SKYHD via SIM2 C3X 3 chip DLP Projector.

AD Roser

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SKYHD via SIM2 C3X 3 chip DLP Projector.

After reading the many positive and negative reviews & opinions of Sky HD, I’d thought I would spend some time in giving you my humble opinion after a weeks worth of viewing through the C3X 3chip DLP which is renowned for being ruthless at showing up many problems in the source material.
Before I get into the nitty gritty of the review I would like to make a few comments relating to some of the posts.

It is very clear that the perceived improvement of HD over SD and up scaled DVD appears to vary widely depending on the display technology used and the size of the screen. From my own experience the bigger the screen the bigger the benefit (more of that later).

Some have posted that they see little difference between the HD channel and its SD equivalent - This is not my experience - however one thing that is very clear is that the use of high definition cameras on the sports channels has made a significant difference to what we see on the standard set up. This may be why some viewers are not seeing a bigger improvement than expected.

In reality, what we really need to be able to do is to compare the same material - shot and transmitted in HD against material shot & transmitted in SD, this way we would see greater improvement and the doubters would certainly feel that their £300 investment may be worthwhile after all.

Before SKY HD I used Sky+ version 1 fed into the SIM2 C3X Link via RGBS. I left the projector to do the de-interlacing and overall the picture was OK. In my opinion the best that Sky could look was CH5 when showing programs that were originated in HD such as House, CSI’s, Grey’s Anatomy etc. Overall the picture was quite clean and very evident that the material was from HD. By the way screen size is set to 7 feet wide and I view from about 20 feet. When looking at the screen from a few feet away then all of the garbage is there in plain sight, MPEG artefacts, mosquito noise - especially around text and macroblocking. Also contouring (banding) issues would crop up on lower bit rate channels such as SKY One on programs like 24 & Cold Case - these are also originated in HD but do not appear to have the clarity of the CH5 programs.

By the way, never had a single lock up or missed recording in the whole of the time I used SKY+ - must have been one of the lucky ones.

With the HD box installed on Tues 25th the first thing was to establish was what format to use. With the C3X being native 720p I used this output first switching between SD & HD channels, then 1080 and finally 576p.
I felt that the standard definition channels look better in 576p -slightly sharper and cleaner also the EPG is a lot clearer. The difference between 720p & 1080i was not so evident, in fact the 720p picture still suffered from slight inter line twitter as does the 1080i source on some material - so I have left the STB to Automatic. The C3X take approx 3 seconds to lock on as the box changes output from 1080 to 576 and back again - no big deal as far as I’m concerned. The scaling in the C3X does a fine job of converting the 1080i to 720p.

Picture quality:

First thing is that via HDMI I believe that the channels do look better up scaled than via Scart RGBS. Of course the low bit rate channels still look c**p but I am of the opinion the Thomson box is doing a better job than my Pace unit. Watched House & Greys Anatomy last night which was recorded and it looked quite amazing - again there was garbage on screen when looking from 6 inches away but it was reduced when compared to the original box. So, up scaled SD channels will be staying in this household.

BBCHD Preview - As everyone else has reported this looks extremely impressive, very clean & free of noise that plagues SD channels. Even at close up - 6 inches from the screen the picture is remarkably clear of artefacts - well done Auntie Beeb! Watched Planet Earth last night and it was breath taking in the depth of colour and fine detail. Only on the rare occasion did one see pixilation problems when there was a lot going on screen. On fast panning shots there was no evidence of break up at all and the motion was very smooth and the sound was even in DD 5.1!!. :thumbsup:

If this is to be the standard that we can expect then I for one will be very happy.

On the preview reel; the clips of Bleak House really do show what HD can do in terms of shadow and fine detail, the depth is quite extraordinary - something that 3 chip DLP excels at. Again the clip is rich in colour, black level was very detailed and again free of noise that plagues SD broadcasts and some DVD’s, looking forward to seeing this series as I missed its original run. Having access to some HD material captured from the States and Europe - the stuff from the BeeB is up there with the very best I’ve seen - only Shakespeare In Love and the PAL version of Return of the King could be considered better - in my opinion.

