Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: HolyCount on 20 September 2009, 14:43:39
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Is the difference in picture quality worth the subscription ?
Do Sky ever transmit HD on a free basis so that potential customers can try it on their own TV's to see?
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i got Sky HD, they have around 72 channels in HD, Sky Movies are great in HD. :y
Sky1 HD is a mirror of Sky1 so unlike other channels everything they show is in HD, road wars and such.
HD box also upscales SD so its an improvment all round.
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My mate's got Sky HD.the picture is so clear,look at your hand then seeing it on your TV.if you can understand that,it's all in the detail.he has top of the range Tv so i don't know what it looks like on a cheaper one.If you go to BBc i player and watch a program in HD you will see the difference.If that make any sense to you
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I had it then binned it .... it certainly is clearer and sharper but is it worth the extra subs ??? :-/
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I went Freesat HD - it is a better box as well
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Is the difference in picture quality worth the subscription ?
Do Sky ever transmit HD on a free basis so that potential customers can try it on their own TV's to see?
I've had it from the start and still am of the opinion that the difference in image quality is, for my purposes, worth it.
You will pay for the privilege however.
BBC HD and a few others are available on the Sky carrier free to air but you would need a Sky HD box and current viewing card to see it - you can view whatever HD channels are free to air on Sky without a full HD subscription but you have to use an HD box and have a current Sky subscription for their other services.
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For starters, Sky don't actually transmit in true HD.
As for the so called improvements where the upscaling feature is involved, it's all pseudo.......you can't generate high class audio & video when the original source information isn't there to start with.
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Is the difference in picture quality worth the subscription ?
Do Sky ever transmit HD on a free basis so that potential customers can try it on their own TV's to see?
Vastly superior picture, no question. Provided you have a decent HD ready tv. Some aint worth a **** :-X
Is it worth 10 sobs a month? depends on amount of hd content available on the hd channels you want to watch.
however i do find myself watching crap i wouldnt give a second glance in sd, just because the hd picture is so stunning.
re free trial, No! You have to have a Sky plus HD box to get HD, and the £10 a month sub is part of the new 1year contract you have to start with that box.
BUT, if you then ring up and moan, as i did, that your not happy paying the extra tenna(lack of hd content used to be a good excuse, not so these days) and tell them to come take the box out, they will just cancel the sub, leaving you with BBC HD, CH4 HD, and Lux HD for free. ;) And for £50 the bigger hard drive is well worth it on the HD box.
There are currently 34 channels listed in the HD menu, not all show hd all the time, and you can only view in hd what you subscribe to in sd, for instance, you cant watch sky sporst and movies in hd if you dont subscribe to those channels in standard def.
ITV HD is the only missing channel from the hd menu list, but can be viewed on other channels on some boxs without sky plus functions. There is bog all on it anyway making freeview a waste of time for HD.
Sky broadcast hd in 720p or 1080i, the highest spec available in the uk. 1080p is only available via blu ray disc.
the sky hd box does improve the sd picture over a sd box.
For me, no point having a flat panel tv without it. :)
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I am recording Doc Martin tonight on ITV HD with the Humax HDR ;D
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I have it too and don't mind paying the £9 subs, would be better free but I still think its worth it. The SD picture is much better than Standard Sky+ Box mainly due to to it being HDMI not Scart. You can also manually tune the HD box so you can view ITV HD as it is aired Unencrypted, although you can't record or use the EPG with it. :y
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Remember, its not HD, its HDish.
And is it worth a tenner a month.....probably not!
As for upscaling, you cant polish a poo (well you can but, its still a poo)!
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I have it too and don't mind paying the £9 subs, would be better free but I still think its worth it. The SD picture is much better than Standard Sky+ Box mainly due to to it being HDMI not Scart. You can also manually tune the HD box so you can view ITV HD as it is aired Unencrypted, although you can't record or use the EPG with it. :y
Not on the box I have you cant, it's out of range, and I dont have the new EPG that sorts it yet :-/
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I have it too and don't mind paying the £9 subs, would be better free but I still think its worth it. The SD picture is much better than Standard Sky+ Box mainly due to to it being HDMI not Scart. You can also manually tune the HD box so you can view ITV HD as it is aired Unencrypted, although you can't record or use the EPG with it. :y
Not on the box I have you cant, it's out of range, and I dont have the new EPG that sorts it yet :-/
Now you say that I do remember it only works on specific boxes.
