE WORST WITHOUT A DOUBT! I think my money is pretty much gone...DO NOT EVER GET WATCHINDIA!!!
Anonymous said…
Glad I saw this blog as I was about to subscribe to WatchIndia.tv....thanks all for providing your feedback.
Regards.
Anonymous said…
I ordered watch India 10 days ago. So far, I am satisfied with the price and quality. What you pay is what you get.
Things to consider

1. It seems you have to be bit technical to get this working and understand. ( In the most Indian house has some engineer get him/her on the phone than calling the support.)
2. Rather than assuming the box and remote and service would works like DISH/Cable then do not order it. The process seems to be more like your learning, the box and the way it behaves.
3. Use LAN then wireless, it seems wireless add complexity, and you might run into refresh the screen.4. A remote is pretty crap. I only use four button, Gree, Red, Blue and Yellow). oh the big power red button.
5. The service can be improved ,I think with time and learning curve one day this company might make it attractive deals for a new way to watch Inidan TV.
6. Where are the freaking Cricket games ???????????

Good Luck.
Anonymous said…
great service and so cheap. I had some issue to setup but spoke with a friendly guy call Ajit which was helpful. I LOVE IT.
Anonymous said…
They are cheaters and has no ethics. In first fifteen days of free service, they charged me for one month rent twice, first time during start of free service and after fifteen days. I paid $70 for one month. Poor customer service, they are not ready to refund my money.

Ps never subscribe to watchindia.tv.
Anonymous said…
I am currently having Ztv from Comcast but I thought I’ll get 5 channels for the same price with watchindia. The above comments are very helpful and glad I found before committing one yr subscription. The customer support guy told me subscribe soon otherwise the box will go up for $150. There is a hidden shipping charge $30. You can get a Roku for $60 with lot more content.
Before buying the box I see some issues here. The box is dedicated to watchindia which is totally ridiculous. I already have WD TV and Roku so don’t need one more box. If they can provide some DLNA app I can watch the channels through WD TV. Yup tv is on Roku but it doesn’t have hindi channels.
If someone comes up with good quality Indian channels with IP TV there is a huge market worldwide. It seems companies are not matured enough to get this opportunity.
Anonymous said…
Have you had any experience with relianceiptv or feedback from users? I am unable to find a number to talk to them from US.
Is there a way to contact them?

Thank you for sharing your experience with watchindia.tv.
RMB said…
WatchIndia.tv sucks !!!!!! I wish I had read the comments before I got this idiotic connection at home.
Looks like the customer care agents are villagers(I cannot say executives bcoz they dnt talk like one). The most rude people i have ever seen. On their website they advertise big things but in reality nothing is true.. The customer care agents are not at all trained, simply they are advertised to be available 24/7 but infact they are available only at India Timings. They think the other person on the phone is a fool .... Very Rude behaviour.
I regret for buying this product. I request all the people whoever read these reviews please do not buy this product ... Its not at all worth it.
Anonymous said…
I am facing trouble connecting the TV box via D'link 615 Router (wired & wireless connection). The Watchindia TV Main screen comes up but it doesn't stream/buffer. (There is nothing wrong with the router as internet works just fine on laptops)
The programs stream very well if I connect the TV box directly to Cable modem with an ethernet cable.
Does anybody kow about any Router settings that should be changed for the TV box to work please?
Thank you!
Sachin said…
It was my turn to commit the sucide I guess. Subscribed for 1 year package, 5 channels. Got my set top box yesterday. Nothing works! After connecting the box to TV nothing happens. Tried all the options. Now only option is to call the customer care which I think won't help. Sorry for being pessimistic.
akshi said…
Can anybody please post some reviews on accessing channel live on Roku? I am not looking for many channels. Mainly sun tv and NDTV if possible. I gather from this thread that watchindia.tv is not a good option.
TheBlogAuthor said…
@akshi, check out http://smariner.blogspot.com/2010/08/indian-tv-channels-on-roku.html for some info on Indian TV on Roku
Arup Gupta said…
Seems like both yuppTV & channelLiveTV dont have regular Hindi channels.
Anonymous said…
Its a complete waste of money. Its gives only irritation rather than entertainment. Video on demand get stalled in between most of the time , if it works for any show , you are very lucky. Earlier live Tv use to work , now that also not working properly. Its difficult to reach customer service , but if you try several times , you will be able to reach them. But contacting the technical support team for any issue is not of any use. They won't help anything. Forward rewind , pause does not work on box.
venkat said…
agree.. watchindia sucks. my settop box is always stuck and says no wi-fi connection.

stay away from this junk.
HateWatchIndia said…
To all the disgruntled customers,

You don't have to deal with the crappy customer service for your refunds. If your service/Box doesn't work, simply dispute the charge on your credit card.

BTW, did anyone get charged with an FX conversion fee although they never tell you about that?
Anonymous said…
I purchased the 1-year mega pack subscription and the set top box. Upon arrival, I found that the remote control wasnt working and made a complaint to Watchindia customer service. It has been 1 week and yet no update/response from customer service in spite of multiple followups. I have given up on their non-existent customer service and now fighting for a refund ... avoid watchindia!!! They are a big cheat and will not do anything to help once you have paid the money!
Bhushan said…
does anyone know what is the default username and password to log on to the ip for the settop box?

Also how to do you upgrade the firmware/.
Bhushan said…
does anyone know what the default username/password is to loginto the box?

Also how do you upgrade the firmware
SN said…
It's been over 2 weeks since I first lodged my complaint about the dead settop box but the issue still remains unresolved. The settop box is only 4 months old. Every time I get an email from the customer service, the anticipated resolution time/response time remains at standard 72 hours.
I am discounting the fact that many of the functions/features with-in the set-top box menus/remote never really worked.

I do not recommend this box.
Anonymous said…
does anyone know whats the setting on the router to see the tv on PC?. I have this constant black screen problem, but in office i can see. So i assume its either the problems with the Cable connection or its the router setting.

Have been waiting for reply from cutomer support have not still able to resolve it.

thanks
Ga
Anonymous said…
I received the set-top box two weeks ago. It does not play live TV or VOD. Repeated calls or e-mailed complaints to CS have not yielded anything other than ignorent agents on the phone claiming to provide Technical support and wasting your time or e-mail responses claiming to have "escalated my case to the next tier of tech support" and promises of an answer within 48 hours. I am getting ready to report this to the credit card company and withold payment on the TV box.
Anonymous said…
it litterally sucks)))))).

Box is simply rip off!!!!
Ankita said…
i subscribe 5 months ago and the box seems to work just fine for me. the only problem i had was with some vods that were not available on time, so i called their customer support and waited for about 5-7 mins. to tell you the truth for the price that they are offering and the fact that i can watch my shows with good quality (no buffering!), this box is actually o.k. i looked for other boxes but they are just too expensive!
Unknown said…
Wtatch India TV is a rip off. I subscribed for 1 year and they changed it automatically recurring payment. They took my money and started talking about terms and conditions. Please watch for them. It is a trap.
Anonymous said…
WatchIndia Service is simply ridiculous. I'm really pissed off their service. From the time I have subscribed, I have wasted my precious time in calling them for one or the another problem n number of times.
This time, they are not able to resolve a simple blank screen issue from more than 3 weeks.....It is so frustrating that we subscribed for 1 year and we are not getting the kind of service we expected.
I would not recommend WatchIndia TV to anyone. It is nothing more than a headache
Anonymous said…
i agree with ankita, i also didn't have any problems with the box. i got it over a year and i'm happy with their service. the quality is o.k. and they offer the cheapest price in the market...
Anonymous said…
Thanks for the information.

Looks like I am not going to subscribe to this service, was about to subscribe for 1 year and get the set top box (literally 5 minutes away from purchase, then my daughter asked me to check reviews). I will stay with my ATT UVERSE.
Anonymous said…
after reading reviews ..guess its NO go..thanks for reviews.
The reason I am writing this review to complain about the frequent stopping on the playback on live TV channels. The buffering is not good and the playback stops as frequently as every minute, requiring the user to hit Play on remote again, and wait for playback to re-start.
Its not the internet speed causing these skips/stop playbacks. I am on a 3MBps TimeWarner cable line. My Other home devices on the same network bandwidth such as WD Live stream HD video off the internet for hours without skipping or stopping.
Or it would be nice to have a AUTO_P-PLAY feature in case if buffering fails or it stops.
There is an existing 'smart-buffering' on/off option, but turning it on/ or off does not make any difference.

I have never been able to watch any channel on this box more than 10-15 mins without having to hit-play again. It can get quite irritating.

I am hoping that the hardware will be upgraded in the future and also allow other better devices such as Roku box or WD Live to support watchindia.tv. Some other indian TV companies such as www.channellive.tv/roku are already doing that.

Other than that picture quality is watch-able, its not 720p or 480p, but still fairly decent.

Also another issue is that the archived TV shows are not accurate, you could hit play on A serial/drama, but the recording is for B drama series. This is likely because the recording is done on strict preset times and not quality checked for accuracy before making it archive available on watchindia.tv box.

Overall, its a good concept but need a lot to improve to mature and evolve. Recommended to buy as a secondary option to an existing primary option.
Anonymous said…
Watchindia.tv sucks. I placed my order for TV box around 27 days back and still to get the box. The customer care has standard reply out of stock. They don't know when they will get the stock.
Anonymous said…
Hello All,

Just felt I should send this email out before someone else comes into their trap.

Never Never Never go for watchindia.tv connection online/set top.

1. Horrible transmission
2. Horrible customer support / pretty rude.
3. If you don’t like the connection there is no way you can cancel. Customer Satisfaction is least importance for this company.
4. Cancelation policy is ZERO.
5. There is no way you can return the set top box if you don’t like the connection. So you loose like $100+ and you can’t resell the box to others.
Unknown said…
Horrible service, settop box is dumb device, it is just crashing, will they refund money?

Jane
Anonymous said…
Date: 4/24/2011

I am thinking to get the servise. I see your post is about a year old... Have you seen any improvement in customer service since then?

Would you know whether the box has HD output or not?

Thanks,
TheBlogAuthor said…
<<<
I am thinking to get the servise. I see your post is about a year old... Have you seen any improvement in customer service since then?
>>>
I have not had to any recent experience with their customer-support team.

<<<
Would you know whether the box has HD output or not?
>>>
Yes, it does have a HD output.
IndianR said…
I have been using the service with SET TOP BOX for 4 months and the satisfaction is very poor.

>> We can not rely on the server connection though you have over 300mbps internet bandwidth. Keeps disconnet every often and it is very hassle while watching VOD(Their version of useless VOD).

>> All sales are final, though they have some indecent return policies all are use less and I was never success to get my money back when I try to remove channels from the annual subsription. They have very tricky calculation.

>> Customer service SUCKS and it appears it is little better than a while ago. It does not look like a live person answers the call, as they speak the same like recorded voice all the time.

>> HD BOX is useless as of now as we get only standard defination and the HD box can not upscale the signal.

>> You can not follow any serials as the watchindia live server up rate is volatile and 40 % of the time in a week is down. VOD server up time is about 50% and the service is crap. All channels are not available on VOD and available channels does not work for 30 minutes continuously, bottom line it is useless.

>> All streaming is LIVE and time difference in different zones is an issue as the VOD is useless.

>> If you do not have any other alternative to watch Asian TV(though it is Expensive - ok), if you just care some picture on any one of the channels - Go for it.

>> All services are immetured to sell, and the cost is too much expensive when compared to what we get. Com'on, how come one sell the service with 60% of technical problems and the recorded phone voice says that always(100 %).

>> Finally, I wasted about $400 and now I am stuck with both Dish and WatchIndia.It is a total SHAVE.

>> If WatchIndia have to refund money for unavilablilty of the servers or certain channels they would have gone bankcrupt long time back. It is just looting $$$ in the name of entertainment.

Hope this helps.
Anonymous said…
Excellent site, keep up the good work, my colleagues would love this. I read plenty of blogs on a daily basis, and for the most part the authors lack substance, but not in this case. I just wanted to make a short comment to say I’m glad I found your blog, I'm gonna bookmark this smariner.blogspot.com web site. Thanks
Anonymous said…
Hey,
sounds good, i will try it
Anonymous said…
I am sick and tired now with this WatchIndia TV box I paid almost 150 dollars including shipping and handling, and has been giving trouble since I have received it. Most trouble so far has been freezing and not connecting almost every day, and I have to reset and then generally it works. But now I have the error which is a new one.

Today the problem is that I have a computer program error message "item_variable matching query does not exist." follwed by 10-12 lines of computer code. I have called you and have been waiting on phone for last 20 minutes. BTW I can see the watchindia tv on my laptop.

Generally their support is lousy, once in a while if you are lucky you will get someone with technical knowledge.

Anytime I talk to the tech support, I get the same answer, we will fix this in 24 hours. When will WatchIndia TV folks fix the problem, and give me the service I paid for? or give me credit for the service I am not getting partially almost every day since I got the box?

A very unhappy frustrated user of watchindiatv service.
Sri said…
The watchindia box and their customer support sucks. Where do I start with this colossal fail...

1) Poor quality of the software.
2) Horrible buffering issues even on a 20Mbps comcast account.
3) Box required constant reboots and authentication to get it to work.
4) Crappy remote that barely worked.
5) Horrendous customer support, that never picks up your calls or responds to emails.
6) When the box went bad(no audio) they refused to replace it even though it was under warrantly.

This watchindia service is a scam. Stay away from this at all costs.
Anonymous said…
Wathindia TV customer service has deteriorated over time and it sucks now. Avoid this service!
Anonymous said…
Watchindia TV customer care sucks and they are ridiculous with their policies.Plus their on call support puts one on hold forever at any time of the day. Its just the lack of resources in their call center. They are not flooded with calls.

I have been a customer of WatchIndia since 2007-2008. Things had been going
well leaving aside a few network related / Zee channel contract related
issues.

The package that I had subscribed for was something like Zee Marathi Mega
pack. It was a yearly subscription of $120 and had 4-5+ Marathi channels +
base channels.

I received email on May-24-2010 which stated that my
auto renewal payment failed.
The email said *"Due to this error we regretfully have had to suspend
your subscription. In order to re-activate your account please re-subscribe
at www.watchindia.tv or contact us at **+1-866-293-9613"*

Its was no use visiting the website to renew the account because it wont
even allow me to sign in . Plus there is no way wherein a user can manage
his own account online or manage his own payments

I was shocked to hear when he said that my account has been terminated, I
cannot subscribe to my existing package, and he can do nothing about the renewal and that the package I had was no longer available.

This was ruthless, I was getting 4-5 Marathi channels for $120/year and now I am being asked to buy either the Mega Marathi pack for $324/year or buy only
1 channel for $164/year.

My credits cards have changed over a period of year.
WatchIndia site gives no access to a user to manage their own payments, it does not display the credit information to know which credit card is registered, neither can we change passwords on our own account,nor do we receive any email notifying about renewal due date.

Given all the above constraints there is no way can I remember the auto renewal date nor can I remember which card is registered for payment.

Above all I didnt receive any voice message on the registered cell number asking for my immediate action until i discover the email 2 days after it was sent.

I was disappointed to experience all this after being a long time customer.The agent also mentioned that neither of his seniors would be of help in any
different way.
I need my subscription renewed AS IT IS since that's what the email sent to me read too.

I dropped the customer care a long email detailing everything to which they replied back with a lame typical template email which stated the new package information I didnt care about.

All in all we have no flexibility managing our own account and neither can the customer support guys override anything.

Its a decent television service(atleast on PC not sure about settop box)
with lame policies,
no control/freedom of account management
a pathetic customer care service which is hopeless and as unprivileged as we ourselves are in making changes to our account/subscriptions
Vinnie said…
to Anonymous whose auto-renewal failed; do you genuinely believe that payment failed because your creditcard was expired or due to some technical reasons?

Based on your description it is clear to me that the package you were subscribed to is no longer available and they wanted to get off the hook. Since your initial contract may have had clause of auto-renewal at existing price/package which they cannot break due to legalities; they came up with cunning plan.

First they would conveniently remove all those customers from payment transaction database so that payment for auto-renewal is not claimed from credit card companies.

Since payment did not go through; auto-renewal is no longer applicable.

Send email 2 days after cancellation so that there is no possibility for customer to contact them and offer to pay using another payment method.

Then offer new packages...
Dodly said…
The Watch India TV sucks....these guys are not professionals and they are not going to stay in the market for long time. I have ordered the TV Box on 25th of April and I still did not receive the box. They do not know how to communicate the issue to the customers. Every time I call them they say that the box will be shipped in 1 weeks. Stay away from this IP TV.

