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OMG! how pricy is a sky HD box!!
My dad's just got a new HD TV and is using an old sky standard box of years gone by.
He's been with Sky for about 6 years at £45 a month and now it seems to upgrade to a HD box would cost him £250 + £30 installation.
My dad simply cannot afford that!
We (pheebs and myself) got virgin HD for £45 in Exeter, but in cornwall there is no cable for virgin, meaning for HD TV, sky appear to have him over a barrell. he doesnt need sky sports HD, sky anything HD, just a sky box that will make normal channels a bit clearer via a HDMI connector... :/ Sucks.
To be honest mate, if he's not going to use the HD channels then I doubt he'll notice too much difference just by using an HDMI connection.
We notice a hell of a difference when we use our virgin box through scart. The box upscales surprisingly well.
Bah in addition, the sky AV input doesnt seem to auto select between 4:3 and 16:9. The built in decoder swaps automatically so TV is doing its job...
My dad has also been with Sky for 6 years and recently got an upgrade to HD for free, plus an extra Sky+ box for £50 (yoink! ;)) Of course it's an extra £10 a month for the subscription but it's the initial outlay that is the big cost. If he gave them some grief he could probably swing it for nothing. Give them the old 'well I've been with you for six years but I'm thinking of cancelling...' ruse.
FakeSnake
29-12-2007, 20:33
I love my sky HD
Pickers, I got mine from Comet for £99! as long as I signed up to the free sky talk basic package!
had it installed about 3 weeks ago.. and it rocks!
My dad has also been with Sky for 6 years and recently got an upgrade to HD for free, plus an extra Sky+ box for £50 (yoink! ;)) Of course it's an extra £10 a month for the subscription but it's the initial outlay that is the big cost. If he gave them some grief he could probably swing it for nothing. Give them the old 'well I've been with you for six years but I'm thinking of cancelling...' ruse.
Interesting, did he get the HD box for free? I've been with them for a long time so it could be worth a blag.
When the inlaws upgraded from Sky SD to HD last year, I was surprised how much better even the SD material & channels looked. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Sky were deliberately squeezing the bandwidth on the SD channels to introduce more artifacts so that, when customers upgrade to HD, all the material looks better, not just the (somewhat limited HD material).
Interesting, did he get the HD box for free? I've been with them for a long time so it could be worth a blag.
I'll ask him later on this evening, but I'm pretty sure he did.
When the inlaws upgraded from Sky SD to HD last year, I was surprised how much better even the SD material & channels looked. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Sky were deliberately squeezing the bandwidth on the SD channels to introduce more artifacts so that, when customers upgrade to HD, all the material looks better, not just the (somewhat limited HD material).
Surely that would cost them even more bandwidth (which seems to be at a premuim at the moment?) because they would have to rebroadcast every single SD channel twice! Although its an interesting thought, I just can't see them doing it when they are already having to compress their HD stuff due to bandwidth limitations.
I'll ask him later on this evening, but I'm pretty sure he did.
This is what I was hoping, but a box is £299 plus installation (pfft) and I was told earlier (without prompting an "I'll leave") that cos we've been with them for 6 years, we'd get 30% discount, which oddly worked out at £249...
I would be really interested to hear if anyone managed to wangle a free HD box - cos thats all we want. don't NEED to take out the subscription, just the HD box.
I love my sky HD
Pickers, I got mine from Comet for £99! as long as I signed up to the free sky talk basic package!
had it installed about 3 weeks ago.. and it rocks!
interesting.. but cant get sky talk as it'd bugger up the orange phone contract dad has.
leowyatt
30-12-2007, 00:31
We're rather happy with our V+ box and were shocked to see how much it would cost to swap back to sky to get the HD channels :( He could always threaten to leave so he can get the box cheaper ;)
We've been with Sky for over 10 years. A free HD box would be nice.
Turns out it wasn't free, but he did get a substantial discount. There was a special offer on just before December. Not sure what the actual amount was though.
Heh heh Pete, I've been with them since long before I lived in this house, and I've been here nearly 16 years!
Ah well. Free would have been nice :)
What about if I got a box through Ebay - would our existing card work (obviously without HD content) ?
edit: ah - it would appear it would after re-pairing the card, but to record Sky+ stuff you need two cables from sky dish... hence sky engineer to come round and do that.
FakeSnake
30-12-2007, 10:02
What about if I got a box through Ebay - would our existing card work (obviously without HD content) ?
edit: ah - it would appear it would after re-pairing the card, but to record Sky+ stuff you need two cables from sky dish... hence sky engineer to come round and do that.
I can do the cabling for you!
I can do the cabling for you!
