Sky HD Subscribers

Vic Vinegar

Nice, I just noticed Sky have reduced the price of a HD box to €150! I was waiting for it to come down in price a bit before investing in one. I wanted to get a few Boardsies opinions on whether it is worth the extra cash or not first (first hand opinions only please!)

steveon

The Hd box at €150 is for new subscribers only as far as I'm aware...think its €249 for everyone else.

Also the monthly sub goes up by a further €15 per month for the HD channels.

Vic Vinegar

No it's not. the sky+ is €49 for new subscribers but HD is €149 across the board according to the website! (hopefully anyway) I know about the €15 per month extra as well, cheers!

givecredit

At Eur150 its cheap. Even including the monthly sub of €15 that works out at €330 for hd pvr.with 500gb drive. Cheaper then a upgraded sky+ box with 500gb drive.

Hd Channels, Well i subscribed to movies and sports for first year after getting HD. It was great. It makes the €15 more value for money. Currently ive downgraded to the 1 mix package with no hd sub. Luckily ive a Northern Ireland Sub so i get BBC HD and CH4 HD for free on the epg. In roi you can manually tune BBC hd to other channels, but cannot record. Im afraid no CH4 HD in ROI.

with the €15 hd sub you now get a pretty good range of HD channels including Eurosport HD, sKY One HD and many documentry channels.

Dont forget to hook it up to a surround sound amp for dolby digital sound as well!!

Price of €330 is based on cancelling HD Sub after 12 months

BTW, ill will probable resubscribe to Sports and Movies with HD in the Winter months.

By the way, i would consider it a waste of money if your TV is not 36inch or higher. Ordinary Definition is good enough with 32 inch or lower, with a good scart cable and rgb.

Vic Vinegar

givecredit wrote: »

At Eur150 its cheap. Even including the monthly sub of €15 that works out at €330 for hd pvr.with 500gb drive. Cheaper then a upgraded sky+ box with 500gb drive.

Hd Channels, Well i subscribed to movies and sports for first year after getting HD. It was great. It makes the €15 more value for money. Currently ive downgraded to the 1 mix package with no hd sub. Luckily ive a Northern Ireland Sub so i get BBC HD and CH4 HD for free on the epg. In roi you can manually tune BBC hd to other channels, but cannot record. Im afraid no CH4 HD in ROI.

with the €15 hd sub you now get a pretty good range of HD channels including Eurosport HD, sKY One HD and many documentry channels.

Dont forget to hook it up to a surround sound amp for dolby digital sound as well!!

By the way, i would consider it a waste of money if your TV is not 36inch or higher. Ordinary Definition is good enough with 32 inch or lower, with a good scart cable and rgb.

Nice one man, I have a 42inch Plasma as the main tv so I reckon it'll look sweet on that! what cable can you use to get sound into the receiver?

givecredit

mountain lips wrote: »

Nice one man, I have a 42inch Plasma as the main tv so I reckon it'll look sweet on that! what cable can you use to get sound into the receiver?

Optical Cable. 42 Inch will be just fine.. Happy Viewing!!

Vic Vinegar

givecredit wrote: »

Optical Cable. 42 Inch will be just fine.. Happy Viewing!!

Bugger! i've got my 360 hooked up via optical at the mo, is there any sort of adapter to have 2 hooked up or do i have to switch as and when required? optical cables are notoriously weak in my experience....

The Bull

Was on to sky this morning to tell them to turn of my HD sub, then they ask me why i am turning it off and i say that the cost of it is to expensive, So they put me through to this one who says they have an offer on at the min for the hd service for 7.50 a month for six months, So they reeled me in again, god i am a sucker:p

PS i have it more than 12 months so they tried to lay that one on me but they had no joy

givecredit

mountain lips wrote: »

Bugger! i've got my 360 hooked up via optical at the mo, is there any sort of adapter to have 2 hooked up or do i have to switch as and when required? optical cables are notoriously weak in my experience....

You need to get your hands on one of these or a new receiver.

http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-Loudspeaker-OPTICAL-SPLITTER/dp/B0002MQGR2

Vic Vinegar

givecredit wrote: »

You need to get your hands on one of these or a new receiver.

http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-Loudspeaker-OPTICAL-SPLITTER/dp/B0002MQGR2

Nice one man! you're super helpful!

Vic Vinegar

To all the folk that said no... what is your main beef with the HD services? is it cost? picture quality not up to scratch? I should've had these options in the poll really but I was at work and in a hurry... I didn't really think it through too well I guess!

