Sky HD Content

[Toasty]

I'm hoping to get Sky HD soon and was wondering about the shows on the HD channels. Are all shows full HD or are older shows upscaled / remastered? If so, how does the older content fair against the new content?

For example, how does an old episode of Angel or Buffy on Sci Fi HD compare to a new episode of something like Fringe on Sky 1 HD?

[Goooner]

Not sure about the older stuff, anything I'm interested in I probably already own on DVD.

The newer stuff looks great though, especially stuff like Lost.

[welshcraig]

sky hd is not full hd it is in 720p / 1080i.

[mentm]

Old shows are upscaled by broadcaster, seems to give a better picture than watching non hd channel, though nowhere near as good as shows shot in HD

[HDCriticalFan]

Originally Posted by welshcraig

sky hd is not full hd it is in 720p / 1080i.

No.

Sky+HD is exclusively 1080i.

The box can downscale the incoming signal to 720p at the user's option - presumably in case you have a screen that can accept 720p but not 1080i (or doesn't downscale a 1080i signal very well).

As to "Full HD" ... this is really only a marketing term to identify screens that have 1080 lines (as opposed to many older ones which only have 768 lines). A "Full HD" set can accept and display 1080p (and 1080i of course) natively. An "HD Ready" may accept the same resolutions as inputs, but has to downscale them for display purposes. I can't speak generally here, but I know of at least one "HD Ready" set in my family which will not accept 1080p as an input.


The difference between 1080i and 1080p is quite subtle. Both create a picture comprising 1920x1080 pixels (i.e. roughly 2mp) but they are refreshed at differing rates. The "p" variant is better at reproducing fast motion, but for slower material they are all but indistinguishable to anyone who isn't a "TV Expert".

In any event, the overhead of "p" over "i" is so great that we are unlikely to ever see "p" being broadcast commercially. You may as well just accept that Sky+HD is as good as it gets for TV broadcast.





Regards

[Toasty]

Thanks for the replies, is it obvious from the EPG which shows were shot in HD?

[leej]

Originally Posted by Toasty

Thanks for the replies, is it obvious from the EPG which shows were shot in HD?

When you go into HD channels in the TV guide, the shows that are broadcast in HD are highlighted in a different colour.

[Deftones]

Originally Posted by leej

When you go into HD channels in the TV guide, the shows that are broadcast in HD are highlighted in a different colour.

Only on the new EPG.

More than likely when you upgrade to HD you will get a box with the old EPG

Deftones

[HDCriticalFan]

Originally Posted by Toasty

Are all shows full HD or are older shows upscaled / remastered? If so, how does the older content fair against the new content?

For example, how does an old episode of Angel or Buffy on Sci Fi HD compare to a new episode of something like Fringe on Sky 1 HD?

As I mentioned in my other post, "Full HD" doesn't really mean anything in this context.

As for picture quality, there is a varying scale.

Broadly speaking, all shows look better on an HD channel. The use of newer encryption hardware/software and a greater bandwidth see to this. Also the ability to connect via a digital HDMI connection can improve picture quality.

Old SD programmes can be upscaled at source (a good example being most of C4's output). This is where the broadcaster takes a clean copy of an older SD programme and re-masters it in an HD format. It isn't actually high definition ... but it's as good as that programme can get. It gives a good result (especially on recent good source material) and can often look almost as good as "real" HD.

And finally you have modern HD programming. This is where HD cameras are used to make a "true" HD programme. This is obviously the best, especially where care is taken with lighting, etc, to create a stunning image.


So, on the one hand, old stuff (e.g. Buffy) has never looked better - but on the other, by comparison with state of the art material on a large HD TV ... it has never seemed worse


The EPG (old and new) identifies HD material in the synopsis info (the new EPG allows the user to choose orange text to highlight HD material). C4 and Sky tend to amend the on-screen channel ident to signal the presence of HD. Other channels (I'm looking at you Eurosport !) always show the same channel ident (i.e. EuroSport HD) but then add the confusing "Native HD" text to the screen (as if we need more dogs) when the show was actually recorded/broadcast in HD.





Regards

[Toasty]

Originally Posted by Deftones

More than likely when you upgrade to HD you will get a box with the old EPG

Isn't the EPG software that should upgrade? If I get a box with the old EPG I would expect it to update itself, or is this not the case?

[badkarma]

Originally Posted by Toasty

Isn't the EPG software that should upgrade? If I get a box with the old EPG I would expect it to update itself, or is this not the case?

Yes eventually they would all be upgraded it's just a waiting game. If you get the old EPG, enjoy it while it lasts

[badkarma]

Originally Posted by HDCriticalFan

In any event, the overhead of "p" over "i" is so great that we are unlikely to ever see "p" being broadcast commercially. You may as well just accept that Sky+HD is as good as it gets for TV broadcast.

Not sure about this, 1080i @50Hz surely takes the same (or very similar) bandwidth to 1080p @25Hz. Same information just sent differently as you mention. I can't see why there is additional overhead unless the codec is more efficient with interlaced signals.

This is all moot if you are refering to 1080p50Hz (or 60Hz) of course.

[Martin J.]

Originally Posted by badkarma

I can't see why there is additional overhead unless the codec is more efficient with interlaced signals.

It's actually the other way around as there's less temporal information in 25p.

[Knyght_byte]

simple rule as to whether the show you watch is HD or upscaled HD, if the show was shot on real filmstock, then its likely to be HD, if it was shot on TV stock prior to HD cameras being used, it will be upscaled (ie early SG1 etc).

If you have a good upscaler, then dont stress, use the SD channel as the HD channels are often in 4:3 format. Why, if sky can upscale, do they not also 16:9 older pictures for their HD channel when they broadcast it to save you enjoying black bars on the side....lol

[derek500]

Originally Posted by Knyght_byte

If you have a good upscaler, then dont stress, use the SD channel as the HD channels are often in 4:3 format. Why, if sky can upscale, do they not also 16:9 older pictures for their HD channel when they broadcast it to save you enjoying black bars on the side....lol

If an HD channel shows a programme in 4:3, then it's a 4:3 programme!!

The same programme is not broadcast in 16:9 on SD. It's broadcast in 4:3 and your TV is stretching it!!