I need a lighter TV, a HDTV!
For this x’mas, I actually made a little rearrangement on my living halls at home. Switched the foosball table to the second hall and swapped in the sofa and entertainment cabinet to the first hall so to better able enjoy the beautiful wall painting done by Haze.
the living room is a work of art, isn’t it?
Everything was pretty much in place: a little disco ball on the tea table by the sofa, the TV on the entertainment cabinet with my DVD player, surround speakers, Nintendo Wii, and of course, the faithful Astro decoder.
Then I noticed something that is not quite right. Zooming in a little, the Ikea TV cabinet that I bought is now actually deformed due to the weight of my old school 29″ TV, and this is despite the cabinet having a support beam at the center. I think it is a disaster waiting to happen, very tragic!
gahhh! TV cabinet cannot support the weight of my old 29″ TV
Ever the optimist, I see that this is merely a calling for me to upgrade to something lighter, something more modern. Like a sexy new 32″ LCD TV perhaps.
To be frank, I’ve been scouting for an LCD TV ever since they became somewhat affordable, but there was one reason that prevents me from taking the plunge – the lack of HD content. The gaming console that I have at home is a Wii, which basically plays on SDTV (standard definition TV), and there isn’t any HDTV content via Astro … until now.
Enter Astro B.yond – the multi-phased service from Astro starting with the first ever HD broadcast in Malaysia. There are 5 HD channels to start with – Astro SuperSports HD (831), ESPN HD (832, in January 2010), HBO HD (431), National Geographic Channel HD (573), and HD History (575).
Astro SuperSport will be showing the upcoming FIFA world cup games in HD, while ESPN HD actually plays quite a lot of NFL games! This is actually very very tempting for me personally!
More than mere HD content, Astro B.yond comes with a new B.yond box, new smart card, outdoor unit, HDMI cable, and new remote. All these is necessary by design, as the hardware will eventually allow the roll out of video recording through external hard disk in 2010, and in the next 24 hours, functions such as video on demand, and IPTV connectivity will follow.
This is actually quite exciting! To sign up for the service, just go to www.astro.com.my/byond or call the ASTRO customer Hotline 1300 82 3838. For RM 20 per month with a 12 month commitment, you get all these new channels in HD, I’d say that’s a pretty good deal.
In conjunction with the launch, there’ll also be an Astro B.yond Bloggers Night Out on the 13th of January 2010. To participate, all you need to do is be a fan at Astro’s facebook page and find out more details there. There’ll be announcements on the page, and an on-ground “Murder Mystery Game” with the winner winning a HD TV.
Those who attend and blog about the event will stand a chance to win a HD TV too, and Astro B.yond subscription until Dec 2010 (2 to be won, I hope I’ll be one of them!)