Cyfra+

Cyfra+

Type	Private
Founded	November 16, 1998
Headquarters	Warsaw, Poland
Industry	Telecommunication
Products	Direct broadcast satellite
Parent	Canal+ Cyfrowy
Website	cyfraplus.pl

Cyfra+ is a Polish digital satellite platform, owned and operated by French media company Canal+ ("Cyfra" is Polish for "Digit"). It offers 95 channels. By 2007, Cyfra+ had 1 million subscribers.

Setbacks

• Some channels disrespect the English soundtrack default setting and start with a Polish soundtrack when first turned on. In the past it affected HBO channels (resolved in April 2008)
• From May 26, 2008 till Sep 2008, Discovery channels Adventure, World and Science did not provide English soundtracks as specified in the product offer
• As of June 2, 2008, Zone Reality does not provide an English soundtrack
• As of Sep 2008, Discovery Channel does not provide an English soundtrack as specified in the product offer
• Some Discovery Channel documentaries provide no English translations of non-English dialogs with English soundtrack
• Some movie channels spontaneously switch to Polish sound track in the midst of a recording
• Fox News is no longer available (as of August 2003).
• English-language Al Jazeera was promised in April 2006, and was made available only in Nov 2006 (on the day the English version of the channel launched)
• BBC Learning is no longer available (as of August 2006)
• BBC Prime was phased out by the end of 2007
• As of Sep 1, 2006, for two continuous months, Hallmark Channel did not provide English sound track (only Polish dialogs). The service in English is now resumed
• Occasionally, various channels do not provide advertised soundtracks (either English, Polish, original or other). This happened among others to Hallmark, Zone Reality, Discovery channels, C+, and others
• In the period Dec 1, 2005 - Mar 31, 2007, all four Discovery channels included a digital protection signal that resulted in interrupted recordings (with 2-15% of the programmed recording missing). Recordings made with the record button (as opposed to the Timer) would simply stop in 3-15 minutes
• National Geographic HD channel does not provide an English soundtrack

Philips PVR

As of Nov 30, 2007, users of Cyfra+ can choose an option of Cyfra PVR decoder.

Advantages

• easy recording of programs from the program schedule
• recording one program while watching others (twin converter needed to watch all channels while recording, some channels are also available on with a single converter)
• HD quality on HD channels
• recording all soundtracks along with the video solves the problem of language switching listed in setbacks
• software updates via satellite often solve problems that plagued early users

Disadvantages

• PLN 20 rental fee per month for the use of the PVR (PLN 10 extra as compared with cheaper decoders)
• PVR often hangs up during the library preview while recording at the same time
• menu system shows only in Polish (even though it is quite easy to master for speakers of other languages)
• numerous bugs in software (those are gradually removed with monthly software updates)
• very slow EPG that covers only a small subset of channels (around 8% of roughly 900 channels)

Limitations

• not all channels and programs are available in the programming schedule (those need to be programmed manually, which is an arduous process)
• library preview shows recordings in the default language, which is not English if the soundtrack name differs from "English" (e.g. "Original" or "Language 2", etc.)
• limited set of options for managing the library of recordings
• poor navigation in the library of recordings (lack of equivalents of PgDn, Home, End requires moving through dozens of recordings one by one)
• lack of options for setting chapters in recordings stored on the hard disk
• no options for editing the recordings such as deleting advertising, trimming, splitting, etc.
• playback resume takes 4-7 seconds to play sound resulting in incomplete viewing (unless a rewind button is pressed). Rewind also results in 4-7 sec. break in sound
• Polish subtitles on some movie channels cannot be turned off (subtitles in other languages are not available)
• subtitles can be thrown out of synch with the sound (so that silent portions of a movie are subtitled with texts from dialogs occurring earlier or later)

List of channels on Cyfra+

Basic

Premium and Movie Channels

Sports

Documentary / Reality

Lifestyle

Children

Music

Lifestyle / Educational

Yes

News and Information

France

French

Audio/Interactive

160. Info+ Extra
161. Cyfra+ Gry

170. Cyfra+ Polskie Radio
171. Cyfra+ RMF
172. Cyfra+ Radio

180. Music Choice Klasyka
181. Music Choice Pop
182. Music Choice Dance
183. Music Choice Urban
184. Music Choice Świat
185. Music Choice Rock
186. Music Choice Oldies

German FTA

Dutch

External links

• CYFRA+ (Cyfra Plus)