Just installed a SkyHD box to replace my Sky+ box. Main reason was that
the Sky+ box kept freezing on playback (although never on record). The
free self-install option looked to be a cheap way to replace the box -
Will cost me £120 in the first year after which I might downgrade to
lose the HD channels.

Our TV is a Panasonic TH-37PX70B, which you will realise is a 37" model.
It has a max resolution of 720 horizontal pixels so I will not be
getting full 1080 HD. We normally view from between 3-4 metres.

My first thoughts on HD viewing as compared to SD viewing:

I don't think the picture from the SkyHD box, when viewing SD channels,
is as good as that from the Sky+ box. I do see a difference between,
say, Sky1 and Sky1HD although I feel the picture is softer than we were
used to with the Sky+ box.

There is a very slight sound synch issue when using the TV's own sound
system. Changing the sound delay settings does not seem to help - but
they are, I believe, only for DD sound on the optical fibre output?

I like the new programme guide.

An added bonus is that the old Sky+ hand set will operate the SkyHD box,
even through a radio link between the living room and the bedroom, which
means I won't have to keep going back upstairs to collect the handset
which had been taken up to bed the previous night!

Will need to give it a week or so to see if HD is worth the extra £10/week.

--
George from Cartland

George wrote:

Our TV is a Panasonic TH-37PX70B, which you will realise is a 37"
model. It has a max resolution of 720 horizontal pixels so I will
not be getting full 1080 HD. We normally view from between 3-4
metres.

I don't think the picture from the SkyHD box, when viewing SD
channels, is as good as that from the Sky+ box. I do see a
difference between, say, Sky1 and Sky1HD although I feel the picture
is softer than we were used to with the Sky+ box.

Will need to give it a week or so to see if HD is worth the extra
£10/week.

At a viewing distance you mention, a 37" TV is not really going to give
you the best HD viewing experience anyway. 42" is really the minimum
to make it worth your while and 40" is pushing it.

MC

"George" wrote in message
...
Just installed a SkyHD box to replace my Sky+ box. Main reason was that
the Sky+ box kept freezing on playback (although never on record). The
free self-install option looked to be a cheap way to replace the box -
Will cost me £120 in the first year after which I might downgrade to lose
the HD channels.

Our TV is a Panasonic TH-37PX70B, which you will realise is a 37" model.
It has a max resolution of 720 horizontal pixels so I will not be getting
full 1080 HD. We normally view from between 3-4 metres.

My first thoughts on HD viewing as compared to SD viewing:


There is a very slight sound synch issue when using the TV's own sound
system. Changing the sound delay settings does not seem to help - but
they are, I believe, only for DD sound on the optical fibre output?

I like the new programme guide.



If you use the scart or the phono out for the audio, this also gets delayed
by the settings. The HDMI is not altered by the adjustments and is as is.
Gary

"George" wrote in message
...
Just installed a SkyHD box to replace my Sky+ box. Main reason was that
the Sky+ box kept freezing on playback (although never on record). The
free self-install option looked to be a cheap way to replace the box -
Will cost me £120 in the first year after which I might downgrade to lose
the HD channels.

Our TV is a Panasonic TH-37PX70B, which you will realise is a 37" model.
It has a max resolution of 720 horizontal pixels so I will not be getting
full 1080 HD. We normally view from between 3-4 metres.

My first thoughts on HD viewing as compared to SD viewing:

I don't think the picture from the SkyHD box, when viewing SD channels, is
as good as that from the Sky+ box. I do see a difference between, say,
Sky1 and Sky1HD although I feel the picture is softer than we were used to
with the Sky+ box.

There is a very slight sound synch issue when using the TV's own sound
system. Changing the sound delay settings does not seem to help - but
they are, I believe, only for DD sound on the optical fibre output?

I like the new programme guide.

An added bonus is that the old Sky+ hand set will operate the SkyHD box,
even through a radio link between the living room and the bedroom, which
means I won't have to keep going back upstairs to collect the handset
which had been taken up to bed the previous night!

Will need to give it a week or so to see if HD is worth the extra
£10/week.

