Sky HD not impressed

paul1967

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From what I've seen that they are going to show I will not be moving to HD ,anybody else think the same , they just seem to show repeats even the films are nothing special.
 
What's being detailed on the EPG isn't necessarily what will actually be shown at launch. However I agree, given Sky's fondness for repeats thee will be plenty of them and a repeat after all is just a repeat no matter how well you dress it up.
 
I'm still on the fence. If I don't sub to SkyHD then I'll buy a snazio, so thats still a fair bit of change paid for, (and a sub to a good retention newsgroup)

Don't want sport, I can wait until next season for BSG, SG1 etc. Movies is OK but newer movies will be on box office HD so I'd resent paying a sub to access those.


It'll all come down to the subs. I'm already OTT at £35 a month for sky+ considering we don't really watch the main movie channels (only got them to avoid the sub price :)


I think some support from the main terrestrial broadcasters like the BBC would tip me over the edge though
 
There's always this period when a 'new' way of delivering content appears when you have to decide whether the quality or quantity counts. When DVD first came out I early adopted to get the increased PQ knowing that the quantity of good content was limited. It will be the same with Sky HD - I'll get it predominantly for the football and things like 24. I may end up watching a few HD broadcast films that I have either watched before or might not have bothered with at all too which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The possibility of watching the World Cup (yes I know Sky don't have the rights) is enough for me to sign up alone!
 
I'm more attracted to the Sports being transmitted in HD as well as Sky One shows...
 
See the trouble is I already have a DVDO HD + so is it worth the subs as I go to the pics often and do not watch footie or cricket ,give me NASCAR , Drag racing, Indi car then maybe, but up to now not impressed ,:thumbsdow
 
Probably worth you waiting till more programming comes out and the box prices drop.
Dont forget you are not getting true HD from your DVDO only an upscaled SD image.
Also have any of the sports that you want to watch been made in HD?
 
Additionally, how many films out there have been encoded for 720p/1080i? Obviously, it's increasing, but for a while it could be pretty sparse.

Also, if you look at the likes of Blu-Ray's line-up of films, it's pretty uninspiring. I mean 'Charlie's Angle's: Full Throttle' & a 'Knight's Tale' are not worth getting out of bed for. HD-DVD's line-up looks better. So, what will Sky be getting it's hands on?

What normally happens on Sky is that films start off on the box office, & if you're patient you can watch them on normal Sky movies, since they go to them after a while.
 
I think most, if not all of the major studios have been creating HD masters for several years now, before down-scaling for the DVD release. This m,akes economic sense, as they realised they would only have to do it again anyway in a few short years.

I even have several DVDs from small (nay, tiny) companies which have been struck from HD masters - Media Blasters 'Zombie Flesh Eaters' springs to mind, and that must be 18 months old.

Steve W
 
This reminds me of the days when colour TV first came out in the UK - when BBC2 were running colour trade tests. People sat through boring documentaries and company technical films, just for the novelty of watching a colour TV picture. When the SkyHD platform offers something interesting to watch, I'll subscribe, but I fear that won't be until the BBC and the other major players have joined the platform, and that won't be for a while yet.
 
I bet most of the newish films are avalable in HD, remember the US has been showing HD for quite a while now so its not as though they are going to do it just for Sky.
If you look a news group you can get a measure of just how many films have been shown in HD so i dont think Sky will have any shortage of material ....Ohhh Blade runner in HD and 5.1, that would be worth getting SkyHD for :)

Andy
 
The comments that have come from the Bristol Sound and Vision show are the final nail in the coffin for me.

I agree that the programme line up is poor. Theres no evidence that it will improve in the near future and I'm not going to sign up for another 12 months with Sky on the hope that the programme line up will improve.

The PC demos that people have seen at the London and Bristol Sound and Vision shows seem to have been disappointing to say the least.

I accept that there will be many on here who will buy HD as its the latest gadget out but I'm an average TV view looking for quality across all areas and not simply PQ. Theres only so many repeats I can watch and after the novelty wears off I wonder if there will be any real benefits for people like me. Are SKy likely to keep the bitrates high I doubt it? Is there any real benefit of HD over SD on the smaller screens or it just down to the higher bitrates?

The more I read the more I feel that HD is just a new way of making money for Sky and the benefits could be limited for most. I think I will now wait for 6-12 months to see if the bitrates remain higher and whether I can get to see some demos that show that there is a benefit of HD on its own for screens of 37inch and below and that the benefits of Sky HD for the smaller screen sizes is not down to bitrates itself.
 
