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Thread: Austar announces new Channels/Mystar

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    Default Austar announces new Channels/Mystar

    My printed Austar guide arrived today and on the front cover attatchment is the following,

    'Its the Biggest thing to happen to TV in Years'

    inside it offers,
    15 sensational new channels.
    High Definition--- New Channels---Better programing.

    4 New dedicated Movie channels to suit every family member.
    New sports channels.
    3 more news and Documentary channels.
    A new Murder Mystery channel.
    2 Ad-free educational kids channels
    and a NEW channel thats all about you.

    Order your Mystar etc, etc ets.

    check the website at Austar.com.au/mystar.
    *****************
    added to original post.*******
    turned over the cover and saw this,
    Enhanced Interactive features.
    15 new Standard def channels.
    8 New time shift channels.
    13 new High def channels

    oc course the new Mystar will now have a HD terrestial tuner.
    the HDD records 90 hours of SD, 30 hours of HD.
    I was in Bathurst yesterday and I asked a very bored cardboard countered Kiosk fellow for any information regarding changes we have all heard about and I either got the fellow from the Tail end of the Pantomime horse or as I suspect, he simply didnt know because nobody had told him.
    I wish I was there today to show him this cover from the October issue but then, I dont think it would have made him any the wiser.

    ps/ YES, it does say BETTER PROGRAMMING !!!!
    Last edited by gordon_s1942; 18-09-09 at 05:03 PM.

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    Dont bother checking the Austar web site because it hasnt been updated nor can the staff on the 1300 help as they have yet to be given details of cost,channels,packages or when the new service commences.

    I guess I was rather expecting too much for relevant information to be available this early.

    Those with HD Foxtel should be able to know soon as they already have HD STB's whereas us Austar have to wait and see.

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    LOL, sounds like they are a bit ahead of themselves

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    Sounds a bit like the left hand has NFI what the right hand is doing
    Reality is an invention of my imagination.
    ಠ_ಠ

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    Cool

    what are they go to put in this time they go to put ausmark(hallmark) in high definition or what ,thx hamguy2 nsw

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    Talking to Austar staff a couple of nights ago about a totally different issue, and during them waiting for me to two finger type bits and pieces, I asked about the HD box. Said they were being trialled ATM, all was good, but one or two minor firmware issues. The rest is pretty much what gordon_s1942 said. I said I hope they do a better job of it this time than their last effort, and the reply was that it's not far away. HDMI output as well. Obviously they can't say too much as "your call may be monitored for training purposes" or WTF the message is. Probably not worth losing their job over telling some lumdumb too much. Guess we'll just have to wait and see how long it takes them to get to right THIS time round.

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    hamguy, at a wild guess, the new Mystar will be dearer than the current one, anything new is always a good excuse for an increase.
    As for the programming packages, they will have a formulea based on what customers watch now and you can bet your left or right dangly bit that they will have a particular channel you want mixed with those even the dog yawns at.
    Sport is going to be the big seller and you will pay for it unless like me, who is hoping sport is a stand alone package I can happily dump without losing anything I want to see.

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    Senior Member gw1's Avatar
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    In poorly managed organisations when the engineering department advises that things aren't ready and won't be for some time, it's extremely common for the executives to disregard that advice and proceed with promotional campaigns. As though that will somehow put healthy pressure on the engineers and make things happen faster. The reverse usually happens: testing and quality get compromised, early adopting customers get screwed, bad publicity follows.

    I've seen it happen over and over again in many places where I've worked over the years. It's the result of management not understanding, respecting or being accountable for engineering integrity. It's the simplistic view that says "we can't afford to be late to market, we need to ship immediately" and then puts head in the sand when it comes to consequences. It's as though, three months into a pregnancy, somebody says "we want the baby bonus NOW, it'll be fine, stop being so pessimistic, deliver it now."

    It's the exact opposite of companies like Apple which have always had policy of not preannouncing technical specifics or committing to dates until everything is up to standard, stocks are in the stores, the website is primed and staff are trained. If your company value depends on product quality and customer satisfaction then that's what you do.