-Shekar
Anonymous said…
Hi
I ordered my TV box on april 4 as some guest were comming in May. and after more than 10 calls they use to tell the same message the box is in warehouse and will be shipped this week. I requested them for the refund for box as well as for subscription for which they outright denied. Then I told them that I will reach Cousumer protection agency then within an week I received the box. And to my surprise the box worked for an week and then it stopped working for no reason and I am trying to reach customer support for this they say that the tech guys will call me when ever they are free and see what the problem is.
I feel they are taking customers for an ride.
Sachin said…
I strongly suggest NOT TO subscribe for this service for below reasons.
a) during new service activation, customer support will make big commitments of good service quality even online & with the box. However, the online reception sucks.
b) Video on Demand is just marketing gimmick. I have never seen recorded videos of missed shows.
c) Youtube is better than this paid service due to its nice streaming and uninturrupted video
d) Customer support is hignly unresponsive & you will never receive the solution except extra questions & troubleshooting steps which are fake & of no use

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T DO THE MISTAKE OF BUYING THIS SERVICE AND WASTING YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY
Pradeep said…
Hi Thanks a lot all, I saw this box at my friends house....I liked it since all the channels were working fine..as I made up my mind to get WatchIndia.TV....also my supposedly good friend never told me about any of issues that you guys faced....thanks to you I have realized that " You get what you pay for" and this is exactly the case with this box and Jadoo.tv box....dont ever buy service from a indian company, who is stealing....
M Roy said…
WatchIndia TV is technology that does not really work. When u sign up, they make alot of promises, but when u try to cancel, they fleece you. I bought into my package in May. I did not like their service (HORRIBLE!!) and I wanted to cancel. They told me that I cannot cancel till I receive my box. Once I got my box, they said, they can cancel, but apparently they have to charge one month as "cancellation" and also they have to charge me for a brand-new box that I have not opened!!

Dont worry people - this company will not survive long in this market. Cheating companies never survive in the US. It is only good business practices and good service that will reward people.
we are also facing the exact same issues. Do we know where they are hosting this business?

Can we file a law suit against them for fraudulent services?
We are facing the all the issues mentioned above. On top of that they are charging us twice even after cancellation.
Can we file a law suite against them?
Anonymous said…
Thankyou guys
Farid said…
I was planning on getting watchindi today and I stumbled upton this site. Reading all these horror stories about watchindia I have changed my mind. Thankyou guys.

BTW one suggestion to the people who tried to cancel within the 2 weeks time frame and couldn't cancel without a charge or the ones whose box was still under warranty. You can dispute the charges with your credit card company. They will give you the credit right away and then investigate.
Anonymous said…
We got WatchIndia package a month ago. We have been facing buffering problems since then. Were not able to see any program for at-least 15mins continuously. This package is very horrible. I understand that it is cheap but it doesn't offer the service worth my money either.We called the customer service to resolve this issue.Their response was awful and they were not ready to take back the equipment. I would recommend not to go for this package as this is not worth ur money and is totally fake.
Unknown said…
Beware of signing up for service from Watchindia. Aftersales service is non-existant and they also overcharge you. Set-top box is unreliable. My box stopped working within a month. Tried getting Watchindia Customer Service to resolve this issue and eventually gave up. Contacting anyone on the phone is almost impossible. You have to be on hold for hours and once you get through and explain your problem, the call mysteriously gets cut-off or you are put on hold while they escalate the issue and eventually the call gets cut off. Even if I request a call back, no one ever calls back.

I paid upfront for a years service and have written it off as a 'bad loss'.

Their service offering is good, if you want to watch on your PC but don't go for the set-top box.
Anonymous said…
BEWARE of them. They don't care about customers once you are hooked. WatchIndia.tv's customer service is really poor. My set top box started freezing and when I called customer service they would put me on hour long holds after which I would give up. I had bought the STB+ one year package and they sneakily managed to recharge my PayPal account and renewed my yearly account ahead of time. I am now going through the PaylPal dispute process and they are trying to bury me under the "Terms & Conditions". I don't think they are ready for prime-time and would strongly recommend that everyone avoid them like the plague.

Would a very nice alternative though: krazycommunity.com
Anonymous said…
I strongly recommend against opting for this service. This company has made multiple charges on my credit card. It's been two months and i have not been able to get my money back. Their customer service sucks.
Anonymous said…
This Is totally waste of time & money. Customer service & Tech support has no knowledge of any issue with Box & just escalate issue up thats all. what a bullshit facing while talking to them.......
Anonymous said…
I have live TV failing issue since Jan11, keep contacting CS. No fix yet for the problem & finally it is dead since yesterday. waiting for their Reply, waited on phone for more than 30min 4 times,.............................................................................................out come is probably i am going to cancel my rest of service & get money Back
Kal said…
I have similar issue like Rebooting all times since last 4 months. now finally last sunday while reboot process it freeze up on watchIndia screen with message could not connect to server contact CS.....an then same story like others mentioned....It sucks..someone will call from Tech support, No body called yet , called again 40/50min wait & no one there to answer....
Rafi said…
Guys,

I wish why i did not review blogs/review about watchindiatv before i spend abt $500 (including shipping and customs duty charges).
Seems this watchindia is a money making business or scam over internet.
There customer support sucks.

Bought the yearly package in May 21st 2011 on special offer with tv box free but Waited 2 months for Tv box to arrive,
when i connect it shows me Server not responding or if connects then picture quality is worst,
i asked Customer support for help they asks for nslookup/traceroute, serial etc but cannot figure out what is the problem.
at this point gave me 100% confirmation on this pure scam. logged a case on ic3.org, let see how far it goes.

guys Beware this kind of scams over internet
Anonymous said…
Do not subscribe to this service, even if you pay more subscribe to Dish or Direct TV. Watchindia Tv pathetic and most of customer support don't have any knowledge. Honestly I don't know how to explain how worst service they have.
Anonymous said…
do not subscribe to this service. I have had a lot of issues -

