HD and Sky?

[DR]

I was in Dixons the other day and they are taking pre-alerts for Sky HD support.

How will this work? Will you have to buy a new box to get it? or is there another way around it?

Anyone got details?

[DR]

Just found this: http://hd.sky.com/

Just wondering costs though

[5lab]

i recon the box will probably just replace the normal sky box as the standard - i mean the actual output doesnt cost much more than normal. with only a couple of channels to start with its probably not worth investing for another year or 2 thou

[Rave]

I badly want HDTV but I badly don't want to pay the Murdoch tax. I wish the government would pull their fingers out and sort out a proper timescale for HD on terrestrial, Australia have had it for a while, and yet we don't even seem to have a launch date. Bloody useless TBH.

[DR]

Its going to be interestin to see the deployment

[Lee H]

Indeed.

HDTV is looking good but if they roll it out wrong then its just going to be a damp squib instead of exploding onto the scene.

Sky's offering does look good and if this cures the dreaded mpeg artifacts that are visible on a TV while watching football then I might just go for it

[5lab]

the reason it hasnt hit here so hard is because we already have high-quality sdtv - freeview pushes out good quality pictures that many people may not notice from hdtv.

additionally, there are no plans to push hdtv over freeview - unlike the states, where nearly everyone has cable - i recon only 50% of homes here will have non-ariel connections for their tv. hdtv over this isnt very feasable at the moment, as there simply isnt the bandwidth. imo ntl need to catch up with sky and provide something with sky+ and hdtv for the future - even just something they suggest would be nice - they've got no plans at all at the mo!

[shaithis]

No pricing available yet but I would expect:

£300 HD Box (You will need a new box)
+£10 per month extra for the HD service.

At first the boxes are supposed to support component video, how that is going to wash with program makers who will want HDCP protection on their programming is another matter.......HDCP requires a HDMI or DVI socket with HDCP support.

[dangel]

I'd expect it to replace their premium end - sky+ - whether they've the gall to charge you another tenner in addition to normal sky+ charges, i don't know. TBH i'm less than convinced that i want a whole new box and new display for loadsa-money when sky+ is good enough for movies (and has 5.1 digital sound). If you can afford the initial outlay and a possible monthly charge of say 50quid then all is good. It's 35 quid for sky family + movies alone now - add sports and it's over 40, add a 'HD surcharge' and it's 50.

I'll stick with Sky+ as is for at least 2-3 years.

[derthballs]

the preliminary prices, are apperently £400 for the box, with a 400gb HD in it. (source, link off av forums).

[Lee H]

Now wouldn't it be ideal if Freesat which has just announced HERE was HDTV when it was launched

[derthballs]

It would be, but its not gonna be

[Funkstar]

Now wouldn't it be ideal if Freesat which has just announced HERE was HDTV when it was launched

Not going to be at launch, but it will be HD or at least partial HD at some point. The BBC are already testing HD broacasts on Eurobird 1 at 28.5. I think there may have been other tests on one of the Astra satelites as well.