SkyHD Launched! Pre-order now (UK Only!)

[nutball]

It'll be interesting to see (or hear from others, 'cos I'll not witness it first-hand!) how the HD broadcasts of the World Cup go.

Football on Freeview and Sky is a complete mess due to the lack of bandwidth -- it can't cope with fast-moving high-detail bits of the scene, for example: the pitch. Or: the crowd. Sometimes it looks like the game is taking place on a snooker table, other times it's like green static in the background. (Even cable isn't much better).

So upping the resolution could just make things worse.

 

[Tahir2]

I have to say switching from NTL to Sky (non-HD) was a real eye opener. Apart from being more expensive Sky is miles better. The bit rate on CBeebies and the Nature channels is astounding - much better than the rubbish signal I used to get with NTL (analogue in most cases was better).

I believe Simon F did some measurements of bit rates recently and found that CBeebies was at a higher bit rate than standard DVD's.

 

[Geo]

$500 for the set-top box? And then $17/month? Ouch. Does it come with a built in DVR at least? Comcast here, for $10/month and no initial fee we get the HD set-top box with a built in HD-capable DVR. . . (that's above the regular monthly cable tho, roughly $50/month or so total, not counting broadband internet as well, which is another $40).

 

[Crisidelm]

$500 for the set-top box? And then $17/month? Ouch. Does it come with a built in DVR at least? Comcast here, for $10/month and no initial fee we get the HD set-top box with a built in HD-capable DVR. . . (that's above the regular monthly cable tho, roughly $50/month or so total, not counting broadband internet as well, which is another $40).

Yes, but I doubt the HD over there uses DVB-S2 and Mpeg4AVC/H.264: afaik the current productions of chips supporting DVB-S2 are slim to say the least. In fact I doubt SkyUK will be able to satisfy all the requests and deliver all the necessary HD boxes before next summer...perhaps that's the very reason why the price is kept so high.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Yes, but I doubt the HD over there uses DVB-S2 and Mpeg4AVC/H.264: afaik the current productions of chips supporting DVB-S2 are slim to say the least. In fact I doubt SkyUK will be able to satisfy all the requests and deliver all the necessary HD boxes before next summer...perhaps that's the very reason why the price is kept so high.

Yep - high prices for both cable and satellite are being used to manage the roll-out. It's not just a question of having the hardware, but also not having the staff to be able to do the installs. Even now, several weeks after launch, if you try to arrange an installation with Telewest, you could be waiting several weeks just to get an appointment to install.

Sky are not even ready for launch, but they've started taking orders as a spoiler since cable managed to get their launch done a couple of months beforehand.

 

[Crisidelm]

That's what I thought...in Italy Sky will probably offer HD (starting with the WC 2006 next summer) only to bars, pubs and big communities and not to the private costumers because there won't be enough boxes and staff for the "masses".
What a pity: I could watch the Champion's League 2005 final on one of Pro7 network HD channels (DVB-S and Mpeg2, 1080i, bitrate costantly 25Mb/s) on my tritube projector and was very impressive.

 

[Randell]

Well I'll let you all know what the Word Cup from BBC looks like in HD as I pre-ordered the Sky HD package yesterday

Oh and those who think DVD's look like crap and worse than VHS on good LCD/Plasma screens are on crack

 

[Crisidelm]

Well I'll let you all know what the Word Cup from BBC looks like in HD as I pre-ordered the Sky HD package yesterday

Oh and those who think DVD's look like crap and worse than VHS on good LCD/Plasma screens are on crack

Isn't BBC FTA (Free to Air)? Or is it FTV (Free to View)?

 

[London Geezer]

Well I'll let you all know what the Word Cup from BBC looks like in HD as I pre-ordered the Sky HD package yesterday

I'll be waiting for your impressions when u get the box!

Oh and those who think DVD's look like crap and worse than VHS on good LCD/Plasma screens are on crack

Worse than VHS??
I must admit, some Freeview channels are so low-res that they look like VHS.

Crisidelm, BBC is always FTV. Not sure about FTA, but to us consumers the important is that it's FTV. Even BBC HD is completely free, provided you have the right equipment. Which means, you have to pay for SkyHD in order to also get the free HD channels. Or you could always buy your own satellite receivers capable of taking in high definition MPEG2 and MPEG4, though i have no idea how you'd work that, but it should pick up BBC HD too.

 

[Crisidelm]

I'll be waiting for your impressions when u get the box!


Worse than VHS??
I must admit, some Freeview channels are so low-res that they look like VHS.

Crisidelm, BBC is always FTV. Not sure about FTA, but to us consumers the important is that it's FTV. Even BBC HD is completely free, provided you have the right equipment. Which means, you have to pay for SkyHD in order to also get the free HD channels. Or you could always buy your own satellite receivers capable of taking in high definition MPEG2 and MPEG4, though i have no idea how you'd work that, but it should pick up BBC HD too.