1. 3 weeks to get the tv-box.
2. 9 times out of 10, it fails to connect to my wifi network.
3. and when it does connect, I get either "service not available" or "server is not responding" error message.
3. their customer service has no clue and even after I get an email that technical issues have been resolved, it's still the same.
Anonymous said…
well i have been using watchindia since the 6 - 7 months...the live channel buffer a LOT !Even the VODs do not work.In short please do not use watch india.The other thing is shows are according to india time ,so atleast the VOds should have been good.but it SUCKS.what a waste of hard earned money...rather i would go for DISH IPTV.
Anonymous said…
shit service...never buy even if its free..it just frustrates
Anonymous said…
Just got watchindia.tv in spite of reading all bad reviews just because it's leagl as well as quite cheap.
To my surprise,quality is overall good.I am using ethernet(LAN)as it's just near the TV anyway.
On PC(wireless)it does buffer at times but it's still quite okay to watch.I will suggest using ethernet and trust me you should be fine.
Customer service is what you will expect from any Indian company in fact a little better.Box arrived in just 2-3 days.worked fine.Customer service is useless if you can't get it right.Manual is also useless.
But set up is pretty easy.
overall happy till now,using it for a week.
Anonymous said…
This is a scammm!!! beware.. 90% of their boxes are just crap.. they never works. they dont have a refund or replacement policy. they just promise before you buy it but nothing happens once u purchase it. I called them several times but they asked me to go thru steps every time and I end up wasting my 30- 60 min. they simply hung up the call if they cant resolve the issue.
Anonymous said…
all their channels run in india time so u end up watching all kinda crap. no VOD works and by the time u realize all this, they refuse to refund and u get stuck with the crap box they send. they are not afraid of BBB in USA as this is an israel based company and has nothing to do with customer satisfaction.

think before you buy it and loose your hard-earned money./
Manasi said…
DON"T EVER Subscribe WATCH INDIA. We are having with it everyday. i Just took it for ZEE bangla. We are really frustrated with that. They take the money but don't try to give better service . It sucks
Kishore Rao said…
Hello.

IT is a very useless service, worse then the free subscription from some of the TV channels like NDTV have on their websites. From the very moment I got the box, the menu kept hanging very often, every channel stops streaming .. the headache is endless. PLEASE DON"T EVEN THINK ABOUT SUBSCRIBING THIS USELESS SERVICE.
Sunil said…
Watchindiatv is the most pathetic indian channel provider!!
never ever subcribe to this service, they have one of the worst customer support, they don't have people who know what it is (tvbox etc) and dumb asses are the tech support.

do not subscribe!!
Anonymous said…
WatchIndiaTV is a scam!!!

First thing first, its not even an Indian company and they have a India based call center which is of no use. Once you buy the box, you never get a replacement or a refund for it. everytime you call the cust. care, they ask you to go thru the debugging steps and reboot the box several times. by the time you finish all the steps, you have already wasted an hour or more. the funny thing is, if the cust care representative cant figure out the problem, they simply cut the call (this happened to me 3 times).

there are few more problems:-
- you can watch it on your PC but all the channels stream in India time so you can only watch the things that goes on during night,
- their VOD never works,
- they say its a 15 days trial but charges you on very first day and when you call, they say its not for people ordering the 'watchIndiaTv' box,
- the box freezes so often that you dont even want to turn it on,
- restarting the box takes more than 15 min and in my case, it never shows anything.

I have subscribed for it 3 months ago and haven't been able to cancel my service or watch TV even for a single day without problem.
Its really irritating and they say they dont refund anything.

simply wastage of money. Think before you subscribe...
Prasad said…
This is by far the worst service I have ever had in my life. Horrible decision to subscribe for Watchindia TV. If you are thinking that lets try it, its better to have something rather than nothing then you are wrong. 8 out of 10 cases I end up watching the same channels on my laptop on Youtube. If you think its my internet speed that's causing the problem, then I have 12MBPS speed, so buffering or downloading is not a problem:
The problems in past 6-8 months.
1. Live channels hang frequently.
2. Video on demand channels, in 50% cases never get recorded. The episodes for one serial gets recorded with the name of another. Well to add to it, even if it gets recorded it will be 60% or 80%, the rest is gone, they don't record it and they don't have answer to why it didn't get recorded. If by chance you start watching a movie which came on Sony TV yesterday, then I don't remember a single day when I have watched the full movie. Its just half movie recorded. They don't have answers to that too.
If luckily you get to watch a new channel after a month or so, that channel will give a message 'Feed is unavailable'. You ask them and they would say, you were never subscribed for this channel when you signed.
One channel which was a part of the package was lost and when I asked them then answer was WatchIndia is no longer providing the channel as they had some issues with them. So what did I get against that ??? Simply Nothing.
3. When I subscribed for the service I was told that incase if you have to cancel the service you have to pay 1 month as cancellation fee and the balance amount would be paid to you. Today they are saying that you got the service in discounted price so we are not cancelling your service. I have had enough of these guys.

Thanks,
Repenting said…
This review might be funded by watchindia.tv; thats why it sounds too good to be true. Firstly the image quality is not great, but ok.
Second, the packages are silly and
little on the expensive side.
Third, the service is up and running only for like 60% of the time. I have had the same problem "Get it now issue" over and over and for no reason they take more than a week to fix it. Every time you call the customer care, the problem has already been escalated to Technology team is the answer.
Fourth, as other user mentioned, they dont work 24/7, I doubt even if they work for 8 hours.
Fifth, I just amazed to know that 'TATA Consultancy Services' is running the customer service for Watchindia.tv. May be its time TCS checks the kind of clients in their portfolio.

This rubbish company is situated is some country (for legal purposes only) so that you cannot even sue them. There is no question of refund of charges. But they are defenitely making millions and I even doubt its a legal company.
Pankaj Dhar said…
It's really bad. I subscribe over 2 months and I had communicated at least 10 times without any success. Never subscribe it. The customer support is really bad. The VOD does not work, if works then the title are not the same what show says. The Lobby never worked for me. Before anyone writes good review from US please check every thing before write for it. Now I paid for full year neither I can get the money out from them nor I get the service.