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Mines an Amstrad and I have to wait for the upgrade, seems the pace and Grundig models will tune in.
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Yeah mine is a pace i think, epg was updated quite a few months ago. Think it needs patching though can be a bit slow sometimes. Still much better than the old epg though. :y
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Can we force an EPG reload, and if we can, will it afect whats stored on the hard Drive.
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In the case of Sky, its easy to see the difference, simply because their SD is bloody awful.
I have sources recorded via mce from Freesat HD, Freesat, and Freeview. MCE is probably the worlds best upscaler, simply due to the hardware and software development around it.
Unless you view the sources one after the other, its not that easy to tell apart. Yes, the Freesat HD definately has more detail, but its a bit like a 720p BR disc against a DVD on MCE - not that easy to tell apart without looking very closely. Now BR disc at 1080p, that is noticibly different.
In order of quality, the sources I mentioned is:
Freesat HD
Freview SD
Freesat SD
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I find Sky SD with a decent television perfectly acceptable. It's only a rather telly. Who wants to see every wrinkle on Dierdre's saggy knockers?
Well, apart from Skruntie. :)
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In the case of Sky, its easy to see the difference, simply because their SD is bloody awful.
I have sources recorded via mce from Freesat HD, Freesat, and Freeview. MCE is probably the worlds best upscaler, simply due to the hardware and software development around it.
Unless you view the sources one after the other, its not that easy to tell apart. Yes, the Freesat HD definately has more detail, but its a bit like a 720p BR disc against a DVD on MCE - not that easy to tell apart without looking very closely. Now BR disc at 1080p, that is noticibly different.
In order of quality, the sources I mentioned is:
Freesat HD
Freview SD
Freesat SD
DVD is 720p.
If there is going to be a difference when compared to BD-ROM at 720p, then it's going to be down to the player and/or decoder (assuming the same screen is used for both).
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In the case of Sky, its easy to see the difference, simply because their SD is bloody awful.
I have sources recorded via mce from Freesat HD, Freesat, and Freeview. MCE is probably the worlds best upscaler, simply due to the hardware and software development around it.
Unless you view the sources one after the other, its not that easy to tell apart. Yes, the Freesat HD definately has more detail, but its a bit like a 720p BR disc against a DVD on MCE - not that easy to tell apart without looking very closely. Now BR disc at 1080p, that is noticibly different.
In order of quality, the sources I mentioned is:
Freesat HD
Freview SD
Freesat SD
DVD is 720p.
If there is going to be a difference when compared to BD-ROM at 720p, then it's going to be down to the player and/or decoder (assuming the same screen is used for both).
PAL DVD is 576 ;)
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I find Sky SD with a decent television perfectly acceptable. It's only a rather telly. Who wants to see every wrinkle on Dierdre's saggy knockers?
Well, apart from Skruntie. :)
You wanna know what really slays me Steve?
Most of the people harping on about 1080p are in the "mid" life stage or plus of life, and both their sight & sound are nowhere near as good as they were when these people were in their early twenties.
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Agreed Steve.I have no particular interest in HD etc,just want an acceptable picture for the ocassional programme I want to watch.Might feel different if I was a film watcher but I rarely do,I havent got the patience to spend 2 hours watching make believe on a screen,seems like a total waste of time to me.maybe I should change my user name to Larry Luddite. ::) :)
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Agreed Steve.I have no particular interest in HD etc,just want an acceptable picture for the ocassional programme I want to watch.Might feel different if I was a film watcher but I rarely do,I havent got the patience to spend 2 hours watching make believe on a screen,seems like a total waste of time to me.maybe I should change my user name to Larry Luddite. ::) :)
Go on then Larry ;D
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I find Sky SD with a decent television perfectly acceptable. It's only a rather telly. Who wants to see every wrinkle on Dierdre's saggy knockers?
