S*****g Sky HD!
Discussion
After a bit of a wait, I finally got my SkyHD box.
Phoned up to pair the card and it simply says "insert sky viewing card" how annoying!
I've put it back in the old Sky+ box and it works in there, so the card is fine.
Annoyingly they sent me a duff Sky+ box that had to be replaced, now this one too.
Phoned up to pair the card and it simply says "insert sky viewing card" how annoying!
I've put it back in the old Sky+ box and it works in there, so the card is fine.
Annoyingly they sent me a duff Sky+ box that had to be replaced, now this one too.
RichB said:
Yes HD is excellent but you'll soon have people on here telling you it's crap and your old CRT box had a better picture 
The thing is....Sky HD *is* crap. It's all about the bit-rate and Sky HD bit-rate is far too low. The BBC have also recently been slammed for dropping the bit-rate on their HD service.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1234797/BB...
If you want to see some decent broadcast HD, you have to watch American high-definition.
Flash Forward is broadcast in a super-high bit-rate of 22Mb, far greater than any programme broadcast on Sky HD.
ETA: Stargate Universe from Sky HD with an average bit-rate of 11Mb
MPEG2Repair: F:\Sky-HD.Stargate.Universe.103.h264.1080i.dd5.1.ts
File Size Processed: 3.38 GB, Play Time: 00h:41m:51s
50.00 FPS (Average), 10.92 Mbps (Average).
AC3 Audio: 3/2 Channels (L, C, R, SL, SR) + LFE, 48.0 kHz, 384 kbps.
Dialog Normalization: -27.0 dB, Center Mix Level: -3.0 dB, Surround Mix Level: -3.0 dB
3 of 78474 audio frames found with errors.
0.271967 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.
Flash Forward from an American HD broadcast with an average bit-rate of over 22Mb
MPEG2Repair: C:\flash forward\Flash Forward S01E01 22Mbit 720p CtrlHD.ts
File Size Processed: 7.61 GB, Play Time: 00h:45m:19s
59.94 FPS (Average), 22.82 Mbps (Average).
AC3 Audio: 3/2 Channels (L, C, R, SL, SR) + LFE, 48.0 kHz, 640 kbps.
Dialog Normalization: -31.0 dB, Center Mix Level: -4.5 dB, Surround Mix Level: -6.0 dB
0 of 84985 audio frames found with errors.
0.000000 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.
Edited by mp3manager on Friday 11th December 21:16
What he says ^^ the facts are there for comparison.
Even early LaserDiscs produced better quality streams than that. America is WAY ahead us in the home automation/home cinema technologies.. about 10 years I would say.
http://www.hometheater1.com/ 9500LC listed at the bottom, but mine is a modifed Ultra which is rarer and higher specified. Sorry for the willy waving but it grates when I am told that panel technology produces a better imnage, it maybe anytime in the future as digitals are catching up but it's still not over at the moment IMO.
Even early LaserDiscs produced better quality streams than that. America is WAY ahead us in the home automation/home cinema technologies.. about 10 years I would say.
RichB said:
Yes HD is excellent but you'll soon have people on here telling you it's crap and your old CRT box had a better picture
Regarding CRT..again.. I don't think that anyone is saying that panel technology is crap. The old argiment is that high-end CRT setups produce far better picture quality than any plasma/lcd.. I would like to use my old projector as a good example as it was designed for Cape Canavaral space centre as a flight simulator and cost over £50k. It has been producing a 14 foot picture, while running 2500x2000 dpi @ 75Hz through a scaler for about 7 years now.. and it's nearly 15 years old. Find me any flat panel on the market that can do that now! Got to love the arguments taken out of context with sweeping genralisations http://www.hometheater1.com/ 9500LC listed at the bottom, but mine is a modifed Ultra which is rarer and higher specified. Sorry for the willy waving but it grates when I am told that panel technology produces a better imnage, it maybe anytime in the future as digitals are catching up but it's still not over at the moment IMO.
I mentioned on a different thread - but with no comments back thus far, maybe I need to start a specific one - that the SkyHD broadcasts had looked stunning to me (on a Sony Bravia 37" LCD) with fantastic clarity until the new menu software 'upgrade' imposed on me last week.
On the UFC fights (ESPN HD) the cage netting, clothing etc. in the audience and so on stood out so clearly it was almost distracting. On tennis the clocks, time elapsed and speed of service displays were really sharp and readable; amazing given the tiny percentage of the screen area they take up. SD broadcasts were fine too.
Now HD broadcasts including the same sort of programmes + some recorded to the hard drive so seen 'before and after' are softer and darker, that ultimate clarity that stod out so much has gone. Worse still many SD broadcasts are now rubbish with pixellated, fringed backlit hair, grainy faces etc.