Please don't subscribe it unless you have agreement with them if it does not work they will refund the money. It does not work. No customer support. Period
Anonymous said…
I have a totally nagative feedback on watchindia tv box. they delivered it and on day 1 it stopped working.
their customer support is so hopeless that the 24 hr number doesn't connect, chat guy says, I can't do anything.
Anonymous said…
I am interested in WatchIndia.TV. May I know it works as of now (in Sep-2011)?
Anonymous said…
This is a paid review. Don't buy it. I have spent$335 and all waste. They shipped a box and it stopped working from day 1. Its been some weeks now and I'm still struggling with their customer support. Nothing works well here. I've read many reviews, I wish I read the reviews before my payment.
DO NOT WASTE MONEY ON IT
Anonymous said…
I was about to add subscription for Mega Marathi but after reading review added by SVP changed my plan.
Anonymous said…
I was about to add subscription for Mega Marathi but after reading review added by SVP and other participants changed my plan.
Anonymous said…
This service sucks. Please do not subscribe to it. Channels freeze, sometimes take 30, 40, or 60 seconds to load, sometimes never load, box is very temperamental (not stable). Will be canceling the service and hope I will get a partial refund. Wish I could tinker with the box. Any aftermarket software out there to make it internet compatible?
KK said…
I completely agree with the frustration shared by most of the people in this site. I am frustrated as well especially in last 2 months. Their quality is deteriorating day by day. Everyday whenever i login and start watching, the channels start freezing every 5 mins. Initially i had my laptop connected to television and every 5 mins I had to get up from my couch to refresh the screen. I have now removed the connection from my TV and watch on laptop directly but the frustration of channels freezing still continues. I am based in UK. Initially they had 08 number for customer service now even they have removed this number and the only customer service number available is from US, Which means you need to make international calls to call their customer service, how weird is that! Besides, their online live chat support is nothing next to hopeless. The tech support guys do not have any knowledge. They have start 3 or 4 questions and than at the end they just share their 20 questions lengthy questionnaire to be filled by us for their review. So basically we need to support ourselves by spending atleast an hour to fill the questionnaire and they do not even have the courtesy to check if we are happy with their response as they will just log off without checking. Overall they are hopeless bunch of idiots. I have already applied to terminate the service and do not suggest anyone to subscribe them either. I am a very dissatisfied and frustrated customer.
Anonymous said…
Have it for 2 months mega hindi pack. Works great for both live and on vod. Took a month to get the box but works fine no buffering issues
Anonymous said…
It is a piece of crap .
Only way to recover your money is by dispute charge in your credit card if it is under 2 months. I have done it and got a conditional refund from Credit card company and they are giving 60 days notice to watch india to respond. I am waiting for final decision from credit card company.
Anonymous said…
We are seriously frustrated with Watch India's service. Many times programs which upload on VOD are less than half. This is absoultly unaccepatable that we paid whole year subscription and cannot watch a single day successfully. Top of that watch India has rediculas policy about not to return money.

Now days VOD is empty for SONY chanel.
Anonymous said…
Guys,
We had a bad experience with watchindiatv. Unfortunately, we didnt read the reviews because my wife's cousine is using this and they were okay with the service. We ultimately found out that the streaming is equally bad in their place. So just to give more idea: we have signed up for mega hindi and added two marathi channels. We have 7MB/S download speed through the ISP. We have set the watchindiastream to 480p. Eventhen, we are unable to watch all live channels. The VOD simply does not work for the most. We called up the support 3 or 4 times, they just cannot fix our issue. The SLA is 72 hr. The customer support is pretty bad and troubleshooting does not apply to all people. We asked for the money back and were told that they will not pay us for the box; we got to keep the box; we will be charged $20 cancellation fee and a 14 day notice is required. This is a total rip off. Diwali rip off I should say because we signed up Diwali offer. We are planning to report this business to BBB and encourage all the victims to do so. Please see how to file a report against this business below:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5843824_report-bad-internet-business.html

Please don't recommend people this service without them first reading all these reviews.
Anonymous said…
I had a real bad experience with WatchIndia.Tv.
I bought an yearly package expecting to be a real good one, but the transmission was too bad and the customer support was horrible.

Here is my experience

1. They have tried to charge my credit card for more than 3 times and I had to call to make sure that you charge me only once
2. They have not shipped my TV box until I called / did chat with you for more that 2 times and it took around 3 weeks from my box to arrive
3. I did complain on the day TV box arrived to guys that reception was not good and i have technical issues and they said they will arrange a call back with technical support and no one called me back.
4. I complained again about the issue and this time they said they will send me self- correcting instructions and i did not get any instructions from no one.
5. Well. 3rd Time I have asked to cancel the service, and I was adamant, they said ok and never told me about the cancellation fee or policy
6. After 3 or 4 days some guys calls me and tells me that I will get around $ 100 (I paid around $300) and used the service like 1 day. after all the deductions, and all of sudden i felt cheated.
Anonymous said…
One of the most worst TV services. Very bad quality customer service regarding technical support. TV Gets hung frequently. VOD links does not work as well. They only try to sell the TV box with one year subscription and they are done and after that try to blame your internet connection for any problem.
Jattz said…
Hmmm all you people complaining, honestly did you try to use the "Trial plan" before you committed??? While I agree the channels are not the same quality as Satellite but than again your paying half the price and + getting more channels, I just disconnected my satellite service in Sydney for WatchIndia, reason being they are offering more channels except for Starplus, Imagine, Colors but hopefully they will add them... Now I'm running the trial before im going to commit and while I agree the channel sometimes buffers, the quality is decent.. Im gona give it a go.. I did the speed tests im on ADSL 2+ around 7MBPS connection speed, download speed is around 900 kbps and it appears to be working fine...................
Anonymous said…
These guys are a rip off, their technical support is worst and more worse is the customer retention department. The box doesn't work even after hooking up a lan cable, their vod service is shit, MY ADVICE STAY AWAY FROM THEM, I BURNT MY MONEY.......
Lavanya Kiran said…
This WatchIndiaTV sucks. Stay away from it and do not waste your money. I signed up for a mega package and the channels that make it so expensive were down for over 2 months. When we got in touch with customer service, they said they will refund $5 per month for lost serviec. what a joke. The VOD is a totally lost cause. You wait and wait while the TV box spins. If it ever starts up, just start praying that it wont get stuck. You know why? because it wont remember where it got stuck. You will have to watch your program from the beginning. The pause, forward and rewind do not work. After a long email conversation I was able to cancel my service and they gave me peanuts for refund. Lost over $300 on this. makes me mad.
Lavanya Kiran said…
Dont sign up. This is a total waste of money and nothing but a very negetive experience. The streaming quality is OK but the buffering is not that great. Online programming gets stuck all the time, you have to restart the TV box atleast once a day, VOD is totally worthless. We subscribed to a mega package for specific channels and those channels were not in service for over 2 months. Customer service said they will refund $5 per month for the lost service. What kind of a joke is that. The billing reps are rather high headed and take you for a ride.

