SKY Q any good?

Author
Discussion

a4cabrio

902 posts

159 months

Saturday 6th August 2016
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tdm34 said:
Has anyone noticed that there's a few bits of UHD on SkyQ already?

Pixels and Forrest Gump on Sky Cinema
Big Cats on Sky Box Sets, which is stunning..

Also Liverpool vs Barcalona tonight is being broadcast in UHD..

Edited by tdm34 on Saturday 6th August 12:32
I heard earlier today about the Liverpool match being shown in UHD, I wasn't gonna watch it but I've already used it as the excuse to with the Mrs

a4cabrio

902 posts

159 months

Saturday 6th August 2016
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I've got the Liverpool v Barcelona game on and I've got to say I'm impressed with the UHD, the picture is fantastic and the colours seem so much brighter.

Are sky going to have dedicated UHD sports channels like they did for HD when that started?? Ive had to go through the red button to get UHD and then if you change channels it reverts back to HD so then you have to go through the red button again, not a major problem but slightly annoying for me anyway lol

MissChief

7,101 posts

168 months

Sunday 7th August 2016
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I don't think there's going to be a channel as such, at least not to begin with. You can also access it through the program guide, Sports, then ultra HD.

Gio G

2,946 posts

209 months

Monday 8th August 2016
quotequote all
tdm34 said:
Has anyone noticed that there's a few bits of UHD on SkyQ already?

Pixels and Forrest Gump on Sky Cinema
Big Cats on Sky Box Sets, which is stunning..

Also Liverpool vs Barcalona tonight is being broadcast in UHD..

Edited by tdm34 on Saturday 6th August 12:32
Have to say, the Big Cats, part one version in UHD was amazing. Really showcased 4K ability, seeing the detail on the Siberian Tiger's fur. Given that Sky UHD compressed, would a 4K blue-ray picture be better of the same?

G

Magic919

14,126 posts

201 months

Monday 8th August 2016
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All UHD is compressed.

Chris Stott

13,342 posts

197 months

Tuesday 9th August 2016
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Gio G said:
Have to say, the Big Cats, part one version in UHD was amazing. Really showcased 4K ability, seeing the detail on the Siberian Tiger's fur. Given that Sky UHD compressed, would a 4K blue-ray picture be better of the same?

G
4k Blueray would be HDR... so if you had a set that could display HDR it would be significantly better than SKY... HDR is about as big a step up from HD as HD was from SD.

From what I've seen of SKY's 4k so far, it's about the same (or slightly better) than a 1080p Blueray.

MissChief

7,101 posts

168 months

Tuesday 9th August 2016
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Sky have said they're open to HDR in a future update but will wait until the format has been ratified and set.

TwigtheWonderkid

43,327 posts

150 months

Tuesday 9th August 2016
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Sky Q went in on Sunday, so far very impressed. Looking forward to Chelsea v West Ham in 4K on Monday night.

Chris Stott

13,342 posts

197 months

Tuesday 9th August 2016
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TwigtheWonderkid said:
Sky Q went in on Sunday, so far very impressed. Looking forward to Chelsea v West Ham in 4K on Monday night.
Missed the Liverpool v Barcelona game, but heard from some friends the footy is amazing in 4k.

Gio G

2,946 posts

209 months

Wednesday 10th August 2016
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Chris Stott said:
Missed the Liverpool v Barcelona game, but heard from some friends the footy is amazing in 4k.
Don't have Sky Sports currently, however think Sky missed a trick in not letting everyone watch it, to tempt them into a further subscription.

With respect to HDR, I suspect my 2014 Samsung will not have this feature? It sounds like a firmware update for 2016 panels, however I have read that Samsung release these evolution boxes, which connect up to the panel to try to future proof UHD.. Any Samsung users out there care to comment?

G

Chris Stott

13,342 posts

197 months

Wednesday 10th August 2016
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Gio G said:
With respect to HDR, I suspect my 2014 Samsung will not have this feature? It sounds like a firmware update for 2016 panels, however I have read that Samsung release these evolution boxes, which connect up to the panel to try to future proof UHD.. Any Samsung users out there care to comment?