RastaRed

The Bull wrote: »

Was on to sky this morning to tell them to turn of my HD sub, then they ask me why i am turning it off and i say that the cost of it is to expensive, So they put me through to this one who says they have an offer on at the min for the hd service for 7.50 a month for six months, So they reeled me in again, god i am a sucker:p

PS i have it more than 12 months so they tried to lay that one on me but they had no joy

did the same myself this morning, cancelled 2 mixes and threatened to cancel HD sub and got it half price for 6 months, happy days.
I would recommend sky hd if you like watching the footie & other sports and the big american tv shows, I could never go back to watching SD programmes again

Biro

mountain lips wrote: »

To all the folk that said no... what is your main beef with the HD services? is it cost? picture quality not up to scratch? I should've had these options in the poll really but I was at work and in a hurry... I didn't really think it through too well I guess!

It's not the cost of the box that bugs me, it's the €15 extra per month. And if you're not subscribed to the sports or movie channels, then that €15 extra gets you SFA. I'd pay €250 for the box if there was no other costs. Until that time comes, I won't bother! So it's a no vote from me! Yes to €150, No to €15 per month add on.

Vic Vinegar

Biro wrote: »

It's not the cost of the box that bugs me, it's the €15 extra per month. And if you're not subscribed to the sports or movie channels, then that €15 extra gets you SFA. I'd pay €250 for the box if there was no other costs. Until that time comes, I won't bother! So it's a no vote from me! Yes to €150, No to €15 per month add on.

Erm, the vote is for actual subscribers to HD past or present! thanks for your thought nonetheless

Biro

mountain lips wrote: »

Erm, the vote is for actual subscribers to HD past or present! thanks for your thought nonetheless

I realise that, but I felt it useful from the point of view that it's the ONLY reason I'm not a subscriber. I've seen Sky HD, so I know what I'm missing. Also I didn't vote so as not to screw up your results.

Vic Vinegar

Biro wrote: »

I realise that, but I felt it useful from the point of view that it's the ONLY reason I'm not a subscriber. I've seen Sky HD, so I know what I'm missing. Also I didn't vote so as not to screw up your results.

That's cool man, I didn't mean to come off all aggro or anything!

The €15 extra per month is well annoying though! I reckon i'm gonna go ahead with it cos I wanna get the absolute best out of my plasma and i'm an impatient sh1te!

Strasser

I voted no, its a close call to be honest but overall I don't think its worth it. Not enough HD content for me, the football is excellent but I think I pay enough already for sports movies mirrow etc so although I continue to pay for the moment I don't like the extra monthly charge.

eirebhoy

mountain lips wrote: »

To all the folk that said no... what is your main beef with the HD services? is it cost? picture quality not up to scratch? I should've had these options in the poll really but I was at work and in a hurry... I didn't really think it through too well I guess!

I got HD 2 weeks ago but my 37" is in storage while house is being renovated. I can confirm that it's a waste of money on a 32". tbh I can't even see there being much difference in the 37" if my Xbox 360 is anything to go by. I was happy enough with the picture anyway so don't ask me why I got HD. I'm just pretending to myself that I'm paying it for the Sky+ services because that's just superb.

btw, talking about there being little difference on a 32" or even a 37". Does that mean the picture on a small-medium TV is good enough without HD anyway or does it mean you actually get a better picture on a bigger telly?

benny1977

I got rid of HD a few months ago, not enough content coming on stream although what I had was excellant through my HD projector, my main beef was that we don't get c4 hd or utv hd and also bbchd is not on the epg which means you can't record, I expalined this to sky when I cancelled,
I used to work for sky so I know the reason for this, basically sky charge BBC and C4 for thier HD channels to be on the UK EPG and they want to charge them for the Irish EPG but since they are not obliged they won't pay and I don't blame them anyway,
but my argument was that we have to pay a premium of 15 yo yo's to recieve hd so i figure sky should waive the fee for the BBC HD and C4 hd, when I put this to them they said they understood and offered me half price for 6 months but I still said no.
This is another case of us getting ripped of because they know they can get the money but I rekcon if all the HD sub's combined together and put these points to sky it would be rectived.
Thats my rant over for now, does anyone else agree

slave1

Was on to sky this morning to tell them to turn of my HD sub, then they ask me why i am turning it off and i say that the cost of it is to expensive, So they put me through to this one who says they have an offer on at the min for the hd service for 7.50 a month for six months

snap, looked for sky sports for free also to no avail..anyhow €45 in my pocket for the price of a call

Vic Vinegar

OK, I went ahead and got it installed and i'm glad I did! the picture quality is incredible on my 42in plasma Samsung dealie! the €15 extra per month is crap alright but the increase in picture quality is immense so i'm not gonna whine too much about it!

Thanks for all the feedback chaps!

