Is HD worth getting?

Warper

I'm thinking of getting HD for my Sky package. I have Sky World and ESPN. Maybe a stupid question but does it only improve the quality of the specific HD channels?

Is it worth getting?

John mac

(atari jaguar)


if you have and watch a lot of sport then yes.

WillieCocker

Yes.
You can see the faces of the players and read the numbers & names on the shirts.
On SD you can only tell the player by body height/shape in comparison.

manutd

I got a SKY+ HD Box off ebay for €109 and i am realy happy with it. I am not paying the extra €15 pm fee. I got the HD Box because Sky wanted €49 for a Sky+ Box and a 3 month wait for it. x2 the space plus i get BBC HD and ITV HD when iget the new EPG.

celticfc

Seeing as you have Sky World & ESPN it seems a bit of a no-brainer not to get it.

Considering you're already forking out a bundle for the Sky World package and ESPN on top of it, the €15 extra isn't all that much more and you'll have access to the entire bouquet of Sky's HD channels.


I presume you only have a Sky+ or regular Sky digibox. With the Sky+HD box you will notice a definite improvement on the SD channels, especially with a large TV.

VERYinterested

I got fed up watching football in SD, got HD at the beginning of the month and yes it is worth it. I rang Sky and was threatening to cancel my sub, I was offered 20% per month reduction for a year which practically pays the HD sub and I sold my Sky+ box on Adverts, that paid for the cost of my HD box. I didn't begrudge paying €50 for installation, even though the installer was in the house for 15 to 20 mins swapping out the Sky+ box.

Now that the costs are forgotten about I am delighted with the result. But if I wasn't a football nut, it wouldn't be worth it as there are too few channels broadcasting in HD.

JoeA3

Sky are running these flashy ads at the moment where they say "HD - it's for Everyone". Personally I don't think it's for everyone, not by a long stretch, but.....

I do believe it's worth it if you:
- have the sports and/or movie channels
- have a decent HD screen, sized 40" upwards
- appreciate decent picture quality (there a loads of people out there with shiney new LCD's feeding them terrible analogue pictures and they are very happy with it!)

The picture quality on Sky Sport HD is nothing short of brilliant... switching from regular Sky sports to the HD version is like taking the bubble wrap off the TV screen :pac:

An added bonus, if you have a decent surround sound setup, you will get much better audio quality on the HD channels - e.g. all the footie on Sky Sports is in full Dolby Digital 5.1, it's fantastic with a decent audio system!

Outside of movies and sports, you will see the odd decent thing on National Geographic and Discovery, and the big USA shows such as Lost and House are on Sky One HD.

P.S. One thing that has disappointed me a bit, I'd seen a lot of people say that the HD box really improves non-HD channels such as RTE. Well, I certainly cannot agree with this one, if anything I think I had a marginally better SD picture via RGB SCART. I did a bit of reading around on the subject, and I'm not alone. The consensus seems to be that the HDMI connection shows up the flaws in the SD picture, you get the entire picture, warts and all, whereas SCART tends to "mask" picture defects better - or something like that!
So, don't be expecting Fair City to look any better than it already does

Warper

Cheers

Ya i am a sports nut so think I will get it. I heard a few people moan about the quality of the ESPN HD channel - anyone notice this?

WillieCocker

Warper wrote: »

Cheers

Ya i am a sports nut so think I will get it. I heard a few people moan about the quality of the ESPN HD channel - anyone notice this?

Well they don't show everything in actual HD, some of it is upscaled, that is most likely the issue they have.
I have seen Arsenal's opener against Everton in HD on ESPN and it was very nice.
It's a little softer than SkySPorts HD but also has less artefacts/noise.

mjsmyth

I have HD but I did not pay an extra €15 for it. I went with the Freesat version.

Nowso

Freesat Arsenal v Celtic hd was good last night

bk

JoeA3 wrote: »

I do believe it's worth it if you:
- have the sports and/or movie channels
- have a decent HD screen, sized 40" upwards
- appreciate decent picture quality (there a loads of people out there with shiney new LCD's feeding them terrible analogue pictures and they are very happy with it!)

Well, I just signed up to HD and I won't be getting sports or movies.

But then I'm a documentary nut, so I think I'll benefit from all the HD doc channels. I've a 50" Pioneer which is the best HD TV on the market and I can definitely appreciate the difference in picture quality.

