UPC HD any good?

Cyrus

Folks,

im half tempted to cancel my sky sports sub, for 33 a month we hardly get any use from it. looking at the upc website, we can get the HD+ pack with ESPN and save about 25 a month (we currently have digital plus with the recording box).

Is the UPC HD offering worth getting? is the DVR box any better, or worse, than the normal DVR box?

lar77

The HD box is better than the normal one in that standard def looks a bit better as it all goes over HDMI (not sure if it's upscaled).

Real lack of HD channels on UPC though ...

kmick

Dont do it Cyrus. UPC box is a shadow of the sky one. There are hardly any channels that are HD and they have no agreement with Sky on the HD Movies or HD Sports even if you wanted them. The user interface is pants and their version of series link is very flaky so you go to watch the IT crowd on a Saturday and its not there. If the sky box is a 7/10 UPC is more like 3/10. To be fair UPC do have 30Mb broadband though.

angel01

You get better quality from the HD box because the SD channels look better with the HD box.

I believe UPC are getting more HD channels soon and they will get more and more HD channels with time. UPC say they may have movies and sport on HD from January, so bear that in mind. I have had no issues with it at all.

Cyrus

kmick wrote: »

Dont do it Cyrus. UPC box is a shadow of the sky one. There are hardly any channels that are HD and they have no agreement with Sky on the HD Movies or HD Sports even if you wanted them. The user interface is pants and their version of series link is very flaky so you go to watch the IT crowd on a Saturday and its not there. If the sky box is a 7/10 UPC is more like 3/10. To be fair UPC do have 30Mb broadband though.

you may have musinderstood me, i have ordinary upc digital as it is

Infoanon

angel01 wrote: »

You get better quality from the HD box because the SD channels look better with the HD box.

I believe UPC are getting more HD channels soon and they will get more and more HD channels with time. UPC say they may have movies and sport on HD from January, so bear that in mind. I have had no issues with it at all.

I will believe when I see it - as a matter of interest where did you get that nugget of information about movies and sports.....of course they could be referring to Film 4 HD and Setanta HD.

I don't expect to see any Sky HD channels on UPC anytime soon.

As for SD looking better on HD - ????

Btw - check you can get HD in your area - its not as widely available as you might think

djimi

angel01 wrote: »

You get better quality from the HD box because the SD channels look better with the HD box.

I believe UPC are getting more HD channels soon and they will get more and more HD channels with time. UPC say they may have movies and sport on HD from January, so bear that in mind. I have had no issues with it at all.

Do NOT pin your hopes on this happening; theyve been lying to people about the Sky HD channels for some time now. When I signed up in April I was told they would definately have Sky Sports HD in time for the new PL season... :rolleyes:

angel01

Infoanon wrote: »

I will believe when I see it - as a matter of interest where did you get that nugget of information about movies and sports.....of course they could be referring to Film 4 HD and Setanta HD.

I don't expect to see any Sky HD channels on UPC anytime soon.

As for SD looking better on HD - ????

Btw - check you can get HD in your area - its not as widely available as you might think

They told me it would be SS HD and Movies.

SD does look better on HD because they are upscaled.

dunworth1

angel01 wrote: »

SD does look better on HD because they are upscaled.

and because the connection to the tv is fully digital not digital converted to analog like before

Infoanon

dunworth1 wrote: »

and because the connection to the tv is fully digital not digital converted to analog like before

Didn't really see any difference between the picture quality - having watched HD personally its only sports that look better - but everyone has their own views on the subject.

djimi

angel01 wrote: »

SD does look better on HD because they are upscaled.

If by this you mean the SD channels are upscaled to HD on the HD box, theyre not. On my box they still broadcast in 576i and the quality is still low on an LCD TV. There may be a very marginal improvement in picture quality from using HDMI over Scart, but I have a stanard digital box and a HD box and the SD channels look exactly the same (ie poor quality) on both.

angel01

djimi wrote: »

If by this you mean the SD channels are upscaled to HD on the HD box, theyre not. On my box they still broadcast in 576i and the quality is still low on an LCD TV. There may be a very marginal improvement in picture quality from using HDMI over Scart, but I have a stanard digital box and a HD box and the SD channels look exactly the same (ie poor quality) on both.

In your opinion, they aren't. In my view they are Everything to me looks better with the HD box Why do you have UPC if you seem to dislike it so much?

djimi

angel01 wrote: »

In your opinion, they aren't. In my view they are Everything to me looks better with the HD box Why do you have UPC if you seem to dislike it so much?

I dont have a choice unfortunately; I live in an apartment that doesnt allow dishes to be put up.

