Sky HD Picture...and more!

hawthorn

Hi Folks

A few thoughts on my mind for the past while so at last decided to throw then out.....sorry if they're not all connected!

1 I notice Saorview has added RTE 1 to HD now....what about us on Sky HD, will we ever have it and TV3 in HD I wonder?

2 This is bugging me... since I got HD about 4 years ago, Im happy enought with the quality. But I keep feeling that the picture even on non HD channels, is softer and not as "alive" as on the old Sky box. In my kitchen I have the old Sky box on a cheaper TV, and while overall the TV isnt as good a quality as my main one, theres a "brighter" or more "alive" picture than through my 42" HD setup. (which is HDMI connected, that may be the issue).

3 My sister has saorview / free channel box on a JVC 32" tv and I have to say the HD pictures, not just RTE, but BBC etc, are excellent. By any chance is the freeview box giving a better quality as than SKYs HD box. It is AV connected.

4 She has 40" Sony Bravia on the SKY+ box (not HD) and the JVC pictures beat it overall, even on the non HD channels.

Could the JVC be better quality TV (theyre both bout 5 yrs old and HD ready only)? Or the freeview combo box?

Sometimes I long to have my picture quality back to the old Sky box standard! Except for the actual HD channels of course!

Oh and the pain of turning on Sky HD and it never going automatically to HDMI input!

5 Finally Im totally peed off by SKY news text disappearing. Watching BBC 1 much more now!!
Sorry for the rambling.....any thoughts??

h

cranefly

Since getting a hd package from sky i have noticed that the standard definition channels have been turned down in quality so the hd channels look out of this world when you compare them, i think it is a little trick that sky are using to keep people paying for the hd package. my standard channels look away better when i am using the scart connection as opposed to the hdmi connection, but the quality of my hd channels is just a little bit poorer, it does not feel right to be paying a hd sub and then using the scart connection to watch my hd channels just so my standard channels look better.
Sometimes i think the picture on my 32 inch samsung in the kitchen looks better than the large screen tv in the living room.

Tom Hanks

Every man & his dog knows that Sky reduced the PQ of their SD channels to get more HD channels on frequencys.

The reduction of quality on the SD channels gives the HD channels that bit more of a wow factor too when you switch between say Sky Sports 1 & Sky Sports 1 HD.

Sky being Sky - I look forward to their downfall.

riclad

if you put sky hdmi cable on hdmi 1 ,it should come on, unless you have other devices powered on,
and plugged into the tv,
eg saorview, games console.
turn on tv, then turn on skybox.

hawthorn

Yes and to my mind the picture on the sisters JVC 32" with the saorview/free channels box is better than Sky, even their HD. THe humble combo box at €95 has a better HD and SD quality.

Makes me think about how good would it be if I went the ultimate way and got the Humax HD with recording, FF and Rewind etc....except for the few channels I DO like on sky of course.....bah!

Also though, its not just the HD on my SKY, I think all channels including HD have a "different" appearance. OK the HD part is sharper but overall softer or darker colour if thats not a contradiction!

And we'll never get RTE 1, TV 3 HD on Sky?

thanks folks

h

ftakeith

I have the basic sky sd package

I just watch mostly all the best sky tv stuff at the end of the week on sky catch up

hd bits means nothing to me as I watched heineken cup rugby live last 2 weekends in sd, hd was not a factor for me

I just get the sky sports in sd for €18 per month for the heineken cup rugby live

HD should be free on sky

ftlnn

riclad wrote: »

if you put sky hdmi cable on hdmi 1 ,it should come on, unless you have other devices powered on,
and plugged into the tv,
eg saorview, games console.
turn on tv, then turn on skybox.

I have the hdmi cable in hdmi 1 and strangely it doesn't switch on automatically, this only the case since i got the new hd box. always thought it was a tv setting that i was just too lazy to research....

basill

Don't forget all HD is not created equal. You might be watching a dedicated HD channel but the content is upscaled SD. RTE1 do this all the time as much of their equipment is yet to be upgraded to HD so was originally shot in SD. Sometimes you see it on some of the Sky HD channels when they are playing old repeats.

Peter Rhea

hawthorn wrote: »

Yes and to my mind the picture on the sisters JVC 32" with the saorview/free channels box is better than Sky, even their HD.

. . . Also though, its not just the HD on my SKY, I think all channels including HD have a "different" appearance. OK the HD part is sharper but overall softer or darker colour if thats not a contradiction!

Have you tried adjusting the picture settings on your TV with the Sky HD box connected?

MBSnr

It's not all down to Sky degrading the SD pic. (Perhaps for their channels compared to HD - I don't know - I don't have the HD pack).

What, however, makes a large difference is the output setting on the Sky box.

If you set the box output to 1080i then the Sky box does the upscaling to 1080i output (for SD channels) and it looks sh1te. The TV will remain on 1080i for all channels but RTE1 looks particularly soft as does TV3. This is why the switch to SCART looks better for some for SD content.

If you set the Sky box to Auto then the TV displays the output according to the channel shown (upscaling/downscaling) - RTE1 and TV3 appear crisper at 576p (I forget the actual resolution displayed). However the TV will jump between resolutions on channel changes. This is annoying as it creates a delay and I also found that sometimes the TV would just display a blue screen as the handshaking over HDMI must have gone screwy.

As such I leave the Sky box to do the crappy upscaling and live with it, resulting in less blue screens and quick channel changes but soft pictures on some of the SD channels.