Is HD ticket worth the extra 10 bucks?

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#1556249 20-May-2016 13:20

shk292:

Seriously? So for the years I had Sky and paid for HD "ticket" but never had Sports or Movies, I was wasting my money? You'd think Sky would have said something to me

Surely you noticed the vulgar blurry mess (I'm being kind) you were watching??

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joshhill96

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#1556267 20-May-2016 13:50

tangerz:

richms:

IMO there is a sort of justification at the moment where the HD streams are separate from the SD ones because the SD boxes are antiques. Once they have moved to a single transmission when all the mpeg 2 dinosaurs are gone, then I think it is a real ripoff to be charging more for the HD.

The biggest problem with sky is the lack of HD. No docco channels in HD, no news channels, only sports and the junk movie service.

My guess is that dropping the HD ticket may be one of the things that happens when Sky complete the new decoder roll out, swap their transponders to MPEG4 and shut off the duplicate SD transmissions. As you say, it's kind of been justified until now as it required separate bandwidth to the SD signal, but when HD is the only signal being broadcast then the extra charge really should go.

Yeah you are right, when this big thing happens you will start to see more HD channels on SKY

JonnyCam

643 posts

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#1556269 20-May-2016 13:50

DickDastardly:

IIRC when Sky UK did their big EPG upgrade to the HD EPG, around 7 or so years ago, they dropped the HD extra 10 pound charge and its been dropped ever since.

I thought it was a year ago they dropped it? I recall reading something about it - although the price could have been included into the base price when they did some plan shuffles

DickDastardly:

quick check on the Sky UK site shows...

The Family Bundle

350+ channels including 50 in HD

350+ Sky Box Sets

£38 a month + free Sky+HD 2TB box

They have even more HD

Sport - 7 Sky Sports channels (27.50/month)

Movies - 11 Sky Movies channels (18 quid/month)

Or both for 36 quid/month

Sky UK's equivalent of Soho (Sky Atlantic) is thrown into the family bundle at no extra cost

I think you'd probably see some better pricing if Sky NZ had 12 million odd subscribers (although the hardware still costs them) - not to mention the fact they have the population to support multiple pay tv providers.

ockel

2031 posts

Uber Geek

#1556270 20-May-2016 13:51

DickDastardly:

ockel:

tangerz:

richms:

IMO there is a sort of justification at the moment where the HD streams are separate from the SD ones because the SD boxes are antiques. Once they have moved to a single transmission when all the mpeg 2 dinosaurs are gone, then I think it is a real ripoff to be charging more for the HD.

The biggest problem with sky is the lack of HD. No docco channels in HD, no news channels, only sports and the junk movie service.

My guess is that dropping the HD ticket may be one of the things that happens when Sky complete the new decoder roll out, swap their transponders to MPEG4 and shut off the duplicate SD transmissions. As you say, it's kind of been justified until now as it required separate bandwidth to the SD signal, but when HD is the only signal being broadcast then the extra charge really should go.

Got any examples of satellite (or cable) providers dropping their HD charge when they upgrade to new spec's? I think you're dreaming.

IIRC when Sky UK did their big EPG upgrade to the HD EPG, around 7 or so years ago, they dropped the HD extra 10 pound charge and its been dropped ever since.

A quick check on the Sky UK site shows...

The Family Bundle

350+ channels including 50 in HD

350+ Sky Box Sets

£38 a month + free Sky+HD 2TB box

They have even more HD

Sport - 7 Sky Sports channels (27.50/month)

Movies - 11 Sky Movies channels (18 quid/month)

Or both for 36 quid/month

Sky UK's equivalent of Soho (Sky Atlantic) is thrown into the family bundle at no extra cost

So the 6 quid per month to get HD is for what???

Enhance your Sky TV experience HD Pack

+£6 a month

HD Pack

Enjoy your favourite Sky Sports and / or Sky Movies channels in stunning high definition, depending on your subscription.

Add the HD Pack with The Family Bundle, Sky Movies and / or Sky Sports."