SKY ONE HD - Getting quite a bit of stick from fellow forum members - one thing is for sure Sky doesn’t have access to the HD version of some programs that we expected. Watched Cold Case the other night and noticed that the little HD logo was missing from the screen which was a surprise. I am of the same opinion as many when it comes to the quality of SKY ONE HD that it could be better- the up scaled stuff at 1080i can look a little soft - I prefer standard SKY ONE up scaled to 576p personally. HD content can look nice have yet to watch a full episode though.

Sky Movies - Big winner here by a large margin - have a Denon A1XV and Arcam’s new player which up scales to 1080p doesn’t even come close - as good as they are. Once again it is the depth of colour and fine detail that makes the difference, the subtle shades which previously one ignored are there for you to see. Rich textures, clean backgrounds no macro blocking. Watched Independence Day and synced the DVD version on the Denon - set to 1080i, so it was the same as Sky and the difference was quite staggering actually, which did surprise me. One thing is nice and that is to watch a film that is free of edge enhancement.

Didn’t see too much in the way of compression artefacts, so as long as they keep the bit rates sensible we should be OK. Also, hope someone remembers to switch on the DD 5.1 at Sky HQ. :lease:

Sky Sports - Watched the cricket - well done guys!

For me and many others this is where the biggest benefit in PQ will be - again forgive me repeating myself but it is in the detail and richness of colour - the picture just leaps off the screen - one thing is for certain Sky haven’t enough HD cameras yet - did anyone notice the change in picture quality whenever they switched to the boundary camera’s?

Artsworld - Just channel surfed this one, caught a glimpse of Eric Clapton and looked fab.

Discovery & Nat Geo HD - Same as above really the nature stuff looks fab have no complaints at all with picture just that they are likely to be repeating the hell out of the limited amount of HD they have.
In summary concerning picture quality - I’m impressed! Having access to HD for over 5 years one does get a little blasé about HD. Having experience HD in the USA where in some instances you could play chess on the size of the pixels, strange aspect ratios for films and over the top compressed channels, I have to say that what we have so far is pretty good - as long as they keep up the bit rates then we have a winner!

SKY Box - Problems

So far, one lock up when the wife was trying to fast forward and kept pressing the FFWD button at rate of knots that would impress any XBOX champion!

FF & REW are a little slow to respond when compared to the original Plus box but overall everything seems to be working extremely well. I generally leave the box on all the time and it appears that Sky have sent one update already as the unit was in standby the following morning.

Anyway, I am pleased with the results so far - I hope this is useful to those who have yet to jump on board and to those who feel that they are not seeing enough benefit on the small screen then get a projector - preferably a SIM2 one!:D
 
AD Roser said:
Sky Sports - Watched the cricket - well done guys!

For me and many others this is where the biggest benefit in PQ will be - again forgive me repeating myself but it is in the detail and richness of colour - the picture just leaps off the screen - one thing is for certain Sky haven’t enough HD cameras yet - did anyone notice the change in picture quality whenever they switched to the boundary camera’s?

Though in reality the only HD cameras Sky actually have are in their studios - everything else they rent in. Sky don't own any outside broadcast facilities of their own - they subcontract out for their Sport OBs. The facilities provider they are using for HD either don't have enough cameras (and can't rent them in), Sky are not paying enough, or some of the cameras are doing things that are only feasible in SD (radio links or 150Hz super slow mo - though 100Hz is possible with LDKs and 150Hz with the new Sony's though these might be rare) Were the cameras that were softer also flickery - that is always a give-away when a SuperSloMo camera is cut to air live.

Given how close we are to the World Cup - it could well be that there isn't a surplus of HD production gear knocking around...
 
Someone on another thread reckoned that the SD shots were from steadicams which run on a wireless connection which can't handle HD.
 
Glad to hear SKYHD is good on the C3X.

Mine is being installed tomorrow (after being put back) so looking forward to seeing some HD. Just need the HDDVD now :thumbsup:
 

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