PL_ Veteran Posted August 3, 2006 Veteran Share Posted August 3, 2006 So, I hear SkyHD is here, with only 8 channels. I looked up the listings for BBC HD, and it was utter sh**. Unless you really love Planet Earth, or you love showing off your HDTV setup at 11 at night, it's awful. I don't know about the others though. What are your thoughts? Is SkyHD all it's cracked up to be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxondale. Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 I have it and since i had never used Sky+ i love it, since is incorporates Sky+ with HD, so you can record HD content and also burn it to CD, but it wont come out in HD on CD. The movie channels are great and im a fan of the discovery and national geo channels so its quite amazing to watch it all in HD. It was nice to watch for the World Cup. I agree that BBC HD is a bit crap, hardly anything is shown. It all depends what taste you have, it so happens that the channels in HD are my favourite things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramesees Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 While we've only got the standard Sky Digital at home, and not the HD stuff (too expensive, no real point at the moment), I would imagine that eventually most if not all channels will switch over to HD technology. Look at the whole "Digital Television" bit. At the start only a few providers had it, and it was something relatively specialist, however over time it became much more main stream with everyone and his dog able to get access to at least some digital tv programmes (a la Freeview etc.. or fully blown Sky Digital). I'd give it a while until the technology is much more proven and all the channels have finished their HD trials / tests. Might take a couple of years, maybe less, but it will happen sooner or later, so just be patient I guess. Early adopters of almost any technology have the same issues and gripes anyway (cf: XBox 360, HDTV, latest PC hardware etc....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhav Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 HDTV on freeview will never take off - there isn't enough bandwidth to handle HD broadcasts to all households. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobster Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 SkyHD is a ripoff currently. Give it another year and maybe it will be OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGM Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 HDTV on freeview will never take off - there isn't enough bandwidth to handle HD broadcasts to all households. there will be enough bandwidth once the analogue signals are turned off apparently don't know how true this is though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldaccount1 Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 There is nothing quite like Discovery HD. Amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spielo Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 there will be enough bandwidth once the analogue signals are turned off apparently don't know how true this is though Yes, broadcasters are currently pressuring the governement to allocate the bandwidth currently used for Analogue TV for HD Freeview. Sky HD is a complete waste of money, it looks nice, but nowhere near worth the asking price. It's for people that absolutely have to have the shiny new thing, so they can show off to their friends. If you wait a while, it'll get cheaper and eventually carry a worthwhile number of channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitalsoft Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 this is really annoying, i've just spent ?600 on a HDTV, i want to get skyHD but the price is crazy i worked it out that for a years subscription incl. the box its ?675... mental. though i've heard about a box that allows you to get bbcHD for about ?270 one off payment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theyarecomingforyou Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Our SkyHD box arrives later this month... finally there'll be more to put through the HDTV than just the X360. We've got a 37" with HDCP/dual-HDMI, so it should be future proof enough, but we'll hopefully upgrade to a 42" or 50" at the end of the year when the technology settles down a bit... regular TV looks better on a HDTV but it's noticeably lacking - I'm so fed up of standard-def and DVDs. I'm looking forward to SkyHD but the channel selection looks a bit lacking - still, watching Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica should be great. :D Does anyone have any idea when Blu-Ray or HD-DVD are being released in the UK? I'm assuming Blu-Ray will have to be this year if the PS3 is meant to show up but I can't find any information online. *shrugs* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhav Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 I don't think Blu-ray and HD-DVD players and titles will be available in Europe in full force till next year (even though the PS3 is a Blu-ray player). They may release a few Blu-ray titles because of the PS3 (most probably Spider-Man 2 at PS3 launch). Moving on, yeah Sky HD is really expensive. However, they are basically the only provider of HD content (Telewest offers even less than Sky), so they're going to charge premium for a premium service. Once there's some more competition, and once all the technophiles have got Sky HD, then they'll drop the price. But to be honest, their main objective is 10million subscribers by 2010, with a bigger proportion of Sky+ subscribers (can't remember figure) - they haven't set a Sky HD target, so really they just want to milk the money for the time being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PL_ Veteran Posted August 4, 2006 Author Veteran Share Posted August 4, 2006 Hmm...we dropped the Sky subscription for Freesat, but might go back, if this Sky Broadband is all it's cracked up to be. That Freeview HD sounds good, and yes, they're testing it now: This channel is a result of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five recruiting a few hundred volunteer homes for an experimental technical trial to see how HD could work on Freeview. Currently, the channel is only available in London and the receiver must have a special Freeview set-top-box. But we don't get Freeview in our area until 2012 :angry: unless that's the cut-off date I'm looking at...all it said was Meridian area - 2012... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheppard Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 I don't think Blu-ray and HD-DVD players and titles will be available in Europe in full force till next year (even though the PS3 is a Blu-ray player). They may release a few Blu-ray titles because of the PS3 (most probably Spider-Man 2 at PS3 launch). Moving on, yeah Sky HD is really expensive. However, they are basically the only provider of HD content (Telewest offers even less than Sky), so they're going to charge premium for a premium service. Once there's some more competition, and once all the technophiles have got Sky HD, then they'll drop the price. But to be honest, their main objective is 10million subscribers by 2010, with a bigger proportion of Sky+ subscribers (can't remember figure) - they haven't set a Sky HD target, so really they just want to milk the money for the time being. Never fail to drop in PS3 or compare everything to PS3 in your posts eh..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxondale. Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 There is nothing quite like Discovery HD. Amazing. True that :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryster Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Isn't SkyHD only ?10 per month extra (assuming you have a premium package for free Sky+) on the subscription after you have purchased the box? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxondale. Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I am Reid Posted August 26, 2006 Share Posted August 26, 2006 I have a few questions about this whole Sky stuff. Is this the only kind of cable you guys can get over there? Are HD channels really that rare, here all the major channels are just broadcast in HD and analog over the air, for anyone to use for free. What makes this stuff so special. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sn00pY Posted August 26, 2006 Share Posted August 26, 2006 Welcome to the UK reid... Where **** is still in analouge :( Sigh. It's crappy... HD content is rare and EXPENSIVE. roll on 2008 (i think) when analouge viewing it switched off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Caro Posted August 26, 2006 Share Posted August 26, 2006 Welcome to the UK reid... Where **** is still in analouge :( Sigh. It's crappy... HD content is rare and EXPENSIVE. roll on 2008 (i think) when analouge viewing it switched off. Not just the UK. Europe in general. In Europe, the countries that have some channel in HD with actual programming are: Italy, Uk, Germany, France, and ... well, that's about it. There's euro1080, but it's expensive and the programming is not that good. Available in all europe. Spain doesnt have ANY HD channel, so I content myself with the demo ones over satellite (yeah, I bought the receiver!). Digital terrestrial TV (spanish version of freeview) took off last march, and it's WAY too much compressed that the quality is not good at all. In fact, analog looks better. Some movies in some channels look almost dvd quality though. So in a country in which people think over-compressed DVB-T channels are the next-best-thing, I dont hold high hopes to see any HD channel soon, although some channel is thought to be debuting late this year over IPTV. (which would render my satellite receiver obsolete, until the satellite provider actually releases something in High Def). I hate this country when it comes to tv. The UK is the country with the most HD channels in europe. Premiere in germany showed the entire world cup in 1080i (all 64 matches), LIVE. And they have movies, and even Lost in HD I think, 3 channels (sports, movies, discovery). But the UK has both discovery and national geographic, the bbc and I guess some movie channels. You could call yourselves fortunate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhav Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 I have a few questions about this whole Sky stuff. Is this the only kind of cable you guys can get over there? Are HD channels really that rare, here all the major channels are just broadcast in HD and analog over the air, for anyone to use for free. What makes this stuff so special. Sky is not actually cable. Sky provides digital TV over satellite, and it's currently the largest provider of digital TV in the UK. And we've only recently kicked off HD programmes. The big push was the World Cup, but it's still quite far behind. We haven't got any Blu-ray or HD-DVD players either. However, it's difficult to find the old tube TVs nowadays if you go to a big electronics retailers. Almost all TVs are LCD, and most are HD Ready. Problem is, people buy HDTVs without realising that there isn't that much HD content yet. We have a couple of cable TV providers, but since Sky owns almost all digital TV channels, especially the best movies and sports channels, cable can't offer anywhere near the variety of Sky. And HD is free for a few people who are part of a trial in London. But you have to pay premium if you want to watch the full range of HD channels (which is quite a small selection to be honest). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I am Reid Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 I just dont get why its so hard to just broadcast them over the air. It cant be that much trouble. Here to get my HD channels i just took a coaxail cable plugged it into my tv, and then stripped the other end and hooked it to a metal vent thats on the ground next to my TV and i get perfect 1080i HD thats better then what comes from my cable box. I think you guys are just getting screwed over their. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheppard Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 Because we have a limited amount of frequencies available for use for broadcast. A lot of it is taken up by analogue broadcasts, once the analogue gets switched off and the frequencies get freed up then the government might allow over the air HD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PL_ Veteran Posted August 27, 2006 Author Veteran Share Posted August 27, 2006 It's kinda scary that the air is "full" :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts