SKY HD pack is a rip pack off in my view

ftakeith

sky should abolish the HD pack costs

€15 or any new price increases should be abolished

I saw sky sports SD and its HD versions on a neighbour's hd tv, not much difference

Ronan

ftakeith wrote: »

sky should abolish the HD pack costs

€15 or any new price increases should be abolished

I saw sky sports SD and its HD versions on a neighbour's hd tv, not much difference

Agree, the €15 is extortionate and hopefully we will see it reduced or abolished in the near future (some chance).

There is a massive difference between SD and HD, especially on a full HD TV. Once you have the sports in HD it is hard to go back...gits!

ftakeith

ftakeith wrote: »

sky should abolish the HD pack costs

€15 or any new price increases should be abolished

I saw sky sports SD and its HD versions on a neighbour's hd tv, not much difference

Theres a hell of a difference, what tv was it and what size because sounds like hes doing it wrong!

Extinction

Many people have their HD box connected by scart to their HD TV and wonder why they can't see any difference in picture quality.

cena

You can the differences with the American football. Hard to go back watching in sd

The Ayatolla

I got a deal from them, half price HD for the year and free multiroom, giving me HD in both rooms. Great deal and service.

bucks73

On a deal with them too at the moment but would still never go back to SD...the difference in picture quality is massive. Sport in SD looks dreadful now compared to HD.

swedex

The HD charge will always be around while people are still continuing to pay for it. Personally I think Sky should drop it for those with Sky world or whatever the film and sport package is called to encourage more to take those up, as surely their movies subscriptions must be dwindling at a fierce rate.

Likely when it will be dropped is when 4k starts to take off, so expect a HD charge for another 15 - 20 years.

thebrush

Yes difference is massive. I have pack,But i get Sky Sports F1 free with it so it justifies itself!!:D

Cheers.

Storm 10

The OP must have something wrong with his eyes if he cant tell the difference between SD and HD, I would never go back to SD, when I watch a rugby match on TG4 the picture quality is pure sh..e all blurry when the players are running and not much better standing..

PogMoThoin

ftakeith wrote: »

I saw sky sports SD and its HD versions on a neighbour's hd tv, not much difference

Fail, they're doing it wrong

lertsnim

ftakeith wrote: »

I saw sky sports SD and its HD versions on a neighbour's hd tv, not much difference

Rubbish

copacetic

ftakeith wrote: »

sky should abolish the HD pack costs

€15 or any new price increases should be abolished

I saw sky sports SD and its HD versions on a neighbour's hd tv, not much difference

The price is terrible, but difference in quality is massive. You were either looking at badly setup system, an SD programme, or via UPC?

Gonzo

perhaps the person is watching sky's hd service through a scart cable? Ive seen people do that before which would explain no difference between sd and hd. Pay for the HD pack myself and have to admit the 15 euro charge is crazy for the same channels just in higher quality. However sky's SD output is at such a bad bitrate that I can barely watch it. Even the channels on Freeview look less pixilated than the same channels on Sky.

The Ayatolla

Wasn't there rumours they lowered the bitrate on SD to make HD look even better. Wouldn't be surprised.

odyboody

Also depends on size of TV. The larger the TV the bigger the difference between SD and HD

lapsed

ftakeith wrote: »

sky should abolish the HD pack costs

€15 or any new price increases should be abolished

I saw sky sports SD and its HD versions on a neighbour's hd tv, not much difference

Maybe a 50Hz TV ?? I've got a 37" Panasonic 100Hz and the SD picture is great.

Harcrid

I have come across two Sky installers who installed Sky HD and then left the HDMI cable in the box and used the scart. No wonder some people cant see a difference if this is happening.

NIMAN

$ky deliberately lowered the quality of some of their SD broadcasts so that the HD looked even better.

johnolocher

I think at this stage Sky should make HD standard and abolish the fee.

However, as a TV lover I do pay for HD, the difference is huge in my opinion. The picture is much clearer, objects at a distance are sharpe and the sound is way better. It's really strange when I flick to RTÉ One or TV3, SD just looks substandard now I'm used to HD.

NIMAN

Anyone who can see no difference between SD and HD need to either:

1) Check that they have their satellite receiver and TV connected together using the optimum cable, or
2) Go see an optician.

munchkin_utd

The Ayatolla wrote: »

Wasn't there rumours they lowered the bitrate on SD to make HD look even better. Wouldn't be surprised.

sky germany do this occasionally and the difference suddenly becomes massive.
The picture for the worldcup 2010 was that bad that it was honestly unwatchable.

on my 32 inch telly the difference though is marginal enough for non sports though between a good SD broadcast and a HD broadcast.
Marginal enough that you'd record the SD show version to save space on the sky+.
On a bigger tv though you'd see a far greater benefit.

