SKY HD
 

I had my new skybox installed over the weekend. Surprisingly I have to say I'm a little unimpressed. All of Sky's technology in the past has been groundbreaking and exciting.

The guy installing the box did warn me that these are first-generation boxes and there are a large number of bugs.

The difference between normal sky on a 50 inch plasma and high-definition sky on a 50 inch plasma is not that great it seems. Other than the BBC demo channel there isn't much decent high-definition footage around. You can see the difference but it is not that radical. It is good that a lot of the programs have surround sound.

There are very few HD channels(£10!!!!!) this is further compounded by the fact that the HD channels only show about 60% of the programs in HD(£10!!!??!!) .

One of the main reasons for buying sky HD is that most programs are broadcast in native surround sound. However Sky recommend you do not use a surround sound amplifier???? As when you switch channels the sound mode also switches causing a very loud “pop” and if you have a sub bass woofer this is very annoying. Sky recommend before changing the channel that you turn the sound down to zero before you change channel (how annoying and un-practical is this).

Although the sky plus feature has 300 GB(160 GB available recording) this is where I have found the most bugs if you start recording a program sometimes it doesn't stop and I have recorded five programs since I had the box and three failed due to some sort of corruption which caused the box to hang.

I do not believe of the above problems which are major are limited to my box as Sky seemed to know all about them and a friend of mine who also has Sky HD has exactly the same bugs.

My recommendation:
Wait until the price comes down (the difference is not massive if you already have a 42/50 inch screen)

The extra £10 a month for the HD subscription is a complete rip-off. The only good channel the BBC demo channel is free! And that gets a little bit boring after 10 minutes.

Check it out yourself. But I for one wish I had waited……………. Oh the joys of being an early adopter

I have been looking at HD stuff, and I have to say that for the money, it ain't that much better than a good TV with normal broadcast.

Like the OP says, pictures generally look better on big screens whether they are HD or not. I've seen HD demos on small screens, and it's just not that great!

Will Sky put up their prices when more HD channles come online? Would be an evern bigger rip off than it is now..............

Geezer

The Sky+ boxes are 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Digital already m8, had mine for over a year now. They also have an optical out, and the sky+ remote also controls my AV amp.

dipster

I more or less assumed what you would say about picture quality when HD was first mentioned. I am sorry that the Sky box has got those bugs, most unfair to sell a box like that and I bet they won't replace it for a good one later on without a price adjustment at least. Sky are very good at ripping off existing customers.

I was suspicious about how many channels would be HD for the £10 a month extra which is a blatant rip-off as you say.

I bought a non HD 42" plasma which has an outstanding picture and was only half price. Certainly have not regretted it and part of the deal was a very good DVD recorder with hard disc for trade price.

Les

But only for Movies Sky HD has it for Sport etc etc(world cup)

However very little is better than standard sky plus

Cheers for the review goldman, but I'd already deicded to wait until the bugs are ironed out & the price comes down a bit.

But most importantly - until they remove the £10-per-month charge! No way am i paying for the box, the channel package subscription AND another tenner per month on top.

I echo oobster on that - thanks goldman, much appreciated that you take the time to let us know.

I don't really regret getting the 32" Samsung HD LCD, the quality is way better than the old CRT , and DVD playback is excellent - but the whole Sky HD thing... well I did wonder and I'm glad you've confirmed my skeptism

After Sky couldn't supply a HD box to me i'm sourcing one myself and shall just watch the free BBC channels for the sport they are broadcasting in HD this summer.

I'd heard about the Samsung HD ready CRT, didn't realise that it was out yet. Does it display in 720P? I'd heard it was going to be priced around £350- £400. Is this the case?

The Samsung HD CRT came out last month - Currys and Comet both have it on their websites for £450-500. There's a hooge thread on it over at AVforums :- http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=331180

I was going to get one myself, but the picture on the one I saw had some annoying blurryness in the corners, which is normal for these sets. Ended up getting an LCD instead, and very pleased with it.

HD and 32 inch screen is a kind of double negative. You won't see hardly any difference on such a small screen in my opinion the bare minimum for HD would be 42 inches the extra resolution can only be seen on the larger screens.

To be perfectly honest as I said before I would wait until Sky realises that they've made a mistake and people don't purchase this system because it is nowhere near as big as the jump from sky to sky Digital or sky Digital to sky plus.