    There are fairly long lead times on the printing of magazines. Reponsible management would look at that and say "OK, advertising of the new receivers in magazines will lag behind the other marketing channels." But that's not what happened. When a company puts the cart before the horse to that extent, it's an indication that quality control has taken a back seat and idiots without any grasp of QC basics are at the wheel. But did you expect any different, from the company that brought you the MyStar debacle?

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    Thanks gw1. I also have noticed this with the sales people.

    I can remember working at a certain software company. We were told by one of the world's biggest software companies (in writing) that their product would be able handle indexing a National Library.

    Of course we sold the product to the library based on that promise.. jiust after starting we realised it would never work. They sued us, and we sued Oracle (and got stock and $$$).

    The point is that by the time that happened, the salespeople had collected their fat commissions and moved on, so as not to be associated with a shipwreck.

    It should actually be paid about 6 months after completion, once the project has been shown to be successful.
    * Bill Paxton is the only actor to be killed by Alien, a Terminator, and the Predator.

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    It wasnt untill well after I posted the first lead that I realised I have the October issue of the printed guide a bit early.
    Usually it doesnt arrive much before the last 7 days of the month but mine is a week early based on that so maybe they were planning to start doing the announcements during next week but the despatch has beat them to it.
    Several years ago I wanted to purchase an Item I saw advertised claiming it was available at a major department store but when I rang that store, they had no stock or advise they were selling it.
    It turned out the advert was inserted by the items manufacturer as a form of pre advertising before shipping the goods for sale to the stores.
    Like those other previous comments, the store staff said it was not uncommon for manufactures/distributers to engage in this practise much to the annoyance of store staff who had to fend off prospective customers who were asking if it was advertised, why wasnt it available??

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    Quote Originally Posted by gordon_s1942 View Post
    the store staff said it was not uncommon for manufactures/distributers to engage in this practise much to the annoyance of store staff who had to fend off prospective customers who were asking if it was advertised, why wasnt it available??
    Too right. That's not incompetance though, it's deliberate. How many people have driven across town to buy an advertised product, only to be told "come back next week, the sale doesn't start until then". The premise is customers buy other stuff while they're there.

    To make things worse the "doorbuster special" plastered across the front page of national catalogs is commonly rationed in miniscule quantity to each store. K-Mart are notorious for this. Several times I've driven to their stores early in the morning to buy a DVD box set at bargain price, to be told either they're "all" gone or "you're lucky, this is the last one." I now routinely ask the staff how many they had, and the answer is often "three or four". Once the answer was "just one, unfortunately". No kidding.

    I highly doubt your early Austar catalog delivery was planned to coincide with a product launch. If it were, why are the 1300 staff so utterly clueless about it? Training is never left to the last minute: cost, channels and packages are known well in advance, even if the exact launch date isn't. No, the simplest and most likely explanation is that they're nowhere near ready. Lack of training could be explained by the firmware not being ready and stable. I've had to write and deliver product training to technical support staff and I can tell you it's a waste of time holding courses while the product is still incomplete and crashing.

    There's no shame in firmware not being ready when originally hoped. It's a fact of life that software engineering is highly time consuming and extremely difficult to accurately cost in advance unless you're just redoing prior work that you're completely familiar with. Complex systems build on libraries from third parties that are sometimes poorly documented with undisclosed quirks and bugs: unless you've used them before you can't predict the work needed to integrate them. Realtime products are especially prone to tricky timing bugs that are nightmarish to find.

    Unforseeable, uncontrollable development delays are basically par for the software industry, not necessarily the fault of workers or managers. It's only shameful when products are announced prematurely (with false date commitments made to keep subscribers on the hook) or if products are shipped prematurely. Lying to customers about dates isn't a hanging offense, but any executive who sends boxes out to customers while show-stopping stability issues remain deserves to be lynched.

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    gw1, remember we are talking about Austar here.
    I dont know if you had any dealings with Austar when they were about to go 'DIGITAL' ( I hate that profoundly when they had always been digital.) and some of the nonsence the then street/kiosk spruikers were telling people to get them to sign up.
    I had a Hammer and Tongs row with the 'Leader' of the pack regarding his claims about how "different the reception would be by going 'Digital'" and how this 'Digital' would allow the current STB's record programs, this was a long time before even Foxtel had introduced the IQ, let alone Austar's Mystar STB.
    The only actual difference was a few new channels and channel groupings into different packagaes.
    So much for staff training, at least for Austar.

