How good are HD images through Sky?

[dcanham001]

Hi all

I have a Panasonic TH42PX70 and am thinking of taking the plunge into SkyHD with all the bells and whistles (sport, movies etc)

Am concerned that my cynical other half may not be too impressed with the HD images (that she'll be helping to pay for)

Can anyone put my mind at rest and tell me if it will be worth the £65-70 per month or are the images not as crystal clear as say blu-ray (which I've seen on demos in shops)

I understand this may be a stupid question as the SkyHD was an award winner this year but would greatly appreciate the feedback anyway

thanks

 

[sc1]

The boxes can be glitchy, just like sky plus itself. The SD pictures can look slightly fuzzier in my opinion than through a normal box...however this may just be because the HD pictures look so good. To be honest, a bit like bluray and hddvd at first the pictures look amazing, then you get used to them to some extent. The problem is the SD contents looks pretty poor by comparison and this is when you can tell the difference I think.

The image is not quite as clear as blu ray but not too far off on my 37" panasonic. Whether it is worth it depends, it is pretty expensive all in but better than the other HD options at the moment.

 

[Dan Turner]

I think that anyone could tell the difference between SD and HD content broadcast by Sky. The harder point might be convincing her that there is enough HD content that you guys are going to watch to justify it.

You might be better off treating 'getting Sky' and 'we might as well get HD for the extra tenner' as 2 separate debates, that way if you've won the first part you can always convince her you'll drink £10 worth of beer less per month or something....

Agree with SC1's comments about the boxes being glitchy, but I believe the new crop are much improved - ask around on here which manufacturer's box you want to try to get (they are made by a number of different manufacturers and apparently some are better than others).

Also when you get it experiment with letting the Sky+HD box or the TV do the scaling on SD material - I found it was much better to let the TV do it, then any concerns over 'softness' disappeared. Then again I only have Sky, no freeview to compare it to. Regardless - I'm perfectly happy with SD content from the main channels - some of the minor ones (and football on ITV) will always look dire but that's not Sky's fault.

 

[Anonymous]

Ive got a 37 Panasonic and ive just had my Sky+ HD installed and to be honest im a little disapointed.

HD is a better picture but i dont think its worth the subscription price especially not for a whole year if you happen to be tied up with a 12 month contract.

I watched Natures great events in sd and hd and there was very very little difference and the wow factor of HD just dident happen for me.

The sd content is better with my Humax freeview box and some of the sky content ive seen as been poor.

I subscribed to sky for the motorcycle racing and was lured into the extra tenner a month for Hd and the £49 set up fee seemed very reasonable.

Its early days yet and im going to do a bit of experimenting with set up when i get the chance but for now the jury is out.

 

[Anonymous]

Tangerine, I cant beleive you dont notice the difference on "Nature's Great Events" between SD and HD, what's your tv spec? I got HD about 3 weeks ago and have a 52" Samsung. I watched the episode with the salmon last week and flicked between the SD and HD to compare. The HD was amazing in comparison, the bit with the bears was the best thing I have seen in HD so far, I had family round and they were absolutely blown away by the image quality.

 

[tvmog]

Tangerine dream:

Ive got a 37 Panasonic and ive just had my Sky+ HD installed and to be honest im a little disapointed.

HD is a better picture but i dont think its worth the subscription price especially not for a whole year if you happen to be tied up with a 12 month contract.

I watched Natures great events in sd and hd and there was very very little difference and the wow factor of HD just dident happen for me.

The sd content is better with my Humax freeview box and some of the sky content ive seen as been poor.

I subscribed to sky for the motorcycle racing and was lured into the extra tenner a month for Hd and the £49 set up fee seemed very reasonable.

Its early days yet and im going to do a bit of experimenting with set up when i get the chance but for now the jury is out.