John mac

i have the Hd box and am not paying for the hd channels not worth it imo.
(i only get Ch4HD and BBCHD)
when the nice lady from skya sked me why i was not subscribing
i just said i think that 15 on top is a bit expensive . (she agreed )
i dont have sports or movie channels,:D

jesus_thats_gre

We used to run it on a 32inch LCD and the difference was minimal. Now we have a 50inch Plasma and there is a massive improvement.

Yellow Dog

mountain lips wrote: »

OK, I went ahead and got it installed and i'm glad I did! the picture quality is incredible on my 42in plasma Samsung dealie! the €15 extra per month is crap alright but the increase in picture quality is immense so i'm not gonna whine too much about it!

Thanks for all the feedback chaps!

Can you confirm you got the HD Box for €149?

Did you order through Sky or an independant retailer?

fat-tony

I've had the HD service since day 1. Like most people, I have a problem with the extra €15 per month for the service. I have found that I get the most enjoyment out of the BBC HD service, but I'm really hacked off that I can't record it:mad:

As soon as a decent Freesat PVR becomes available, I'm dropping my SKY HD subscription!

Ice_Box

Love my Sky HD. Movies are great, sound is great. Loving Olympics on Eurosport HD and BBC HD, opening ceremony was astonishing. Documentaries like the Universe and Mega Structures are great. Watching on 42" sharp LCD. €15 a month won’t exactly break the bank.

Vic Vinegar

Yellow Dog wrote: »

Can you confirm you got the HD Box for €149?

Did you order through Sky or an independant retailer?

Sorry, haven't checked this thread for a while. The Sky HD box is indeed €149 direct from sky (+€50 install)

I'm loving it so far!

Widescreen

Ice_Box wrote: »

Love my Sky HD. Movies are great, sound is great. Loving Olympics on Eurosport HD and BBC HD, opening ceremony was astonishing. Documentaries like the Universe and Mega Structures are great. Watching on 42" sharp LCD. €15 a month won’t exactly break the bank.

Is Eurosport HD in Widescreen format?? thanks

Vic Vinegar

Widescreen wrote: »

Is Eurosport HD in Widescreen format?? thanks

I think it is. The picture is pretty poor though for Eurosport i find, not a patch on Sky Sports or Movies.

Rew

Can you cancel the HD at any time? Im about to order sky today.

Vic Vinegar

Rew wrote: »

Can you cancel the HD at any time? Im about to order sky today.

You can cancel under the cooling off period of 30 days (from install date)

if you cancel later they may reserve the right to charge the HD sub costs for the rest of year (this might not be right, but i didn't read all the t&cs. Too lazy )

Rew

Do they let you keep the HD box though?

Vic Vinegar

Rew wrote: »

Do they let you keep the HD box though?

Yep! as long as you keep it longer than a month before cancelling the Hd sub, i'd say they would. The €150 you pay is for the box so after you pay that, it's yours technically.....

afatbollix

just ordered the hd box today... but dident get the movies or sports so i wouldent think it is... so if i cancel it before the first month is out i wont be charged???

that sounds like a plan anyway

Vic Vinegar

anto-t wrote: »

just ordered the hd box today... but dident get the movies or sports so i wouldent think it is... so if i cancel it before the first month is out i wont be charged???

that sounds like a plan anyway

If you cancel it in the first month you get your money back and you give the box back under the "cooling off period"

RonanC

Had Sky HD installed yesterday - picture on the football last night was stunning.

However, the Irish channels haven't appeared on the EPG yet and I can't record anything - do these take a while to become activated?

Thanks.

John mac

RonanC wrote: »

Had Sky HD installed yesterday - picture on the football last night was stunning.

However, the Irish channels haven't appeared on the EPG yet and I can't record anything - do these take a while to become activated?

Thanks.

give them (sky) a buzz and they will turn it on. should have been done though.
only took 20 mins for mine to work.

hottstuff

I have 2 HD boxes in the house.
So yes i suppose you could say "im impressed, enough"
Bit rates are crap , but footie in HD wins it for me.

Vic Vinegar

RonanC wrote: »

Had Sky HD installed yesterday - picture on the football last night was stunning.

However, the Irish channels haven't appeared on the EPG yet and I can't record anything - do these take a while to become activated?

Thanks.

The anytime tv can take upto 3 days to start functioning (it did with me) all the other stuff should be straight away more or less!

Strasser

John mac wrote: »

give them (sky) a buzz and they will turn it on. should have been done though.
anly took 20 mins for mine to work.

I've had a few installations over the years and every time the installer said it will come on in a few hours but it never did and I always ended up having to ring Sky to activate the functions, guess you will have to as well. Morning times often have a shorter wait than evening time.

RonanC

John mac wrote: »

give them (sky) a buzz and they will turn it on. should have been done though.
only took 20 mins for mine to work.

Took 4 phone calls before I was finally told yesterday that no one had bothered to activate Sky Plus on the account. Live pause and rewind working fine now at least.

Have another problem though. Recording isn't working properly:

a) If I set something to record e.g. The Simpsons, while watching Sky News, the recording fails.
b) If I watch the Simpsons while recording it, it records fine, but when I change the channel every other channel says "satellite signal not being received".
c) Recording works fine when the box is off i.e. on standby.

For some reason, when it is trying to record Input 2 signal is 0 and "not locked", once I stop recording the signal is fine again.

Is it a software issue?

rogue-entity

RonanC wrote: »

Have another problem though. Recording isn't working properly:

a) If I set something to record e.g. The Simpsons, while watching Sky News, the recording fails.
b) If I watch the Simpsons while recording it, it records fine, but when I change the channel every other channel says "satellite signal not being received".
c) Recording works fine when the box is off i.e. on standby.

For some reason, when it is trying to record Input 2 signal is 0 and "not locked", once I stop recording the signal is fine again.

Is it a software issue?

I ran into similar problems, and I would bet its a software issue.

I had SkyHD installed on the 7th, the engineer doesnt have to ring Sky, there's an option in the Installer menu, and the box automatically dials-up Sky and the service is provisioned via modem. All the services I had subscribed to came up instantly, everything was working, including Sky+. The installer had said the HD channels can take a bit longer, up to 4 hours, but they were working straight away.

AnytimeTV wasnt working however, this was because the box was running an old version of the firmware, so I did a forced-download and that updated it to the current version in about 10 minutes.

I also noticed anomalies with recording, and if you flick fast enough through the channels, every odd one will give the no-signal message, I believe its a software issue. I found it amusing that although the cables for the dish are no longer than 3m, the signal quality and strength on the two inputs varies a bit and they are not identical. I also had issues with failed recordings and it would show no-signal on the second input, I swapped the input cables, and it made no difference. A reboot of the box fixed this however. I had other issues where a recording seemed to mess up, and any attempt I made to play it back, froze the box, forcing me to reboot it. I had to delete the recordings, but asside from that no-signal message that shows up when flicking quickly through channels, I havnt had a single problem with the unit since.

I've only got a 32" LCD, not only is it the biggest I could afford at the time, its also the biggest that will fit in my room on the desk I have it on. And dispite what others have said, I notice a big difference between the HD channels, and the SD channels, it's noticable, even on a 32" (I have it set to 1080i). I also have it connected by optical to a Surround sound system and it sounds fantastic.

afatbollix

i got HD last week... even tho i only have a 32 inch tv it is stunning.. i just find myself on the bbc hd channel watching the preview...


but while watching sky one HD programs like the simpons are 4:3 but on sky one are wide screen... is this a **** up by the channel or should it be this way?

rogue-entity

The Simpson's is one of those programmes that is just upscaled to HD. I find the quality can get worse on those programmes, last time I watched the Simpson's on Sky One HD, it was all jagged. But Stargate Atlantis looks a lot better in HD, and the surround sound is just brillient. Im hoping Sky brings out a HD version of Sky Two, I'd like to see more of that kind of programming in HD.

200motels

givecredit wrote: »

At Eur150 its cheap. Even including the monthly sub of €15 that works out at €330 for hd pvr.with 500gb drive. Cheaper then a upgraded sky+ box with 500gb drive.

Hd Channels, Well i subscribed to movies and sports for first year after getting HD. It was great. It makes the €15 more value for money. Currently ive downgraded to the 1 mix package with no hd sub. Luckily ive a Northern Ireland Sub so i get BBC HD and CH4 HD for free on the epg. In roi you can manually tune BBC hd to other channels, but cannot record. Im afraid no CH4 HD in ROI.

with the €15 hd sub you now get a pretty good range of HD channels including Eurosport HD, sKY One HD and many documentry channels.

Dont forget to hook it up to a surround sound amp for dolby digital sound as well!!

Price of €330 is based on cancelling HD Sub after 12 months

BTW, ill will probable resubscribe to Sports and Movies with HD in the Winter months.

By the way, i would consider it a waste of money if your TV is not 36inch or higher. Ordinary Definition is good enough with 32 inch or lower, with a good scart cable and rgb.

I have a 32inch TV and the difference between HD and SD is huge.

RonanC

rogue-entity wrote: »

I ran into similar problems, and I would bet its a software issue.

Thanks for that rogue, a reboot fixed the problem over the weekend. The card reader failed 20 mins into the Liverpool match yesterday though so Sky are sending me a new box anyway!