If the SD channels were upscaled they would display on your TV in 720p/1080i, just as a DVD does when played thru a PS3 for example. You may think the quality is better, that is in the eye of the beholder, and the HDMI connection may improve the quality slightly over the scart connection on the regular digital box, but the resolution in which the SD channels broadcast is the same on both the standard digital and HD digital boxes.

angel01

djimi wrote: »

I dont have a choice unfortunately; I live in an apartment that doesnt allow dishes to be put up.

If the SD channels were upscaled they would display on your TV in 720p/1080i, just as a DVD does when played thru a PS3 for example. You may think the quality is better, that is in the eye of the beholder, and the HDMI connection may improve the quality slightly over the scart connection on the regular digital box, but the resolution in which the SD channels broadcast is the same on both the standard digital and HD digital boxes.

Fair enough but I am really happy with UPC, I wouldn't go with anyone else and I have the choice. I find the quality much better and have no issues at all.

I had a non digital box before and the quality was poor, got in a HD box and happy as Larry now

ActingDanClark

also worth considering is that sky propose providing phone and broadband

angel01

damian139 wrote: »

also worth considering is that sky propose providing phone and broadband

Are Sky interested in doing the above because UPC offer TV, phone and broadband.

icdg

Currently the UPC HD pack is severly limited, only nine channels - BBC HD, ESPN, Eurosport, Crime and Invesigation, National Geographic, History, Nat Geo Wild, Discovery, and Biography.

So nine channels, six of which are documentary channels. If you like documentaries by all means go for it, but I simply wouldn't pay the extra money until (and if there is ever) content from BSkyB on it.

Freddie59

damian139 wrote: »

also worth considering is that sky propose providing phone and broadband

Over Eircom lines........:D

brian076

kmick wrote: »

Dont do it Cyrus. UPC box is a shadow of the sky one. There are hardly any channels that are HD and they have no agreement with Sky on the HD Movies or HD Sports even if you wanted them. The user interface is pants and their version of series link is very flaky so you go to watch the IT crowd on a Saturday and its not there. If the sky box is a 7/10 UPC is more like 3/10. To be fair UPC do have 30Mb broadband though.

Couldn't agree more. Just switched from Sky to UPC, worst decision ever, but I think you're being generous giving the UPC box 3/10

djimi

kmick wrote: »

Dont do it Cyrus. UPC box is a shadow of the sky one. There are hardly any channels that are HD and they have no agreement with Sky on the HD Movies or HD Sports even if you wanted them. The user interface is pants and their version of series link is very flaky so you go to watch the IT crowd on a Saturday and its not there. If the sky box is a 7/10 UPC is more like 3/10. To be fair UPC do have 30Mb broadband though.

Just to be fair to UPC their TV and broadband should be seperated from each other when talking about TV service; while Im not a fan of their TV and feel it lags well behind Sky, their broadband service is by a country mile the best in the country, and puts the rest of them to shame quite frankly. When it comes to internet in Ireland, there is only one serious provider, and that is UPC. The rest are just living in the stone age.

danIrl

As stated earlier, I think the best thing about UPC is bundling TV, phone and broadband. I have the HD box with just the basic package, so just BBC-HD.

I know everyone has different perceptions about picture quality, but there is no doubting that the picture will be better when receiving a digital signal and sending a digital signal to a digital TV. Why the standard digital box does not have a HDMI output is daft... but I primarily upgraded mine to get the HDMI output and not the extra HD channel. Difference was a far superior picture for the SD channels.

Unlike others, the box works fine for me apart from the known problem with the signal sync problem between the box and TVs that has been documented already on this forum. It does not happen always, but maybe every 3 or 4th time.

jack presley

Didn't UPC say some months ago that they'd be adding more HD channels in November?

Anyone heard an update on this? The choice at the moment is quite pathetic.

Infoanon

jack presley wrote: »

Didn't UPC say some months ago that they'd be adding more HD channels in November?

Anyone heard an update on this? The choice at the moment is quite pathetic.

At a minimum you would expect the BBC 1 HD channel to be added, Setanta HD is due but after that.....MGM HD / MTV HD / CNN HD are the only ones that spring to mind as not being tied to Sky though MGM has an exclusive carriage deal with Sky afaik.

Chances of any Sky HD channels becoming available seem remote, while RTEs proposed HD channels may be DTT exclusive when they launch - IF they ever launch but thats for another forum

icdg

Infoanon wrote: »

At a minimum you would expect the BBC 1 HD channel to be added, Setanta HD is due but after that.....MGM HD / MTV HD / CNN HD are the only ones that spring to mind as not being tied to Sky though MGM has an exclusive carriage deal with Sky afaik.

There's an MGM Channel on UPC, though it seems to be completely seperately programmed from the MGM HD channel on Sky. Even the logos are different (though of course they share the MGM name and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion). Rather odd.

