Can't see any difference between SD and HD

U

Upo

Guest
Hi,
I got Sky HD a few weeks ago and while the picture is excellent and far better than the previous old Sky box, I can see little, if any, difference between SD and HD. This is especially noticeable when watching football when the picture quality on 401 and 408 look identical. I must admit that I have yet to see an HD program on any channel that has made me go "wow!". I've only got the Sports package so cannot comment on the quality of the Movies HD channels.

I have tried changing between 720p and 1080i and messing about with the picture settings on the TV (Sony Bravia 40W2000) with no improvement ( I've now reset back to the default).

Any comment or advice would be welcomed.
 
at the risk of stating the obvious, make sure that the HDMI input is selected on your television, and then tune in to something like 'Mountain' on BBCHD, or look for 'Aquarivision' on ARTSHD, the quality of these feeds is jaw-dropping.
 
What distance are you sitting from the screen?

If its 15 feet or more then this is probably your problem.

I have read that for a 1080 resolution, like your TV to be beneficial you should be around 6 feet from your 40" TV.

But I think at 10 feet you should be able to tell the difference between SD and HD.

I sit about 10 feet from a 90" screen and the difference is huge. SD looks very blury, HD is nice and sharp.
 
Hi,
I got Sky HD a few weeks ago and while the picture is excellent and far better than the previous old Sky box, I can see little, if any, difference between SD and HD. This is especially noticeable when watching football when the picture quality on 401 and 408 look identical. I must admit that I have yet to see an HD program on any channel that has made me go "wow!". I've only got the Sports package so cannot comment on the quality of the Movies HD channels.

I have tried changing between 720p and 1080i and messing about with the picture settings on the TV (Sony Bravia 40W2000) with no improvement ( I've now reset back to the default).

Any comment or advice would be welcomed.

I have a sony bravia 40" v series and the PQ of HD football on my tv is absolutely superb ! you can easily tell the difference between 401 and 408,there must be something wrong somewhere with your set up

The premiership in HD was what i upgraded from sky+ to sky HD for and i absolutely love it !!!:thumbsup:
 
On Sky sports the difference isn't just in the resolution, but in the total lack of artifacts around the moving objects.

Remember though, that not everything on 408 is in HD - so make sure you are actually comparing an actuall HD programme on 408 to 401 SD, not just 408 to 401 in general - they could both be transmitting SD at the time you watch.

as others have said, look at the screen from a closer distance. Still see no difference - the sharpness of the people in the crowd for example, the definition of the lettering, etc. If not, then you have something set up wrong
 
Thanks everone for taking the time to reply. Just to answer your comments
1)I can confirm HDMI (AV4) is selected.
2)Can't find Aquari(a)vision on Digiguide
3)Recent eye test confirms don't need to upgrade specs!
4)I'm sitting exactly 6'2" from screen.
5)Premiership is what I got HD for as well, hence the disappointment.
6) Can confirm I am comparing HD transmissions. I'm just now watching Silent Witness on BBC HD which looks exactly the same as BBC1. Both pictures are excellent, its just that I can't see the difference.

Any further comments appreciated.
 
A couple of thoughts - I have a Bravia (32V2000), and it's really worth spending some time on the settings to get an optimum picture. This link might give you some tips: http://www.lyris-lite.net/quick_and_dirty_tv_setup.html

The second thing is to get really close to the screen, and switch between SD and HD. Up close, SD will have really low resolution, appear "blocky" and soft. HD will appear far sharper with better resolution and detail.
 
If you had no great interest in television (like my brother) then I can understand where you are coming from but as you are clearly interested judging by you're expensive quality set -up and especially interested in football then you have to be doing something wrong or the Sony is wonky.The difference is chalk and cheese.
 
On Sky sports the difference isn't just in the resolution, but in the total lack of artifacts around the moving objects.

I can vouch for this - I had Sky HD installed a few weeks before I got my new TV, which meant that I was watching it on a CRT.

