Sky HD

petes

I currently have the full Sky package but no HD.

I was just wondering is the HD worth it?

Simple question

muffler

It is good for sport in particular but personally I neither have it nor would I ever consider paying €15/month for it.

If you have a good telly and dish properly aligned etc then the difference between SD and HD isn't massive.

petes

muffler wrote: »

It is good for sport in particular but personally I neither have it nor would I ever consider paying €15/month for it.

If you have a good telly and dish properly aligned etc then the difference between SD and HD isn't massive.

Think I might leave it so. Have a decent TV and channels come through fine, was just thinking if it was worth the money. I don't watch sports too often so that's a non runner. Movies mostly and some rubbish when I don't know what to watch.

Cheers

azzeretti

muffler wrote: »

If you have a good telly and dish properly aligned etc then the difference between SD and HD isn't massive.

It must be personal preference. I cannot (anymore) watch SD channels, especially the Irish channels. Some UK SD channels upscale reasonably good but certainly, to me anyway, there is a MASSIVE, difference between SD and HD!

Gerry Wicklow

As a rough rule-of-thumb if your TV is less than 40inch the difference is hard to see.

petes

azzeretti wrote: »

It must be personal preference. I cannot (anymore) watch SD channels, especially the Irish channels. Some UK SD channels upscale reasonably good but certainly, to me anyway, there is a MASSIVE, difference between SD and HD!

That's just why I asked the question. Looking for peoples experience with it. I suppose I could get it and see but not sure if I'm tied in to it for the rest of the contract!

BionicRasher

azzeretti wrote: »

It must be personal preference. I cannot (anymore) watch SD channels, especially the Irish channels. Some UK SD channels upscale reasonably good but certainly, to me anyway, there is a MASSIVE, difference between SD and HD!

Agree totally
RTE1 is chronic !

I hate watching SD stuff now and the HD stuff you can get on BBC for example is top class if you have a decent telly


On another matter.....
Anyone know if it is possible or even easy (and if its free or if it will cost) to get an old Sky box upgraded by Sky? Sister has just bought a top of the range Sony but they have an old box and its connected via Scart so the picture is poor – they really would like to get the HD box with HDMI connection

petes

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

As a rough rule-of-thumb if your TV is less than 40inch the difference is hard to see.

TV is 47 inch so I'd expect it to be okay.

muffler

petes wrote: »

That's just why I asked the question. Looking for peoples experience with it. I suppose I could get it and see but not sure if I'm tied in to it for the rest of the contract!

Someone posted up here in the last few days that they added the HD to their Sky account - went online and did it manually -and then discovered that it tied them into a new 12 month contract. So be careful.

Everyone has their own preferences but I personally dont see any justification in paying out another €15 every month to have the quality of my picture increased by maybe a mere 10% maximum. I have a 40" Sony Bravia and the picture quality is very good/excellent and I get a guy here to check and adjust the dish alignment if the signal quality or strength drop a little.

If you're a big sports fan and have a big screen tv (40" +) then maybe it's worth considering but at €15/month I dont consider it good value.

Lockster

Ring them and ask them whether there are any offers available. At the beginning of the year I got an offer from them from a new free HD box (replacing an old white sky+ box) as long as I agreed to take HD for a year but at a discounted rate of €5 per month.

From by 6 months experience I would say that it is worth €5 per month extra but certainly not €15 per month. When my 12 months is up I plan to ring and see will they extend the €5 per month for HD, if not then I'll quite happily cancel the HD.

I hope that this helps

My Advice is to look at the HD channels that are Free, such as BBC one HD and BBC 2 HD. also tune in ITV HD on other channels.

IF HD dosent impress you on those channels then dont waste €15 per month on SKY HD.

Watch F1 HD on BBC One HD to give you an idea what sport looks like.

thebrush

Only reason I got is for F1 but I believe that deal is gone. 15 a month for excellent F1coverage suits me!!