They share a website, www.mgmchannel.com, so are obviously run by the same crowd, but confusingly if you live in Ireland, you have to go to "United Kingdom" for the Sky version - going to Ireland gives you the UPC version only!

Given Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's financial difficulties, I'd wonder how longer either channel will survive, given the UPC version at any rate does not take advertising!

As for UPC HD, content is king and right now UPC doesn't have it. As per my earlier post, 9 channels, 6 of which are documentaries. Documentaries don't sell pay-TV. They're nice to have, but I don't know anyone that subscribes to pay-TV for them. In this market, two things sell pay TV - access to the UK terrestrials (and UPC only has one of them despite UTV HD having launched recently and Channel 4 HD being around for a while). And more importantly, in the context of HD - Sky Sports. Until UPC has them, it won't generate massive take up.

An Tarbh

I'm not even sure if we'll get BBC1HD when it launches next week, we haven't got UTVHD or Channel 4HD as has already been said, no sign of E4 or Film 4 in HD either and I don't get why we don't have ESPN America HD either.

okidoki987

worth considering is that sky propose providing phone and broadband

When is this happening as the last time I asked Sky, they said they had no plans for it?

rebeve

djimi wrote: »

Just to be fair to UPC their TV and broadband should be seperated from each other when talking about TV service; while Im not a fan of their TV and feel it lags well behind Sky, their broadband service is by a country mile the best in the country, and puts the rest of them to shame quite frankly. When it comes to internet in Ireland, there is only one serious provider, and that is UPC. The rest are just living in the stone age.

+1

Frank2k

icdg wrote: »

Currently the UPC HD pack is severly limited, only nine channels - BBC HD, ESPN, Eurosport, Crime and Invesigation, National Geographic, History, Nat Geo Wild, Discovery, and Biography.

More like 8 as Bio HD share transponder space with C&I HD even though they (i.e. UPC) try and make it look like they are two separate channels (ch 223 and 225).

Anyway, my parents got a questionnaire from Sky where it clearly came across that they are interested in starting phone and BB in Ireland as well. Also there were hints i the questions that HD may become free for premium subscribers just like Sky+ was some time back before it became available to all Sky Subscribers. So, it could be they are interested in getting Anytime+ rolled out here in the republic as well which would kick UPC back a few years on the development ladder - again

Ranicand

Frank2k wrote: »

More like 8 as Bio HD share transponder space with C&I HD even though they (i.e. UPC) try and make it look like they are two separate channels (ch 223 and 225).

Anyway, my parents got a questionnaire from Sky where it clearly came across that they are interested in starting phone and BB in Ireland as well. Also there were hints i the questions that HD may become free for premium subscribers just like Sky+ was some time back before it became available to all Sky Subscribers. So, it could be they are interested in getting Anytime+ rolled out here in the republic as well which would kick UPC back a few years on the development ladder - again

If Sky plan on using Eircom lines I do not think UPC will be too worried.

Frank2k

Ranicand wrote: »

If Sky plan on using Eircom lines I do not think UPC will be too worried.

Agree, but it could be that Sky is planning a shopping round in Ireland and there has been some shift in ownership with ISP's - some more successful than others.

Besides, I think that Sky's BB is mainly a secondary service to back up their VOD the unbeatable Anytime+; but what is strange is that UPC haven't developed it at all as they (apparently) have the infrastructure to do so with ease(?). Again this just shows how incompetent UPC and slow UPC are. They are making enough money to fund R&D but for some reason they don't care as long as naive people continue to throw money at them (me included)

If I could, I would have Sky any day as all their TV service is unbeatable by far!

Frank2k

djimi wrote: »

Just to be fair to UPC their TV and broadband should be seperated from each other when talking about TV service; while Im not a fan of their TV and feel it lags well behind Sky, their broadband service is by a country mile the best in the country, and puts the rest of them to shame quite frankly. When it comes to internet in Ireland, there is only one serious provider, and that is UPC. The rest are just living in the stone age.

Only problem is that their BB doesn't even reach half of their potential subscribers... :mad:

dunworth1

Frank2k wrote: »

Agree, but it could be that Sky is planning a shopping round in Ireland and there has been some shift in ownership with ISP's - some more successful than others.

Besides, I think that Sky's BB is mainly a secondary service to back up their VOD the unbeatable Anytime+; but what is strange is that UPC haven't developed it at all as they (apparently) have the infrastructure to do so with ease(?). Again this just shows how incompetent UPC and slow UPC are. They are making enough money to fund R&D but for some reason they don't care as long as naive people continue to throw money at them (me included)

If I could, I would have Sky any day as all their TV service is unbeatable by far!

they are working on VOD and planning to launch it sometime next year

Frank2k

dunworth1 wrote: »

they are working on VOD and should launch it sometime next year

I can't help laughing when I hear that UPC are supposedly in the process of introducing something new. Why can't they first finish off what they have started like,

1. Getting BB to all their potential subscribers in urbanized areas, and
2. Getting HD sorted to all their potential subscribers in urbanized areas?

