Cancel sky HD before it too late

gavan said:
Assuming that's correct, it seems that Sky are saying that some of the stuff that they broadcast on their HD movie channels is actually just scaled up SD.

Gav

I think sky have missed the point...if you go onto any of the HD channels and pick a programme and press "info you can see whether it is SD or HD....a complaint people have is that the quality of HD programmes is actually getting worse...so they are watching HD but are seeing lots of picture problems...blocking etc...I haven't had it long enough to say whether this is the case..just going by what everyone else has said.

The non-HD programmes shown on SD channels are upscaled...but I'd ignore these and use the standard channels and let me TV do the upscaling.
 
gavan said:
Assuming that's correct, it seems that Sky are saying that some of the stuff that they broadcast on their HD movie channels is actually just scaled up SD.

Gav
well gav thats wot that email says so i take it to be true even if you hit the i button and says hd could well be not hd
 
well if it is this bad i think i will be getting cheap skyHD as the price will drop quite a bit if lots of people are cancelling.
 
Im completely surprised by this,i think the quality of SKY HD is superb!! Are you guys using decent cables_..Mind you,im only using the component out at the mo,though i tested the hdmi first off and thought it looked real clean.

It isnt a match for HD DVD in the ultimate pic stakes,but the bbc hd clips looked very..very good,Star Trek Enterprise looked excellent on a particular space battle.

Im wondering if expectations are too high and folk expect demo quality HD ALL the time,this wont happen of course,the quality of the materiaL WILL VARY.:)
 
projectiondream said:
..
Im wondering if expectations are too high and folk expect demo quality HD ALL the time,this wont happen of course,the quality of the materiaL WILL VARY.:)

I agree, people expectations are far to high, the HD DVD release in the US had the same issue of some people saying there was no visible difference to upscaled SD. Basically HD is a relatively small incrementental improvement in comparision to large step from VHS to DVD, this is particularily true on smaller displays.

John.
 
JohnWH said:
I agree, people expectations are far to high, the HD DVD release in the US had the same issue of some people saying there was no visible difference to upscaled SD. Basically HD is a relatively small incrementental improvement in comparision to large step from VHS to DVD, this is particularily true on smaller displays.

John.

After all the "four times the quality" hype from Sky, it's hardly surprising expectations are high.. if they were honest about it, and said from the get-go, that picture quality may vary (in the same way 8mb broadband providers say speed may vary), then perhaps people would be a little more tolerant. At the moment, we are getting a pretty raw deal from Sky, regardless of what anyone says. The occasional "amazing" picture here and there, is not acceptable, however you dress it up... Showing 90% HD stuff on Sky One HD, and mirroring the two crappiest film channels of the lot, again, is not on.. not for a tenner a month, plus the already increasingly expensive subs...
 
ollie501 said:
After all the "four times the quality" hype from Sky, it's hardly surprising expectations are high.. if they were honest about it, and said from the get-go, that picture quality may vary (in the same way 8mb broadband providers say speed may vary), then perhaps people would be a little more tolerant. At the moment, we are getting a pretty raw deal from Sky, regardless of what anyone says. The occasional "amazing" picture here and there, is not acceptable, however you dress it up... Showing 90% HD stuff on Sky One HD, and mirroring the two crappiest film channels of the lot, again, is not on.. not for a tenner a month, plus the already increasingly expensive subs...
thay really need to show more true hd when i get to see true hd it really is superb but very few of the moves showing is true hd watched jingel all the way last night pq was excellent and football is superb to
 
I have a 63" screen so HD-DVD and Sky HD are ESSENTIAL for me.

However, as SkyHD has so poor reliability and functionality compared to TiVo, I think I might not have bothered with SkyHD if my screen was 50" or smaller.

If I only had a 50" screen and Sky HD had more HD programming and it was as good PQ as BBC HD then I would definitely recommend it!
Alternatively, if SkyHD had at least a tenth of TiVo's features I would also recommend it. Having only 5% of what TiVo can do does make Sky HD only so-so value for money, and it would be thrown straight out of the window if I didn't have a large screen and if BBC HD could be recorded by a more cost-effective method.
 
ollie501 said:
After all the "four times the quality" hype from Sky, it's hardly surprising expectations are high.. if they were honest about it, and said from the get-go, that picture quality may vary (in the same way 8mb broadband providers say speed may vary), then perhaps people would be a little more tolerant. At the moment, we are getting a pretty raw deal from Sky, regardless of what anyone says. The occasional "amazing" picture here and there, is not acceptable, however you dress it up... Showing 90% HD stuff on Sky One HD, and mirroring the two crappiest film channels of the lot, again, is not on.. not for a tenner a month, plus the already increasingly expensive subs...