Original package - 11 channels of FTA HD (20 quid or NZ$40 - no HD? or HD?) If I add the Sport or Movies package (at another 18 quid - I cant get it in HD. or do I have to pay for it HD?)

Variety package - 11 channels of FTA HD (32 quid or NZD$64 - no HD? or HD?)

Funny - it looks like I have to pay extra for HD. Sky UK did cut its price from GBP10/mth to GBP6/mth.

And BTW, my Sky Uk prices are going up 1 June. Shock.

Sixth Labour Government - "Vision without Execution is just Hallucination"

nathan

5695 posts

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Inactive user

#1556293 20-May-2016 14:35

$10 extra a month on top of the $70+ they're already charging? hahaha

that's half a Netflix/Hulu sub or the price of a VPN connection per month

Only you can decide whether its worth it or not.

rugrat

3107 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1556341 20-May-2016 16:02

tangerz:
richms:

IMO there is a sort of justification at the moment where the HD streams are separate from the SD ones because the SD boxes are antiques. Once they have moved to a single transmission when all the mpeg 2 dinosaurs are gone, then I think it is a real ripoff to be charging more for the HD.

The biggest problem with sky is the lack of HD. No docco channels in HD, no news channels, only sports and the junk movie service.

My guess is that dropping the HD ticket may be one of the things that happens when Sky complete the new decoder roll out, swap their transponders to MPEG4 and shut off the duplicate SD transmissions. As you say, it's kind of been justified until now as it required separate bandwidth to the SD signal, but when HD is the only signal being broadcast then the extra charge really should go.

I'm sure I read a while ago, once new roll out happens the HD channels will have one stream no SD stream.
But they still want extra money for HD and if you don't pay it the picture will be sabotaged by the Sky decoder and downscaled to SD.

That way they save on not having multiple streams for same channel and still get to charge for HD.
Be interesting to see what happens now people getting more choices for content.

ockel

2031 posts

Uber Geek

#1556357 20-May-2016 16:25

rugrat:
tangerz:

richms:

IMO there is a sort of justification at the moment where the HD streams are separate from the SD ones because the SD boxes are antiques. Once they have moved to a single transmission when all the mpeg 2 dinosaurs are gone, then I think it is a real ripoff to be charging more for the HD.

The biggest problem with sky is the lack of HD. No docco channels in HD, no news channels, only sports and the junk movie service.

My guess is that dropping the HD ticket may be one of the things that happens when Sky complete the new decoder roll out, swap their transponders to MPEG4 and shut off the duplicate SD transmissions. As you say, it's kind of been justified until now as it required separate bandwidth to the SD signal, but when HD is the only signal being broadcast then the extra charge really should go.

I'm sure I read a while ago, once new roll out happens the HD channels will have one stream no SD stream.
But they still want extra money for HD and if you don't pay it the picture will be sabotaged by the Sky decoder and downscaled to SD.

That way they save on not having multiple streams for same channel and still get to charge for HD.
Be interesting to see what happens now people getting more choices for content.

Which is why, given the greater choices in the UK, we're having a good long look at Sky UK.

If I take the Original or Variety bundles I can add Sport or Movies - but I cant have them in HD. [The fine print says that is not an option]

So I have to take the Family bundle (which is just the Variety bundle plus an HD ticket plus box sets). So I'm paying 6 quid a month to have the Variety bundle in HD. Yay. GBP32/month plus GBP6/month for HD. Then I can add Sport at GBP27/month plus another GBP6/month to have Sport in HD. Thats GBP59/month plus GBP12/month HD ticket to get HD Sport in the UK? Surely that cant be right. Someone please help me understand the pricing model cos I must have it wrong to pay NZD144 for Sport in HD.

Especially with the plethora of general entertainment, cable and sport offerings to choose from.

