Is Sky HD worth the Money?

Simpson1 · 26-02-2009, 8:39 PM

Thought I would ask all you clever members first.....
I am thinking about getting Sky HD with the movies aswell (not sport) although I will watch Eurosport for Snowboarding and Skiing and was wondering if you all think it is worth the £10 per month fee. I use a Panasonic TH42PX60 plasma. The Sky+ HD box is currently £49 does this record normal transmission TV off Sky aswell and what size memory does it have?
Sorry if I have put this in the wrong thread and if this is going over old ground for some of you!!, couldn't find anywhere else

I do use a PS3 and am impressed with the picture quality given off that.
Chris S

derek500 · 26-02-2009, 9:03 PM

Yes. 110% You can record SD and HD.

160gb for customer use and 140gb for Anytime. Luckily most of the HD Movie premieres are on Anytime each week, so you don't need to use your own space.

Goooner · 26-02-2009, 9:50 PM

Personally, I think it's well worth the £10 a month, I find loads of HD stuff to watch. If you're unsure, have a scan through a TV guide and see how mucgh stuff you think you're likely to watch, only you can say if it's worth it.

I paid £300 for my box, when it first came out and don't regret it at all, at £49 you really can't go wrong IMHO.

You might want to ask in the Sky HD section of the forums too.

Hades · 26-02-2009, 10:56 PM

Lost
24
BSG
Natures Great Events
Generation Kill
Dexter
Fringe

To name a few and the answer is yes

BrianPK · 26-02-2009, 10:59 PM

Go for it ......if you like films you'll be delighted with them on your PX60.

Knyght_byte · 27-02-2009, 6:47 AM

aye, defo worth the money. whilst you wont always notice such a massive leap on some programs, that extra crispness is still worth it.

Scapegoat · 27-02-2009, 6:58 AM

Is it worth the money? Difficult to say - it depends on your own perception of value and the worth of money. To some people £120pa (or slightly less with the VAT change) to see the same content in better resolution will never be value for money.

Is it better than SD? Definite yes. It can be variable, some content is just better, but a lot has real WOW factor for me. Your screen size is very decent so will really notice the difference, at 40" mine is at the bottom end of what I think works well with HD.

Number of channels increasing - have a serach round and see how much you'd watch a week in HD. I'd say 70% of my viewing is now HD.

Re: Storage. Not great in my opinion. 160gb of HD is not that much - its about 100 hours SD, but 35 hrs HD.

However you can upgrade - I put a 1TB drive in (lots of threads on this in the sky forum) and now get 100+ hrs HD and regularly have 30+ HD films stored at any one time.

Bachstrad · 27-02-2009, 10:12 AM

Definitely, especially at £49.00!

Like many others, I paid £299 and £10 a month for only 8 HD channels and I don't have any regrets at all, it just gets better.

ATB

Max

Silver Serpent · 27-02-2009, 11:31 AM

Considering you'd spend £10 to go to the Cinema to see one film, £10 for a months HD viewing is certainly worth it.

You could spend £10 a lot worse and not question why you'd spent it.

Scapegoat · 27-02-2009, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver Serpent

Considering you'd spend £10 to go to the Cinema to see one film, £10 for a months HD viewing is certainly worth it.

You could spend £10 a lot worse and not question why you'd spent it.

I agree, but some people would argue that when you go to the cinema you get asked to pay £10 for 2 tickets to watch the film, but you don't then get asked if you want to pay another 20% on top to watch the same film but with a better PQ.

Persoanlly the £10 a month is worth it for me, but others find this concept unacceptable and not value for money.

arthurdentpc · 27-02-2009, 12:45 PM

You don't say if you currently have Sky. If you do and you're hapyp paying your sub, then £10 pm extra isn't going to break the bank. If you don't however, then you have to ask yourself if paying £40+ pm for Sky / Movies / HD is really worth it.

HDCriticalFan · 27-02-2009, 1:25 PM

I think that a 60 inch plasma demands HD.

£10 for two cinema tickets ! You don't live in London then.

It's true that there aren't two quailties of cinema ... there is just the one (higher) quality. So I don't think the analogy holds.

The comparison (how much cinema you get versus how much HDTV you get for £10) is perfectly valid though.

There is sooo much HD now that the £10 looks cheap :-

Desperate H's
BSG
Eureka
Lost
24
Heroes
Ross Kemp in ...
Jonathan Ross
Who do you think..
80 Faiths
Natural World
Horizon
Salvage Code Red
Ice Road truckers

... and many, many more.

Plus the beautifully upscaled C4HD.

Regards

Simpson1 · 27-02-2009, 1:39 PM

Thanks for your advice you guys

Spoke to my wife this morning, and I think we will probably go for it. My reasoning is I don't drink or smoke or really go out apart from doing kids stuff!! Just enjoy my PS3 online and TV (but I'm not a couch potato) Just had a baby girl arrive last week

, so in the evenings it will be nice to have a bit more choice on TV whilst doing all the baby stuff, plus my son wants Cartoon Network!! (big Ben 10 fan!!)
160gb hardrive seems OK to me as I am coping well with a 40gb hardrive freeview recorder. My wife says she will agree to sign on the doted line providing we reduce our mobile phone contract which is up for renewal next month anyway, I think thats a fair deal.
Thanks to you all once again, even though I may have put this thread in the wrong bit

Chris S

babybearbarker · 02-03-2009, 1:50 PM

Simpson1 - go for it - the value in the amount of extra choice you have (plus some pre-recorded stuff to keep the kids happy is always good) and if you are reducing the mobile bill, then it's a no brainer - especially with the current sky deal (and £125 cash back on quidco - I kid you not, just signed up myself and going woo hoo EVERY day) - estimated 2-3 weeks install time at the moment, dependant on your area. I really can't think of a reason NOT to get it right now!

HDCriticalFan · 02-03-2009, 5:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HDCriticalFan

I think that a 60 inch plasma demands HD.

Whoops ! I misread your TV code as a 60 incher. I've now seen that it is in fact one of the Panny 42 inchers from 2006.

It was considered a top screen back then, so it is probably up to the job now. I still maintain that HD only really starts to come into its own at 42 inches and above. Not many people sit 4 feet from their 32 inch screens (the distance at which a person with 20:20 vision needs to sit to see HD).

Even on your 42 incher, you need to sit closer than 6 feet to make it worthwhile.

Regards