What a load of tosh! Obviously you have to be closer to a small screen to notice a huge difference, but to say '42" is a bare minimum' is just rubbish. I've run some HD demos on my 32" LCD, and the difference is tangible from 15ft away...

Oh, the irony! :lol1:

I have to admit that is funny.....

Classic :D

Got to admit - I was there on the irony of that statement myself :D :D :D

(oh, and the difference is quite clear to me)

Seriously though aside from my serious grammatical errors. Watching HD on a small screen is a bit like having a high-power surround sound amplifier and putting it through cheap speakers from Currys.

Because of the dramatic increase in resolution (more lines) and the progressive scan nature of HD you quite simply won't see it. You certainly wouldn't be able to tell the difference between 576p and 720p etc.

You could see the colour depth change but you won't notice much of a change in resolution.

Absolute bolderdash. I have a 32" LCD and I can wager with you that I can tell the difference between 576p and 720p. I reckon you should get your eyes checked out :)

Well said old chap!

Chip

On the Xbox 360 and my 32" LCD I can tell the difference between a digital channel a 480p download and a 720p download and I need glasses that I don't wear.

Extremely impressed with our HD. I cant believe people have correct set up/installation/TV if they cannot see a dramatic difference. Watching regular satellite is like viewing through a muddy puddle in comparison.

I watched 5 overs of the cricket on Sky HD on a 50" Bravia in the local Sony centre just because I wanted to see what live sport was like on HD and it was a lot sharper and looked very nice but I was a little disapointed that the grass was still blurry/fuzzy, I get this on my 100 mhz CRT and expected it to have improved a bit more, all that said I'd buy a 50" Bravia Lcd tomorrow + the HD, in a couple of years time there will be more channels and HD broadcasts and the equipment should be nicely bedded in and knowing Sky, upgraded in some shape or form for an extra £10 a month !

Had mine installed today, just a simple box swap from Plus to HD, authorised the card, a quick demo and job done.

The difference is night and day on some clips, the footy clips on the BBC demo channel look superb, roll on Friday! :D

I went on the HD training course way back in march/early april, and can honestly say i wasnt overly-impressed then, and now ive seen a few in 'proper real-life' situ's im still not! i can get a HD box on staff discount for £99.. but im not rushing out to get that either.... Ill carry on watching Sky on one of my two Skyplus boxes on either my 32" tv OR my 48" plasma and get good pictures on either..(and it dont cost me anything , either)!!

Of course there is a difference, but the difference is not "night and day" as some would suggest, and IMO is certainly not worth the outlay at the moment.

Stick any quality huge screen in your lounge and you will get excellent picture quality from current broadcasts too.

Quite often it is a case of "the emperor's new clothes" with things like this too. It gets so hyped up, people perceive it be alot better then it actually is.....

Geezer

Higher resolution means a larger picture. Therefore the larger the screen the better the effect the smaller the screen the less impact there is.

My point is that if you have a large screen anyway it is pointless to upgrade to Sky HD at the moment because there is a very limited amount of channels available which are no different than channels already available on Sky apart and they are in high definition and Sky are charging extra for the privilege.

The World Cup demo on the BBC channel is impressive I just hope the World Cup is broadcast in 1080 like that clip is. The cricket has been broadcast in 720P which is of negligible difference.

Could be why the grass looked fuzzy when I was watching the cricket then??, I thought HD was to have eradicated this, we were suppossed to be able to see each blade of grass every bead of sweat. Why do they broadcast live at 720p but the demo is 1080 ?? its a little like taking an Sti for a test drive and when you buy one you've only got the sport engine under the bonnet, are they able to transmit live HD at 1080, hopefully something we can expect in the future.

I have run HD demos on my 23 inch HD LCD and compared with a non HD demo of exactly the same item and the difference is very noticable. Maybe HD DVD will be superior to SKY HD ?

I am not entirely sure why sport is broadcast in 720P and movies are broadcast in 1080i I think it is something to do with motion handling being better on 720P the England Brazil game demo that is shown on the BBC channel is very impressive that all of the shots are wide-angle there are very few moving close-ups(lots of movement)

Mind you this is all hypothesis when they BBC show the England game on Friday we will see what it's all about!!