The Ayatolla

munchkin_utd wrote: »

sky germany do this occasionally and the difference suddenly becomes massive.
The picture for the worldcup 2010 was that bad that it was honestly unwatchable.

on my 32 inch telly the difference though is marginal enough for non sports though between a good SD broadcast and a HD broadcast.
Marginal enough that you'd record the SD show version to save space on the sky+.
On a bigger tv though you'd see a far greater benefit.

Yeah I had a 32 inch downstairs and to be honest things like Sky sports news with lots of text look a lot better in HD.

Upstairs on my 47 inch the different was massive.

who_ru

it's 10 quid sterling in the UK for HD which is 12.27 euros but we get shafted for 15 euros here. sickening.

Cienciano

They rang me and offered me a deal for HD and movies for an extra €7.50 a month for a year, so I went for it.
I'd never sign up for the movies, but the HD is good. Although, not worth €15 a month imho. It really should be free.
What's the story with RTE 2 HD? There were new films on over christmas and they broadcast them on their HD channel in normal definition
What's the point?

PogMoThoin

Cienciano wrote: »

They rang me and offered me a deal for HD and movies for an extra €7.50 a month for a year, so I went for it.
I'd never sign up for the movies, but the HD is good. Although, not worth €15 a month imho. It really should be free.
What's the story with RTE 2 HD? There were new films on over christmas and they broadcast them on their HD channel in normal definition
What's the point?

They can only do HD for live events at the moment, sport etc. Their playout system upscales

Capt'n Midnight

Extinction wrote: »

Many people have their HD box connected by scart to their HD TV and wonder why they can't see any difference in picture quality.

+1 for using the right connector AND checking that the TV and satellite box are set for the highest resolution that works.

And don't forget that HD Ready doesn't always mean you will get a HD picture :mad::mad::mad::mad:

Capt'n Midnight

NIMAN wrote: »

$ky deliberately lowered the quality of some of their SD broadcasts so that the HD looked even better.

Any proof ?

Easy enough to find out the bitrate from a non-SKY box

Anyway they'd argue that bandwidth costs money and with only X customers remaing on SD / promote flagship product ...


It's like Ryanair.
You know the rules and you know they aren't a charity, you know there are extra charges for the ability to Record, for HD , (for 3D?) for extra boxes, for extra channels, for PPV. If enough people pay then they'd be daft to do otherwise.


Let's not forget that when CD's first came out they were mixed differently to records so people could 'hear' the difference.

lertsnim

Celtxx wrote: »

I have come across two Sky installers who installed Sky HD and then left the HDMI cable in the box and used the scart. No wonder some people cant see a difference if this is happening.

A similar thing happened to my mother. The installer even connected the HDMI cable to the tv but not the Sky box. Absolutely baffling.

PogMoThoin wrote: »

They can only do HD for live events at the moment, sport etc. Their playout system upscales

They do show some series in HD.

muffler

lertsnim wrote: »

A similar thing happened to my mother. The installer even connected the HDMI cable to the tv but not the Sky box. Absolutely baffling.

Happened to me about 3 or 4 years ago when I got a Sky+ HD box installed. I could see a very slight improvement in picture quality compared to what I had previously but not enough to justify the €15 extra per month so after 30 days I rang them and told them to cancel the HD.

The Sky agent asked me to check the input and it was a scart lead even though the HDMI cable was also connected. A couple of seconds sorted it.

The slight increase in picture quality came around as the installer adjusted the dish a wee bit when he was there.

byte

Celtxx wrote: »

I have come across two Sky installers who installed Sky HD and then left the HDMI cable in the box and used the scart. No wonder some people cant see a difference if this is happening.

Strange they would do something so stupid, considering the Sky+ HD boxes don't come supplied with Scart leads, only HDMI cables (at the start of HD boxes, it's possible that both were supplied and maybe this is why only HDMI cable has been supplied for the past few years).

muffler

byte wrote: »

Strange they would do something so stupid, considering the Sky+ HD boxes don't come supplied with Scart leads, only HDMI cables (at the start of HD boxes, it's possible that both were supplied and maybe this is why only HDMI cable has been supplied for the past few years).

In my case the old box being replaced was connected with a scart and the guy disconnected it from the back of the old box and obviously reconnected it to the new HD box.

lapsed

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

+1 for using the right connector AND checking that the TV and satellite box are set for the highest resolution that works.

And don't forget that HD Ready doesn't always mean you will get a HD picture

:mad::mad::mad::mad:

Could you elaborate a bit ? Am I right in thinking that a basic requirement is 1024 X 768 ??

PogMoThoin

lapsed wrote: »

Could you elaborate a bit ? Am I right in thinking that a basic requirement is 1024 X 768 ??

HD Ready is a buzz word meaning capable of receiving a HD picture, it doesn't necessarily mean displays HD
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_ready

mikeym

IMO the HD charge is an expensive luxury in this economic climate.

nocoverart

I find the HD ( with football/soccer anyways ) is not something you really notice on first viewing, but then go back and try and watch a game in SD :eek:

lapsed

PogMoThoin wrote: »

HD Ready is a buzz word meaning capable of receiving a HD picture, it doesn't necessarily mean displays HD
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_ready

It says - Wiki - that it means that it-the teevee - doesn't have an inbuilt HD tuner. Which with Sky HD I wouldn't need. Right ?

PogMoThoin

lapsed wrote: »

It says - Wiki - that it means that it-the teevee - doesn't have an inbuilt HD tuner. Which with Sky HD I wouldn't need. Right ?

Yes, it means that you have to buy an external device to watch HD content

Capt'n Midnight

NIMAN wrote: »

$ky deliberately lowered the quality of some of their SD broadcasts so that the HD looked even better.

interesting
http://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky-HD-Picture-Sound/Sky-SD-Picture-Quality/td-p/36357

Why is it that Sky broadcast substandard pictures for most of there SD channels? Sky Sports and Sky news are the exceptions, every other channel broadcast by sky themselves is 544x576 3/4 of the proper SD resolution ( 704x576 or 720x576).
...
The BBC, ITV channels which still broadcast 720x576 full SD pictures look OK, but they are not pay or premium services.

The Ayatolla

byte wrote: »

Strange they would do something so stupid, considering the Sky+ HD boxes don't come supplied with Scart leads, only HDMI cables (at the start of HD boxes, it's possible that both were supplied and maybe this is why only HDMI cable has been supplied for the past few years).

Had the same thing, an installer replaced by old Sky+ box with a Sky+HD box and used the scart and left the HDMI in the box under the couch. Lazy to the extreme.

leinsterdude

SKY are mean money grabbing so and so's...but the product is very strong....cant dent that....

lertsnim

Same can be said for a lot of businesses in truth.The only way they will drop that charge now is if people un subscribed from the HD package. They make millions from it

Harcrid

muffler wrote: »

In my case the old box being replaced was connected with a scart and the guy disconnected it from the back of the old box and obviously reconnected it to the new HD box.

Thats exactly what happened in the two cases I know of. Sheer laziness and incompetence and who knows how many people cancelled their HD subscription because they were not impressed with their new HD picture. :-)

Cantona's Collars

Worst case I came across was a HD box connected to a 40" Hd tv via an RF cable:eek:

Extinction

I've seen them installed in attics and connected to magic eyes on tv's via internal cables.

PogMoThoin

Extinction wrote: »

I've seen them installed in attics and connected to magic eyes on tv's via internal cables.

Yep, I've seen customers insist on this, no talking to them.

You guys think it's up to the installer to inform the customer of what's best? Customers set the tone of an install, most installers want to get in and out quickly. I've spent years doing satellite and broadband installs. A huge amount of customers make out they know lots about technology, it's typical of men, when 2 mins with them you realise they know sweet feck all. You just get the job done and disappear.

Extinction

If your a sky (Sierra) installer you get the job done and disappear but if your a professional you take the time to go through the customers option while being aware that they may not be up to speed on these things, you then make alternate suggestions to them. You certainly wouldn't install a HD box that has a card activated for HD channels in an attic just because you want to get out quickly.

PogMoThoin

Extinction wrote: »

If your a sky (Sierra) installer you get the job done and disappear but if your a professional you take the time to go through the customers option while being aware that they may not be up to speed on these things, you then make alternate suggestions to them. You certainly wouldn't install a HD box that has a card activated for HD channels in an attic just because you want to get out quickly.

Yes, now i work for myself it's a one to one relationship with the customer. I set the tone of the install and advise what's best. This doesn't happen with a Sky installer and expecting it to happen is crazy.

lapsed

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Yes, now i work for myself it's a one to one relationship with the customer. I set the tone of the install and advise what's best. This doesn't happen with a Sky installer and expecting it to happen is crazy.

Dopey question, I know, but will an HD box function as a SKY + box as well ?

Extinction

Yes, Sky+HD is a PVR.

ftakeith

Sky's HD pack should be abolished

I have seen the best of HD through my freesat tuner on my samsung smart tv, there are differences between HD and SD
but I never going to be pay €15 extra to watch pay tv channels in hd
at the weekend I will subscribe SD versions of some sky tv channels of the sky go monthly ticket for a month for €55