Does Sky HD Transmit 720p or 1080i

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I was in a Sony Center the other day to check out a Sony KDL46X3500 set and to my surprise according to the shop staff the current resolution of Sky HD was 720p and NOT 1080i due to the fact that there was simply not enough bandwith on the satellite transponders to accomdate the 1080i . is this correct? to be honest both BBC HD and Nat Geo looked extremely grany....I watched Blue-Ray playback and there was simply no comparison between the two. I have checked BBC's and SKY's website but I could not find anything about HD transmission standards/formats.
 

Andy Clough

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Sky HD can broadcast in 720p and 1080i, although in truth most of the programmes (particularly US imports) tend to be in 1080i. American broadcasters seem to prefer 1080i, and produce relatively little content in 720p.
 

Clare Newsome

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[quote user="proteus1000"]I watched Blue-Ray playback and there was simply no comparison between the two. [/quote]

Call me extremely cynical, but wouldn't it be in a Sony Centre's best interest to promote Blu-ray over HD TV? I'll be generous and assume it was ignorance rather than deliberate misinformation....

The only reason for BBC HD etc to look grainy on a set of this quality is a poor Sky feed/set-up.
 

Cofnchtr

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[quote user="Clare Newsome"]
The only reason for BBC HD etc to look grainy on a set of this quality is a poor Sky feed/set-up.
[/quote]

Hi,

The reason I was given for poor quality picture from off air SKY HD and/or terrestrial tv in my local Sony Centre was the length of the cable run. Watching DVD material from an S300 was far better - given that most consumers will watch more tv than dvd, I wonder why they don't ensure excellent quality feeds.

Cheers,

Cofnchtr.
 

Clare Newsome

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Yep, rubbish set-up. But to be fair to this Sony Centre, TV connections aren't any better in too many other retailers, either.... Might be a bit different if they were selling the TV service as well as the hardware
emotion-5.gif
 

Cofnchtr

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HI,

Therein may lie a problem as presentation is as important as any other factor - you wouldn't buy a brand new car for example if the paintwork was all faded and scratched. If the tv feed was better quality, people wouldn't leave the shops disillusioned with what they've seen. Perhaps why a lot of buyers think one tv is particularly poor with SD off air pictures?

Cheers,

Cofnchtr.
 
A

Anonymous

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Always baffles me why so many retailers make life difficult for themselves by 'showing-off' HD sets with substandard SD signals - it makes no sense!

But anyway... does anybody know of any rumors/plans of a 1080p SKY HD box? Or would there not be any content to justify this?
 

Alsone

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One of the problems in tv shops is the number of tv's they have to share the signal amongst.

Split it to 20 sets and each set only gets 1/20th of the original signal. Of course they're are boosters but these also tend to amplify noise which means it doesn;'t guarantee a top quality signal. One good way would be for dealers to put up dishes with a quad feeds and maybe even more than one dish with a quad on each so that the signal didn't get shared between so may sets. Unfortunately most can't be bothered.

Its exactly the same with calibration. None I know of bother saying it would take to long and yet with my THX II calibration disc (a freebie on the front of another cinema magazine) the whole process takes around 2 minutes, so this hardly makes time an excuse for not calibrating!!
 
A

Anonymous

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Just a quick answer to the original question, my TV a Panasonic 37" LCD reports the input signal when i change the channel, all of the HD channels i have watched lately on Sky HD including the sports channels are reported at 1080i ...
 
A

Anonymous

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Hi all first reply :)

The implication in the original question is that 1080i is better than 720p, being new to the board I may have missed this debate. But I wasnt sure that 1080i was better or have new processors solved 1080i problems. Does this forum have a relatively agreed stance on this issue? (and presumably Sky HD doesnt do 1080p??).

thanks
 
A

Anonymous

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[quote user="ajeffo"]
Just a quick answer to the original question, my TV a Panasonic 37" LCD reports the input signal when i change the channel, all of the HD channels i have watched lately on Sky HD including the sports channels are reported at 1080i ...
[/quote]

Yeah but you can change the output to 720p in the sky setup.
 
A

Anonymous

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but why would you want to downscale the broadcast resolution??
 

Gerrardasnails

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I doubt anyone without a magnifying glass would notice the difference between 1080i and 720p from Sky HD. Both look fantastic on my Sony and therefore I can only say it must be their set up which was bad as BBC HD never ever looks grainy. The preview normally shows Planet Earth and Dr Who and Hustle and they always look spot on.
 
A

Anonymous

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[quote user="Gerrardasnails"]I doubt anyone without a magnifying glass would notice the difference between 1080i and 720p from Sky HD.[/quote]

I can't see any noticeable difference.
 
A

Anonymous

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you can always tell the set that will generate the most profit for a retailer, they will have it set up on a PC running a HD clip, whereas all the others will be connected via arial coax.
 

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