La Liga insult from sky continues

[wednesday83]

Is it just me or is tonights Sevilla vs Real madrid game the worst picture quality for spanish footy ever? Its dire. I dont think its really the feed but the fact sky are using the pathetic unwatchable studio. The colours on the studios shots are dire and its a disgrace.

Early on in the season they seemed to be using the better studio every now and then and sometimes some pics were almnost HD like. Now they seem to use the crappy studio week in week out. Why???? Is it a 4:3 studio???

Why have they stopped using the better studio??? Maybe they should show a little more respect to the subscribers.

[Turbo Dragon]

The studios at Sky are normally changed depending on whatever is booked for that day. Unfortunately some studios are a little older than others (I.e. have been around since Sky first went on air 20years ago) and others are only a couple of years old. There are a lot of studios at Sky and all have been built with the best technology at the time of commision. As we all know, technology moves at a very fast rate and the number of hours Sky churns out gives all the kit a hard life.

Spanish footy can be in the HD studios if they are free, in which case the cameras and vision circuits are better and may make a difference. However that depends on if there are any HD broadcasts being done that day or the day before.

You commented on the incoming feeds, whilst these were ok according to you, generic world feeds are in general a lesser quailty and there is nothing Sky can do in these circumstances.

I know its not much help but Sky are aware that the older studios are in need of updating and they are building a brand new complex on a new site with around 8 new HD studios, allowing the decomission of the older SD ones.

FWIW, I have heard of people on here complaining consistantly and getting refunds etc.

Not defending what you saw as i agree a lot of what is broadcast isnt a consistent quality but its always worth adding a second perspective to any argument.

[wednesday83]

The point is though early on in the season they were using the better studios quite often, now it doesnt matter if theres anything else used in them its always in the rubbish studio and the quality of the picture of the actual game has gone down with it.

[Turbo Dragon]

All I can suggest is that you register your complaint with Sky, if enough people do they might do something about it on the ground and actually upgrade the equipment or utilise the resources in a better fasion. When there is a lot of shows on they have to use whats available i guess

Not trying to defend Sky and im not in a position to be able to help you directly unfortunately buddy. Wish I could.

[derek500]

Originally Posted by Turbo Dragon

All I can suggest is that you register your complaint with Sky, if enough people do they might do something about it on the ground and actually upgrade the equipment or utilise the resources in a better fasion.

Sky are sorting it!! They're building a new studio centre which should be operational in 2011.

BBC Sport's new studios will also be ready inl 2011. That's the reason that no BBC sport with studio presentation, like MOTD can go HD.

[Martin J.]

Originally Posted by wednesday83

Early on in the season they seemed to be using the better studio every now and then and sometimes some pics were almnost HD like. Now they seem to use the crappy studio week in week out.

If it makes you feel any better, it's not just the football. We often get lovely 16:9 cricket from Australia, until a critical match on a weekend when suddenly it's mushy-vision in 4:3. Sometimes we even get a special treat - bright blue borders around the whole frame because the numbskull on the caption generator keeps forgetting to take it out of the TX loop after the advert breaks.

[uno]

Motorsports is seriously affected by Sky not having enough HD studios with Grand Prix speedway,Nascar and A1 GP all filmed in and broadcast elsewhere in HD its just Sky's stupid policy of not showing upscaled studio presentation and HD main coverage.

This is further confirmed by this weekends British A1gp and British speedway GP in June as both are presented from trackside they can be shown in HD

[Turbo Dragon]

Originally Posted by derek500

Sky are sorting it!! They're building a new studio centre which should be operational in 2011.

BBC Sport's new studios will also be ready inl 2011. That's the reason that no BBC sport with studio presentation, like MOTD can go HD.

I know they are sorting it, my first post made the same point. It can't come soon enough as the opinion of customers voiced on this and other forums indicates a growing un-happiness with the inconsistent quality of Skys broadcasts.

[Coffin]

Big shame this weekends El Clásico, supposedly one of the biggest games in football between Real Madrid & Barcelona isn't in HD

[wednesday83]

For the last El classico they used a decent studio and it was a near HD picture. Im assuming they will keep up the recent trend of trying to make viewers turn off and show it one of the duff ones.

Why not just use the HD feed and show the studio segments in HD??? Or even better get on Ryan Airs website and get some cheap flights to Madrid and shoot on location.

I talk to everyone at work about how great La Liga is yet all I get is "how can you watch that??".

2011 is yonks away. Maybe sky should have thought about studios before ging HD in the first place???

[derek500]

Originally Posted by wednesday83

Or even better get on Ryan Airs website and get some cheap flights to Madrid and shoot on location.

In the short term that's the only solution. It's how the BBC do all their, albeit very limited, HD sports coverage.

Sky do it that way with their golf coverage, but I suppose on economies of scale they are getting at least 20 hours of air time filled for the extra expense.

[IanMerseyside]

Originally Posted by coffin137

Big shame this weekends El Clásico, supposedly one of the biggest games in football between Real Madrid & Barcelona isn't in HD

Yes, I agree. I thought they might have pushed the boat out for this fixture and shown it in HD. I seem to remember a few years ago they sent the commentary team out to the stadium (as opposed to doing it remotely from the studio) and also showed the match in widescreen. I think this whole thing is a bigger issue than Sky realise. 2011 does seem too long to wait for La Liga to be shown in HD. I don't think I'm alone in preferring watching La Liga games to those from the Premier League.

[wednesday83]

I certainly prefer La Liga to the prem. If they cant do HD now then at least show it some respect and show it in its correct form and not mushed up looking like its from 1975 and on a VHS tape.

If the picture tonight is screwed up by sky then Im seriously gunna be hacked off. Its the biggest club match in the world with a lot riding on it.

[wednesday83]

OMG this is amazing. They have used the decent studio and picture ius stunning.... Oh hang on I was dreaming.

Absolutely pathetic from sky. crap studio and crap picture. Lucky I have a CRT display on standby. Some arnt so lucky tho.

I genuinely think You Tubes better quality.

[Martin J.]

If you're watching a lot of European football, then I'd suggest investing in a basic second system, with dish and receiver. The vast majority of primary European SD channels - Rai, Canal, Mediaset, ZDF, RTL etc - are all much better quality than what we get from our native broadcasters. They still broadcast the majority of programmes in 4:3 (usually with letterboxing, go figure) but you could always invest in a method of receiving Premiere, Canal+, ABSat or something like that.