A very negetive experience overall and I lost over $300 on this. Please stay away and save your money. There are many other such options that are less expensive.
Anonymous said…
I was just trying to subscribe to some online indian channels, and I got into this thru bing search. How come most of the comments are negative? Either their service is really poor or all these negative comments are from their competitors.
Hmm!
Shah said…
I had Watchindia.tv I just finished my one year subcribtion. Qality isn't grate. now they ask more money & monthly subcribtion. I don't want pay more. if some one has idea please give me idea.
Somak said…
Does ZEE TV have the captions or subtitles? I'm thinking of subscribing to this service, but I need the captioning or the subtitles, at least for the popular shows in Zee TV (Hindi).
upen said…
Does anyone know how to access set top box's web interface? I can connect to the web server running on STB by pointing browser to http://DHCP IP of TV box. What are the credentials? Can I update firmware on these TV Boxes?
Anonymous said…
Some one doubted if really there service bad. Yes it really bad. I dont thing at least original blogger can wrong. And I personally expressed it. Call there phone and select technical help and tell me when you get some one on line.
Anonymous said…
Some one doubted if really there service bad. Yes it really bad. I dont thing at least original blogger can wrong. And I personally expressed it. Call there phone and select technical help and tell me when you get some one on line.
Deba Dutta said…
I subscribed Watch India TV 5 months back. During this period, I was not able to watch any program without hanging frequently. Sometimes, the links does not work at all. I guess I spent more time contacting their customer service than actually watching TV. That would worthy even they would admit their problem and tried to solve it. The technical experts are so expert in finding problems with the customers rather admitting their own problem. My experience is that if you complain anything, they try to blame customer's internet speed, connectivity, and so many highly technical issues with internet. I don't have any problem with same internet connection using other devices such as PC, Laptop even watching Watch India TV using PC. I tried with a different internet connection, but the problem still existed. Lastly, I asked them to replace the TV Box. They are saying it would not be replaced unless the "Technical Expert" declares it defective. Now they have witheld my case leaving my problem unsolved.
Now I understand why my credit card company did not approve the money first time to the company for the TV box, I needed to call them to release the money. I would definitely recommend this TV service to anyone who wants to buy pain and frustation, instead of recreation by spending their hard earning money.
Anonymous said…
dispute your charges if possible with credit card and get refund. I got mine back.
I would recommend stay away from Watch India. I had their subscription for 6 months and thank god I was only month to month because they are there to rob you. customer service is Horrible. channels are not good either and VOD is just for the name only there is hardly anything there and if it is there than after waiting 3-4 days.

Customer service dont know how to handle technical questions, they hardly have any information, they put you on hold for 20-45 minutes and end of saying "sorry" for the inconvinience, we will get back toyou...????
Also if there is any tech. difficulty they dont update this on their website and we customer ending up wasting 30-45 minutes calling them on weekend and get frustated.

more than half the time their website is down and channels does not work and guys here is the thing when you call and complain them about it, they dont have any thing other than "sorry, I told my manager to update the site" aslo they dont give you money back and say since you have monthly subscription we cant do that. I also heard even if its yearly service they tell you so many "this' and "that"

WatchIndia Sucks.....dont dont dont ever go there.

horrified customer
Sans said…
Friends.... I am confused after reading all these "mostly bad" reviews. I am in UK and looking for good pack of Indian channles.... i checked yupp, and others but watchindia is the only to cover maimum channels (still does not cover nat geo and discovery)...

should I go for it or not...i have 32" LCD... and dont want pixalated picture.... i am ok with technical set up .. i can handle if required...please suggest..
Deba Dutta said…
Sans,
All of the comments are more or less true. The TV Box is good for nothing, but works better in PC. So, if you are okay with that, you may go ahead. Again, keep in mind, their customer service is really really bad. You will get basically no help from them. You will need to be satisfied with watever service they supply....
I subscribed to Watchindia.tv a few weeks ago. I have connected the settop box via HDMI, and connected the ethernet port via a Linksys E2800 switch to the Verizon FIOS device directly.I'm able to see the live channels but none of the VOD channels work. I have contacted tech support but no response for the past 3 days. Maybe this is a faulty box? What is their policy for exchanging the box for a new one does anyone know?
Yatin said…
Yatin Said..

I am really confuse about this. will I order it or not? I am looking on some other TV-Box as well. BTW tell me about Dish IPTV Box?. Does it have same problem?
Rajesh said…
Hi, I am looking to buy this box and service. Is any one interested in selling it to me at a discounted price?

Thanks,

Rajesh
ugulati@gmail.com
202 693 4322
Rajesh said…
Hi,

Looking to buy this box. Is any one interested in selling their unit and will take over the rest of the months with a discounted price.

Thanks,

Rajesh
202 693 4322
Rajesh said…
Hi, I am looking to buy this box and service. Is any one interested in selling it to me at a discounted price?