G
I have a 2015 JS9000. It's not officially HDR compliant as the HDR standards were agreed after it launched. It can only do c.800nits vs the 1,000 minimum standard agreed for LCDs, but it was marketed as SUHD, is a 10bit panel, and is capable of displaying the official HDR colour gamut.

It has a built in HDR setting - when you give it HDR content it switches to different settings automatically. I've got quite a bit of HDR content (10 films + 30 documentaries), and it can look stunning as long as the original print was clean... Life of Pi, for example, is jaw dropping.

As far as I'm aware, there's no option to update any sets before 2015, and only the 9xxx series sets have the ability as the other panels (6xxx/7xxx/8xxx) aren't 10 bit, so can't display the necessary colours, never mind deliver the brightness.

HDR compliant sets are now marketed as 'Ultra HD Premium'.

Moily

167 posts

141 months

Wednesday 10th August 2016
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Chris Stott said:
I have a 2015 JS9000. It's not officially HDR compliant as the HDR standards were agreed after it launched. It can only do c.800nits vs the 1,000 minimum standard agreed for LCDs, but it was marketed as SUHD, is a 10bit panel, and is capable of displaying the official HDR colour gamut.

It has a built in HDR setting - when you give it HDR content it switches to different settings automatically. I've got quite a bit of HDR content (10 films + 30 documentaries), and it can look stunning as long as the original print was clean... Life of Pi, for example, is jaw dropping.

As far as I'm aware, there's no option to update any sets before 2015, and only the 9xxx series sets have the ability as the other panels (6xxx/7xxx/8xxx) aren't 10 bit, so can't display the necessary colours, never mind deliver the brightness.

HDR compliant sets are now marketed as 'Ultra HD Premium'.
All 2016 Samsung KS models (i.e 7000 and up) are PremiumUHD compliant, 10-bit panels and can display HDR.

They are stunning TVs and the 4K and HDR demos really show off what they can do. The LG Chess demo from here is particularly amazing:

http://www.demo-uhd3d.com

Chris Stott

13,342 posts

197 months

Friday 12th August 2016
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UHD content is up... a day early

tdm34

7,366 posts

210 months

Friday 12th August 2016
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Just watching Spectre in UHD, and all I can say is WOW!

MissChief

7,101 posts

168 months

Friday 12th August 2016
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Watching the Martian in UHD. Looks awesome.

Gio G

2,946 posts

209 months

Monday 15th August 2016
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Seems to be quite a few movies "remastered" for UHD. I have found most of the wildlife programmes stunning, especially Galapagos Islands. I found Spectre quite grainy and not as crisp.

G

Chris Stott

13,342 posts

197 months

Monday 15th August 2016
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Olympics have been primary viewing this weekend, but I did watch The Martian and the Arsenal/Liverpool game... both looked really good.

But HD -> UHD is no where near the same jump in PQ as SD -> HD. Need HDR to deliver that!

Gio G

2,946 posts

209 months

Monday 15th August 2016
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Chris Stott said:
Olympics have been primary viewing this weekend, but I did watch The Martian and the Arsenal/Liverpool game... both looked really good.

But HD -> UHD is no where near the same jump in PQ as SD -> HD. Need HDR to deliver that!
Good point...

G

TwigtheWonderkid

43,327 posts

150 months

Tuesday 16th August 2016
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I'm disappointed in UHD football. I have a brand new Sony 49" 4K telly but the improvement isn't anything to write home about. Marginal

The gulf between SD and HD is far larger than that between HD & UHD.

legzr1

3,848 posts

139 months

Tuesday 16th August 2016
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The issue with broadcast UHD is that it's a compressed 4K feed and is to be expected when the data steam requirements are taken into account.
A far better experience comes from UHD BR discs - comparing that to broadcast 4K is like 1080i SkyHD -vs- BR 1080P.
HDR10 really adds something too.

Not ideal for fans of broadcast UHD but that's the way it is at the moment.

The UK (and most of Europe) lag behind - South Korea and Japan have infrastructure set up for 8K broadcast already and it won't be long before it goes 'live' while we sit and grumble about over-compressed 4K...