Sixth Labour Government - "Vision without Execution is just Hallucination"

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DickDastardly

227 posts

Master Geek

#1556410 20-May-2016 16:47

JonnyCam:

DickDastardly:

IIRC when Sky UK did their big EPG upgrade to the HD EPG, around 7 or so years ago, they dropped the HD extra 10 pound charge and its been dropped ever since.

I thought it was a year ago they dropped it? I recall reading something about it - although the price could have been included into the base price when they did some plan shuffles

DickDastardly:

quick check on the Sky UK site shows...

The Family Bundle

350+ channels including 50 in HD

350+ Sky Box Sets

£38 a month + free Sky+HD 2TB box

They have even more HD

Sport - 7 Sky Sports channels (27.50/month)

Movies - 11 Sky Movies channels (18 quid/month)

Or both for 36 quid/month

Sky UK's equivalent of Soho (Sky Atlantic) is thrown into the family bundle at no extra cost

I think you'd probably see some better pricing if Sky NZ had 12 million odd subscribers (although the hardware still costs them) - not to mention the fact they have the population to support multiple pay tv providers.

Agreed, I'm sure you would see much more competitive Sky pricing options if NZ had the same population, but that wasn’t the original question

I don't want no sugar in it - thank you very much

DickDastardly

227 posts

Master Geek

#1556414 20-May-2016 16:49

ockel:

rugrat:
tangerz:

richms:

IMO there is a sort of justification at the moment where the HD streams are separate from the SD ones because the SD boxes are antiques. Once they have moved to a single transmission when all the mpeg 2 dinosaurs are gone, then I think it is a real ripoff to be charging more for the HD.

The biggest problem with sky is the lack of HD. No docco channels in HD, no news channels, only sports and the junk movie service.

My guess is that dropping the HD ticket may be one of the things that happens when Sky complete the new decoder roll out, swap their transponders to MPEG4 and shut off the duplicate SD transmissions. As you say, it's kind of been justified until now as it required separate bandwidth to the SD signal, but when HD is the only signal being broadcast then the extra charge really should go.

I'm sure I read a while ago, once new roll out happens the HD channels will have one stream no SD stream.
But they still want extra money for HD and if you don't pay it the picture will be sabotaged by the Sky decoder and downscaled to SD.

That way they save on not having multiple streams for same channel and still get to charge for HD.
Be interesting to see what happens now people getting more choices for content.

Which is why, given the greater choices in the UK, we're having a good long look at Sky UK.

If I take the Original or Variety bundles I can add Sport or Movies - but I cant have them in HD. [The fine print says that is not an option]

So I have to take the Family bundle (which is just the Variety bundle plus an HD ticket plus box sets). So I'm paying 6 quid a month to have the Variety bundle in HD. Yay. GBP32/month plus GBP6/month for HD. Then I can add Sport at GBP27/month plus another GBP6/month to have Sport in HD. Thats GBP59/month plus GBP12/month HD ticket to get HD Sport in the UK? Surely that cant be right. Someone please help me understand the pricing model cos I must have it wrong to pay NZD144 for Sport in HD.

Especially with the plethora of general entertainment, cable and sport offerings to choose from.

Ok from what I can remember from when I had UK Sky and from what I can see on the Sky UK site (based on the a Sky + box rather than their Q System)

The Original Bundle –

20 per month

270 Channels and Free to Air HD

Free 2tb Sky Box

HD is an extra 6 pounds.

Family Bundle (which was the basis of my post above)

38 per month

350 Channels inc 50 in HD

HD is included.

Any Sport and Movies is then on top of that

Seems like you need the Family Bundle before you have HD sports or movies….

I had the Family Bundle and no HD extra charges...

I don't want no sugar in it - thank you very much

ockel

2031 posts

Uber Geek

#1556417 20-May-2016 16:55

DickDastardly:

ockel:

rugrat:
tangerz:

richms:

IMO there is a sort of justification at the moment where the HD streams are separate from the SD ones because the SD boxes are antiques. Once they have moved to a single transmission when all the mpeg 2 dinosaurs are gone, then I think it is a real ripoff to be charging more for the HD.