Did they actually say four times the quality? They may have said that about the number of pixels, which is correct (its 5 times actually), but its just marketing, anyone beleiving marketing hype is invariably in for a fall.

As for the quality, no its not perfect and could be better, but it IS consistently better than upscaled SD, this is in line with what I've always expected from a satalite service e.g. I assume you constantly berate all the cable providers and sky (non HD) for consistently transmitting SD with inferior quality to DVD?

Yes we could do with more content, give it time it'll come, right now we're just suffering for early adopting. It'll be more interresting to see where we stand in a years time.

That said I'll still moan myself, e.g. I think the quality of the quality of two HD premiership matches this weekend was a bit questionable with the grass being completely blurred out into an odd shifting mass in both games, odd how the championship matches didn't seem to have this problem.

Later,
John.
 
Well i sent an email of to James Murdoch and recived a reply this morning.

Dear Mr *****



Thank you for your recent email addressed to James Murdoch, which has been passed for my attention.



I regret to learn of your unhappiness with the quality of our HD service. We want all our customers to get the best service possible and I'm sorry that you feel we have failed to live up to this goal.



In order for us to respond in full to your enquiry, please provide your Customer account number and/or viewing card number, so that we can access your records. I will then arrange for you to be contacted by one of our HD team.



I look forward to hearing from you in due course. Please contact us on the e-mail details shown above.

Yours sincerely


Customer Relations


Is there anyway i can find my Customer account number out using the info of my box?
 
i ordered my sky HD today and have just cancelled it today :D ... based on this thread

theres no way i could put up with skys below average pq... am going to order a tosh hda1 instead :thumbsup:
 
paulst10 said:
i ordered my sky HD today and have just cancelled it today :D ... based on this thread

theres no way i could put up with skys below average pq... am going to order a tosh hda1 instead :thumbsup:


Excellent choice m8,you won't regret it.:thumbsup:
 
paulst10 said:
i ordered my sky HD today and have just cancelled it today :D ... based on this thread
That's a shame, there are many people who believe HD is worth it - see this thread. I don't think that, unless you get it and see it in action on your particular TV, you don't really know what it is going to be like or whether it is value or not. Why cancel when you have 30 days to see it in your own home on your own display? I only started looking at these forums after I had ordered SkyHD and was having second thoughts because of negative comments but I went ahead and am very glad I did:)
 
JohnWH said:
Did they actually say four times the quality? They may have said that about the number of pixels, which is correct (its 5 times actually), but its just marketing, anyone beleiving marketing hype is invariably in for a fall.

As for the quality, no its not perfect and could be better, but it IS consistently better than upscaled SD, this is in line with what I've always expected from a satalite service e.g. I assume you constantly berate all the cable providers and sky (non HD) for consistently transmitting SD with inferior quality to DVD?
Later,
John.

Yep, four times the picture quality was part of their marketing campaign. I wasn't expecting anything like 4 times the quality, to be honest.. I'm cynical about claims like that at the best of times, but I think it's fair to say that the average person on the street, who's unfamiliar with the finer points of AV "stuff", would be drawn to it.

I agree that the HD stuff is, at least for the most part, better than upscaled programmes. That said, the programmes upscaled by Sky look consistently awful. Between Sky One and Sky One HD, I'll always watch the former, unless the programme is in true HD, as the their upscaled counterparts usually look terrible. I certainly don't berate Sky's SD programming, as for the most part, it is extremely good, often not that far behind DVD quality, depending on the channel. That said, I was already achieving that with standard Sky+, and there is a definite improvement in SD broadcasts, due in no small part, I suspect, to the fact that it is going via HDMI as opposed to scart. I have no real complaints with SD broadcasts (apart from the box failing recordings..including last nights 'Lost', but that's another story ;) )

The issues I have are with the quality of the box, lack of firmware, lack of decent programming in true HD, and substandard quality of HD programmes. The SD side of things is fine for me :)
 
chasrc2 said:
That's a shame, there are many people who believe HD is worth it - see this thread. I don't think that, unless you get it and see it in action on your particular TV, you don't really know what it is going to be like or whether it is value or not. Why cancel when you have 30 days to see it in your own home on your own display? I only started looking at these forums after I had ordered SkyHD and was having second thoughts because of negative comments but I went ahead and am very glad I did:)

Me too Paul, I was a bit worried having read a lot of negative threads however mine came at the weekend and I am over the moon!!!!!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

The only thing I'm glad off having had numerous problems with the initial installation of my sky plus box .... is my HD Box is one of the quiet ones!
 
It looks like the majority of people would say its worth it dispite some gripes, however its the nay sayers who are as ever the loudest!

John.
 
JohnWH said:
It looks like the majority of people would say its worth it dispite some gripes, however its the nay sayers who are as ever the loudest!

John.





Yep but at least they have SKY HD, it's amazing how often people complain about the price or performance of SKY but don't actually have it at that exact time:)


SKY HD isn't as good as it should be but while I still believe they are technical issues as opposed to deliberate over compression I am more than willing to accept some PQ issues, for now:)
 
Starburst said:
Yep but at least they have SKY HD, it's amazing how often people complain about the price or performance of SKY but don't actually have it at that exact time:)


SKY HD isn't as good as it should be but while I still believe they are technical issues as opposed to deliberate over compression I am more than willing to accept some PQ issues, for now:)


I've had my SKY HD a week and I'm happy with the quality of most broadcasts on my 42" LG, they need to work on more content and some of the quality issues.

Most of the people complaining seem to be basing their views on what they see in comet with their ever so great set up or they want the cinema every time.

People just need to make a decision (grow a spine) if they want to cancel/order then do it and don't harp on about how crap HD if you haven't got a box. How would you know if you don't have the service ?

Sky's service is new and the issues they have need to be sorted out but while the football coverage looks and sounds as good as it does if your a sports fan you'd be mad not to get it
 
Ive had it since launch day and if i was offered my money back now i think i would take it. Yeah footy is good and you get the odd movie tha tooks amazing but nearly every hd channel has been infected with macro blocking over the past few weeks and it makes the nice res and detail jump seem not worth it when you have solid blocks all over your screen.:thumbsdow
 
gerryman62 said:
this is reply from sky regarding pq,i was sorry to read of your dissatistfaction with regard to pq on hd,please allow me to explain,not all films broadcast on sky hd were filmed in hd format,if thay were filmed in standerd format,then we have to show them like this.we will show films in hd quality when passible,please note that unless we reseive the film in hd formatwe cannot broadcastit this way.wot do you think of that would like to :mad: here
if some can tell me who to post this email on here i will if cant can someone pm me their email add ill send to them to post on here
 
gerryman62 said:
if some can tell me who to post this email on here i will if cant can someone pm me their email add ill send to them to post on here




Just highlight the text of the email when viewing in OE (or other email client) and then copy it to the clipboard in the usual manner then you can paste it into a forum reply, very easy:)
 
Here is the reply to gerryman62 from SKY re HD movie picture quality.
I suspect SKY speed read the original question and came up with the closest match from the form/stock replies.

Dear xxxxxx

Thanks for your email about Sky HD.
I was sorry to read of your dissatisfaction with regard to the picture
quality on HD, please allow me to explain.
Not all films broadcast on Sky Movies HD were filmed in HD format, if they
were filmed in standard format, then we have to show them like this.
We will show films in HD quality when possible, however, please note that
unless we receive the film in HD format we cannot broadcast it this way.
I hope that the above information is of value to you and thanks for taking
the time to contact Sky.

Kinds regards

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx
Viewer Relations



If the email response is 100% accurate and SKY are indeed broadcasting upscaled SD and using the HD tag on the EPG and are still promoting SM9HD and SM10HD as being 100% native then those outside of the 1 month cancellation may have a way out of the contract.


From the SKY HD website..
Will all the the programmes on the Sky HD channels be in HD?
Some channels, such as Sky Movies, will broadcast entirely in HD. Others will offer a selection of programmes in HD. These will be highlighted on your Sky TV Guide.


