Sky HD is it really that good?

LarMan

Hi

I got SKY HD installed yesterday, first of all the picture is great on my Samsung 40" LCD. The problem is I can't see the difference between the SD and HD both pictures are excellent.

I've read posts that you can't help but notice the difference between SD and HD but in my case that doesn't appear to be the case. My neighbour also has SKY HD installed and I have to say I was even more dissapointed with his picture on a 50" plasma.

Is this a case of the 'emperors new clothes' everyone saying that SKY HD is fantastic when it is in actuality not that much better than SD. Am I expecting too much, I would value other peoples opinions on this.

thanks

LarMan

rlogue

I have seen BBC HD at one of my friend's houses. While it appears to me to be a great improvement on SD on a plasma screen, it doesn't appear to my eyes at least to be better than the picture quality I get on my SD CRT.

Killaqueen!!!

I still don't know what SD or HD is which is probably a good think because i cant afford it

copacetic

LarMan wrote:

Hi

I got SKY HD installed yesterday, first of all the picture is great on my Samsung 40" LCD. The problem is I can't see the difference between the SD and HD both pictures are excellent.

I've read posts that you can't help but notice the difference between SD and HD but in my case that doesn't appear to be the case. My neighbour also has SKY HD installed and I have to say I was even more dissapointed with his picture on a 50" plasma.

Is this a case of the 'emperors new clothes' everyone saying that SKY HD is fantastic when it is in actuality not that much better than SD. Am I expecting too much, I would value other peoples opinions on this.

thanks

LarMan

what channel were u watching and what program? you should deffo be able to at least see the difference..

Boggles

Which Samsung have you?

LarMan

I was watching Nat Geo HD and History on HD. Sideways on Sky Movies 9HD and the ashes on Sky Sports HD. I didn't check to see if HD was shown on the sports channels so it may have been SD on the HD channel.

LarMan

Its an R74, can't remember the exact model number, I am very happy with it.

watty

SD = Ordinary TV resolution = Standard Definition. Variable on satellite from 1/4 quality up.
HD = High Defintion. 720p is only about 40% better than standard PAL but nearly twice as good as NTSC.

1080i is about twice the quality of PAL 4:3 and 2.5x 16:9 PAL (5 times the pixels)

So you need a TV minimum 37" the diagonal size to really see a huge differenence on HD. On a 42" screen HD will look quite a bit better (than SD) whereas SD looks fuzzy "blown up" so large. On a 28" screen a very sharp eyed person up close can see the difference, but an average adult 8ft away can't.

SRB

Quick Question - how have they connected the HD Box to the TV. I've seen two installations so far which were left on RGB by the installer. Might be worth checking the TV is on HDMI input.

byte

On a 40" LCD you should notice a difference.

As SRB said, aer you sure you're watching it via the HDMI input or the Component input, and not Scart? The SkyHD box comes with a HDMI lead, so I'd presume that's the lead they use, though they may use a Scart lead also.

Unlike Scart, a HDMI connection unfortunately will not switch the TV automatically to the HDMI "channel". You have to press your AV/EXT button until you get to the HDMI input/channel.

LarMan

Yes I have to switch the source to the HDMI input which I am doing, my wife says she can see the difference, its just the difference does not appear to be that much. The other thing about the install is that by the time Sky switch on the channels the installers are gone (not their fault) but if any thing is wrong you can't say it to anyone.

watty

byte wrote:

On a 40" LCD you should notice a difference.

:: yes you should see a BIG difference if it was 1920x 1080i NATIVE. Few are.

:: 1366 x 768 (PC W XGA format) is commonest

:: Sadly some are 1024 x 768 or lower

:: Sadly some do 1080i by taking only one field (2 make a frame) of 540 lines and resampling to 480, 560, 576, 600, 720 or 768 depending how many rows of pixels the screen really has.