The biggest problem with sky is the lack of HD. No docco channels in HD, no news channels, only sports and the junk movie service.

My guess is that dropping the HD ticket may be one of the things that happens when Sky complete the new decoder roll out, swap their transponders to MPEG4 and shut off the duplicate SD transmissions. As you say, it's kind of been justified until now as it required separate bandwidth to the SD signal, but when HD is the only signal being broadcast then the extra charge really should go.

I'm sure I read a while ago, once new roll out happens the HD channels will have one stream no SD stream.
But they still want extra money for HD and if you don't pay it the picture will be sabotaged by the Sky decoder and downscaled to SD.

That way they save on not having multiple streams for same channel and still get to charge for HD.
Be interesting to see what happens now people getting more choices for content.

Which is why, given the greater choices in the UK, we're having a good long look at Sky UK.

If I take the Original or Variety bundles I can add Sport or Movies - but I cant have them in HD. [The fine print says that is not an option]

So I have to take the Family bundle (which is just the Variety bundle plus an HD ticket plus box sets). So I'm paying 6 quid a month to have the Variety bundle in HD. Yay. GBP32/month plus GBP6/month for HD. Then I can add Sport at GBP27/month plus another GBP6/month to have Sport in HD. Thats GBP59/month plus GBP12/month HD ticket to get HD Sport in the UK? Surely that cant be right. Someone please help me understand the pricing model cos I must have it wrong to pay NZD144 for Sport in HD.

Especially with the plethora of general entertainment, cable and sport offerings to choose from.

Ok from what I can remember from when I had UK Sky and from what I can see on the Sky UK site (based on the a Sky + box rather than their Q System)

The Original Bundle –

20 per month

270 Channels and Free to Air HD

Free 2tb Sky Box

HD is an extra 6 pounds.

Family Bundle (which was the basis of my post above)

38 per month

350 Channels inc 50 in HD

HD is included.

Any Sport and Movies is then on top of that

Seems like you need the Family Bundle before you have HD sports or movies….

I had the Family Bundle and no HD extra charges...

Its funny cos the only HD I see on Original or Variety is the 11 HD FTA channels. No Sky HD channels. And despite being H.264 Sky UK still charges an HD ticket (two HD tickets when you see that Family is Variety plus 50 channels are now in HD too (as well as the SD channels)).

So Sky UK still charges an HD ticket. Got another example of a satellite or cable provider that has dropped the HD charge post-upgrade (being my original question).

Sixth Labour Government - "Vision without Execution is just Hallucination"

blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1556506 20-May-2016 19:38

In Oz we pay extra for HD foxtel, we get 51 HD channels (if you include drama, movies and sport, which I don't have) but we get documentaries... BBC Knowledge HD, Discovery HD, Nat Geo HD, History HD, Nat Geo Wild HD, Lifestyle HD and some other channels we don't watch. The "drama" package, you can pay $10 or something for (GoT etc) with about 6-10 channels...

We spend most of our time watching docos, lifestyle or netflix (4k package).

ockel

2031 posts

Uber Geek

#1556515 20-May-2016 19:54

blakamin:

In Oz we pay extra for HD foxtel, we get 51 HD channels (if you include drama, movies and sport, which I don't have) but we get documentaries... BBC Knowledge HD, Discovery HD, Nat Geo HD, History HD, Nat Geo Wild HD, Lifestyle HD and some other channels we don't watch. The "drama" package, you can pay $10 or something for (GoT etc) with about 6-10 channels...

We spend most of our time watching docos, lifestyle or netflix (4k package).

Back in the day only about 1/3 of Foxtel subscribers had the HD ticket - so roughly 10% of households. Do you know if its changed much?

Sixth Labour Government - "Vision without Execution is just Hallucination"

DickDastardly

227 posts

Master Geek

#1556519 20-May-2016 19:59

ockel:

DickDastardly:

ockel:

rugrat:
tangerz:

richms:

IMO there is a sort of justification at the moment where the HD streams are separate from the SD ones because the SD boxes are antiques. Once they have moved to a single transmission when all the mpeg 2 dinosaurs are gone, then I think it is a real ripoff to be charging more for the HD.