Ohhh Blade runner in HD and 5.1, that would be worth getting SkyHD for

Agreed, class film :smashin:

Also, "the prisoner".
It was filmed in 35mm and surely could be converted.
I digress.
 
Footy fans, picture this.

Andy Gray coming at you from the centre speaker,the ball hiiting the bar from left and right channels then the crowd singing "the referee's a b______d", from the rear channels!

wheres my cheque book.......................
 
Most of what i watch on TV is via Sky and is usualy the US programs on Sky1 which a large proportion are filmed and shown in the US in HD already, also Sky movies will hope fully be great shown in HD.
One thing HD means to me as well as the picture quality is having a programe in DD 5.1, shows like 24 and Battlestar galactica in DD 5.1 :) great.
Footy isnt realy a game i watch though i do like to see England run round the pitch now and again so IF the world cup is shown in HD that would be a bonus, Im more of a Rugby guy so ill be hoping plenty of Rugby games will be in HD but I imagine that football will be the main sporting HD feature..
i think it all comes down to whether your the sort of person who watches mainly BBC and ITV or the sort of person who watches mainly Sky, for me i mainly watch Sky programs so moving over to SkyHD and getting most of the programs i watch in HD can only be a good thing :)
 
Anyone gone to the bristol show and been to the sky demo any news on dates prices
 
Most films are datacines to hd or even higher quality formats. SD masters are subsampled from the HD ones. This has been standard practice for nearly 10 years.
 
I was at the Bristol show and I don't think anybody should read anything into the showing. The PQ was crap, but it didn't have anything to do with the final content - it was purely an advert running off PCs - unfortunately they were also poorly setup.
No price or dates, but there was a box to look at (forgot to take a pic of the rear panel) and they did seem to know what was being shown - but it didn't interest me.
 
Mr.D said:
Most films are datacines to hd or even higher quality formats. SD masters are subsampled from the HD ones. This has been standard practice for nearly 10 years.

I thought a lot of HD movie transfers were still HD telecines (i.e. real time transfer) rather than datacines (which I take to mean non-real time 2k or 4k transfers?)

Does seem odd given that so many movies are now DI-ed though ? (Though I guess some movies are still only partially DIed?)
 
richard plumb said:
It'll all come down to the subs. I'm already OTT at £35 a month for sky+ considering we don't really watch the main movie channels (only got them to avoid the sub price :)


I think some support from the main terrestrial broadcasters like the BBC would tip me over the edge though


My info is that there will be a 200-300 quid charge for the box but the actual service will be 'free' to premium subscribers, much as Sky+ currently is.

If that proves to be the case, I could well be tempted .. Particularly as the box is a triple tuner system, meaning you get much more flexibility even for normal programming.

If Sky do charge extra for HD content as well as charge for the box, then no way. I'm paying top whack right now and am thinking about downgrading it to save money anyway. I'll wait until they offer a good subsidy on the hardware, they've done away with the charge for premium subscibers and there's a decent amount of HD programming. This will surely happen in time.


I agree with the comment about the mainstream channels. If the 'big 5' were to support HD (or even just the BBC) I'd be much more likely to jump on the HD bandwagon sooner rather than later. If the BBC are smart, they could tie it in with their own 'Free Sat' platform and give it a boost.


Gav
 
I'm just wondering if Sky are holding back their launch to give the BBC (and maybe other large broadcasters) time to be there on launch day ? As you have said, the uptake of HD will be much higher if the "big 5" are there.

The BBC have indicated that they would be ready for HD in June, and my money's on a SkyHD launch in June. That would give them 6 months run up to the Christmas rush.
 
I was at the show and the guy said they were 2 to 3 months away but definitely in the 1st half of 2006. I ahve read all kinds of reports about the price of the Sky HD box from £200 - £700 and extra subscription from £0 to £10-15. With HD DVD also coming I may give Sky HD a miss till the price drops if the cost is towards the igher end of these reports at least then I can choose what movies to watch in HD and you may even be able to rent them as well
Dave
 
gavan said:
If that proves to be the case, I could well be tempted .. Particularly as the box is a triple tuner system, meaning you get much more flexibility even for normal programming.
Gav

Where do you get the information about the triple tuner from? There is only two inputs on the box according to the Sky HD site.
 
hardly any films and now in sky O vision, since they started working on HD there film output swaps from showing in OAR to a nasty pan and scan / open matt versions
 

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