SKY HD

What Ice said.

Most HD I've seen was output from a pc so suffered a little from from drop outs etc.

HD is silky smooth from the box to me.

SD really looks crap now ;)

Thumbs up from me though of course little content.
 
Just got a call from the engineer. He's due at 1pm. Excellent.

Just had a panic on when I realised that I didn't have a phone line anywhere near my current sky box. 10 mins in the garage found some cable and some plugs so I'm OK now.
 
 
Last edited:
now im seeing live pics im disapointed mine isnt coming on wednesday thank you very much sky, oh well 10 days to wait
 
Last edited:
Could anyone be kind enough to let me know exactly what connectivity the SkyHD box provides. I have never seen a deffinitive list. Even better would be a picture of the rear panel.

What would be ever so useful (to me) is if the box could simultaneously output a SD picture over RGB SCART (or SVideo) at the same time as 720p/1080i over HDMI/Component. Any idea if that's possible ?

Thanks
 
philhoole said:
Could anyone be kind enough to let me know exactly what connectivity the SkyHD box provides. I have never seen a deffinitive list. Even better would be a picture of the rear panel.

What would be ever so useful (to me) is if the box could simultaneously output a SD picture over RGB SCART (or SVideo) at the same time as 720p/1080i over HDMI/Component. Any idea if that's possible ?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I believe that the box will simultaniously outpu SD over scart while outputting HD over component and HDMI.

The box has the following connections:

1 x Optical SP/DIF
Component out
1 x HDMI
2 x SCART
2 x SAT inputs
2 x RF out
1 x RF in
1 x SATA
1 x USB
1 x Serial
1 x S-Video
L+R Line level outputs
1 x Ethernet
1 x Power
1 x Modem
 
On further viewing...

Discovery HD has the second best HD picture (next to the amazing BBC HD) and also has the best programming at the minute. It also features amazing 'Discovery HD Short Feature' films, that so far have ranged from deep sea diving with an HD camera on a sunken ship engulfed by coral (wow!) to a man wrestling an anaconda. On the negative side of things, it features the biggest/most obtrusive DOG of any HD channel.

National Geographic is probably the worst picture wise - very grainy and a few artifacts. It really doesn't do HD justice. Also the shows tend to be 20 minutes of staring at a river with no voiceover and very little to enjoy watching.

Sky One HD probably has the best DOG - very small and only in the top left hand corner of the screen. It's pictures are comparable to the mid range stuff on Discovery HD but not quite reaching the peaks of the best of Discovery or BBC. Bear in mind I've only seen Enterprise to judge from though.

Sky Sports HD - I've only seen content shot in HD, scaled to SD and then upscaled again. No live HD broadcasts for it until Thursday afaik.

Artsworld is alright but hasn't shown anything I've been dying to watch so far, their shows seem to be less geared towards showcasing what HD has to offer and focus more on the show's subject matter without jaw dropping visuals.

I'm really enjoying the experience so far, and while it isn't worth the £300 yet, I know it will be when the World Cup hits, as the BBC HD trial footage of World Cup 2002 is absolutely jaw dropping. The sense of scale and intensity in the pictures beggars belief.

I'll be watching Starsky & Hutch in HD and Shrek 2 later on so will report back with more impressions.

Anyone else lucky enough to have it, bookmark Discovery HD for 9pm on Saturday - a show about the making of Star Wars and how real world technology is following in it's footsteps. The shots of Episode 1 in HD were great looking.
 
Hi Icebus, thanks for the post.

Can you advise what the sound quality is like, any improvement over sky+? is this dolby digital +?
 
Da[]San said:
Hi Icebus, thanks for the post.

Can you advise what the sound quality is like, any improvement over sky+? is this dolby digital +?
Click to expand...

For me it's a boost in quality as I was going from a Pace V1 digibox and so previously I was only getting Dolby Prologic so I'm afraid I can't compare it to Sky+.

At the minute Sky are outputting mainly DD 5.1 (no + as of yet) but a lot of channels are mistakenly branded as being DS when they are in fact DD 5.1.

Sound quality is absolutely amazing on the BBC HD channel and I would say rivals a well mastered DTS DVD. It's that good :)

The whole BBC package just smacks of quality and I'd love to see some actual programs after seeing how good the preview is!
 
Something to add.

Watching the HD channel on my HD PJ against my 7 year old Rear Projection TV. The TV gets a huge jump in PQ to from the HD channel. Not as good as HD of course but a large jump on a normal channel.

Wish it would get dark so I can really appreciate the picture ;)

Also amazing is the depth of colour that pops up on you in some of the documentries.
 
Few pics i took this afternoon:

DSC00308_04.jpg


DSC00323_02.jpg


DSC00320_01.jpg


DSC00310_03.jpg
 
Sky fitter due in 30 mins.... So fingers crossed should be up and running this morning....... Woot!!!!!!!!!!

:cool:

/Edit

Being installed right now. :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom