Mid 40's, Lived in Yorkshire all my life, I like a bargain, but also believe you get what you pay fo...
Mid 40's, Lived in Yorkshire all my life, I like a bargain, but also believe you get what you pay for. Thanks for views & comments
Member since:25.07.2008
Reviews:22
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I have had Sky HD for almost 2 years, initially, I had several problems with faulty boxes, however, I have had the current one for over 12 months now, and (i am touching wood at this point) it has been fine. As with all Sky boxes, the thing will occasionally 'freeze', simply unplugging it from the mains, plugging it straight back in again, and leaving the box for a minute before turning on, rectifies the problem.
The box connects to your HD ready TV via an HDMI lead, a sort of digital scart lead, this gives an improvement in picture quality, not only on HD channels, but on all the SD channels as well.
There is a 160GB hard drive built in, much larger than the standard Sky+ box, but it needs to be, HD programmes contain so much more information, they take up a much larger slice of the available memory, however, SD programmes take up so little, there is generally plenty of memory available.
At time of writing, (august 2008), the following HD channels are available via the Sky Hd box. Channel 4 HD BBC HD Sky One HD FX HD Sky Arts HD Luxe TV HD Sky Premiere HD (movies) Sky Screen 1 HD (movies) Sky Screen 2 HD (movies) Sky Sports HD1 Sky Sports HD2 Sky Sports HD3 Eurosport HD Rush HD Discovery HD National Geographic HD History HD Sky Box Office HD1 Sky Box Office HD2.
To receive HD channels, you have to pay £10 per months, in addition to your chosen package, HOWEVER, even if you pay the £10, you will only receive the HD channels that correspond to your Sky package, so if you don't pay for movies, you would not get HD movies, even though you pay the HD subscription.
The HD programmes are a mixture of 'genuine' HD material, ie. things that have been filmed in HD, and 'upscaled' programmes,these programmes have not been filmed in HD but sky have 'boosted' or 'upscaled' the quality to make it as near toi true HD as possible, I recently watched the original Italian Job on HD movies, due to it's age, it could not possible have been filmed in HD, however the quality was superb.. Most Sports, Many Movies, and the 'Lions share' of Natural History (did you see what I did there, Lion.......Natural History , never mind) are all fimed in HD and the picture quality is nothing short of breathtaking.
This will however depend largely on the quality of the TV you are watching, and also whether it is Plasma/LCD. Plasma gives much deeper more detailed blacks, does not go grey when viewed from an angle, and handles movement ie. sports, much better than LCD. I have had both, and would not go back to LCD after having Plasma, but that is my personal preference.
One of the really cool things about the Hd box is something called 'Anytime TV'. This is similar to 'on demand', where there are usually upto 20-25 programmes available at any one time, complete mixture of HD movies, Childrens, Documentaries etc. These cam either be watched there and then, or, at the push of the record button, the entire programme is immediately transfered into your planner....very cool. The programmes change on a rotating basis, and if there is nothing you can find to watch elsewhere on Sky, there is usually something here.
SUMMARY Not cheap, BUT picture quality on the right TV is stunning. If you enjoy jour TV, Sky HD will have you smiling like the winner of the smile competition, in Smileville USA.
UPDATE 26/11/08
Since my iniyial review, the following channels have been added to Sky HD.
Bio.HD Sky Real Lives HD Sky Comedy HD (movies) Sky Action HD (movies) Sky Family HD (movies) Sky Drama HD (movies) Sky Scifi/Horror HD (movies) Sky Modern Greats (movies) Crime HD
MY only gripe is that ITV HD is not available through Sky, but you can't have everything
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Advantages: Beautiful colours, very dark black colours, works well with standard SKY+ and HD Upscalers Disadvantages: Sometimes blurry on fast-paced action movies or older films. MoviePlus isn't all that great.
eeyore220376 09.01.2008 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
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