BTW even SD content upconverted in the studio for display on a HD channel, will likely look much better then the same content on a SD channel, upconverted by your TV or Sky box as the upconverting gear they have in the studio is probably of a much higher quality (probably costs €1000's rather then €2).

BBTW SD channels might look better over HDMI then scart, because the upconverter in the Sky box is better then the one found in most TV's, certainly most cheap TV's.

I currently have Smart Telecoms IPTV service which is SD only, but uses MPEG4 @ 3mb/s and upconverts over HDMI and the picture quality is superb on most channels, almost as good as DVD.

von Smallhausen

I would recommend HD but only if you have the Sports and or Movie package...otherwise there is not many channels to get...

JoeA3

bk wrote: »

But then I'm a documentary nut, so I think I'll benefit from all the HD doc channels. I've a 50" Pioneer which is the best HD TV on the market and I can definitely appreciate the difference in picture quality.

Yes, some of the stuff on Nat Geo and Discovery does look very good - and a lot of it is in DD 5.1 too.

BTW even SD content upconverted in the studio for display on a HD channel, will likely look much better then the same content on a SD channel, upconverted by your TV or Sky box as the upconverting gear they have in the studio is probably of a much higher quality (probably costs €1000's rather then €2).

Yes, agreed in most cases - e.g. Some stuff on Sky Sports HD is actually SD content, but it does look a bit better than the same stuff on the SD channel.

BBTW SD channels might look better over HDMI then scart, because the upconverter in the Sky box is better then the one found in most TV's, certainly most cheap TV's

I have a pretty decent TV (Sony Bravia W4500), and I fail to see any improvement in the SD channels over HDMI. In fact, as I said, I think the RGB SCART on my old Sky+ box was equally as good if not a little better. I'm beginning to think that those who think the HDMI is better were possibly using the default PAL SCART rather than RGB SCART!
I mean, SD channels are in 576p, the TV and/or the Sky box has to do a great deal of upscaling, regardless of whether you use a Scart or a HDMI.

One slightly annoying thing - switching from SD to HD channels and vice versa results in a black screen for a couple of seconds as the TV readjusts it's resolution. This can be avoided by forcing the Sky box to output everything as 1080i, but then I lose widescreen switching (all 4.3 content is stretched!) - which is even more annoying.!

Headshot

folks if i get a sky hd box off ebay and sign up to sky hd will i be trapped into a contract for the 15 euro per month ?

John mac

Headshot wrote: »

folks if i get a sky hd box off ebay and sign up to sky hd will i be trapped into a contract for the 15 euro per month ?

yes

jimmyjim11

mjsmyth wrote: »

I have HD but I did not pay an extra €15 for it. I went with the Freesat version.

what channels are on freesat BBC, ITV , anything else ?

bk

JoeA3 wrote: »

I have a pretty decent TV (Sony Bravia W4500), and I fail to see any improvement in the SD channels over HDMI. In fact, as I said, I think the RGB SCART on my old Sky+ box was equally as good if not a little better. I'm beginning to think that those who think the HDMI is better were possibly using the default PAL SCART rather than RGB SCART!
I mean, SD channels are in 576p, the TV and/or the Sky box has to do a great deal of upscaling, regardless of whether you use a Scart or a HDMI.

But here is the thing, not all scalers and deinterlacers are of equal quality, most TV's including Sony's have terrible upscalers, they simply take the image and stretch it to fit the screen.

Then you have high end DVD players, Blu Ray players, PS3 and AV amps, they will often have more advanced upscalers, like the Faroudja chip, that basically build up a history of the last frame or two plus the upcoming frame or two and do some fancy maths to actually add information to the image to help it better fill the screen, yet keep its sharpness.

Finally you have really high end upscalers that start at over a thousand euro that some people buy for their TV's.

The question is, which is better, the upscaler in your tv or the one in your Sky HD box, many people over in avforums seem to think that while the Sky HD upscaler isn't great, it is better then most TV's.

The other advantage of HDMI, is that it involves less conversions. Over Scart, the Sky HD box has to take the digital information, convert in to analogue to send over scart, depending on the scart cable lose some information, your TV then takes the analogue signal from the scart and converts it back to digital and then upconverts it. With HDMI, everything stays in digital, therefore less conversions and less lose of data, which is always a good thing.