Cheers.

Tipsy McSwagger

Deleted User wrote: »

My Advice is to look at the HD channels that are Free, such as BBC one HD and BBC 2 HD. also tune in ITV HD on other channels.

IF HD dosent impress you on those channels then dont waste €15 per month on SKY HD.

Watch F1 HD on BBC One HD to give you an idea what sport looks like.

Very good advice.

mad muffin

I have had HD now for 6 years. I could never go back to watching shows, movies anything in SD.

Thie difference between HD and SD is massive, anyone who tells you they can't see an appreciable difference has either:

Not set up their TV properly

Have a small TV

Needs to go to Spec Savers

My big screen Plasma is very good at upscaling SD. Everyone who comes over and sees it for the first time always comments on how good the PQ is.

Then I turn the channel over to an HD on. To say they are impressed it putting it mildly.

You also get the added benefit of having 5.1 surround sound which enhances the viewing pleasure even more.

So if you ask me, yes it's worth it.

spank_inferno

With ITV & BBC available in HD free to air you can enjoy some sporting content in HD.

Sport is where HD comes into its own.

We did not opt for the €15 charge because the rest upscales fine.

Though as mentioned, our civil service broadcaster might as well smear vaseline on their lense they broadcast in such poor quality.

Tipsy McSwagger

Emmerdale is on at 7pm most days so just flick between TV3 and ITV HD. The difference in quality is astounding, especially the sound.

muffler

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Emmerdale is on at 7pm most days so just flick between TV3 and ITV HD. The difference in quality is astounding, especially the sound.

Compare anything with TV3 and it would look great

Tipsy McSwagger

muffler wrote: »

Compare anything with TV3 and it would look great

True, it's an awful channel video & sound wise.

STB

spank_inferno wrote: »

With ITV & BBC available in HD free to air you can enjoy some sporting content in HD.

Sport is where HD comes into its own.

We did not opt for the €15 charge because the rest upscales fine.

Though as mentioned, our civil service broadcaster might as well smear vaseline on their lense they broadcast in such poor quality.

Really? RTE2HD is pretty good for GAA and football etc.

Now TV3/3E the commercial give us money outfit I would agree with.

Cantona's Collars

My missus used to be sceptical about HD but even she's converted.It helps that we have never paid full price for it.

Sky will offer deals depending on who you get on the phone so worth giving them a buzz.

greasepalm

i was in an electrical outlet shop and people were not fused with hd as they were on the other side,if you have a sky dish and spare lnbs add in a freesat hd box or combo once off payment.
looking on an old crt tv with a hd box still sucks.

NUTZZ

It really does depend on the person to be honest, some people may have no need for HD.

I myself think it's worth it for the sports channels alone as that's what I predominantly watch. There is such a huge difference in quality from SD to HD on live games. Likewise if you have the movies pack and you're a film buff then it's a must have in my opinion.

Ultimately it comes down to how much HD content you watch regularly to justify it and above all if it's an expense you can afford.

cracker

Really it comes down to the size of your TV and how far you sit from it. The article below is about 4K but the chart illustrates value of 1080 and 720 also.



http://carltonbale.com/does-4k-resolution-matter/

So the smaller your TV the closer you need to get to notice the difference.

vertico

Ring sky. Offer at the mo for €5 pm for a year

whomitconcerns

After having HD for 2yrs its awful without it. Worth it IMHO for Discovery HD alone.

kooga

I don't have a hd sub, but then i only have the setanta sports pack and so far i have been very impressed with the picture quality of BT sport HD and ESPN HD. Defo makes a diffence for the sport on ITV and BBC .

wallycharlo

muffler wrote: »

I...If you have a good telly and dish properly aligned etc then the difference between SD and HD isn't massive...

Watch a HD channel (e.g. Sky Sports) for 5 minutes, then flick on the SD version. You will find that the SD picture looks absolutely awful.