At the risk of re igniting a very old debate, are you using the Sky supplied HDMI cable?. I have the same Panny as you, and when I swapped the Sky cable for a more expensive one that I had purchased to go with my upscaling DVD player the difference in picture quality was so noticable that I had to change to my brightness and contrast settings. I know that some people will say that this is not possible, but I can only report my personal experience. I changed the cable and the image quality changed too. ( The downside to this is that the cable now costs more than the HD box - although this was not the case when I upgraded a year ago)

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I think that the quality of the HD stuff is great. It's easy to spot the difference. And most HD channels have Dolby Digital sound which is another benefit. Blu Ray still has the edge though. Whether or not Sky HD is good value for money is a personal judgement. I would say that it's better value for money now than at any time in the past, but I still consider it a luxury rather than a necessity.

 

[mikey2008]

I signed up for Sky HD when I bought a 40W4500 last year and was so glad I did because, quite honestly, the HD broadcasts are much better than the SD broadcasts.

 

[dcanham001]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Will give it some more thought but it's good to know that the transmissions are good quality.

Am off to watch Nature's Great Events on the only HD channel I can get through Virgin

 

[Anonymous]

tvmog:Tangerine dream:

Ive got a 37 Panasonic and ive just had my Sky+ HD installed and to be honest im a little disapointed.

HD is a better picture but i dont think its worth the subscription price especially not for a whole year if you happen to be tied up with a 12 month contract.

I watched Natures great events in sd and hd and there was very very little difference and the wow factor of HD just dident happen for me.

The sd content is better with my Humax freeview box and some of the sky content ive seen as been poor.

I subscribed to sky for the motorcycle racing and was lured into the extra tenner a month for Hd and the £49 set up fee seemed very reasonable.

Its early days yet and im going to do a bit of experimenting with set up when i get the chance but for now the jury is out.

At the risk of re igniting a very old debate, are you using the Sky supplied HDMI cable?. I have the same Panny as you, and when I swapped the Sky cable for a more expensive one that I had purchased to go with my upscaling DVD player the difference in picture quality was so noticable that I had to change to my brightness and contrast settings. I know that some people will say that this is not possible, but I can only report my personal experience. I changed the cable and the image quality changed too. ( The downside to this is that the cable now costs more than the HD box - although this was not the case when I upgraded a year ago)

Mmmmmmm i am using the sky supplied HDMI cable, the picture was very dark when the sky engineer left and i had to adjust.

I have another HDMI cable and although its not an expensive one ill try it and see if it improves matters.

If something is filmed with HD cameras then i think even on normad sd tv it will look stunning as long as you have a decent tv.

I couldent say the natures great evennts looked 4 times better on hd than on sd, maybe 2 times better.

Anyway ill give this other HDMI cable a go and if the brightness and contrast as changed as soon as i switch it all back on then it may have improved matters.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Anonymous]

dac101:Tangerine, I cant beleive you dont notice the difference on "Nature's Great Events" between SD and HD, what's your tv spec? I got HD about 3 weeks ago and have a 52" Samsung. I watched the episode with the salmon last week and flicked between the SD and HD to compare. The HD was amazing in comparison, the bit with the bears was the best thing I have seen in HD so far, I had family round and they were absolutely blown away by the image quality.

http://whathifi.com/Review/Panasonic-TH-37PX80B/

 

[Anonymous]

the lack of 1080 on that probably explains why the image ins't as sensational as it could be.

 

[Anonymous]

dac101:the lack of 1080 on that probably explains why the image ins't as sensational as it could be.

I thought Sky only broadcast in 1024 x 720?

Anyway ive changed my HDMI cable and noticed a big improvement so im a lot happier now.

 

[tvmog]

Tangerine dream:

Anyway ive changed my HDMI cable and noticed a big improvement so im a lot happier now.

Glad to know I wasn't just imagining it.

 

[Anonymous]

there is a mix of 1080i and 720p output

 

[Anonymous]

dac101:there is a mix of 1080i and 720p output

Really? I know the box can handle 720p but all of the channels I've seen are in 1080i. Which channels show 720p?ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

I'm only working on what the sky installer said and what I read elsewhere but I was told that some programs are only broadcast in 720p, i think its on a program by program basis rather than any specific channel.