The problem with subscription services is that you have to pay multiple players and at the end of the month costs pile up. A super-subscription policy may help. What does that mean? What if you can watch a bunch of subscription services every month by paying a fixed amount?

Streambox Media’s flagship product Dor TV is promoting itself as India’s first subscription TV service. Here, you pay for the TV (₹10,799) and then ₹799 every month to access various OTT platforms. Is it worth it?

Installation and hardware

Let’s talk about the television. The review unit is 43 inches, so I decided to get the installation done myself. From what I gather, Dor offers excellent installation service, and though I was offered the same, I decided to do things myself.

The box includes two plastic stands for keeping the TV on the table and everything you would require to mount it on a wall.

The TV comes with a power cable that’s attached to the set, which can be irritating. There are the usual AV inputs, three HDMI ports, two USB-A ports and AUX out.

The remote is longish and given the price point, it’s not a bad design. Further, it’s a solar-powered accessory, so you don’t need batteries. There are dedicated buttons for YouTube, Prime Video, Jio Cinema and News. Plus, there are hotkeys for voice, settings, mute and so on.

Turn on the TV

The first time you use the television, set aside quite a few minutes for logging in. The booting process is slightly long but that’s fine.

On the home screen you will find plenty of curated content and the UI has the vibe of Amazon Fire TV. Personally, I use Apple TV which comes with snappy performance. Dor is on the right track but tweaks need to be made.

From the home screen you can access a live TV section. This is an interesting part. It has something called TV Guide, which reminds us of the guide we were once used to on DTH services. There is an option to select content by language. The Live News section has limited options but it’s something that may grow in the coming months. The news channels are all via the Internet, so you don’t need a separate subscription.

The sports section is also well arranged because you can select your favourite sport and dive into the content. There is a games section but we haven’t been able to dive into it. We also couldn’t spend enough time with PS5 performance on the Dor TV.

When you are looking for films, there is the ability to search by genre, making life easy. The UI works but, once again, it could have been snappier.

One of the sections you should check out is My Plan in Settings. When you subscribe, you get a bouquet of channels/services. For example, we have Amazon Prime Video, Disney+Hotstar, Sony Live, Zee5, Discovery, ETV, Hoichoi, Lionsgate and Jio Cinema, to name a few. For ₹799 a month you get a certain number of services. The OS you get is Android-based with Dor’s added skin.

Video formats

Coming to video formats, there are HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG. These are enabled by default. Disabled formats include Dolby Vision.

The solar-powered remote control with dedicated keys

Sound settings: There are equaliser presets — standard, music, news, movie, game and user.

When playing videos on YouTube, there is access to 2160p@60fps. In picture mode, there are a few modes — vivid, cinema, sport and standard. Keeping it in ‘sport’ mode helps tackle motion. In ‘cinema’ mode warmer colours can be enjoyed. You can also adjust backlight settings. Being a very bright panel, it’s best to keep backlighting low.

It’s a QLED panel and looking closely, there are no “dirty screen” effects or uneven lighting. Even blacks look somewhat inky and the bezels are quite slim. Watching content on YouTube, be it at 1080p or 4K, it looks good.

But remember…

Things you need to be aware of include storage. It’s 8GB and that means a limited number of apps can be installed. Sure, a few apps come installed but these are days when app sizes continue to burgeon.

Second, you don’t get Netflix on Dor Store. Perhaps in the future, you will find the service but when talking about tech, look at the present and not future promises.

The Live TV schedule is an easy way to look up what's playing on different "channels"

Third, on YouTube, you can watch content in 4K but that’s not the case across all streaming services; you may get restricted to 1080p, at least that’s what we faced over the last few days. Nonetheless, picture quality is quite good and colour production is better than most TVs in this price range.

Fourth, there is a message to connect the remote to the TV though the connection is already there. This is perhaps a software glitch.

Make the call

Dor has got it right when it comes to the quality of the panel, audio output, presence of enough ports and the UI is easy to navigate, complete with filtering options. What could have been better is streaming content at 4K across all services and not just YouTube. Anyone who likes Netflix would be disappointed. So, who is the TV for? Anybody looking for a bright panel and is happy to watch some content or the other on TV. For many, it can be a second TV at home. Also, you need to pay the subscription fee (₹799) every month. This is something you need to keep in mind. Dor has made a promising start but customers would like more in terms of streaming services.

At a glance

Device: Dor TV

Price: ₹10,799 (plus ₹799 per month for subscription)

High notes

A bright display with good colour reproduction

OTT platforms come pre-activated

Live TV feature is a good offering

Solar-charging remote

Muffled notes

No support for Netflix

Plan selection is restricted

4K content on YouTube looks good but we couldn’t watch 4K across many OTT platforms