Can someone confirm please

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Can someone confirm please

gedc

355 posts

Ultimate Geek

#26285 17-Sep-2008 13:51

Still on the fence regarding Sky HD and some confirmation of the following questions would help a fair bit.
I'm a bit confused as to what is broadcast in HD and what isn't on the sky platform and what you then can't or can do with it.

1. The hard drive in the box. Is it 160 GB or 320 GB ?
2. Does it record in SD or HD when you use the internal hard drive and can you play back recordings in respective formats
3. How many hours in each format could I record on the box (if it also records HD)
4. So far, dedicated HD channels are sports and movies. What about TV1, 2 etc OR are they only HD through freeview
5. Can I also record trasnmitted programs via the box into my Panasonic HDD - even on standard definition as I currently do with normal Sky?
6. Is there any function to record from the hard drive and transfer it to a DVD-R as I currently do with my Panny HDD.

Think thats about it...Thanks so much...

eXDee

4032 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#165125 17-Sep-2008 17:32

1. 320gb
2. Whatever the program is broadcast in, is what it's recorded in. If its a HD program, it will record in HD.
3. Can't remember the estimate figure
4. TV3 is HD due to an agreement, however is of lower quality (lower bitrate) than the Freeview HD version.
5. Yes, there are plenty of outputs which you can record from, however will obviously only be in standard definition.
6. No built in DVD drive, you would have to record to a standalone DVD recorder like your panasonic one.

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#165254 18-Sep-2008 08:38

Also re item 4:
Freeview UHF is capable of HD tranmission, but is only actually HD if the source is HD to start with. The rest of the time it is the standard resolution upscaled to HD, which your TV would do anyway in some respects. As mentioned by eXDee though, freeview UHF does have higher bitrates for transmission, mainly as it is not really competing for satellite tranmission 'space'.

gedc

355 posts

Ultimate Geek

#165283 18-Sep-2008 10:17

Thanks chaps..

Very clear and easy...

Regarding point 6. I appreciate the box doesn't have an internal DVD drive but no issues plugging it into my Panasonic DVD recorder if I wanted to transfer a show or two ( appreciate it will be in SD though )..