Sky HD seminar

Tony

Sky have announced a series of Seminars to launch HD in Cork,Galway and Wicklow on the 16th Feb so hopefully we will get a launch date and find out pricing etc.

Wheres the one in wicklow Tony? and is it installer only?

Tony

its in the marriott Newtown MK and is Sky Agent only AFAIK, you could try blag your way in

Sparky

time to get your phone cam out tony

Tony

Sparky-s wrote:

time to get your phone cam out tony

maybe there will be some leaflets I can scan when I get back. Anybody else going? would be good to put faces to names

byte

I will possibly be attending, but it'll be the one in Galway.

Wonder if it'll be any good.

ShaneOC

Byte, Tony,

Would you mind asking a question for me at this seminar?

When the HD brodcasts begin most of the HD programmed will have dolby digital soundtracks. Will it be possible for current Sky+ users to take advantage of these sountracks?

watty

Interesting idea.

Certinally my SD palcom DSL4 plays the sound on all the FTA HDTV test transmissions. It has Digital Audio Out and supports 5.1 etc.

But what are you going to do for picture? AFASIK all or almost all the channels will be simply HD duplicates of SD channels. So I'd imagine on the "normal" channel you will get the same sound. HDTV does not magically make all the program material be 5.1. Typically the SD channel would be the same sound track for Stereo. Admittedly few channels transmit 5.1, but that is because little apart from Cinema has it or needs it. AFASIK, the Sky Box office does have 5.1 quite often.

ShaneOC

I know that the HD channels will be duplicates of their SD counterparts. However it would be interesting to see if there are any plans to extend the amount of DD output on those channels as well as on the HD ones.

Obviously this only applies to programmes that have a DD source. But if you look at the credits for many of the US imports they say that they are filmed in DD.

watty

Dolby Digital doesn't nesseccarily mean surround sound / 5.1 etc.

Tony

Got this from skycards.net newsletter:

"Sky HDTV to start in April Sky's HD service will launch in April 2006. The service will support 720p/50 and 1080i/25 resolutions. The HD broadcasts will be a premium service offering a combination of sports, movies, entertainment and documentaries in high-definition. From launch, 100 Premiership football matches per season will also be broadcast in HD. Existing channel packages will be viewable in standard definition. The Sky HD box will be manufactured by Thomson and will offer Sky+ PVR functionality, enabling users to pause and rewind live TV, as well as record TV shows onto hard disk. Hard drive sizes are said to be around 250GB or bigger. Sky's HD box will NOT be restricted to HDCP-enabled DVI and HDMI connections and WILL output HD video via analogue component connectors. These have been added to the Sky HD box to ensure maximum compatibility with TVs that don't meet the new EICTA 'HD-ready' specification."

Mossy Monk

i dont like how they are making HD channels a premium service after viewers having to buy a new stb. does it mean that people on Sky World for example would have to pay more to watch Sky Sports or Sky Movies in HD?
i suppose these ones are future proof too like the original Sky Digital boxes

byte

Is anyone else here attending the Galway seminar?

watty

Few people payed the market price for the Sky Equipment they own.

Probabily the new Sky HD boxes won't support "smellovision" or "3D TV" (Stereo-optic or true 3D)

Nothing can ever be future proof. However at least the User Interface has been improved on Sky recently.

They can still enable the Card slot for other viewing cards and the module slot at back as a CI for CAMs if the EU forced them too. And indeed allow adding "other Channels" to Favorites EPG, if only having standard "now & next" info like most FTA boxes.

I'd maybe go to Galway if I could siddle in. Though I don't expect any great technical revelation. It will be more Marketing orientated than any hard technical info we don't already know.

Tony

Well guys the sky HD looks impressive but they dont know how much it will be or when it will launch, what a waste of time!

Mossy Monk

why the hell do Sky bother with these seminars if they dont have any information :rolleyes:

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Tony

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Nothin really, only positive thing was meeting other guys in the trade like michael of digitaleire and a few others i only get to meet once a year.

byte

Sadly for me, the boss decided to attend the seminar instead of me, though like Tony, he said it was a wasted journey, as there was little extra in the information regarding pricing, etc.

watty

Jus as well I didn't head to Galway.

I already know what HDTV looks like and can't afford a decent screen for it of my own

Bards

New Sky HD Website is up and running

http://www.sky.com/hd

Round Cable

Bards wrote:

New Sky HD Website is up and running

http://www.sky.com/hd

With HD clips too.

watty

The clips are a bit awkward to find, You want real broadband as they are 55Mbyte downloads. (about 3 minutes on my BB)

They are NOT 100% representative as they are 1080p

Real HD on Sky will be 720p and 1080i

Both 1080i and 1080p display less well than 720p on the the majority of current so called HD Ready TVs that are natively 720p

Interestiingly they recommend 1920 x 1080 monitor, which is what I have arguing is entry level for HDTV.


On Windows Media Player I had to go into advanced and change some settings to get video rather than a sequence of stills. My laptop is 4:3 1600 x 1200 so best quality was in a 100% window pixel for pixel of the 1440 x 1080 video. Full screen looked slightly blurred with slight artifacts around the National Geographic Caption.

Had to sit about 6" from screen of course as it is only 15.6".

(1.8MHz P4 CPU with G Force 4 Graphics).

Sparky

outputted them to the 32" screen and they are impressive, they are the exact same as they were broadcasting as a test before SM10 on now they are HD

watty

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/17/dont_fear_sky/

pH

Any news on the card and encryption? Will authorised yellow house cards work in the HD box or are they issuing new cards for HD subs?

watty

Since the Sky HD boxes come from Sky, a card is the least of the worries.

They will probabily suggest you have a mirror sub and get a new card anyway. If you can afford HD TV for the 1/2 dozen channels this year, you can afford a mirror sub

For more HD Info see http://www.hdtvuk.tv/

Ideally though you’ll need something a bit better to enjoy the full benefits of HD downloads: a screen with a resolution of 1600 x 1200 (now one of the most common) will let you enjoy up to 720p videos, but you’ll have to invest in a something widescreen (plamsa/LCD) to go up to 1080p properly. PC specs should really be in the region of: Windows XP powered by a 2.4GHz CPU, 512MB RAM and a 128MB graphics card.