(maybe ignorant) HD question

flogen

OK; as far as I can gather the channels that will be available on SKY HD are all channels that exist already (makes sense to me so far), but they'll actually be seperate stations; as in there'll be Sky One and Sky One HD, with both showing the same programming, but one in better quality, is that right?

If so, why are they simulcasting like that? I assumed that any channels that switch to HD can do so without creating a "new" spot; so I could watch Sky One HD on my SD telly, SD set top box and it would just look like normal, but those with the HD rig will see the difference... isn't that what the BBC are doing for the World Cup, Bleak House etc? It's not BBC One HD, it's just BBC One...
Maybe I'm wrong, could someone clear it up? If I am right, why are sky doing this? Surely it would be easier to just switch Sky One etc. to HD, no one would notice any difference (unless it's for the better). Is it just to put some more channels on their EPG to plug the fact that it's HD?

JohnC.

I believe the reason they have HD on seperate channels is that all Sky boxes (apart from Sky HD boxes, obviously) simply do not have the hardware needed for these channels. They can't actually decode the channels, never mind downscaling it to SD.

As for BBC, their HD channel is also a seperate channel. It isn't just a single BBC 1 with the hardware deciding to display SD or HD. It's not even the same schedule as any of the other BBC channels.

Mossy Monk

Discovery HD seem to have a different schedule to its SD counterpart
same with National Geographic

DMC

Sky Sports HD is a compendium of programming from all 4 existing Sky Sports channels.

flogen

Ah right, thanks for the clear up, so will BBC HD just broadcast the World Cup, Bleak House, Rome and any of the other HD stuff the BBC have made?

I assume their broadcasts will be available to anyone with the right HW, even in Ireland (which means Sky atm, and even that looks dodgy)

watty

You can watch the HD on an ordinary TV, the HD receivers will downsample on SCART while doing HD via HDMI to HD TV.

The BBC HD is a TRIAL. Not a real channel at all. Real service will not be till this time next year.

It is unlikely to be in ROI on a Sky HD box, but a Pace 810 XE HD receiver will work to receive it as it is FTA.

It is likely any channel on a Sky HD tuned via "other channels" will be downsampled to ordinary definition.

Wimbleton will also be on BBC HD this summer.

There will not be widespread PCI satellite card & receiver box support for HD till the Autumn.

ONLY a DVB-S2 receiver with HDMI is suitable for HD TV. The current skystar2 cards will shortly stop working with BBC HD when tests change from DVB-s to DVB-s2.

Also ordinary definition TV can be transmitted in MPEG4 saving about 50% or bitrate / bandwidth. It is likely all Pay TV will quickly migrate to MPEG4 (SD not HD).