Well, apart from Skruntie. :)
You wanna know what really slays me Steve?
Most of the people harping on about 1080p are in the "mid" life stage or plus of life, and both their sight & sound are nowhere near as good as they were when these people were in their early twenties.
I never thought of that one.
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I find Sky SD with a decent television perfectly acceptable. It's only a rather telly. Who wants to see every wrinkle on Dierdre's saggy knockers?
Well, apart from Skruntie. :)
You wanna know what really slays me Steve?
Most of the people harping on about 1080p are in the "mid" life stage or plus of life, and both their sight & sound are nowhere near as good as they were when these people were in their early twenties.
I have no desire to watch broadcasted HD (maybe an exception for nature progs), hence no Freesat here (dead easy to add to MCE - just chuck the cards in the PC). I suspect they knobble it anyway due to bandwidth, and at max it'll be 720p. I do tend to buy BR discs rather than DVDs now as usually similar price
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In the case of Sky, its easy to see the difference, simply because their SD is bloody awful.
I have sources recorded via mce from Freesat HD, Freesat, and Freeview. MCE is probably the worlds best upscaler, simply due to the hardware and software development around it.
Unless you view the sources one after the other, its not that easy to tell apart. Yes, the Freesat HD definately has more detail, but its a bit like a 720p BR disc against a DVD on MCE - not that easy to tell apart without looking very closely. Now BR disc at 1080p, that is noticibly different.
In order of quality, the sources I mentioned is:
Freesat HD
Freview SD
Freesat SD
By MCE i assume you are talking about Windows Media Center? I have a tuner in one of my PC's and have never been impressed with the freeview quality much lower than the sky image, but it might be just my tuner, it is a few years old. :-/
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In the case of Sky, its easy to see the difference, simply because their SD is bloody awful.
I have sources recorded via mce from Freesat HD, Freesat, and Freeview. MCE is probably the worlds best upscaler, simply due to the hardware and software development around it.
Unless you view the sources one after the other, its not that easy to tell apart. Yes, the Freesat HD definately has more detail, but its a bit like a 720p BR disc against a DVD on MCE - not that easy to tell apart without looking very closely. Now BR disc at 1080p, that is noticibly different.
In order of quality, the sources I mentioned is:
Freesat HD
Freview SD
Freesat SD
By MCE i assume you are talking about Windows Media Center? I have a tuner in one of my PC's and have never been impressed with the freeview quality much lower than the sky image, but it might be just my tuner, it is a few years old. :-/
Yup, Media Center.
If its an analogue tuner, its all down to the software used to decode. I'm guessing its old software on a poor aerial.
I'm currently watching some chick-flick comedy recorded on freeview BBC3 upscaled to 1080p, and it looks DVD quality to me, but with stereo sound.
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Dunno thought it had to be digital to recieve freeview, analogue isn't freeview is it?
At work so don't know exact model but its a WinTV-NOVA-T PCI or summat. ;)
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I'm currently watching some chick-flick comedy recorded on freeview BBC3 upscaled to 1080p, and it looks DVD quality to me, but with stereo sound.
If it was being properly upscaled then it should be BD quality surely?
I've said it more than once, but I'll say it again.......upscaling isn't worth crap, becaise you CANNOT generate information that doesn't exist to start with.
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I'm currently watching some chick-flick comedy recorded on freeview BBC3 upscaled to 1080p, and it looks DVD quality to me, but with stereo sound.
If it was being properly upscaled then it should be BD quality surely?
I've said it more than once, but I'll say it again.......upscaling isn't worth crap, becaise you CANNOT generate information that doesn't exist to start with.
I'm not at all technically minded, but it sounds similar to when 2D pictures were remastered into 3D. The result was truly awful.
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I'm currently watching some chick-flick comedy recorded on freeview BBC3 upscaled to 1080p, and it looks DVD quality to me, but with stereo sound.