I'm wondering how UPC are going to get VOD to all their customers when they apparently doesn't have enough bandwidth for their TV channel line up; Or wait, maybe it's again only a little fraction of their subscribers who will be blessed with another (half hearted) service, which the rest of us are indirectly paying to without getting the tiniest sniff of :mad:

dunworth1

my understanding of vod will mean that it will only be avabile to customes who can get broadband

Frank2k

dunworth1 wrote: »

my understanding of vod will mean that it will only be avabile to customes who can get broadband

So no development then...

dunworth1

sorry dont know anything about that i assume that upc are continuing to upgrade their network.

Frank2k

So again, nothing new... "UPC upgrading their net" has been going on for years and still, friends who live scattered around the CC of Dublin still can't get anything (BB, Phone and/or HD) and have been waiting for years to get the most basic BB (first NTL and now UPC)...

Still the digital cable subscription costs the same for these poor individuals who can't get HD as for those who can get HD (and then in the future VOD)!

Daylight Robbery!

djimi

Frank2k wrote: »

I can't help laughing when I hear that UPC are supposedly in the process of introducing something new. Why can't they first finish off what they have started like,

1. Getting BB to all their potential subscribers in urbanized areas, and
2. Getting HD sorted to all their potential subscribers in urbanized areas?

If theyd just get the EPG working to a usable level it would be a substantial start... :rolleyes:

dunworth1

Frank2k wrote: »

So again, nothing new... "UPC upgrading their net" has been going on for years and still, friends who live scattered around the CC of Dublin still can't get anything (BB, Phone and/or HD) and have been waiting for years to get the most basic BB (first NTL and now UPC)...

Still the digital cable subscription costs the same for these poor individuals who can't get HD as for those who can get HD (and then in the future VOD)!

Daylight Robbery!

no one is forcing them to be with upc f not happy they can just use rabbit ears
or sky

Frank2k

dunworth1 wrote: »

no one is forcing them to be with upc f not happy they can just use rabbit ears
or sky

Living in a place where you can't have a dish and poor UHF/DTT reception and where UPC is the only option :rolleyes:

dunworth1

Frank2k wrote: »

Living in a place where you can't have a dish and poor UHF/DTT reception and where UPC is the only option :rolleyes:

if it really that important to them then they should have checked before moving

also they could approach the management and neighbors about getting sky setup for the entire building (if living in an apartment)

Frank2k

dunworth1 wrote: »

if it really that important to them then they should have checked before moving

also they could approach the management and neighbors about getting sky setup for the entire building (if living in an apartment)

You gotta be kidding me? You seriously don't believe that people should base their lives around what TV signals they can get into the dumb-box now!?!?!

Anyway, I said the same to some of them and was told that there had been some Sky adverts in the post box, but they thought at least 4 out of 12 apartments (or so) had to sign up according to the pamphlet so they kind of let it go

Freddie59

Frank2k wrote: »

You gotta be kidding me? You seriously don't believe that people should base their lives around what TV signals they can get into the dumb-box now!?!?!

Anyway, I said the same to some of them and was told that there had been some Sky adverts in the post box, but they thought at least 4 out of 12 apartments (or so) had to sign up according to the pamphlet so they kind of let it go

@Frank2k - you really have a major beef with UPC. Almost ALL of your posts are anti-UPC. What's the story?

Frank2k

Hi Freddie59,

Sorry, I'm just one of those people who got way too much of UPC and need to vent my pipes and unfortunately this is the place that has to take it

I'm just not happy with UPC and I can't for the life of me understand why some people worship them as they are mans best friend. I have see what SKY HD is like and it irritates me enormously that UPC can't get anything right. Virgin is doing a great job (or so it seems) in the UK...

Anyway, I'll stop my ranting (for now) and apologies if anyone feel that I'm doing UPC unjust...

icdg

Not one of the posts on this page has been on the topic of UPC HD. This entire forum is basically for UPC (although we welcome customers of other ROI cable systems too, not that there are many left. And Virgin Media as well). The point is if you want to argue about UPC Broadband, do it in a thread about broadband. Or indeed in the seperate Broadband forum.

In otherwords, back on topic, or the thread's being closed.

Degsy123

I recently moved my tv, broadband and phone to UPC and it's one of my worst decisions. If I could go back a month I would never have switched. TV EPG is awful and miles behind SKY ( I'm not a sky fan by the way), and I am supposed to have 30mb broadband and the best speedtest output has been around 15mb. Very very poor. Don't make the same mistake. It's better value but very disappointing.