R014 Firmware update for the Sky+ HD STB

varkanoid said:
No mention of the picture quality.
Could it be the software allows the box to output to the TV as 1080p ?

There was a noticeable difference between the Sky 1080i output and my BT TV 1080p output could it just be that Sky have now enabled 1080p output on the box ?
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As already mentioned, there is no change in the broadcast quality. Since the broadcast quality is at 1080i for all the UK HD channels, there isn't anything more that Sky can do with the received signals.

How the signal is processed has been changed.

For the technical amongst you I have noticed the interlace lines a little more with some items such as banners when they are removed. This is a normal behaviour with 1080i videos.

Why do I know this? Well since I've been editing a few videos together and stick to using 1080 at either 25p or 50p as I'm not keen on the lines in my own videos and the source is either 30p or 60p, with the exception of one camera which records at 50i. As I tend to have a few titles & prompts on the videos, the lines would be noticeable. Commercial broadcasts would use that many prompts normally.
 
from the original description it was unclear if picture 'quality' improvements were exclusively for the sd/576i material, if that is the case maybe they changed the upscaling or the deinterlacing algorithms.

I particular as Scubbie says text on banners (the small print on tv adverts) is often difficult to decipher.

Does the HD box allow you to output 576i and let your tv do the scaling ?
since personally, I am often watching sd channels and quality is disappointing
(need to reconnect freesat box and let it drive tv at 576i)
 
The overall picture quality on all channels has been improved.

You still have the options of 576, 720p and 1080i. Personally I leave mine set to 1080i for all channels. Whilst this is annoying for the SD channels when they are broadcasting old 4:3 content, I can manually change my TV's display settings to compensate and display at the correct 4:3 ratio.
 
Scubbie said:
The overall picture quality on all channels has been improved.

You still have the options of 576, 720p and 1080i. Personally I leave mine set to 1080i for all channels. Whilst this is annoying for the SD channels when they are broadcasting old 4:3 content, I can manually change my TV's display settings to compensate and display at the correct 4:3 ratio.
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Mines always been set to 1080i and 4:3 gets displayed boxed (vertically), unless you tv is set to auto format the picture?
 
Scubbie said:
As is normal with Sky, the roll out is to be spread over several weeks. Normally this is around 6-8 weeks, depending on how things go.

In this way the call centres aren't overwhelmed should there be an issue discovered that wasn't during testing.



Annoyingly yes you do at times.

Sky has always given the reason for this to be to do with classifications and to ensure that someone too young doesn't see something they shouldn't.
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The age classification is a legal requirement.
 
What is with the horrible compression artifacts on the thumbnails... Look at the planner logo, Spectre and so on when you bring up the front page.
 
I don't think it's my eyesight, but i would say the so called improvement in picture quality is down to an increase in contrast. My box updated overnight and i noticed the difference as soon as i put the BBC news on this morning. It certainly looks to me like a contrast increase. Just tried some SD channels, they certainly don't look sharper but do look as if they have more contrast.
 
V_R said:
Finally! :cool:
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This has been in older build, I had already turned it off. I thought it was going to be an option to completely disable the pin request. Oh well....


Anyone else think its quieter now? I have to turn the volume up another 5-10 clicks (numbers) now. :confused:
 
kitfit1 said:
I don't think it's my eyesight, but i would say the so called improvement in picture quality is down to an increase in contrast. My box updated overnight and i noticed the difference as soon as i put the BBC news on this morning. It certainly looks to me like a contrast increase. Just tried some SD channels, they certainly don't look sharper but do look as if they have more contrast.
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It doesn't look any different on my sets.

V_R said:
This has been in older build, I had already turned it off. I thought it was going to be an option to completely disable the pin request. Oh well....


Anyone else think its quieter now? I have to turn the volume up another 5-10 clicks (numbers) now. :confused:
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It can vary from channel to channel. Some are worse than others.
 
This morning both our HD boxes were on channel 998. No sign of an update though. When Sky have been rolling out updates previously they have done the same. I wonder if they trigger boxes to reboot in the night in preparation to receive an update within a few days
 
No-One said:
This morning both our HD boxes were on channel 998. No sign of an update though. When Sky have been rolling out updates previously they have done the same. I wonder if they trigger boxes to reboot in the night in preparation to receive an update within a few days
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Power cut?
 
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