FTA= you just need the digital decoder to watch the channel (a DVB-s/Mpeg2 decoder for usual Sat channel, a DVB-s2/Mpeg4AVC decoder for HD channels of new generation).
FTV= you need the decoder AND a smartcard: the smartcard is free, but you need to be resident in a given Country (UK, in your case) etc etc to get one.
So, is it FTV (you need the smartcard) or FTA (you only need the digital decoder)? Or you don't know...I ask this because, if tomorrow I build myself a HTPC that support HD, I wonder if I'll be able to watch the BBC HD channels too, or not...

 

[London Geezer]

FTA= you just need the digital decoder to watch the channel (a DVB-s/Mpeg2 decoder for usual Sat channel, a DVB-s2/Mpeg4AVC decoder for HD channels of new generation).
FTV= you need the decoder AND a smartcard: the smartcard is free, but you need to be resident in a given country etc etc to get one.
So, it's FTV (you need the smartcard) or FTA (you only need the digital decoder)?

I'm quite sure you don't need a card in the UK - never seen it mentioned anywhere, and i read a lot - but i'm not sure about other countries.

 

[Crisidelm]

I'm quite sure you don't need a card in the UK - never seen it mentioned anywhere, and i read a lot - but i'm not sure about other countries.

Oh, jolly good

 

[London Geezer]

Oh, jolly good

You're in Italy, right? Not sure how it will work there to be honest, are you getting your own SkyHD there, with your own HD channels (RAI and others i expect)? Or are you picking up the UK one?

...Wow... La De Filippi in HD... With 5.1 surround sound to REALLY hear all the annoying people in the annoying audience in those annoying chat-shows she does ALL AROUND YOU... Scary...

 

[Crisidelm]

You're in Italy, right? Not sure how it will work there to be honest, are you getting your own SkyHD there, with your own HD channels (RAI and others i expect)? Or are you picking up the UK one?

...Wow... La De Filippi in HD... With 5.1 surround sound to REALLY hear all the annoying people in the annoying audience in those annoying chat-shows she does ALL AROUND YOU... Scary...

Yep, always in Italy: SkyIt will probably launch HD for WC2006 too, but I'm thinking of getting a PC-sat card that supports DVB-S2 and a video card that supports in HW Mpeg4AVC/H.264 decoding for my HTPC (that I already have, for DVDs and normal DVB-S). I would like to pick the BBC HD transmissions too, although the footprint of 28.2°E satellites down here is not that great. In fact, Wimbledon in HD I'd love to see...

 

[London Geezer]

Yep, always in Italy: SkyIt will probably launch HD for WC2006 too, but I'm thinking of getting a PC-sat card that supports DVB-S2 and a video card that supports in HW Mpeg4AVC/H.264 decoding for my HTPC (that I already have, for DVDs and normal DVB-S). I would like to pick the BBC HD transmissions too, although the footprint of 28.2°E satellites down here is not that great. In fact, Wimbledon in HD I'd love to see...

Heh, tell me about it.. Tennis will benefit from HD much more than Football will. Tennis balls on the very compressed standard definiton broadcasts we get today looks criminally bad. It wouldn't look so bad if they kept it in SD but at least didn't compress the video so damn much!

 

[Randell]

little update - my original install date of 27th May was put back to 10th June - barstewards. So I'm sweating a bit as to whether it'll be in before the England match kicks off..

 

[London Geezer]

little update - my original install date of 27th May was put back to 10th June - barstewards. So I'm sweating a bit as to whether it'll be in before the England match kicks off..

You do know that the World Cup matches shown by ITV will only be in HD if you're with Telewest, right?

I know, it's disgusting. ITV limited the viewing of basically half the matches in HD to the people who live in a cable area instead of opening up to everyone (Sky can be used anywhere).

So basically, in a very surprising turn of events, the Telewest customers wil lbe able to watch ALL matches in HD (the BBC ones and the ITV ones), while SKY-HD, with all their marketing and push for upgrade, only get the BBC ones...

Typical isn't it.

Oh, ITV could still change their mind.. before tomorrow that is...

 

[Randell]

yeah I know, and as I'm in an NTL area, Telewest wasn't even an option.

It's so wrong ITV have this exclusive deal with Telewest. Sky wasn't allowed to bid on the World Cup so it was open to all on FTA and then ITV pull this stunt.

gah questions should be asked in the House of Commons.

 

[London Geezer]

Oh yes, that's definitely something the EU will look at because it's anti-consumer all the way.
ITV keeps saying "it didn't make commercial sense for them to also broadcast in HD to satellite (Sky)". Meaning that for the sake of a "good deal", they screwed a lot of consumers over who have no way of getting Telewest.

If you could have Telewest anywhere, then it would be fine, it would be just two companies (sky and telewest) fighting it out with exclusives, which is good for competition. However, as it is now, people who had the desire to see the ITV matches in HD too just can't because they don't live in a Telewest area, and it's not very nice for ITV to do that. I'm sure someone will find grounds for a legal case against them.

 

[Randell]

but will it be too late? once the England group matches are over, will I care anymore?