World Cup on HD

Tom2

Now I know the money was justified!

I've had Sky HD a couple of weeks but the Germany-Costa Rica game is the first soccer game I've seen in HD. I can't begin to describe how much better it is - the difference switching back to SD broadcast was like going from digital to rabbits ears. The Discovery and National Geographic stuff has been impressive, but I have Sky primarily for soccer so today was Judgement Day. The fine detail, undistorted movement, beautiful colour, all add so much to the viewing experience.

And a cracker of a match as well!

digiking

yeah - its fantastic - finally that telly i spent 3 grand on is performing like it should be

swoofer

could u say what kit u are using and screen size

thanks


gb--

Pat Gleeson

I received Sky HD on Thursday - very impressed.
Even those I know who are spectical are impresed.

BBC HD has the best pictures IMO, and the preview has DD 5.1 (the World Cup is in DD Stereo for now).

The 'Planet Earth', 'Galapogos' and World Cup clips are awesome.

Nat Geo and Discovery are are pretty much the same, with the former having DD 5.1 sound to boot.

Sky 1 HD is very good too, but no sign of the promised DD 5.1 sound on the HD programming as yet.

Sky Sports is excellent with HD sources as good as the BBC, and even simulcasts like the NZ - Ireland game on upscaled SD looking much better on Sky Sports HD.

My TV is the Pioneer PDP 43 XDE, - expensive, but a superb piece of kit, purchased not only for the HD performance, but the better performance with SD sources.

I agree with Tom2 regarding switching between HD and SD. Just when I get used to HD, I see an SD source - no comparison.

Please excuse the crappy pictures, althogh they give you an idea

I'llupload better ones after I finish work.

digiking

Tv - Samsung LE40M61B
This is a fantastic bit of kit, it has won the eisa award for best screen 2005/2006, It was 2999 when i bought it from komplett now they have it for 2199.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=314470&cks=ABT

Surround System - Bose lifestyle 8
I am getting fantastic sound through all the high definiton channels.

All this is connected up to sky hd box via hdmi leads and optical leads.

Digiking

quiggs1000

Hi Digiking,

That's exactly the TV I was hoping to buy this week from Komplett. Did you have any issues ordering such a large (expensive) item from them? It all went without a hitch?

Thanks.

digiking

Hi

1 small probs

I don't trust AN POST or GLS to deliver such large and fragile items (Previous Bad Experience) - i opted for the DHL shippiing - it costed me aout 200 euros but i fell it was still worth it considering the tv was 4000 locally

Your getting a good deal man - i paid 3200 all said and you'll get it for about 2400 depending on the shipping you opt for.

he is pic of tv BEFORE i got the hd box

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/9877/280420066io.jpg
It was taken with my nokia n70 - so its only phone quality

Digiking

quiggs1000

Thanks for that, all seems like good advice. Worth paying the 200 I reckon.

Pat Gleeson

Here as promised, are two better pictures of my setup.

Sparky

I must say Pat, you have one of the best TV's, the pioneer tvs are great.
I had to install two last year and I loved their picture, but I wouldnt be able to afford one of them really without saving for a good while.

Pat Gleeson

Sparky-s wrote:

I must say Pat, you have one of the best TV's, the pioneer tvs are great.
I had to install two last year and I loved their picture, but I wouldnt be able to afford one of them really without saving for a good while.

Thanks, and you're right about the expense Sparky.

The cost (and for me the wait) was justified. The HD images (as you would expect) are superb, but I'm really happy with the SD images - RTE in paticular. ITV is a disaster though, they really should:
a. rent more transponder space,
b.spread out their channels better across the ones they have or
c. do something, anything abour their compression

watty

Also ITV is 544 x 576 a lot of the time, the image is made worse by the scaling on some LCD and Plasma. On my CRT it isn't bad. BTW 544 x 576 in 4:3 material is roughly similar resolution / quality to 720 x 576 16:9 animorphic WS material. A lot of the ITV programs I watch are older 4:3 material.

I get better RTE on Sky when it is 16:9 (as this is arced to 14:9 on analog making picture blurred) but on 4:3 content the analogue aerial feed is slightly better quality than Sky for RTE.

pH

Have to agree, the ITV World cup pictures are almost unwatchable on my setup, BBC HD is perfect, RTE2 and BBC1 are pretty good.

Do all the ITV regions the same bandwidth? I noticed that there is an ITV channel Islands which was showing the matches in some weird letter-box arrangement with bitrate that most wouldn't use for a web-cam!

Pat Gleeson

watty wrote:

Also ITV is 544 x 576 a lot of the time, the image is made worse by the scaling on some LCD and Plasma. On my CRT it isn't bad. BTW 544 x 576 in 4:3 material is roughly similar resolution / quality to 720 x 576 16:9 animorphic WS material. A lot of the ITV programs I watch are older 4:3 material.

The picture quality on ITV during football matches on my old (2 years) 32" widescreen was marginally better than now, but artefacts were clearly visible on the pitch, making it look like a patchwork quilt - awful.

As a matter of interest Watty, the resolution you quoted would seem to be what the Beeb is displaying for 16:9 anamorphic material in SD.
This explains the pretty ropey picture they have for their footy (in SD) too