Malaysian Cable TV - Astro

Astro, Malaysian Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) Pay Television service, erm otherwise known as Malaysia's one and only Cable TV service provider (mind you, they also have radios aired through their channels).

I've subscribed to it's service for more than 10 years now.  Except when it rains and we lose the signal, and when there is more airtime for advertisements than the actual programmes in some channels, I really like them a lot.  I'm sure most ppl know what I'm talking about -- it's like half of what you are paying is for the advertisement that are usually a pain in the arse!

If you have watched AXN Asia, you'll notice that the volume of the actual programmes are generally very very low but the volume of the advertisements is usually at least 2 times louder.  So if you were watching, say, the replay of House (one of my favourites), some time in the middle of the night, when the rest of the family is sleeping but that's the only time you have the TV to yourself, you'd better have the remote control in your hand so that you can mute it immediately when it's the commercial break that you have paid for... otherwise you risk waking up the whole family.  It's not just ordinary advertisements, some of them must have been made in hell... e.g. Video Zonkers, So You Think You Can Dance (when they have Mary Murphy screaming like a lunatic - I wish I could slap her and you can tell how annoyed Nigel is) and so on.  Well maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they could just cut the bit where ppl or Mary Murphy is screaming... Goodness...

So I've been using this decoder since the day I signed up, erm... at least a decade ago, now, I found that it doesn't really receive any signal anymore.  It sounded like they won't replace your decoder until it's exploded spontaneously.  Until then, you'll have to call them every time your decoder dies on you and wait for them to send a technician over to fix it for you.  And every single visit costs RM50...

Well, with the technology today, I'm sure we can watch just about everything online instead of having to have a decoder, a remote control and a satellite dish hanging out your balcony... However, with the crappy "broadband" service available and the limited internet knowledge that my mom and dad have, close to none I should say, it's just impossible.

At the mean time, we can just hope and pray for the best.  Let's see what turns up after the technician's visit...