Telewset picture Quality vs Sky especially HD

MR2Harvey

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Does anyone have any view on the telewest picture quality vs Sky especially HD. Well I know we don't know about Sky HD yet but is the telewest HD of Good quality?

I'm thinking I might ditch Sky and go 4 the Telewest HD Drive service instead.

However pic quality is IMORTANT to me.

Any comments appreciated.
 
Not seen either in HD , but as they are now ; Telewest is definately better.

Have noticed when there is a big football match on sky some of the lesser channels are reduced in bitrate to make the matches better quality , great if your a football fan but not if you aren't.

Been with telewest now for a year , never had a problem. Happy with the quality.
 
djbolf said:
Not seen either in HD , but as they are now ; Telewest is definately better.

Have noticed when there is a big football match on sky some of the lesser channels are reduced in bitrate to make the matches better quality , great if your a football fan but not if you aren't.

Been with telewest now for a year , never had a problem. Happy with the quality.

Thanx for the views, I have 10MBit BB with Telewest so would be no troble to switch to TW. Just wondering what TW will have on HD anyone know?

Harvey
 
Unitl Sky release Sky HD it will be unclear how good their HD is compared to Telewest. Also Telewest have no broadcast HD only a few HD programmes via the teleport. Another thing Telewest is using a MPEG2 box while SKy will be using a MPEG4 box. MPEG4 does a better job with compression so on paper Sky HD should be alot better?
 
blakey1 said:
.... Also Telewest have no broadcast HD only a few HD programmes via the teleport....

I think this is the key point for those that can chose between Sky and TW (i can't have a dish, so no choice). Other treads have indicated a dedicated Sky Sports HD channel and a simultaneous Sky One HD channel. That got me excited, until i reaslised that sky might not sell this to TW and so it won't come to me for a while.

I've signed up to TW as it's only a fiver a month more than my current TW package and if i can download teleport content, especially films, at a true HD quality, then i'll be happy for a while. For me that would replace my DVD player for the time bieng as i would use Teleport rather than my corner shop. If the quality isnt proper HD and more like DVD i'll be disappointed.

The BBC service and likelyhood of the World Cup in HD is a fantastic bonus to me. When sky launch their own HD channels and if TW don't get them, i'll be feeling left out :mad:
 
meltonboy said:
...I've signed up to TW as it's only a fiver a month more than my current TW package and if i can download teleport content, especially films, at a true HD quality, then i'll be happy for a while...

According to their TV Drive User Guide (link in TelWest thread somewhere), you won't actually be able to "download" from TelePort, only to watch HD movies online via TelePort.

So until HD broadcasts commence (World Cup in June?) I don't think that there will be any HD content that you can actually download to the hard disk.
 
blakey1 said:
Another thing Telewest is using a MPEG2 box while SKy will be using a MPEG4 box. MPEG4 does a better job with compression so on paper Sky HD should be alot better?

Not sure the better compression of MPEG4 would necessarily make the Sky HD picture you receive better than MPEG2 from Telewest - providing both are broadcasting with a sufficiently high bandwidth (with Telewest obviously needing to use much higher bandwidth) I'm not sure you'd see any difference in either, unless there are additional, image improving benefits to MPEG4
 
I think we'll have to wait and see how the two platforms operate. If TW just downlink Sky HD off-air in MPEG4 and transcode to MPEG2, then it can't be better quality than Sky HD off-air at home. If TW get a distribution rate feed (in either MPEG2 or MPEG4) from Sky, or Sky provide them with an MPEG2 broadcast feed, then it may differ.

I'd be surprised if TW in MPEG2 was hugely better than Sky in MPEG4 - though it may be TW have greater bandwith to play with. (However in doing so, it will take up more PVR space to record...)
 
One question id like to ask is whether or not Telewest will transmit any of the SkyHD channels or indeed will Sky let them transit them and at what to cost to telewest or its customers.
If Sky dont allow Telewest to transmit channels like Sky1 and Sky Sports in HD what content will there be on Telewest in HD ? will it just be movies and a few special programs ?