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    Austar have now posted some very limited info on HD and the new channels - see

    The website states: To get the AUSTAR HD channels, you'll need to subscribe to HD Access for an extra $5 per month per MyStar HD. I presume the $5 in in addition to the standard Mystar cost of $14.95 - - there is nothing else at their site saying what a Mystar HD costs.
    Last edited by earlsdon; 20-09-09 at 04:41 PM. Reason: Additional Info

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    Quote Originally Posted by earlsdon View Post
    Austar have now posted some very limited info on HD and the new channels - see

    The website states: To get the AUSTAR HD channels, you'll need to subscribe to HD Access for an extra $5 per month per MyStar HD. I presume the $5 in in addition to the standard Mystar cost of $14.95 - - there is nothing else at their site saying what a Mystar HD costs.
    And what about the $x00 installation and/or upgrade fee.......... I am sure they will copy foxtel on this one.

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    Inside this box is your very own TV station
    that line is stolen from the "back to the future" movie, have they no shame?

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    Making announcements about new services, but having no information about them, or even how and when they'll be delivered is a specialty of Govenment Departments, in particular, Sen. Stephen Conroy.

    There is still no confirmation of details of the new FTA satellite service, which is supposed to commence in October!

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    Quote Originally Posted by satguy View Post
    And what about the installation and/or upgrade fee.......... I am sure they will copy foxtel on this one.
    According to their website Austar are offering a free installation for Mystar upgrade to existing customers

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    15 NEW SD CHANNELS COMING TO AUSTAR

    Sure to put smiles on the faces of sports nuts, movie lovers, documentary and lifestyle buffs – in fact everyone! AUSTAR is about to be boosted with 15 new channels.

    Details of the new channels will be revealed soon – but you can look forward to:

    * 4 new dedicated movie channels
    * A new sports channel
    * 3 additional news and documentary channels
    * 2 ad-free, educational kids' channels
    * A new murder mystery channel
    * A new lifestyle channel and more!

    8 New Timeshift Channels

    We're launching 8 new timeshift channels from some of the most popular AUSTAR channels. These show the same programs only two hours later – just in case you missed it the first time.

    Weather Active - Better Than Ever

    We're also improving your Weather Active service with an even greater localised service and weather forecasts up to 10 days in advance. It's launching soon so stay tuned.

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    Rumour from another forum

    HD:

    Food HD
    W HD
    Fox 8 HD
    Showtime Action HD
    Showtime HD
    Showcase HD
    Movie One HD
    Fox Sports 1 HD (Simulcast)
    Fox Sports 2 HD (Simulcast)
    Fox Sports 3 HD (Simulcast)
    Star Pix HD (Simulcast)
    ESPN HD (Austar)
    Nat Geo HD (Austar)
    Discovery HD (Austar)

    SD:

    Lifestyle You
    Showtime Comedy
    Showtime Action
    Showtime Drama
    13th Street
    Star Pix
    Eurosports
    Family Movie Channel
    Nat Geo Wild
    Overflow Channel
    Discovery Turbo max
    The Style Network

    2 more sports channels in the coming months.

    +2 Channels

    Star Pix +2
    Showcase +2
    Discovery +2
    111Hits +2
    Lifestyle You +2
    Lifestyle Food +2
    SciFi +2 ;-)
    Discovery Turbo Max +2
    * Bill Paxton is the only actor to be killed by Alien, a Terminator, and the Predator.

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    Also "From what I've been told, the techs have started juggling around the channels/services to try and get more bandwidth and make more room for clearer pictures. I was told yesterday that Austar's new HD boxes are causing the techs a lot of grief, and with them rolling the boxes out in the coming few weeks, it could be a major disaster. They're trying very hard to fix the issues with the STB, but whether all bugs are ironed out before roll-out is questionable. Why Austar are not getting on board with Foxtel and using NDS encryption and Pace boxes I'll never know, but that's the way they work. On the cheap."
    * Bill Paxton is the only actor to be killed by Alien, a Terminator, and the Predator.

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