If it was being properly upscaled then it should be BD quality surely?
I've said it more than once, but I'll say it again.......upscaling isn't worth crap, becaise you CANNOT generate information that doesn't exist to start with.
I disagree upscaling does work, don't ask me how but it does. :y
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I'm currently watching some chick-flick comedy recorded on freeview BBC3 upscaled to 1080p, and it looks DVD quality to me, but with stereo sound.
If it was being properly upscaled then it should be BD quality surely?
I've said it more than once, but I'll say it again.......upscaling isn't worth crap, becaise you CANNOT generate information that doesn't exist to start with.
I'm not at all technically minded, but it sounds similar to when 2D pictures were remastered into 3D. The result was truly awful.
Nothing to do with being "awful" Steve.
Simple fact is that "true" HD is considered to be 1080p (or 1920x1080 in the case of a monitor).
However you should hold your horses on that one, because the next "argument" in the offing is the framerate of the video that is being brought in to question.
The current HD standard is considered to be 1080p/60.
That is 1080 pixels wide, with a framerate of 60 fps (frames per second).
However, a new argument put forward is that true HD should actually be 1080p/24 (that's 24 frames per second).
The reasoning behind that is quite simple, any movie you watch was originally captured at 24fps...so upscaling it for the media you buy, and then having to hardware downscale again so you can watch it will obviously involve losses along the way.
Sit back and wait another year for them to sort themselves out.
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I'm currently watching some chick-flick comedy recorded on freeview BBC3 upscaled to 1080p, and it looks DVD quality to me, but with stereo sound.
If it was being properly upscaled then it should be BD quality surely?
I've said it more than once, but I'll say it again.......upscaling isn't worth crap, becaise you CANNOT generate information that doesn't exist to start with.
I disagree upscaling does work, don't ask me how but it does. :y
What do you mean "Don't ask you how"?
Simple law of physics that will NEVER be broken......you don't get something for nothing!
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This isn't gravity were talking about! :D
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I'm currently watching some chick-flick comedy recorded on freeview BBC3 upscaled to 1080p, and it looks DVD quality to me, but with stereo sound.
If it was being properly upscaled then it should be BD quality surely?
I've said it more than once, but I'll say it again.......upscaling isn't worth crap, becaise you CANNOT generate information that doesn't exist to start with.
Upscaling isn't the same as decent HD source (which transmitted programmes generally aren't), but a decent upscaler is more and more important as screen sizes get bigger. All broadcast sources into a modern large panel (1920x1080) has to be upscaled one way or another, so the quality of any upscaler is important
It won't be true 720p or 1080p quality, as the info is missing. But a good upscaler can reduce the obvious differences, plain and simple
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IME, and as i understand it, upscaling tends to be more relevant to the software of your upscaling devices and Tv combination.
If you have i good TV that upscales all it needs to on its own, for example, and you then add a good upscaling dvd player, you can, but not always, get a worse picture than with a non upscaling dvd player.
Upscaling can improve your picture. But depends on the particular software working on your particular screen. It simply fills in the missing info on a bigger screen with "something" that it thinks looks better. Weather it looks better or not to you watching it on YOUR tv, well thats a whole other story. What looks good on one set up can look shite on another.
No expert on the issue as i beleive i have a quality TV, upscaling not something i need or have gone out of my way to buy, and on two occasions made the picture worse when borrowed upscaling Dvd players from mates as an experiment also, a £350 Onkyo 1080p Amp which claimed to upscale made the picture consideraly worse.
Sky plus HD showed an improvement over sky plus, dont care how it does it. But from memory, Hd box was better when both boxs where scarted side by side. (not HD picture though obviously and had to un plug and plug in etc)
If dvd comes out same as 720p to look at, somethings not right with the tv or your 720p source/set up i would think.
Not sure re forceing a new epg download on a sky box. May loose your drive content. Not worth the bother or risk imho. Worth a google though as there are no issues when sky send it down to the dish obviously.