SKYHD Vs Standard SKY

[admin_exported]

I don't have HD as overall I am extremely pleased by the SD Picture through my 6 year old Amstrad Digibox. However why is it that channels such as channel 4 ( soon to be going onto HD), National Geographic and History have great clear SD pciture quality whilst other SD channels don't come close, and therefore my question is, will SKYHD really be a big leap forward in the right direction?

I'm not convinced especially when it also comes to upscaling the SD channels to 1081i.

Can anyone out there give me an idea as to how the SD channels on SKYHD look?

Another question: Given SKY are trying to pull out all the stops to win over more people to its HD box and ven higher subscription charges is it likely they may have reduced the SD bandwith at which they transmit SD programmes so that people will eventually say the picture is awful and then go onto HD?

Is there method in their madness?

 

[Andy TW]

I have recently upgraded to Sky HD so here's my opinion.If you mainly watch the channels available in HD then it is definitely worth the extra cost (Sky Anytime also has most of the Sky Premiere channel movies available in HD as an added extra).For SD channels it mainly depends on the quality of the source and the bandwidth of the channel being watched. Most SD channels (on my Panasonic 37px70 plasma) look great, however some do look better than others.ITV4 when showing sports (for example) looks poor compared to Sky Sports SD channels (its still better than it's DVB equivalent though).Overall I would say that most of the Sky SD output from the major channels looks good on my TV though it may be different if you have a Full HD TV.

 

[christotten]

I think it's down to the bitrate used when transmitting some channels, higher bitrate equals less compression and less digital artifacts (MPEG style "blocking" and pixelation)

 

[Anonymous]

The Picture quality on SD SKY Sports Xtra showing the Aresnal Vs Slavia game was appauling, but SKY Sports 1 showing the Man Utd game was quite clear-How can this be and would SKYHD have made a great improvement on SKY Sports Xtra

 

[Clare Newsome]

Simple answer - the quality of the source.

The Man Utd game was shot using the latest HD cameras (and broadcast in HD on Sky Sports 1 HD), so even via SD you're starting with far superior content.

The Arsenal game would have been 'bought in' from the local Czech broadcaster, and clearly wasn't HD. If you'd viewed it on Sky HD it would have looked better because of the upscaling (and the superior HDMI connection), but it still wouldn't look nearly as impressive as the native HD game.

It's a common issue with away-leg games in these earlier stages: things tend to improve later on when you get to bigger clubs that justify HD broadcast facilities.

 

[Anonymous]

Clare: One sky installer today told me that The SKYHD box doesn't upscale SD channels to either 720p or 1080i...........Do they know what they're talking about?

 

[Andy TW]

I've just done a quick test on my Sky HD box. You can set the Sky HD box's output to either Auto, 720p, 1080i or 576.In Auto mode the Sky HD box's output is at the native resolution of the transmission, if you select 720p or 1080i then the output is sent to the TV upscaled to that size. The installer doesn't seem to know what they are talking about.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Andy.....That's what I thought.....these are the very installers whom SKY emply to go round and install their systems....frightening isn't it?

Anyway, I may go down the route of SKY HD not least because my young son likes to watch, as indeed I do too, football and as we subscribe to SKY sports thought HD might be a bit better, and then there's of course the documentary channels, BBC and very soon to be Channel 4 HD in the next few weeks.

I've been advised that I can have SKYHD ( though not from SKY themselves who keep obviating the answers whenever I contact them) using my existing one-feed only digital cable. This would mean the installer coming round, spending about 30 minutes and just switching over my current Digibox for a a SKYHD one.

The only thing I won't be able to do, and have never done anyway, is record from SKYHD as that's essentially what the second cable's for. I will still however be able to order box office movies and hit my 'red' button for accessing other areas and of course I willw still have Text. This will suit me fine and the only disruption it will cause me is to have my phone line connected ubder the contract for a minimum of 12 months after which I can pull it out.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

All I can say is that watching ITV and Bravo on any tv is not going to look that great. However, BBC and Sky Sports and all the major channels look great in SD using the HD box. However, when you watch the same channel on it's HD sister, wow, it'a a different ball game. You start thinking that the SD picture is not that good! Premiership matches in HD are superb as are films. Original question. No comparison.

 

[Alsone]

SD doesn't scale well to HD simply because the source quality is too poor. You have to remember that when your talking about scaling you're usually talking about DVD's which compared to an aerial signal have a massively higher bit rate.

Also, any scaling involves interpolation, the guessing of what the missing pixels should be and where they should go. The software makes mistakes and thats why a 1080P tv usually looks inferior to a 720P tv when the 2 are viewed side by side with an SD aerial feed - good example I've seen in my local showroom was the Panasoinc 720P PX70 next to the 1080P PZ700. The PZ700, whilst better with HD / DVD sources according to What HiFi, looked far worse to my eyes for sharpness and clarity than the PX70 when both were fed with the same channel via the same aerial. Even the salesman admitted it! The only viable explanation for this is the fact that 1080P has 4 x as many pixels as SD whereas 720P has 2x as many pixels and so needs less processing / interpolation needed on the PX70 with an SD feed (approximations on pixel counts).

Don't forget as well that HD sources record more saturated colours so generally a HD source downscaled to SD looks far better than an SD source upscaled to HD even putting aside the fact that your discarding rather than guessing pixels (far better!).

However, if its HD you want, don't discout the upcoming BBC Freesat (March next year) as this is going to offer a lot of the current terrestial channels and their HD equivolents, in HD for free!