Just seen item in What Sat. magazine, it talks about a shortage of MPEG 4 chips needed to decode hi def signals. This has led to a shortage of hi def boxes which means a delay for launch until at least april '06 probably later.

suits me I'm skint at the moment

[scarty16]

What is the best reason to promote and sell Hi-Def?

Football. Anything happening football wise in the near future, that migh tbe worth covering??

The World Cup....

When is the world cup, June 2006.

Therefore HD will be available before the world cup!!

simple logic

[Ulink]

In Germany perhaps but not in the UK. BBC & ITV have the rights to it, so the best that could happen would be if the BBC launched a HD channel on Sky's platform, but as I understand it (from a fairly reliable source) whilst Sky would love that to happen, there's no plans for it yet.

My guess is your sports theory is correct - but cricket. This would fit with the April Fool's day theory being banded around.

[Scapegoat]

Originally Posted by Ulink

In Germany perhaps but not in the UK. BBC & ITV have the rights to it, so the best that could happen would be if the BBC launched a HD channel on Sky's platform, but as I understand it (from a fairly reliable source) whilst Sky would love that to happen, there's no plans for it yet.

Sounds about right.

If I was in charge of the beeb I would be using this to my advantage- either getting a slice of the income from all Sky HD subscriptions/box costs or negotiate some reduction in the charges Sky make for boradcasting the Beebs channels over their network.

[Stephen Neal]

Originally Posted by Ulink

In Germany perhaps but not in the UK. BBC & ITV have the rights to it, so the best that could happen would be if the BBC launched a HD channel on Sky's platform, but as I understand it (from a fairly reliable source) whilst Sky would love that to happen, there's no plans for it yet.

My guess is your sports theory is correct - but cricket. This would fit with the April Fool's day theory being banded around.

Err - the BBC have announced a 12 month HD trial... This was a public announcement a month or two ago from Jana Bennett, the Director of Television, and a senior BBC programme maker is heading up the project. Whether the 12 month trial kicks off in time for the World Cup is another matter - though most people think that if Sky HD has fully launched, the Beeb are likely to offer a BBC One HD service via the satellite platform. They are also talking of trialling a terrestrial service in London using a spare RF channel to broadcast a 7th DVB-T mux.

[andythescientis]

telewest are also telling everyone that BBC HD will be available for the world cup.

[mremulator]

I'm not too bothered ATM, as I'm mostly watching 24 Season 5 in HD on my ShowCentre 200

[Rob20]

Funny how Feb has become 1st half of 2006. I'd assume a late spring launch.

[steve36]

I suspect that the interest was increased greatly by the planned inclusion of HD channels in the planner.
This would not normally happen until close to the launch of a channel, with ITV2, E4 I think I remember that their inclusion was virtually on go-live day.

That said they could be planning on beta-testing the HD box for a couple of months in an attempt to reduce the complaints, and the only way of doing that properly is to broadcast HD.

Steve.

[lachesis]

Well, I'm moving house beginning of June and that's when I'm kitting out the front room so the delay doesn't really bother me :-)

[Stephen Neal]

Originally Posted by steve36

I suspect that the interest was increased greatly by the planned inclusion of HD channels in the planner.
This would not normally happen until close to the launch of a channel, with ITV2, E4 I think I remember that their inclusion was virtually on go-live day.

That said they could be planning on beta-testing the HD box for a couple of months in an attempt to reduce the complaints, and the only way of doing that properly is to broadcast HD.

Steve.

Yep - that would be my guess - though they could have, in theory, broadcast during the beta test period on "hidden" channels only visible to authorised viewing cards. (A bit like the old BBC cards that let you watch all the versions of BBC One in the days when they were regionally restricted and encrypted)

On the other hand - by adding them to the EPG they gain some free advertising for the service - and there may be another good reason for doing it. ISTR that the way the EPG interacts with the cards (for regional mapping etc.) is non-trivial?

[Starburst]

Originally Posted by Stephen Neal

On the other hand - by adding them to the EPG they gain some free advertising for the service - and there may be another good reason for doing it. ISTR that the way the EPG interacts with the cards (for regional mapping etc.) is non-trivial?

There was a good point made on another forum, can't remember where I read it though. The idea was that SKY has to play by the rules and allocate EPG numbers for itself under the same process as every other broadcaster and it may be that the became valid last week and had to be used.
Perhaps Feb being the planned launch all along and if there were delays for whatever reason SKY have chosen to make use of the EPG slots to generate free publicity. There is no doubt many people who do not know what HD is have asked questions in forums or rang SKY