Is Sky HD worth it?

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blairm

54 posts

Master Geek

#30475 10-Feb-2009 02:44

Hi,

Buying a HD-ready TV in the next couple of weeks (no point in full HD given viewing distance) and wondering whether subscribing to HD feeds from Sky is worthwhile - will the picture quality be noticably better on a 37" lcd tv from about 8 foot if I pay extra for HD?

Or should I go ahead with plans for a HTPC (keen to do that to satisfy my tinkering urge and learn more about linux).

Cheers,

Blair

Batman

Mad Scientist
29763 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#195034 10-Feb-2009 03:29

there will be a big difference in picture quality of HD content against SD content BUT ... it depends on how much is delivered in HD (upscaling counts as HD for the purposes of this post) and the bitrate delivered. does sky upscale their SD stuff? also i dont think every channel is in HD. in my opinion there is a significant difference and if i were a regular sky watcher i would pay the extra $15 a month ... but then you've got to buy the box though ... but think of it as buying a slightly overpriced hard drive recorder.

however comparing a 1080p transformers movie on sky and on blu ray, the ps3 absolutely destroys the sky feed in terms of picture quality on my full hd tv. does that mean sky HD is better than sky SD, erm - still it has to be a YES! on a 37" tv? i certainly think so. it all comes down to $.

davidcole

6036 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#195065 10-Feb-2009 08:58

If you're an avid sport/movie watcher then I think it's worth the $10 HD ticket. And sure go for it. Otherwise you're only getting Tv3 in hd and the boxes own upscaling for tv1 and 2 (I think).

You're other with MySky advantage is that it's a PVR that can record etc.

But if you're after value for money for HD, then a DVB-T receiver is probably the way to go if you live in a Freeview|HD area and have the UHF aerial.

Maybe look at an integrated IDTV, removes as extra box/remote. But you can't record off it easily.

There are a lot of options at the moment, and things are moving pretty quickly.

I rolled my own with an HD cabable PVR. Give me Satellite, FreeviewHD and Sky all in one place. I also have an IDTV as I didn't want the extra freeview decoder, and didn't want to rely on the PVR for watching live tv. But that's my personal choice.

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