Ta but...In Truro? ;)
I reckon I'll get Pheebs on the phone to sky and see what she can get out of them. If thats no good, we'll opt for ebay route.
FakeSnake
30-12-2007, 11:35
Ta but...In Truro? ;)
I reckon I'll get Pheebs on the phone to sky and see what she can get out of them. If thats no good, we'll opt for ebay route.
er...... no ;)
its probably more worthwhile getting a local ariel man out to run the second cable then. if its a sky+ box you are after, I have one here :D
Its now spare since I upgraded to HD
That's right, plonk me on to it in hope I can be all dumb and sweet and pull off a good deal! Typical!
Sounds like fun... I'm onnn it!
(lollage - I can't stop saying that phrase since pickys started playing command and conquer!)
OMLDL!
Check out this comparison:
What we've got:
XL TV package
HDMI Boxy thing
V+
Telephone line (free calls to landlines anytime every day)
Broadband (no dl limit)
Cost total: £35.00 pm
Installation of V+: Cheap as or free (I'm certain I wangled it for free)
What Pickys Parents have:
Sky All channels TV: £45.00
Orange telephone: Tied into a contract unsure of costs
Broadband: same as above
Total: £45.00 + telephone + broadband
to get HDMi
£299.00 + £30 installation + £10pm subscription
Monthly total £55.00
RIDICULOUS!
PASSS ME THAT PHONE... ANGRY PHEEBS!....... RAAAAAAAAGH!
Admiral Huddy
02-01-2008, 12:56
I'm a bit confussed as I've just bough a 40" HD TV, which I've connected to the V+ box via a HDMi connector. I then just changed the V+ box to HDMI with 1080.
Which is better, using a HDMi Connector or HD component leads?
Edit - just read this
In the end, look to HDMI for your high-resolution formats with component video as your backup if HDCP gets in your way. Remember, component video cables can’t carry a 1080p signal and an HDMI 1.2 cable can, so if you have the latest set and you want to see all the picture you paid for – HDMI is the best way to go.
The picture is actually not as good as the SCART connection to be honest. On normal non-HD TV, BBC1 looks quite poor quality to be honest. Is there anythingI can do to help this?
Also reading the above, as there is only one HD channel on V+, are you saying I need an additional HD box???
*eak* dunno me - will get picky to msg!
leowyatt
02-01-2008, 13:15
Huddy,
If you have a V+ box and a HDTV you should be able to use the supplied HDMI cable. However if you're like us and they didn't give us one then ring them up and they'll send one out. That I have found is the best way to get the signal to the TV. You can use component if you like but I've used that socket for our DVD player.
If you want a hand setting it up give me a shout as I did ours the other week.
Which is better, using a HDMi Connector or HD component leads?
HD component and HDMi connector are (I think) pretty much the same... or at least are for 720 HD standard. That quote says that HDMi is the only one really capable of doing the 1080 signal - so stick with what you have done!
Also reading the above, as there is only one HD channel on V+, are you saying I need an additional HD box???
No. The one V+ set-top box does all HD decoding for all potential HD channels, its just that only one channel on virgin media is currently being broadcast in High-Def (BBC HD yes?)
Sky, however, has some premium rate HD channels which you pay extra for receiving (Discovery, Sky, Sky sports etc I think).
Our Virgin picture on standard-def channels is better when we have it set to HDMI rather than RGB. I remember thinking the same as you when we first switched on the HD box, but I soon got used to the sharpness which at first I saw as sometimes being too noisy (especially if sat up close).
Admiral Huddy
02-01-2008, 13:26
Huddy,
If you have a V+ box and a HDTV you should be able to use the supplied HDMI cable. However if you're like us and they didn't give us one then ring them up and they'll send one out. That I have found is the best way to get the signal to the TV. You can use component if you like but I've used that socket for our DVD player.
If you want a hand setting it up give me a shout as I did ours the other week.
Great thanks. :) Lucikly, the TV I've just bought has two HMDi ports. I went into Currys to buy a HDMi cable and they where £49 :shocked:. I managed to pick a cheaper one out from B&Q whilst I was in there picking up DIY. The thing is they aren't gold connectors. Not sure if that makes any difference.
I'm a bit cheesed off there is only one HD channel.. HD Ready.. Ready for when exactly I wonder :) Givent he fact we are watching mostly non-HD channals, I'd rather have better quality on them.
Lovely TV though, Got £300 off and a bit more with some haggling with the store manager :D
leowyatt
02-01-2008, 13:29
There is more HD content mate, if you look in TV Choice on demand you have lots of series including Lost in HD which looks ace :)
BBC HD isn't bad either.
if you look in TV Choice on demand you have lots of series including Lost in HD which looks ace :)
BBC HD isn't bad either.
