HDTV in the UK (updated?)

[London Geezer]

Well, looks like things are slowly moving on.

Dixons now is all in a "HD information campaign" phase, with HD-Ready sets and HD-brochures and HD-people telling u what to do and all that.

Also, Sky finally opened their HD-info website, with the confirmation that the 2006 Premiership matches will be shown in glorious 720p (i expect this to be THE main attractor in the UK).

http://hd.sky.com/

With time, people will start understanding and will see the difference. And buy very expensive sets so they will come down in price FOR ME!! At last.

 

[nutball]

Slowly, slowly, slowly it will come. It won't reach mass acceptance until Coronation Street & Eastenders are broadcast in HD though of course

"Darling, I need to spend two grand on a new telly to watch teh footer in HD"
"Will that work for Corrie too?"
"Err... no"
"Well you're not getting it then."

 

[London Geezer]

Slowly, slowly, slowly it will come. It won't reach mass acceptance until Coronation Street & Eastenders are broadcast in HD though of course

"Darling, I need to spend two grand on a new telly to watch teh footer in HD"
"Will that work for Corrie too?"
"Err... no"
"Well you're not getting it then."

Hehe but when you think about it, the wife shouldn't really care about Corrie in HD.
The husbands are usually the most techie in the house, and footie in HD will interest them a lot more. The wife will just go "get the silver one to go with the rest of the furniture!".

And the standard HD skybox will have the current Sky+ functionality (record rewind blah blah blah) which is cool. Not sure how extortionate it will be but it's good that it's officially coming.

 

[Druga Runda]

except that the answer will be

"of course yes!"

and than after they buy it: "Darling, this is not working for Corrie."

"Sure it is, see her face, is a bit brighter, see it works"

"All right than."

 

[London Geezer]

except that the answer will be

"of course yes!"

and than after they buy it: "Darling, this is not working for Corrie."

"Sure it is, see her face, is a bit brighter, see it works"

"All right than."

Hehe "darling now you can see how many lines this bitch has on her face!!"

"ooh her mascara is running! look i can see it!"

 

[nutball]

Well I guess I'm lucky, my g/f would be pushing to buy one so she can watch the footer in HD (she likes men in tight shorts, apparently).

Big question is whether Sky have enough bandwidth to broadcast sport in HD though. Their SD picture is pretty crappy when the action gets going, spending thousands to get higher resolution and even more perfectly resolved encoding artefacts doesn't sound like a great deal to me.

 

[London Geezer]

Well I guess I'm lucky, my g/f would be pushing to buy one so she can watch the footer in HD (she likes men in tight shorts, apparently).

Big question is whether Sky have enough bandwidth to broadcast sport in HD though. Their SD picture is pretty crappy when the action gets going, spending thousands to get higher resolution and even more perfectly resolved encoding artefacts doesn't sound like a great deal to me.

Heh that's my worry at the moment. Go on let's be optimistic!!!

 

[Tahir2]

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/products/details/html/PAN-TH42PV500CAB.htm

I saw one of these running side-by-side with the previous SD version of this same plasma at a local Reliance shop in Derby. Both were running the same material - it was HD material at high bitrates showing a variety of scenes.

I was absolutely astonished at the improvement in IQ, which is also a lot to do with Panasonic's image quality and not only the fact that it was HD. If anyone wants to get a HDTV I strongly recommend getting a viewing of HD material on your chosen TV before you buy. This TV's IQ was the best I have ever seen.

Only downside is that the TV is out of stock everywhere and wont be in for about 3 weeks minimum.

I was about to buy the Samsung DLP 50" around XMAS time but I might have to reconsider now.

 

[sytaylor]

Sky always know how to price, but fortunatley they are in a position where they have reach to those with money and very little technical knowledge. My uncle is just the sort of guy who had Sky+ before he had broadband, no doubt he will have HDTV premiership matches on sky before his broadband connection goes beyond half meg...

 

[V-Tec]

Will council television or freeview ever be broadcasted in HD?

 

[London Geezer]

Will council television or freeview ever be broadcasted in HD?

Errr well, if you're asking EVER, maybe, one day, but it took long enough to get Sky HD, i can't imagine how long it will take the BB-f'king-C to go HD.

 

[nutball]

I might be wrong, but I don't think that Freeview will go HD before analogue switch-off, which is ... 2015? 2105? 3105? Something like that.

 

[London Geezer]

I might be wrong, but I don't think that Freeview will go HD before analogue switch-off, which is ... 2015? 2105? 3105? Something like that.

Yeah i seem to remember 3105 too, must be the one.

 

[epicstruggle]

glad to hear you chaps over there are finally going HD. Is sky your best bet for HD content? Is bbc going to broadcast their channels in HD soon? Im also in the market for an HD tv, probably going to get a 76 inch (~200 cm) tv set. They just look too bad ass.

epic

 

[London Geezer]

Is sky your best bet for HD content?

The only one pretty much.

Is bbc going to broadcast their channels in HD soon?

Nope, unless we have very different opinions of what "soon" means.

Im also in the market for an HD tv, probably going to get a 76 inch (~200 cm) tv set. They just look too bad ass.

Trying to compensate for something?

 

[epicstruggle]

lol, maybe.

 

[Crisidelm]

Are they going to use DVB-S2 to broadcast HD channels?

 

[London Geezer]

Are they going to use DVB-S2 to broadcast HD channels?

No idea. They're not very forthcoming with information.

 

[Crisidelm]

No idea. They're not very forthcoming with information.

Just yesterday an english guy told me so, but I don't know if he knew for real what he was saying.

 

[London Geezer]

Ermm.. Just a little update... Not sure anyone's seen this, but well this is the box you'll have to have in your living room to get SKY HD in the UK... Not a pretty sight at all.

How embarrassing.