I hope this all a case of CS/PR department getting their wires crossed because if it isn't then we are all being cheated.
 
Starburst said:
Here is the reply to gerryman62 from SKY re HD movie picture quality.
I suspect SKY speed read the original question and came up with the closest match from the form/stock replies.

Dear xxxxxx

Thanks for your email about Sky HD.
I was sorry to read of your dissatisfaction with regard to the picture
quality on HD, please allow me to explain.
Not all films broadcast on Sky Movies HD were filmed in HD format, if they
were filmed in standard format, then we have to show them like this.
We will show films in HD quality when possible, however, please note that
unless we receive the film in HD format we cannot broadcast it this way.
I hope that the above information is of value to you and thanks for taking
the time to contact Sky.

Kinds regards

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx
Viewer Relations



If the email response is 100% accurate and SKY are indeed broadcasting upscaled SD and using the HD tag on the EPG and are still promoting SM9HD and SM10HD as being 100% native then those outside of the 1 month cancellation may have a way out of the contract.


From the SKY HD website..
Will all the the programmes on the Sky HD channels be in HD?
Some channels, such as Sky Movies, will broadcast entirely in HD. Others will offer a selection of programmes in HD. These will be highlighted on your Sky TV Guide.


I hope this all a case of CS/PR department getting their wires crossed because if it isn't then we are all being cheated.
thanks for your help mate
 
I have been reading this thread and found it very interesting. I take it most of the Sky HD subscribers were Sky or Sky+ subscribers beforehand and have upgraded to the HD option?

I myself think Sky television on a whole is an absolute swindle. I have a HD ready TV myself and was feeling my hand would be forced into buying Sky HD in order to benefit from its superior resolution.

A lot of my friends have Sky and I think the PQ on SD TV is rubbish (compared to terrestrial channels). The football looks blocky and the huge amount of channels being squeezed down the Sat only degrades pictures across the whole range. The same can be said for Freeview mind, looking at channels like E4, ITV 2, 3 4 etc, they too suffer.

The BEST pictures in SD and by the sounds of it HD are still by the BBC (not that they are producing much good stuff these days) its just a shame the sport has been taken away from the vast majorty of terrestrial/digital viewers (sure we get MOTD and Ryder Cup/Cricket Highlights etc) by a man who practically runs the whole of the media (TNC) here and over the atlantic, it's almost a conspiracy!

Never mind a SKYDD5.1 petition, how about a 'Give TV back to the people' campaign?

I realise Sky's presentations of Sport's covergae and Sky Plus facility is really polished and very user friendly but at the end of the day it's a front end, what people are really interested is programme content. I suppose its a case the easy option and the glamarous looks and simply confroming to the norm i.e Sky, iPods, PC's.

We don't Bleet or Baa but I know who the shepherd is!!!!
 
I have a Version 1 SKY+ box, which is fed via a very expensive TAG scaler to a 4 series Panny 42" via RGBVH component. I hardly ever watch 'real time TV'. practically everything is recorded either via the EPG or on series links. This means that one can select from the output of such chammels as more 4 and E 4 such as Deadwood, the Shield or the Sopranos, often shown late at night , also there are some quite recent movies less than twelve months old, showing on the free SKY movie channels, as well as Channel 4 movies which are now also free. I cancelled my HD box, at its initial launch, though I will ugrade when a better one is available. Meanwhile I have bought from this Forum a 160gb SKY+ version 3, which I have not yet installed. I think that SKY+ is the greatest innovation since the launch of the VCR I have a decently wired standard SKY+ dish, which I may upgrade to a larger one with a superior LNB. I rarely get a failed programme recording, and if I do, it is usually down to outside influences. I never get blocking or pixellation, and the TOSLINK output of the SKY+ box gives excellent sound reproduction. I occasionally get 'Searching for listings', but this may be down to the V1 box. I do not begrudge a penny of my monthly subscription to SKY, and considering how clever the SKY+ box is £199 new is a steal compared with other Hi Fi unit costs, and my immaculate example from the forum for £85 was nothing short of a giveaway.

I do not wish to sound smug, but maybe those who are dissatisfied with their set up, should check their wiring, realign the dish and get a decent scaler, and who knows? They may find that SKY isn't so bad after all.
 

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