The biggest problem with sky is the lack of HD. No docco channels in HD, no news channels, only sports and the junk movie service.

My guess is that dropping the HD ticket may be one of the things that happens when Sky complete the new decoder roll out, swap their transponders to MPEG4 and shut off the duplicate SD transmissions. As you say, it's kind of been justified until now as it required separate bandwidth to the SD signal, but when HD is the only signal being broadcast then the extra charge really should go.

I'm sure I read a while ago, once new roll out happens the HD channels will have one stream no SD stream.
But they still want extra money for HD and if you don't pay it the picture will be sabotaged by the Sky decoder and downscaled to SD.

That way they save on not having multiple streams for same channel and still get to charge for HD.
Be interesting to see what happens now people getting more choices for content.

Which is why, given the greater choices in the UK, we're having a good long look at Sky UK.

If I take the Original or Variety bundles I can add Sport or Movies - but I cant have them in HD. [The fine print says that is not an option]

So I have to take the Family bundle (which is just the Variety bundle plus an HD ticket plus box sets). So I'm paying 6 quid a month to have the Variety bundle in HD. Yay. GBP32/month plus GBP6/month for HD. Then I can add Sport at GBP27/month plus another GBP6/month to have Sport in HD. Thats GBP59/month plus GBP12/month HD ticket to get HD Sport in the UK? Surely that cant be right. Someone please help me understand the pricing model cos I must have it wrong to pay NZD144 for Sport in HD.

Especially with the plethora of general entertainment, cable and sport offerings to choose from.

Ok from what I can remember from when I had UK Sky and from what I can see on the Sky UK site (based on the a Sky + box rather than their Q System)

The Original Bundle –

20 per month

270 Channels and Free to Air HD

Free 2tb Sky Box

HD is an extra 6 pounds.

Family Bundle (which was the basis of my post above)

38 per month

350 Channels inc 50 in HD

HD is included.

Any Sport and Movies is then on top of that

Seems like you need the Family Bundle before you have HD sports or movies….

I had the Family Bundle and no HD extra charges...

Its funny cos the only HD I see on Original or Variety is the 11 HD FTA channels. No Sky HD channels. And despite being H.264 Sky UK still charges an HD ticket (two HD tickets when you see that Family is Variety plus 50 channels are now in HD too (as well as the SD channels)).

So Sky UK still charges an HD ticket. Got another example of a satellite or cable provider that has dropped the HD charge post-upgrade (being my original question).

Agreed, Sky UK can still charge for HD, but if you go for a higher package, HD gets thrown in. Even if you have every known package from Sky NZ HD does not get thrown in (Ok, I believe the second decoder option will get you HD, but thats not the point!)

Another satellite or cable provider that doesn't charge extra for HD? Direct TV in the States, even on their basic package (50 bucks a month for 145+ channels) includes loads of HD channels included in the introductory package. No sign of charging HD as an extra. The HD they offer is 1080p quality and although there are some specialist HD channels that do come at an extra cost and there are further packages that give you more HD channels (5 dollars extra gives you more channels inc movies again in HD)

I don't want no sugar in it - thank you very much

ockel

2031 posts

Uber Geek

#1556523 20-May-2016 20:10

DickDastardly:

ockel:

DickDastardly:

ockel:

rugrat:
tangerz:

richms:

IMO there is a sort of justification at the moment where the HD streams are separate from the SD ones because the SD boxes are antiques. Once they have moved to a single transmission when all the mpeg 2 dinosaurs are gone, then I think it is a real ripoff to be charging more for the HD.

The biggest problem with sky is the lack of HD. No docco channels in HD, no news channels, only sports and the junk movie service.