Andy
 
I used to have telewest & switched to Sky for better interactive services, and I was surprised how much BETTER Sky was than TW in picture quality. TW gives quite a soft picture & colours are not as fresh.

Telewest also are really dodgy with billing, and often got it wrong I found (I was with them about 3 years). Although Sky has got much wrong with it they've never over charged me.

Telewest says how cheap their phone package is etc., but I was getting charged £75 - £78 a month for TV & phone package, & the TV package wasn't as good as Sky & I wasn't making many phone calls :mad:.

However, the above was on SD, so I don't know if HD will be a different story.

T.
 
Attu said:
One question id like to ask is whether or not Telewest will transmit any of the SkyHD channels or indeed will Sky let them transit them and at what to cost to telewest or its customers.
If Sky dont allow Telewest to transmit channels like Sky1 and Sky Sports in HD what content will there be on Telewest in HD ? will it just be movies and a few special programs ?

Andy




In your heart of hearts do you think SKY will put their HD content on a rival platform that once fully merged with NTL will be a serious threat for their HD plans?

TW have content from the BBC and I suspect it will be identical to anything that is put on Dsat, they also have PPV movies (SKY only have Dsat rights) and no doubt TW will get individual deals with distributers or stuidos for specific content.
I really do now see anything changing on the content front unless NTL/TW do what SKY did so many years ago and actually produced their own inhouse channels with all the expense and complications that brings with it:)
 
Starburst said:
In your heart of hearts do you think SKY will put their HD content on a rival platform that once fully merged with NTL will be a serious threat for their HD plans?

TW have content from the BBC and I suspect it will be identical to anything that is put on Dsat, they also have PPV movies (SKY only have Dsat rights) and no doubt TW will get individual deals with distributers or stuidos for specific content.
I really do now see anything changing on the content front unless NTL/TW do what SKY did so many years ago and actually produced their own inhouse channels with all the expense and complications that brings with it:)

Aren't there anti-competitive / monopoly issues at play here. Sky as a channel provider may HAVE to make some of their HD content available to other platform providers, and not just keep it for the Sky platform.

This is likely to hold for both SD and HD isn't it?

Don't Sky HAVE to make at least some of their sport and movie channels available to other platform operators - like cable and other pay-TV outlets like the defunct OnDigital (though this was also influenced by BSkyB initially being a part of OnDigital prior to launch)/

ISTR that there were issues of Sky charging cable cos too much and the monopolies commission or OFT being involved?
 
Stephen Neal said:
Aren't there anti-competitive / monopoly issues at play here. Sky as a channel provider may HAVE to make some of their HD content available to other platform providers, and not just keep it for the Sky platform.

This is likely to hold for both SD and HD isn't it?

Don't Sky HAVE to make at least some of their sport and movie channels available to other platform operators - like cable and other pay-TV outlets like the defunct OnDigital (though this was also influenced by BSkyB initially being a part of OnDigital prior to launch)/

ISTR that there were issues of Sky charging cable cos too much and the monopolies commission or OFT being involved?

Yes, they will have to. And at the same wholesale cost as it is made available to Sky Retail. How long this takes is another matter ...
 
I realy cant see Sky giving any of there HD content to Telewest, not to start with anyway and if Sky are charging their customers about £10 to see their HD content then im sure they will want simlar charges from Telewest whether or not Telewest pass those charges on to the customer well who knows.
I know Telewest is out now but i strugle to see what its going to have over Sky HD if Sky dont let them show the main channels in HD, especialy if the main broadcasters like BBC and ITV dont jump on the HD band wagon soon.
I can see why people want the TVDrive for the PVR functionality but i think the HD content may be to limited compaired to SkyHD if anyone was buying it jsut for HD.
 