--
George from Cartland



critcher said................................
I think you are right, picture on my sky hd amstrad is not as good as my
previous sky+.
The contrast is not as good, on high the whites are washed out, on medium
they are not as good as my original thompson box.No trouble with sound, epg
is better than sky+.
TV is panny 32 inch 720p and there is a diff in quality between hd and sd.
Some hd channels do not use hd film and recordings and this does make a
difference.
If you have not already done so, set your sky hd box to auto in the setup,
this will enable the TV to be set to the best format for viewing.

On 01/06/2010 21:57, MC wrote:
George wrote:

Our TV is a Panasonic TH-37PX70B, which you will realise is a 37"
model. It has a max resolution of 720 horizontal pixels so I will
not be getting full 1080 HD. We normally view from between 3-4
metres.

I don't think the picture from the SkyHD box, when viewing SD
channels, is as good as that from the Sky+ box. I do see a
difference between, say, Sky1 and Sky1HD although I feel the picture
is softer than we were used to with the Sky+ box.

Will need to give it a week or so to see if HD is worth the extra
£10/week.

At a viewing distance you mention, a 37" TV is not really going to give
you the best HD viewing experience anyway. 42" is really the minimum
to make it worth your while and 40" is pushing it.

....I'm sure you're right, so it's maybe psychological, but the
impression I am getting (after only a couple of day's viewing) is that
the HD images /seem/ to be clearer than the equivalent SD ones. There
is a subjective improvement in the view. Perhaps the extra video data,
although not consciously perceived, does register in the optic lobes?
--
George from Cartland

On 02/06/2010 19:14, critcher wrote:
wrote in message
...
Just installed a SkyHD box to replace my Sky+ box. Main reason was that
the Sky+ box kept freezing on playback (although never on record). The
free self-install option looked to be a cheap way to replace the box -
Will cost me £120 in the first year after which I might downgrade to lose
the HD channels.

Our TV is a Panasonic TH-37PX70B, which you will realise is a 37" model.
It has a max resolution of 720 horizontal pixels so I will not be getting
full 1080 HD. We normally view from between 3-4 metres.

My first thoughts on HD viewing as compared to SD viewing:

I don't think the picture from the SkyHD box, when viewing SD channels, is
as good as that from the Sky+ box. I do see a difference between, say,
Sky1 and Sky1HD although I feel the picture is softer than we were used to
with the Sky+ box.

There is a very slight sound synch issue when using the TV's own sound
system. Changing the sound delay settings does not seem to help - but
they are, I believe, only for DD sound on the optical fibre output?

I like the new programme guide.

An added bonus is that the old Sky+ hand set will operate the SkyHD box,
even through a radio link between the living room and the bedroom, which
means I won't have to keep going back upstairs to collect the handset
which had been taken up to bed the previous night!

Will need to give it a week or so to see if HD is worth the extra
£10/week.

--
George from Cartland



critcher said................................
I think you are right, picture on my sky hd amstrad is not as good as my
previous sky+.
The contrast is not as good, on high the whites are washed out, on medium
they are not as good as my original thompson box.No trouble with sound, epg
is better than sky+.
....I am wondering if the perceived loss of contrast is an aspect of the
more detailed picture? Extra pixels means smoother transitions in
colour so this might reduce contrast?

TV is panny 32 inch 720p and there is a diff in quality between hd and sd.
Some hd channels do not use hd film and recordings and this does make a
difference.
If you have not already done so, set your sky hd box to auto in the setup,
this will enable the TV to be set to the best format for viewing.
....did that. I notice that SD programs send 576 lines but, so far, all
the HD programs I've viewed seem to send 1080 lines.

One extra bonus feature is that, when I put the SkyHD box into standby,
the TV reverts to Freeview. Previously, this often did not happen
(Sky+) and TV had to be manually selected.

I've tried to switch of the revolving blue lights on front as they are
sometimes distracting. Every time I do this through the settings menu,
it stops, but the next time I start to view a recording, it starts up
again. I wonder if it's worth calling out an engineer (-:


--
George from Cartland

In article , George
writes
One extra bonus feature is that, when I put the SkyHD box into standby,
the TV reverts to Freeview. Previously, this often did not happen
(Sky+) and TV had to be manually selected.