My guess is that dropping the HD ticket may be one of the things that happens when Sky complete the new decoder roll out, swap their transponders to MPEG4 and shut off the duplicate SD transmissions. As you say, it's kind of been justified until now as it required separate bandwidth to the SD signal, but when HD is the only signal being broadcast then the extra charge really should go.

I'm sure I read a while ago, once new roll out happens the HD channels will have one stream no SD stream.
But they still want extra money for HD and if you don't pay it the picture will be sabotaged by the Sky decoder and downscaled to SD.

That way they save on not having multiple streams for same channel and still get to charge for HD.
Be interesting to see what happens now people getting more choices for content.

Which is why, given the greater choices in the UK, we're having a good long look at Sky UK.

If I take the Original or Variety bundles I can add Sport or Movies - but I cant have them in HD. [The fine print says that is not an option]

So I have to take the Family bundle (which is just the Variety bundle plus an HD ticket plus box sets). So I'm paying 6 quid a month to have the Variety bundle in HD. Yay. GBP32/month plus GBP6/month for HD. Then I can add Sport at GBP27/month plus another GBP6/month to have Sport in HD. Thats GBP59/month plus GBP12/month HD ticket to get HD Sport in the UK? Surely that cant be right. Someone please help me understand the pricing model cos I must have it wrong to pay NZD144 for Sport in HD.

Especially with the plethora of general entertainment, cable and sport offerings to choose from.

Ok from what I can remember from when I had UK Sky and from what I can see on the Sky UK site (based on the a Sky + box rather than their Q System)

The Original Bundle –

20 per month

270 Channels and Free to Air HD

Free 2tb Sky Box

HD is an extra 6 pounds.

Family Bundle (which was the basis of my post above)

38 per month

350 Channels inc 50 in HD

HD is included.

Any Sport and Movies is then on top of that

Seems like you need the Family Bundle before you have HD sports or movies….

I had the Family Bundle and no HD extra charges...

Its funny cos the only HD I see on Original or Variety is the 11 HD FTA channels. No Sky HD channels. And despite being H.264 Sky UK still charges an HD ticket (two HD tickets when you see that Family is Variety plus 50 channels are now in HD too (as well as the SD channels)).

So Sky UK still charges an HD ticket. Got another example of a satellite or cable provider that has dropped the HD charge post-upgrade (being my original question).

Agreed, Sky UK can still charge for HD, but if you go for a higher package, HD gets thrown in. Even if you have every known package from Sky NZ HD does not get thrown in (Ok, I believe the second decoder option will get you HD, but thats not the point!)

Another satellite or cable provider that doesn't charge extra for HD? Direct TV in the States, even on their basic package (50 bucks a month for 145+ channels) includes loads of HD channels included in the introductory package. No sign of charging HD as an extra. The HD they offer is 1080p quality and although there are some specialist HD channels that do come at an extra cost and there are further packages that give you more HD channels (5 dollars extra gives you more channels inc movies again in HD)

I stand corrected.

But I still beg to differ on Sky UK. I dont think you can get HD content unless you're on Family. Would love a UK subscriber to actually clarify that they have HD on a lower tier. Going from Variety to Family - same channel lineup but voila duplicate channels in HD. ie you're paying a GBP6/mth HD ticket. Hardly getting thrown in - you're paying for it.

Sixth Labour Government - "Vision without Execution is just Hallucination"

blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1556526 20-May-2016 20:21

ockel:

blakamin:

In Oz we pay extra for HD foxtel, we get 51 HD channels (if you include drama, movies and sport, which I don't have) but we get documentaries... BBC Knowledge HD, Discovery HD, Nat Geo HD, History HD, Nat Geo Wild HD, Lifestyle HD and some other channels we don't watch. The "drama" package, you can pay $10 or something for (GoT etc) with about 6-10 channels...

We spend most of our time watching docos, lifestyle or netflix (4k package).

Back in the day only about 1/3 of Foxtel subscribers had the HD ticket - so roughly 10% of households. Do you know if its changed much?

No idea really... I'd ditch it if it wasn't for the docos and the Mrs love of Lifestyle. :/

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