sky hd..... cant tell the difference

[clapham_gull]

HD is the worst invention ever. Sort of thing that should just be a case of buying a new TV - because the improvement is very minimal and once you're watching it you forget in about 5 seconds that it's "better" than normal TV. How the f*** Sky have got away with charging people monthly for something which should be a one off upgrade is ridiculous. Oh well.

Exactly.

 

[beorhthelm]

HD is a massive difference... if you are american used to the shitty NTSC picture. unfourtunatly the rest of the PAL civilised world got caught up in the hype fire. if you have a HD recording, broadcast on a HD signal, to a 1080p HD TV with you sat the optimum distance, then yes, you will notice a difference. though you probably wouldnt have paid so much for it had you known how slight it would be. but then, its difficult to buy a new TV now that isnt 1080p, so take the HD channel if you have it for free.

 

[clapham_gull]

HD is a massive difference... if you are american used to the shitty NTSC picture. unfourtunatly the rest of the PAL civilised world got caught up in the hype fire. if you have a HD recording, broadcast on a HD signal, to a 1080p HD TV with you sat the optimum distance, then yes, you will notice a difference. though you probably wouldnt have paid so much for it had you known how slight it would be. but then, its difficult to buy a new TV now that isnt 1080p, so take the HD channel if you have it for free.

Yep, but there also has to be something worth watching. With so many TV channels relying on a small catalogue of actually good television, much shot in SD - it will be a few years before I'm prepared to pay a premium to buy it.

 

[Cian]

Actually, I think I made a boo boo.

Im thinking the difference between scart and hd cable in the inches at the side of the screen. I have seen 3 different types of hd lead set up and i have seen 'better' quallity in picture ie the colour is sharper. But admititadly its not 'overwhelmingly' better.

Much love. xxx

Any difference you "saw" between HDMI leads is pscyhological, wishful thinking, delusions or all three.

THE OUTPUT DATA IS IDENTICAL. If it wasn't, you'd have no picture.

This is as much bullshit as thinking a more expensive USB cable gives you better audio on files you transfer to an iPod; more expensive cables giving better prints, etc. It doesn't happen.

And the "extra inches" over SCART is because your STB was set up wrong. SCART handles widescreen perfectly if you're not incompetent.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

There is a seriously easy way of finding out the difference. Do you or someone in your house have glasses? Sit about 3 feet away and look at a normal non HD channel in glasses and you will see it pixelates all over the place. Watch the same in HD and you will see no pixels whatsoever, just a crystal clear picture. There is a huge difference between HD and non HD.

 

[dannyboy]

Does it take a while for sky to turn it on or does it work as soon as the engineer leaves ?

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Should be available straight away dannyboy. It's not a switch or anything, it is just beamed in from the dish.

 

[dannyboy]

This has got me stumped then . Pretty sure its set up right but as I said the difference is maybe 5 %. Lucky it didn't cost me anything

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Wear some glasses and watch BBC then BBC HD, you will definitely see the difference.

 

[Armchair]

Just a thought. Have you selected the correct input source through your tv menu. I have a Panasonic plasma tv and the AV selector button on the remote gives a number of choices. I had this same problem when I first had HD and discovered I was watching through the AV1 source which was connected by a scart lead. When I selected an HDMI source on the menu I got the true HD signal through the HDMI connection and there was a huge difference. The SKY engineer had not set it properly!

 

[dannyboy]

Scart control is turned off on the menu and to be sure I pulled them out !

 

[cyanide-sid]

We had HD for a week on the wrong setting on the TV (AV instead of HDMI) and my wife and son where both convinced the picture was a whole lot better.
I have to admit that now it is working it is so much better for sports and that is what I got it for really.
The 10 nicker a month grates though.

 

[minnieme]

Does it take a while for sky to turn it on or does it work as soon as the engineer leaves ?

go to an HD channel, if you can see the picture you are getting HD, if not you get a message asking you to upgrade. Also check that the Sky box is set to 720p or 1080i, you won't get 1080p from Sky as they do not broadcast in 1080p.

 

[Armchair]

Scart control wont affect it. If your tv is the one I think it is you should have a button marked 'INPUT' on your remote. Have you tried repeatedly pressing that button and cycling through all the sources to see if that makes a difference?

 

[minnieme]

Correct, make sure you have selected the correct HDMI input on your telly, good luck.

 

[beorhthelm]

There is a seriously easy way of finding out the difference. Do you or someone in your house have glasses? Sit about 3 feet away and look at a normal non HD channel in glasses and you will see it pixelates all over the place. Watch the same in HD and you will see no pixels whatsoever, just a crystal clear picture. There is a huge difference between HD and non HD.

this doesnt make much sence. if you are 3 foot away you will see the pixels eitherway, they dont change size. if wearing glasses helps improve the picture, that implies you need to attend to your eyesight, not tv.

 

[Hiney]

Sky HD is brilliant and a massive difference to non-HD broadcasts.

Anyone who can't see this is either deluded or hasn't set their kit up properly.

 

[matt]

Sky HD is brilliant and a massive difference to non-HD broadcasts.

Anyone who can't see this is either deluded or hasn't set their kit up properly.

Or needs glasses...

 

[Racek]

is this episode what caused the power cut?

 

[Icy Gull]

I watched some rugby in HD and the person I was with was raving about how much better it was than regular tv. Looked exactly the same to me, having read this thread it's good to know I am not the only one who immediately thought "Emperor's new clothes".