Even then, the difference between SD and HD signals was visible (28" CRT), simply because of the lack of MPEG compression artifacts on the HD signal.
 
make sure you check that it is outputting a HD resolution in the menu like 1080i.

one thing to test. hook up a scart cable and put it on a hd channel like Arts or BBCHD
pause the picture on a detailed scene then switch between scart and hdmi. if you dont see a different then see a different optician :D
 
Thanks everone for taking the time to reply. Just to answer your comments
1)I can confirm HDMI (AV4) is selected.

Not sure if I'm totally correct here, but I don't think your HDMI should be through AV4. AV4 should surely be a scart input. HDMI should be through HDMI1 or HDMI2, etc, depending on how many HDMI sockets your TV has.

Apologies if I'm wrong

Ken
 
Remove any scart lead(s) you have from you HD box and try again. If still no difference please tell us where you drive so we can avoid the area:rotfl:
 
Not sure if I'm totally correct here, but I don't think your HDMI should be through AV4. AV4 should surely be a scart input. HDMI should be through HDMI1 or HDMI2, etc, depending on how many HDMI sockets your TV has.

Apologies if I'm wrong

Ken



I have the same tv av4 and 5 are the HDMI connections.

The reason i think he is saying this is due to the picture quality being so damn good even on SD. Programmes like Last Man Standing on BBC3 look outstanding. For the football I though the same for a short while, but when the action gets going and you look at the crowds it is most defo clearer on HD.
 
I have the same tv av4 and 5 are the HDMI connections.

The reason i think he is saying this is due to the picture quality being so damn good even on SD. Programmes like Last Man Standing on BBC3 look outstanding. For the football I though the same for a short while, but when the action gets going and you look at the crowds it is most defo clearer on HD.

Personally, I have never seen a large screen LCD where SD is as good as HD, it's never even been close.

I suspect the problem might be something to do with connecting both SCART and HDMI, with the TV defaulting to SCART (and therefore SD) as per the thread I linked earlier.

As Matty suggested I'd remove the SCART and see if that makes any difference. I'd also check that the HD Resolution output on the Sky box picture settings is on either 1080i or 720p and not 576.

If that doesn't resolve the problem, I'd invite some mates round to see if they can see the difference.

If they can't then I'd suggest there was a fault with either the Sky box or the TV.
 
2)Can't find Aquari(a)vision on Digiguide

Go to the EPG then the HD channels and then Sky Arts HD 268 and then flick thru to 2am you will see it there, press record and then enjoy the next day
 
Throw Scart in bin. Only use HDMi.

Set Sky box to 16:9 and 1080i.

To compare SD & HD switch to ITV 1 watch something and notice the crappy quality then switch over to BBC HD and the diffeence should be clear as water.

Either your doing something wrong or its time for an eye test...
 
Sky Sports 1 is one of the better SD channels - up close, the difference is pretty clear (much more detail and almost no MPEG blocking) but from a distance, they could appear fairly similar. ITV on the other hand, as WATTS says, is a joke - set your sky box to Auto and change from 103 (especially if football is on) to BBCHD and you surely must see a difference in quality?
 
With your tv and a well set up dish you may well struggle to see the difference

I have the same problem

Even Cilla on Corrie comes up roses

However, top dollar on BBC HD will show what can be achieved

The faces in the crowd on Sky Sports tell you the picture is great
 
Thanks for all the replies.
Just to answer a few
1)Not had a scart lead since the day the HD box was installed
2)Thanks for the info re when Aquariavision is on (why doesn't Digiguide show it?)
3)I've no complaint about the picture quality just that both SD and HD (particularly watching football) look the same.
 
I've had two LCD's (see sig) in the short space of time I've had Sky HD, I've also seen it on various other LCD's and Plasma's (friends/family), and the difference between Football in SD and HD is like day and night.

Given everything that's been said I can only come up with the following conclusions -

A, Your eyesite is indeed faulty and the optician needs his P45,
or
B, The Sky box is faulty and outputting 576 regardless of what you ask it to,
or
C, Your TV is faulty.

I can't see anything else explaining it.
 
Re Aquariavision - select TV Guide on remote, select 2 (HD Channels), select 268 Sky Arts HD and scroll forward to 2.00am Thursday. It's there!
 

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