DD Free Dish is India's only Free Direct-To-Home Service primarily known as DD Direct +. This service was launched in December, 2004. DD Free Dish DTH service is owned and operated by Public Service Broadcaster Prasar Bharati (Doordarshan).
More about DTH
· What is DTH
· DD Free Dish
· Future of DD Free Dish
· How to Receive
What is DTH
In general, DTH service is the one in which a large number of channels are digitally compressed, encrypted, uplinked and beamed down over a territory from a very high power satellite. The DTH signals can be received directly at homes with the help of a small sized dish receive unit containing a Dish Antenna of diameter 60 to 90 cm installed at the building’s roof-top or on the wall facing clear south and one indoor
Set-Top-Box unit facilitating viewing of demultiplexed signals from DTH channel bouquet on TV set. The DTH signals can be received anywhere across the country irrespective of the terrain conditions provided the area comes under the footprint of the Satellite.
DTH transmission eliminates the intervening role of a local cable operator since a user is directly connected to the DTH service. DTH Transmission is most preferred in Ku- Band so as to avoid the need of larger Dish sizes for suitably receiving the DTH signals. As the DTH telecast is in the Digital mode, user is able to reap all the benefits of Digital transmission. Programs in the DTH bouquet are having higher resolution picture and better audio quality than traditional analog signals.
Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite television is becoming a buzzword in the satellite broadcast industry due to the fact that DTH offers immense opportunities to both broadcasters and viewers. Thanks to the rapid development of digital technology, DTH broadcast operators worldwide have been able to introduce a large number of new interactive applications in the television market besides a large number of entertainment programmes over a single delivery platform. In addition, since digital technology permits a highly efficient exploitation of the frequency spectrum, the number of TV channels that can be broadcast using digital technology is significantly higher than with analogue technology. The increased number of television channels allows the operator to satisfy the demand of a number of niche markets with dedicated transmissions.
What is DD Free Dish?
Doordarshan’s DD Free Dish is a multi-channel Free-To-Air Direct to Home (DTH) service. This service was launched in December’2004 with the modest beginning of 33 channels. This service was inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. DD Free Dish has been upgraded time to time and at present Doordarshan’s DTH platform has the capacity of 64 SDTV channels along with 24 Radio channels. DD Free Dish is available in Ku-Band on INSAT-4B (at 93.5°E) having MPEG-2 DVB-S, 4 streams of channels with Downlink Frequencies -10990, 11070, 11150 and 11570 MHz. This Ku-Band DTH service provides the TV coverage throughout the Indian territory (except Andaman & Nicobar Islands). DTH signals can be received through a small sized dish receive system ( i.e. Set Top Box and Dish of size 60 to 90 cm in diameter) for which no monthly subscription fee is payable by the viewers.
A separate DTH service in C-Band with a bouquet of 10 channels has also been provided by Doordarshan exclusively for Andaman & Nicobar Islands, which is also Free-To-Air. This C-Band DTH service is available on INSAT-4B (at 93.5°E) with downlink frequency of 3925 MHz, 27500 Ksps, FEC-3/4, Pol-H, L.O.-5150MHz. This service can be received through a STB and small sized Dish Antenna (approximately 120 cm diameter) for which also no monthly subscription fee is payable by viewers.
Future of DD Free Dish?
Expansion of DD Free Dish has been carried out time to time. The present capacity is likely to be enhanced to 112 SDTV channels and 40 Radio channels in near future with the introduction of two new MPEG-4, DVB-S2 stream.
How DD Free Dish is different from other DTH systems?
Most of the DTH Services, operating all over the world and in India, provide paid DTH Service. In the paid service, the DTH operators uplink the encrypted TV signals to the satellite and the signals are received by subscribers through a Dish receive system having a Dish Antenna and one Customized Set Top Box (DIGITAL DECODER). By choosing the bunch of various desired TV channels viz-a-viz the respective payment plan options, subscribers are given a key-code to decode/decrypt the TV channels through customized set top box. The subscription charges for viewing these channels are collected by the DTH operator.
Whereas, DD Free Dish is absolutely different,as Doordarshan is not charging any monthly subscription fee from the viewers for complete bouquet of the DD Free Dish channels, making the system quite affordable for all as it requires only a small one time investment in purchasing of Dish Receive System containing Set-Top-Box and small sized Dish Antenna.
How to receive DD Free Dish?
Receive system of DD Free Dish contains three units: 1) One small sized Dish Antenna along with LNBF 2) Indoor Set-Top-Box (STB) also known as IRD (Integrated Receiver Decoder) and 3) Handy Remote control unit for STB. Dish Antenna installed at the roof top or on wall facing clear south receives the signal from satellite and transmits it to the indoor Set top box unit. The set top box further decodes the different TV channels from the DTH bouquet and feeds it to the TV set for viewing.
The complete DD Free Dish DTH system (Dish Antenna, Set Top Box and Remote control unit) is a one-time purchase from the open market with a nominal cost. There is absolutely no further recurring expenditure in terms of monthly subscription etc. for viewing DD Free Dish Channels.
Installation of the Receive System:
Installation of the DTH receive system is very easy and does not take much time. The viewers may take the services of skilled technical personnel to get the dish installed and oriented towards the desired Satellite, followed by tuning/configuring the Set-Top-Box unit. Dish Installation and STB-Tuning procedure is normally mentioned in the manual supplied by respective manufacturer along with their receive system. As a broad guideline, some of the parameters which may be required to be fed to the STB are indicated below.
Satellite in use:
INSAT series Geostationary Satellite INSAT-4B from ISRO is being used to provide the services of DD Free Dish in Ku-Band. Reception of DD Free Dish signal is available throughout the length and breadth of the Indian Territory except Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Satellite’s Orbital location: 93.5° East
DTH Receive Parameters:
Receive parameters of the Doordarshan’s DTH bouquet of TV channels (spread in 4 streams), are as follows: