Im not really fussed, it just makes all the rubbish that is on TV a tiny bit sharper.Not that ,with the coverage in the Shropshire hills, it would make an ounce of differance anyway.
Once you've watched the football and cricket in HD you would never go back to SD. It makes you realise what terrible quality SD is. Ok, I know I pay though the nose for it through SkyHD but its worth every penny in my opinion.
SD on a HD tv is very very poor and really is not worth getting a HD tv if you havnt got a HD source. Might aswell keep your current CRT.
Still think its poor that there are hardly any channels being broadcasted in HD. You would think BBC1 and BB2 would be shown in HD. Like Channel 4 that is in HD.
I take your point (assuming you are talking about running SD over HDMI to an HD TV?).
However in my experience LCD 32" tv tend to make SD look worse, but plasma 42" looks good.
Aussie SD cricket broadcasts were very good during the Ashes last time, I think this is cos they are filmed in HD to begin with.
Quality can also be do with what source you are viewing from sky box vs freeview (not sure the latter does HDMI anyway). I'm not totally clued up on all the technical, but I believe the bandwidth can vary even for SD transmissions, channel to channel, and programme to programme.
a lot of nature stuff is filmed on HD cameras with big hard drives which enables you to take very long continuous footgage as I understand, and needs to be high definition digital or analogue (film) for resolution/closeups etc hence the abundance of footage.
I have it on my big sat dish, it cost nowt to receive if you have FTA (free to air satellite receiver) or indeed if you have freesat.
The picture quality is good, don't believe those who dismiss HD as only maginally better than SD. If you are watching HD on a tiddler or poorly set up HD telly, you wont see the difference.
ITV wont give it to SKY right now as they are using ITV HD on freesat as a unique selling point for freesat over SKY
That's a bit of a toughie to answer in a few words as it's all dependant on what you have got TV wise, the boxes you have under your tele, and the cables between all of them.
A lot of people get a HD source box, connect up the HDMI cable between the two, and then don't set the source to use the HDMI cable as the output, or more commonly, don't switch the input on their TV to the HDMI input. People can often connect up scarts also between the two and the scart function will usually be the default connection the TV goes to. So,......if you are using a Sky HD box the TV will go for the scart cable (SD source) as the default when you turn it on and not the HMI connection (where SD is upscaled and better the SD over scart) and think it's rubbish.
The comments above about cable costs are right, a £3000 set of tyres on a skoda, don't make it go like a Bently.
and then you get into buying a £199 50' inch monster from ALdi and getting it home and thinking, that picture is crap. my HD tele showing SD is shiite and therefore that means the HD on it (if I ever got it) will be equally shite.
Finally (I hope you haven't lost the will to live) fiddling around with the picture settings for an HD picture on the TV can make a noticeable difference to the viewer. It's a bit like listening to music, not everyone likes the same equaliser settings, volume etc
HD set up is not tricky, but it's not plug and play and many people jump to the conclusion that it's "not all that" because of some of the above.
Comments
Shot emselves in the foot over the Euros..
Once you've watched the football and cricket in HD you would never go back to SD. It makes you realise what terrible quality SD is. Ok, I know I pay though the nose for it through SkyHD but its worth every penny in my opinion.
Still think its poor that there are hardly any channels being broadcasted in HD. You would think BBC1 and BB2 would be shown in HD. Like Channel 4 that is in HD.
However in my experience LCD 32" tv tend to make SD look worse, but plasma 42" looks good.
Aussie SD cricket broadcasts were very good during the Ashes last time, I think this is cos they are filmed in HD to begin with.
Quality can also be do with what source you are viewing from sky box vs freeview (not sure the latter does HDMI anyway). I'm not totally clued up on all the technical, but I believe the bandwidth can vary even for SD transmissions, channel to channel, and programme to programme.
I think also HDMI cables can vary in quality
sport and nature is where sky hd comes into its own.
The picture quality is good, don't believe those who dismiss HD as only maginally better than SD. If you are watching HD on a tiddler or poorly set up HD telly, you wont see the difference.
ITV wont give it to SKY right now as they are using ITV HD on freesat as a unique selling point for freesat over SKY
A lot of people get a HD source box, connect up the HDMI cable between the two, and then don't set the source to use the HDMI cable as the output, or more commonly, don't switch the input on their TV to the HDMI input. People can often connect up scarts also between the two and the scart function will usually be the default connection the TV goes to. So,......if you are using a Sky HD box the TV will go for the scart cable (SD source) as the default when you turn it on and not the HMI connection (where SD is upscaled and better the SD over scart) and think it's rubbish.
The comments above about cable costs are right, a £3000 set of tyres on a skoda, don't make it go like a Bently.
and then you get into buying a £199 50' inch monster from ALdi and getting it home and thinking, that picture is crap. my HD tele showing SD is shiite and therefore that means the HD on it (if I ever got it) will be equally shite.
Finally (I hope you haven't lost the will to live) fiddling around with the picture settings for an HD picture on the TV can make a noticeable difference to the viewer. It's a bit like listening to music, not everyone likes the same equaliser settings, volume etc
HD set up is not tricky, but it's not plug and play and many people jump to the conclusion that it's "not all that" because of some of the above.
I need a lie down after that lot
you can select the hdmi input on most tvs anyway, so if you've done that presumably the above doesn't apply?
go to the options tab on the very top menu , click on that then click on the add channels bit then enter these details
11.427
H
2/3
27500
once entered press the yellow button to scan then highlight 10510 and press the yellow button to store followed by select.
now anytime you want to watch the ITV HD channel if the football is on just go to the other channels bit and click on 10510 to watch the channel.
thanks to rothko for the info
You can now see Fizz from Corrie in all HD glory!!
I got that, I'm sure it just means theres nothing being shown, Try again tonight when the footballs on.
that's because there is only about one programme a day on and they wonder why no-one really took up the HD freesat.
The football is on tonight and a few films are on this week .
One great thing is we get the cup final in HD now
Nope. We have the HD box but no longer pay the subscription... yet we can get ITV HD fine, as we can BBC HD