Oh yeah - forgot about choice.
What series of LOST are there? We lost LOST when sky 1 was dropped :/
leowyatt
02-01-2008, 13:31
1 & 2 from what we saw the other day.
I'm rather peeved at VM at the moment as they've withdrawn Band of Brothers when I'd just finished watching episode 7 and now can't finish watching it :(
Huddy: What TV did you get??
Admiral Huddy
02-01-2008, 15:55
A Sumsung 40" 1080p LE40N87BD. I know it's an out-going model, but the only difference I could see between this and the M model is the contrast ratio is 15,000 not 10,000.
I paid £650 for it in the end. :)
Which is better, using a HDMi Connector or HD component leads?
Whilst they can both achieve 1080p, HDMI is digital all the way whereas Component is analogue. Doesn't necassarily mean HDMI is always better for every situation though as some TV's will handle one connection better than another so can be very dependent on what TV you're using.
Great thanks. :) Lucikly, the TV I've just bought has two HMDi ports.
It should have 3 :p Check the side of the TV and there might be one there as well as two on the back.
I went into Currys to buy a HDMi cable and they where £49 :shocked:.
No need to spend that much at all. On analogue signals, gold connectors and decent cable could make a big difference. HDMI is digital all the way so in theory the signal information it either arrives or it doesn't. A £5 cable should be as good as a £105 cable. There are arguments that go against this and it's too detailed to go into here, but for the average bloke on the street, there's no difference.
Random note - we paid a one off £30 for our BT Vision box (though it's offset by the minimum 12 months on BT broadband) which upscales to 720p and it's great. Fine if you only want to watch the freeview channels anyway. Think it's a 160GB drive inside for recording so that's ok too. There's a lot of on demand stuff but it's mostly chargeable unless you're willing to pay subs for it. Some free BBC catch up stuff though.
We're set for when/if ever they start broadcasting HD on Freeview anyway. We only use it when we aren't playing games/listening to music/watching downloaded shizzle anyway. Our telly usage doesn't warrant any monthly subs!
Sounds interesting Daz. How does it pick up signal? Through telephone, or through normal aerial?
It's just a Freeview PVR box as normal - plug your aerial in and away you go. The on demand stuff comes down your broadband. Pseudo IPTV.
http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/btvision.html
That's a pretty good page on it. Lots of info on the other BT stuff too..
Frequencycast is in my iTunes podcast list :)
Admiral Huddy
03-01-2008, 10:26
No need to spend that much at all. On analogue signals, gold connectors and decent cable could make a big difference. HDMI is digital all the way so in theory the signal information it either arrives or it doesn't. A £5 cable should be as good as a £105 cable. There are arguments that go against this and it's too detailed to go into here, but for the average bloke on the street, there's no difference.
good point which I never thought of. However, if the signal quality is low, then surely the digital conversion would have to perform more error correction which would decrease the quality.
Last night, the normal channels didn't look as good as they did the night before and there was certainly a slight flicker that I hadn't noticed. It's almost like there isn't a happy medium. It either looks awesome or not so good. HD channels look stunning though. I guess I'll have to get to know what some of the settings mean.
Also, are the normal channels on V+ upscaled to 720p or 1080p? Or are they broadcasted as standard PAL?
I'm still confused as to what the broadcasting intension are for HD.. "HD ready".. but ready for when and what exactly???
As I understand it "HD ready" simply means it has HD inputs for any HD device (DVD, set top box, next gen consoles, etc) In time, TV decoders will have HD decoders which decode SD and HD transmissions. As for upscaling, I only know that our V+ box in HD mode (I'm told) does some form of signal cleaning. You can select either 720 or 1080 in the settings menu. Try 720, and see what effect that has on Standard Definition channels.
good point which I never thought of. However, if the signal quality is low, then surely the digital conversion would have to perform more error correction which would decrease the quality.
Yeah, that's the more technical side of things I was skipping over. And it's a debate that will run and run. Some will say that as it's digital it either works or it doesn't. Others say that the error correction has to have an impact to quality. I say that the average bloke on the street won't notice any difference. You need to be a real audio/videophile with high end equipment to see any differences.
As I understand it "HD ready" simply means it has HD inputs for any HD device (DVD, set top box, next gen consoles, etc)
HD Ready is a basic set of specs a TV needs to hit to be able to carry the HD Ready logo.
Must have 720 horizontal lines.
Must have an HD Analogue input. (Component)
Must have an HD Digital input. (HDMI or DVI that supports HDCP)
That's it basically.
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