News - Sky cuts the cost of premium HD service, hits sub-£50 sweet spot

[mastino08]

Good to see the price coming down, but still holding off as it's only 1080i!

[dave87]

Good to see the price coming down, but still holding off as it's only 1080i!

You'll be waiting a while then.


The unfortunate truth is that they can fit 4 normal broadcasts in the space of one 1080p broadcast.

Given how a lot of people think SkyHD is the mutts nuts anyway, it would have little tangible benefit in mass terms than 1080i.

[bigblue]

Good to see the price coming down, but still holding off as it's only 1080i!

Only 1080i? You're hard to please

I think most folk would struggle to see the difference between 1080i and 1080p, especially when some of the stuff carried by Sky is originally captured at 1080p and can be properly deinterlaced by a decent TV. It wouldn't really make much difference if it was carried natively at 1080p, as it's the compression that really affects the quality of the Sky images, rather than the resolution. When BBC HD was running as a trial, the picture quality was awesome, comparable with many Blu-Rays.

As for the £10 a month charge getting dropped, it's not going to happen any time soon. Nearly 800,000 subscribers are paying it, and Sky are not going to give all those tenners away

[Saracen]

....

As for the £10 a month charge getting dropped, it's not going to happen any time soon. Nearly 800,000 subscribers are paying it, and Sky are not going to give all those tenners away

Which is why I don't see me getting it any time soon. Am I paying £10/month for the "benefit" of getting the relatively small amount of true HD content in HD? Am I hell!

Thanks, Sky, but I'll carry on watching it in SD and save the money. I'm not that much of a telly addict anyway.

But you're right. The only way Sky will drop the charges is if they think they'll make more money by doing so. If they halved the sub to £5, would they more than double the number of people paying it? Doubtful, IMHO.

What might trigger a price reduction, though, is competitive pressure. If free HD content gets good enough, or if someone undercuts them, or if they decide to buy market share by undercutting someone else, then maybe. I'm not holding my breath though. Or to be more accurate, I wouldn't be holding it if I actually gave much of a damn either way which, frankly, I don't.

[Golden Dragoon]

The only reason I haven't gotten a sky hd box is my tv is a crt set, and although 1080, only has component input, and I have never had a clear answer as to wether the hd box can output 1080 over component (I am assuming it is hdmi only tbh, I can't immagine it not being that)

[bigblue]

The only reason I haven't gotten a sky hd box is my tv is a crt set, and although 1080, only has component input, and I have never had a clear answer as to wether the hd box can output 1080 over component (I am assuming it is hdmi only tbh, I can't immagine it not being that)

The original Thomson box will do 1080i over component with no problem, indeed many people choose to use component rather than HDMI to allow them to ouput SD in 576i rather than 576p.

It means you'd need to get a reconditioned box, as the more recent Thomson ones only have HDMI, but a reconditioned component box would arguably be more reliable than it was before it was reconditioned. (Says he, with a faulty Thomson box in the loft )