Dman001

Many say that to get the full HD effect that you have to get a 40"+ HDTV which isn't true. Personally I think viewing distance is much more important. If you have a small room, purchasing a 50" TV isn't logical when a 32" or a 37" would suit better. You will still be watching some SD content and SD content will look terrible on a 50" TV if you are sitting rather close to it. Yes HD channels will look nice a 50" TV but HD channels still look beautiful on a smaller TV, as long as you are not sitting too far away from it. I can watch HD videos on my 13" laptop and notice the difference.

So to sum up, I personally think your viewing distance from the TV is more important rather than buying a big TV.

ScrubsfanChris

Handy HD viewing chart knicked from Amazon

crosstownk

bk wrote: »

I've a 50" Pioneer which is the best HD TV on the market and I can definitely appreciate the difference in picture quality.

I've a similar display. Mine is not HDCP compliant so I haven't yet managed to see HD quality - I'm using S-Video at the moment. Thankfully the problem is almost resolved thanks to Sky and/or Curtpalme.

Not all programming on the HD channels originated in HD. Be sure to go into your Sky HD box's settings and customise it to highlight what material originated in HD. Once you do this all genuine HD programmes will show up in yellow in the TV guide (EPG). Anything else is upscaled.

A real benefit is the awesome 5.1 DD sound (available on SD Sky Movie channels). I watched the Liverpool v Aston Villa game last Monday night and the sound from ESPN was amazing. It was (almost) like sitting on the Kop!! Just turn that centre speaker down as low as you can to still hear the commentary and let the ambient sound rise to the top.

So is HD worth it? YES!! For audio alone. I'm still watching HD using an S-Video connection and the HD channels have a better picture than the SD versions.

evilivor

jimmyjim11 wrote: »

what channels are on freesat BBC, ITV , anything else ?

Just BBC HD and ITV HD.

John mac

evilivor wrote: »

Just BBC HD and ITV HD.

and luxeHD

JoeA3

John mac wrote: »

and luxeHD

You'll only see ITV HD if you have the new EPG, and that's a whole other kettle of fish.

Mitch Connor

From looking on the net, it appears the HD boxes have a load of connections on the back. Including HDMI (obviously) and scart connections.

Is it possible to use both connections?

Currently I have Sky+ and I run a scart connection to the back of my tv, with one of those wireless video/sound senders attached so that I can also watch the Sky+ stuff on the TV in my bedroom.

Is it possible to run HDMI from the HD box to my main tv, and also have the wireless vid sender attached to the scart connection and sending the pic/sound to another tv?

I really want to get Sky HD, but not if it means I can only watch the tv in one room.

evilivor

John mac wrote: »

and luxeHD

One doesn't receive it in Freesat mode.

JoeA3

Mitch Connor wrote: »

From looking on the net, it appears the HD boxes have a load of connections on the back. Including HDMI (obviously) and scart connections.

Is it possible to use both connections?

Currently I have Sky+ and I run a scart connection to the back of my tv, with one of those wireless video/sound senders attached so that I can also watch the Sky+ stuff on the TV in my bedroom.

Is it possible to run HDMI from the HD box to my main tv, and also have the wireless vid sender attached to the scart connection and sending the pic/sound to another tv?

I really want to get Sky HD, but not if it means I can only watch the tv in one room.

Yes I believe you can. Some people leave the SCART connected from the box to the TV (as well as the HDMI lead) and watch SD channels via Scart.

I use the RF2 output on my HD box to send the picture to the bedroom, with a "magic eye" on the other end. Works a treat.

Mossy Monk

JoeA3 wrote: »

You'll only see ITV HD if you have the new EPG, and that's a whole other kettle of fish.

Looking at the schedules it isn't much to get excited about either.

Mitch Connor

JoeA3 wrote: »

Yes I believe you can. Some people leave the SCART connected from the box to the TV (as well as the HDMI lead) and watch SD channels via Scart.

I use the RF2 output on my HD box to send the picture to the bedroom, with a "magic eye" on the other end. Works a treat.

awesome. cheers.

Dman001

Mossy Monk wrote: »

Looking at the schedules it isn't much to get excited about either.

They are better than BBC HD for movies. Back To The Future 3 and Rambo are going to be in HD in the coming weeks.

John mac

evilivor wrote: »

One doesn't receive it in Freesat mode.

but you can watch it .