Thanks,

Rajesh
ugulati@gmail.com
202 693 4322
Anonymous said…
Horrible service. Spent 2 months arguing with them since the box wouldn't work. Finally got frustrated enough to call up my credit card company and sent them the entire email log - about 20 emails stating the same thing that the issue has been escalated to their technical team and they would respond in 48 hours. It is now 4 months but their 48 hours have never ended. They one fine day i receive an email saying their billing dept has got a refund notice from my credit card company. I guess that broke their slumber temporarily. I would recommend doing the same thing and file a complaint with your cc company. I got my refund. If more people start doing that, probably they would stop their cheating act or change the support company.
Kousik said…
Wow.. I guess one of the old timers still using watchindia. Although I don't miss much of indian tv, but sometime it doesn't hurt. I subscribed watchindia when they were not that popular. Back in 2010 begining when my daughter were born here my in laws were visiting US. They didn't like the programming I had. I was watching NYC OTA channels via a DB2 antenna. although me and my wife were quite content with it, my in laws were missing their daily fix of live indian news and bengali soaps. At that time I was living in an apartment and satellite was not an option. I looked around for other options. Most of the options were all illegal sites. Most of all I needed bengali programming. So after reading few reviews in fatwallet.com and slickdeals.net, I decided to give it a try. I already bought a Dell zino for streaming contents and a lenovo mini wireless keyboard for controlling it from my couch. It worked wonders. I subscribed to their one and only yearly mega pack (that time it was $150) had plenty of hindi, bengali and other language channels. At that time there were no separate mega hindi or mega bengali pack. Later on when the service became popular, they started offering all these separate mega packs but with more money. Anyway, both my in-laws and later on my parents liked all the channels. My father was overjoyed when he saw dishaa, asthaa etc.. he is bit relegious. Luckily I got auto renewed at old rates and were still enjoying mix of hindi and bengali channels. Since, I prefer HD quality, I rarely watched watchindia. It was my wife, who was watching all the bengali soaps. If I was watching, I was watching mostly zoom, NDTV good times and news channels. In between I bought a house and got dish HD, but still kept watchindia with dell zino. Recently, during black friday I saw this deal of $150 yearly package with free tv box. I added two bengali channels ($2 per month) to this package. Got the box within two days. So I cancelled my old plan. Now all my devices are in the closet, I have configured the watchindia box with my logitech 900 RF remote.. and am a happy camper. By the way, I tried the UPnP and USB feature to play Xvid and MKV movies. Its not good at all. But the box looks like a popcorn hour derivative. I definitely would like to have the UPnP feature working so that I can stream movies from my desktop to the box. I am able to stream through ps3 media server, but the playback on the box is choppy.
Anonymous said…
Hi to everyone,

why stress you up, there are better alternatives:

www.iBoxHome.com

I´ve got one device and the channels I wanted are working great.
And there are no monthly fee´s.

Outstanding GUI (based on XBMC).

Have a look at the i.Box.Home Device.
Anonymous said…
Hi,

I heared about the this blog.

Well, I have bought the new i.Box.Home Set-Top-Box, with a very good looking GUI.
Main Asian Channels works great.
Also some international Channels (like CNBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera English, etc.) work nicely.
And many Addons (Youtube, Vimeo, much more).

It´s a german device.
Check it out.

Greetings,
Marc
Mukul said…
I bought the box for 1 year mega package.the live channels work fine but VOD always have problems. Remote has some mainfunctioning.
better you catch them on online chat than call.
also they dont refund but in USA yiou can dispute the charge saying they dont offer the service they commit.
its easy here. their customer service sucks.
Anonymous said…
All,

Sorry to hear about the issues you have faced with watchindia.tv. I figure at least 90% of comments indicate very frustrating experience.

I was shopping for ways to get desi channels. Your feedback made it easy for me to rule out watchindia.tv.
Anonymous said…
Happy new yr all!

Well another poor review of watchindia.tv. Received the box 2 days ago and have had nothing but problems.

- Box arrived without plugs
- Buffering probs (11mbps speed all other computers/streaming works fine)
- VOD when it chooses to work only shows limited programs
- Customer support is terrible!

Usual line is 'someone will email you with 24/48 hours to resolve your issue' Well we had an issue immediately on receiving the box waited 24/48 hrs and were then asked to wait for another 24/48 hrs.

No manager to speak to. No refunds, No cancellation.

So only step is to contact credit card company and try get them to refund the full amount, as Watchindia.tv appear to have no intention of supplying the product or supporting it.

My advice, look for alternatives to watchindia.tv. Infact if anyone knows of any, please let me and others know!
Deba Dutta said…
Recently they have set up an online chat help. I tried it. Seems like the representatives have one common solution for you and that is rebooting the TV box or the internet router. If that does not work, they escalate the issue to the "Highly expert technical team" for fridging, not for solving.
Deba Dutta said…
Dear Moderator,
Please put the latest comments at the top of the page, so that one does not need to scroll to the bottom to see the latest comments.
Anonymous said…
you can upgrade the firmware on watchindia tv device by pressing the setup button and then press yellow button on the remomte. This will launch a new setup menu. Go thru the menu and there is an option to upgrade and reboot. Select this option and device will reboot and upgrade if latest firmware is available. Hope this will resolve some of the issues you guys are seeing with the device.
Anonymous said…
Even after reading multiple reviews I still wanted to give this service a fair chance and ordered the mega pack deal.

Here are some of my experience about this service -

1. It takes a month to get the Box - don't know yet if company still charged for the service
2. After connecting the new box - it didn't work. I contacted customer service (only way is chat and e-mail and no phone) and found that box need a refreshed software
3. After refreshing software service worked for sometime but same issue again. BTW, box is so slow then it takes minutes to get to the channel list.
4. When service is available, quality of the channels are so bad then on a big screen TV it looks like junk - compared to same contents available on youtube
5. When playing VoD - contents playing starts and stop automatically and when starting again it starts from the beginning and no forward/rewind option
4. Time to time - server not responding message - service not available.

In overall this service is more headache then any entertainment.

My strong advice is to stay away from this ...

Just disputed the amount as service quality is totally unacceptable and I'll post my refund experience later..

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