I've done some testing on this and it's so complicated I could not work
out what it was doing . Basically it depends on whether you had
previously manually selected (on the TV remote) the TV's tuner or the
external connection and whether you switched the TV to standby or not.
Very often it would go to the Scart instead of the HDMI connection when
turning on. It would go to ether the TV tuner or a blue screen when
turning off. Sometimes none of the above. I just got lost in the end
and this is just with my TV. It could be different with another. So I
suggest it is because you happened to use a different sequence one day
to another. I don't believe it is because of a different box but it
could be because of a different cable connection.
--
Peter Pratten
Please reply in group only

On 03/06/2010 01:42, Peter Pratten wrote:
In article , George
writes
One extra bonus feature is that, when I put the SkyHD box into
standby, the TV reverts to Freeview. Previously, this often did not
happen (Sky+) and TV had to be manually selected.

I've done some testing on this .... I
suggest it is because you happened to use a different sequence one day
to another. I don't believe it is because of a different box but it
could be because of a different cable connection.

....yes. I think the HDMI connection is responsible. I have used the
scart to feed the transmitter end of the radio link to another room.

--
George from Cartland

On Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:14:34 +0100, George
wrote:

On 01/06/2010 21:57, MC wrote:
George wrote:

Our TV is a Panasonic TH-37PX70B, which you will realise is a 37"
model. It has a max resolution of 720 horizontal pixels so I will
not be getting full 1080 HD. We normally view from between 3-4
metres.

I don't think the picture from the SkyHD box, when viewing SD
channels, is as good as that from the Sky+ box. I do see a
difference between, say, Sky1 and Sky1HD although I feel the picture
is softer than we were used to with the Sky+ box.

Will need to give it a week or so to see if HD is worth the extra
£10/week.

At a viewing distance you mention, a 37" TV is not really going to give
you the best HD viewing experience anyway. 42" is really the minimum
to make it worth your while and 40" is pushing it.

...I'm sure you're right, so it's maybe psychological, but the
impression I am getting (after only a couple of day's viewing) is that
the HD images /seem/ to be clearer than the equivalent SD ones. There
is a subjective improvement in the view. Perhaps the extra video data,
although not consciously perceived, does register in the optic lobes?

All I can say is that when I switched from SD to HD I was blown away
by how much better it was. At the time I was using a 37" Toshiba HD
TV, via HDMI connection. I sit about 2 to 3 meters away from the TV.

I now have a 46" Toshiba TV, and SD feels so bad on it that I feel
irked when I can't find an HD version of a show I watch.

It comes down to:
* Size of TV. Bigger means you can appreciate HD better, and SD looks
worse.
* Distance from TV. Closer means you can appreciate HD better, and SD
looks worse.
* Quality of TV. Better quality gives sharper or better quality
picture.
* Connection to TV. HDMI is a must.
* Broadcast quality. Even on an HD channel many shows are only
recorded in SD. They will look slightly better than watching the same
show on an SD channel, but to appreciate HD you need to be watching an
HD show on an HD channel.
* Eyesight. If you don't have 20/20 vision (while wearing
glasses/contacts if needed) then you probably won't appreciate HD that
much.

--
Vincent

MC wrote:
George wrote:

Our TV is a Panasonic TH-37PX70B, which you will realise is a 37"
model. It has a max resolution of 720 horizontal pixels so I will
not be getting full 1080 HD. We normally view from between 3-4
metres.

I don't think the picture from the SkyHD box, when viewing SD
channels, is as good as that from the Sky+ box. I do see a
difference between, say, Sky1 and Sky1HD although I feel the picture
is softer than we were used to with the Sky+ box.

Will need to give it a week or so to see if HD is worth the extra
£10/week.

At a viewing distance you mention, a 37" TV is not really going to
give you the best HD viewing experience anyway. 42" is really the
minimum to make it worth your while and 40" is pushing it.

Sorry but I have to disagree. I have a Panasonic 37" plasma and view from
around 9'. The HD picture is superb and considerably better than the SD
picture.

I did read an article recently that suggested that many viewers cannot fully
appreciate HD TV simply because their eyesight is not sufficiently acute!

--
Kev