Attu said:
I realy cant see Sky giving any of there HD content to Telewest, not to start with anyway and if Sky are charging their customers about £10 to see their HD content then im sure they will want simlar charges from Telewest whether or not Telewest pass those charges on to the customer well who knows.
I know Telewest is out now but i strugle to see what its going to have over Sky HD if Sky dont let them show the main channels in HD, especialy if the main broadcasters like BBC and ITV dont jump on the HD band wagon soon.
I can see why people want the TVDrive for the PVR functionality but i think the HD content may be to limited compaired to SkyHD if anyone was buying it jsut for HD.

The point is - apart from the very short-term - Sky can't block Telewest from showing Sky HD channels AIUI. Sky have to make the channels available to other platforms in order to be able to run both the platform AND the channels.

Effectively you have to split Sky into two in your head - the part that runs the channels, and the part that runs the satellite platform. The Sky channels operation - which produces Sky One, Sky Sports, Sky Movies etc. can't only sell their channels to the Sky Digital Platform, as this would be a monopoly. They have to make their channels available on other platforms as well. I think the Box Office service is treated slightly differently to the formal channels in this regard.

Discovery HD isn't operated by Sky (the Sky channels, Artsworld and Nat Geo are) - so they could do a separate deal with the cable cos.

Of course they can take their time doing this - and I'm sure there will be HD compatibility "issues" - but in the mid-term and the long-term they wouldn't be allowed to keep their HD services for SKy Digital viewers only.

The BBC would be aiming to provide their HD services to the widest audience, so they will be working to provide them via cable as well as DSat (so that Sky HD viewers can receive them)
 
Stephen Neal said:
Of course they can take their time doing this - and I'm sure there will be HD compatibility "issues" - but in the mid-term and the long-term they wouldn't be allowed to keep their HD services for SKy Digital viewers only.

I'd have thought it would have made financial sense for the Sky programmes side of things for them to make their HD channels available to Telewest/ntl - if you increase the number of potential subscribers then you're going to start recouping your investment costs quicker.

On the other hand, the division of Sky that deals with the infrastructure and flogging STB's will want to keep the cable companies out of the picture for as long as possible (in terms of Sky's programmes division channels) as the more people who buy into Sky's HD platform, the more they recoup their outlay in the HD platform infrastructure.
 
cerebros said:
I'd have thought it would have made financial sense for the Sky programmes side of things for them to make their HD channels available to Telewest/ntl - if you increase the number of potential subscribers then you're going to start recouping your investment costs quicker.

I may be wrong but I don't know whether Sky see Cable as 'competition' as such, would they?

Surely they are just as much interested in revenue from sales to/through Cable platforms as they would be through their own Satellite delivery service.

Viewing figures of SkyOne, for example, are just as valid through cable subscribers as Skys own 'Satellite' subscribers.

Or am I missing something?
 
PhlangePhace said:
I may be wrong but I don't know whether Sky see Cable as 'competition' as such, would they?

Surely they are just as much interested in revenue from sales to/through Cable platforms as they would be through their own Satellite delivery service.

Viewing figures of SkyOne, for example, are just as valid through cable subscribers as Skys own 'Satellite' subscribers.

Or am I missing something?

The point of the proposed Virgin/NTL merger was, in part, to compete with Sky for the next round of Premiership football, no one has competed with Sky yet for the rights, if Sky lost them they would be in trouble.
 
PhlangePhace said:
I may be wrong but I don't know whether Sky see Cable as 'competition' as such, would they?

Surely they are just as much interested in revenue from sales to/through Cable platforms as they would be through their own Satellite delivery service.

Viewing figures of SkyOne, for example, are just as valid through cable subscribers as Skys own 'Satellite' subscribers.

Or am I missing something?

If Sky were just marketing a broadcast service then yes. However Sky are aiming to make as much money through stuff like interactive, on-line gambling, PVR subscriptions etc. and to do this they need more than pure channel subscription income. They are therefore more interested in viewers signing up to the Sky Digital platform (where they control all the red button stuff etc.) than watching Sky channels via other platforms.

ISTR that Red button gambling is a very significant revenue stream for Sky these days...
 

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