Typically Sky deny this and say my box has coincidentally become faulty - still waiting for the promised time slot for an engineer after 4 calls - so has anyone else experienced and more to the point sorted this out?
On the UFC fights (ESPN HD) the cage netting, clothing etc. in the audience and so on stood out so clearly it was almost distracting. On tennis the clocks, time elapsed and speed of service displays were really sharp and readable; amazing given the tiny percentage of the screen area they take up. SD broadcasts were fine too.
Now HD broadcasts including the same sort of programmes + some recorded to the hard drive so seen 'before and after' are softer and darker, that ultimate clarity that stod out so much has gone. Worse still many SD broadcasts are now rubbish with pixellated, fringed backlit hair, grainy faces etc.
Typically Sky deny this and say my box has coincidentally become faulty - still waiting for the promised time slot for an engineer after 4 calls - so has anyone else experienced and more to the point sorted this out?
Spragnut said:
Maybe a dumb question but how would you pick up american hd channels in this country.. would you be able to do it with a HD Freesat/FTA kit pointing at an american satalite??
Or is there a much simpler way lol
Jim
You would need to point a rather large dish at an american satellite and have a reciever that works with their system, TBH i know of no one that has done it and i see lots of installations, i suppose its likely that you cant get line of sight directly to any of the yank sats.Or is there a much simpler way lol
Jim
headcase said:
Spragnut said:
Maybe a dumb question but how would you pick up american hd channels in this country.. would you be able to do it with a HD Freesat/FTA kit pointing at an american satalite??
Or is there a much simpler way lol
Jim
You would need to point a rather large dish at an american satellite and have a reciever that works with their system, TBH i know of no one that has done it and i see lots of installations, i suppose its likely that you cant get line of sight directly to any of the yank sats.Or is there a much simpler way lol
Jim
After 4 futile calls to try to get anyone at Sky to acknowledge that I might have a (worsened) picture quality issue following the menu upgrade - which they deny any responsibility for, or prior knowledge of despite me finding many references to people who claimed to have been in contact about it - Sky did the following.
1. Insisted my 4 month old box had (coincidentally) become faulty
2. Insisted I needed an engineer call out (no mention of a charge)
3. Said - three times - that they would contact me to arrange a time after the date I gave as the earliest possible (21st December)
4. 'phoned my wife when I was a way for 3 days on work related matter to say they were comong on the 13th
5. Cancelled that erroneous booking when I called, then said I could postpone/re-arrange the visit + promised to call within an hour (still no call a fortnight later
5. Sent my statement which shows that they had charged me an undisclosed £65 call out fee (box in warranty period?!) using the credit card they take my subscription from, then have refunded this - as no visit has been made - BUT have charged me a £0.50 credit card transaction fee!
Now, 50p may be nothing but the principle of this given their previous comments/lack of support takes the bloody biscuit
What a cruddy company - so consistently useless to deal with.
1. Insisted my 4 month old box had (coincidentally) become faulty
2. Insisted I needed an engineer call out (no mention of a charge)
3. Said - three times - that they would contact me to arrange a time after the date I gave as the earliest possible (21st December)
4. 'phoned my wife when I was a way for 3 days on work related matter to say they were comong on the 13th
5. Cancelled that erroneous booking when I called, then said I could postpone/re-arrange the visit + promised to call within an hour (still no call a fortnight later
5. Sent my statement which shows that they had charged me an undisclosed £65 call out fee (box in warranty period?!) using the credit card they take my subscription from, then have refunded this - as no visit has been made - BUT have charged me a £0.50 credit card transaction fee!
Now, 50p may be nothing but the principle of this given their previous comments/lack of support takes the bloody biscuit
What a cruddy company - so consistently useless to deal with.
dave_s13 said:
Lost_BMW said:
Sky are cr@p
That's the thing with Sky. When it works, no bother. When it doesn't...oh dear, you are fooked. They are USELESS at anything that doesn't involve taking your credit card number and signing you up.Again because they wouldn't believe what I was telling them; that they had mixed up the 'permissions' on the viewing cards for the HD box and existing SD machine paid for under the 'any room' tariff, which needed Sky Plus adding to it = partial service on both or more - but not full - on one and nada on the other.
Technical dept. never got this and it needed two ladies in the billing/accounts dept. to sort out. Utterly useless . .
I had Sky Hd subscription for over a year, i've cancelled now. Most of the Sky sports I watched were only SD upscaled. I have to agree with data rate being low. Yes the picture is better but they're not giving us the true potential. The best channel for image quality i saw was Rush HD, all their programs looked stunning, especially DRIFT & NASCAR. I did have movies & sports on free trial but cancelled them straight away. I had 6 mixes + Hd subscription, that was £32 pm. No way am i paying £384 a year on top of my TV licence to watch TV.
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