Sky HD - any good?

[thor]

I'm thinking of getting this service (and also their broadband package). Does anyone have have any experiences of it?

Thanks a lot - John

[DanAbnormal]

It really depends on your TV.

If you have a 1080P TV then I would say do it, you will notice a huuuuuge difference.

However, i fyou only have a standard HD ready TV (upto 1080i) then I would not bother as it doesn't make that big a difference.

[Ping]

I upgraded a short while ago after I bought my 1080p HD tv... (I get it free though as I'm an employee) They only transmit in 780 or something but it's still awesome.

I couldn't believe the difference it makes. My initial thinking was 'how can it be any better than what we see normally?' Bloody amazed with it. :lol:

It has pros and cons though...

pro: detail is AMAZING.
con: detail can often show more than you really need or want to see.

i.e. Watching Glastonbury festival in hd. Could see Lily Allen's 5 o'clock shadow under her armpits and every gobbet of spit sticking to some other vocalist's teeth... :lol:

Anyhoo, I'm a convert... Not sure I could go back to normal tv now. :lol:

[wyrdness]

It really depends on your TV.

If you have a 1080P TV then I would say do it, you will notice a huuuuuge difference.

However, i fyou only have a standard HD ready TV (upto 1080i) then I would not bother as it doesn't make that big a difference.

I disagree completely. Sky HD is broadcast in 1080i, but you'll actually see a noticeable increase in quality even with an old standard definition TV, due to the higher quality of the HD encoding. Even on the old crappy Sony 14" crt tv that I've got on my desk, the HD channels look much better than the SD ones.

[thor]

well I am definetly going to get a big 1080p TV, so I guess it will stop TV from looking suddenly ****!

[Daimo]

Is HD worth it? I looked into it a year or so back.

Put into figures, your paying like ?8-10 pm for about 8 channels of HD, which IMO really isn't worth it.

HD is awesome, but I will wait until a lot more channels are available. For the amount it costs and the channels you get, right now it isn't worth it.

However..

Broadband, i've got the top package, 16mb I think, unlimited DL, ?10pm, and i've had no trouble whatsoever. Especially compared to my precious providors. Good service so far and completly happy, well advised to go for.

[Luckypants]

So what's the best deal to be had on a new Sky HD install (not a current customer upgrade)? Anyone got any magic codes for a discount on the up front costs? :batman:

[Dave The Rave]

Alternatively you could try the BT vision. Internet, phone, HD box all in once. I love it! Cheaper than SKY too :-)

[wyrdness]

So what's the best deal to be had on a new Sky HD install (not a current customer upgrade)? Anyone got any magic codes for a discount on the up front costs? :batman:

The best deal at the moment is that I can get you a £50 M&S voucher when you subscribe.

[DanAbnormal]

I disagree completely. Sky HD is broadcast in 1080i, but you'll actually see a noticeable increase in quality even with an old standard definition TV, due to the higher quality of the HD encoding. Even on the old crappy Sony 14" crt tv that I've got on my desk, the HD channels look much better than the SD ones.

My point is still valid though, if you have a cheap HDTV then it won't look as good as a decent HDTV. My folks got it and they have a £300 27" Goodmans HDTV, and looks naff to be honest.

[thor]

There's an offer with the national trust. You get £100 off a sky HD box I think.

[wyrdness]

Haha, is that one of those "recommend a customer and we'll give you both £50 in vouchers" things?

Yep. Best offer that I can do at the moment, I'm afraid. Once or twice a year they have offers for employees to sign up friends & family cheaply, but the last one finished in November.

Edit: Just found out that there's a half price offer on the Sky+ or HD set-top box, but it finishes tomorrow.

[tigersaw]

Worth it $ wise - no, theres not enough HD content yet. Worth it quality wise, hell yes, its superb on a decent HD telly.

[plowsie]

Right maybe it is just me buttttt....My parents have bought this 40" samsung TV, everything is HD already, they aren't paying anything extra PM on Sky...

[wyrdness]

Right maybe it is just me buttttt....My parents have bought this 40" samsung TV, everything is HD already, they aren't paying anything extra PM on Sky...

If they don't have a Sky HD box and subscription then they're just watching normal standard definition TV on it.

[plowsie]

But it looks HD as i have seen a HD tele in action....

[wyrdness]

But it looks HD as i have seen a HD tele in action....

Like I said, if the don't have an HD box, then it's not HD.
Standard sky boxes don't have the H.264 decoder chip required to decode HD broadcasts.

[plowsie]

So what is it???

If its not High-Definition, what is it? I-cant-decide-my-definition

[Pedro68]

Plowsie, it'll be standard definition (625 lines iirc) ... bit like the standard signals that have been broadcast for the past god-knows-how-many years ... the 'rents just have a nice TV to watch the same crap on now :D HTH ;-)

[plowsie]

But it isnt, it looks all funny, i ent arguin i just dont understand!!!!!!! lol!

[wyrdness]

Plowsie, it'll be standard definition (625 lines iirc) ... bit like the standard signals that have been broadcast for the past god-knows-how-many years ... the 'rents just have a nice TV to watch the same crap on now :D HTH ;-)

Actually, it'll be 576 lines upscaled by the TV to its native resolution (usually 720 or 1080 lines).

[thor]

Yep. Best offer that I can do at the moment, I'm afraid. Once or twice a year they have offers for employees to sign up friends & family cheaply, but the last one finished in November.

Edit: Just found out that there's a half price offer on the Sky+ or HD set-top box, but it finishes tomorrow.

Do you have a link by any chance?

Thanks!

[neio79]

or we could all just wait untill the BBC transmit in Hd as part of the licence fee then Sky will not be able to charge for it !!

[wyrdness]

Do you have a link by any chance?

Thanks!

I can't find a link to it. I saw a leaflet in PC World.

[wyrdness]

or we could all just wait untill the BBC transmit in Hd as part of the licence fee then Sky will not be able to charge for it !!

So if the BBC transmit standard definition for free, then Sky won't be able to charge for that either?

I see a flaw in your argument.