Sky HD
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Sky HD is the brand name of the HDTV service launched by BSkyB on 22 May 2006 in the UK and the Republic of Ireland to enable high definition channels on Sky Digital to be viewed. The service requires the user has a Sky HD Digibox (costing £299/€449), and a HD ready TV. Customers who pre-ordered by paying a £30/€45 deposit before 6 April 2006 were the first to enjoy the service, with installations starting on 22 May 2006.
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[edit] Subscriptions
A subscription to the Sky HD service carries an extra £10/€15 per month fee on top of the standard Sky subcription. To receive all HD channels, one must subscribe to the Sky Movies and Sky Sports packages. Without a subscription to Sky Movies or Sky Sports, Sky Movies HD and Sky Sports HD respectively, will not be available.
Those who only subscribe to Sky HD, can only watch ordered Sky Box Office HD movies and the, FTA, BBC HD service, in addition to the FTA and FTV standard definition channels.
As with a standard Sky+ box, the PVR features will only be enabled with a Sky+ subscription (normally costing £10 per month). However, the Sky+ subscription fee is now waived for customers subscribing to the Sky HD service whereas previously they would have to pay for both the HD subscription as well as the Sky+ subscription. In practice, this means anyone paying the extra £10/€15 for the Sky HD service will automatically get the Sky+ features.
[edit] Technical Information
The first generation of Sky HD Digibox were produced by Thomson. It is a version of the Sky+ PVR with a 300GB hard drive, 160GB of which is for consumer use, with the other 140GB reserved for future video on demand services. For connectivity with HD ready televisions, the box outputs via a HDMI connector (adapters to Digital Visual Interface are available) as well as an analogue component connection (YPbPr). Traditional standard-definition connections are also available. It is High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) compliant. At launch, all programming was available via both HDMI and component connections, although individual broadcasters have the option to require HDCP (and therefore HDMI/DVI) in the future. The digibox also comes with a new slimline version of the Sky+ remote control.
Programmes are only broadcast in the 1080i format (though the box can be set to scale this to 720p if the user wishes), in the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format, broadcast from the SES Astra and Eurobird 1 satellites at 28.2E and 28.5E in a new DVB standard, DVB-S2.
BBC HD is however DVB-S
The electronic program guide is almost identical to the one found on Sky+, with the exception being that by pressing TV Guide and then the red button on the remote control, listings for only the HD channels are shown.
[edit] Teething Problems
Many early adopters of SkyHD have encountered numerous issues with both the hardware and software of Sky's latest offering.
Unforeseen box shortages prior to launch meant that thousands of customers who had already paid the £300 fee for the box had their installations delayed, many at the shortest of notices.
Software issues include failed recordings, unresponsive fast forwarding, the inability to fast forward at the advertised rate of x30 (although this is only on HD Brodcasting Channels due to HD using more memory) and time delays on the clock (which can interfere with recordings). Hardware issues include overheating of the box and a slightly controversial discussion regarding possible damage to certain Pioneer panels. All of these issues are intermittent and by no means experienced by all users. Sky have continued their policy of attempting to resolve these issues via software updates.
The other main cause for concern among those that took up the HD service during its infancy, is the paucity of HD broadcasts available. Many have been disappointed that of the 8 HD channels, only BBC HD and the movie channels show exclusively HD footage. The others, to varying degrees, complete their HD coverage with upscaled standard definition programmes.
[edit] Channels
[edit] Currently available
The following channels are available and can currently be found on the given channel numbers. Selecting these numbers on a non-HD digibox brings up an information banner displaying a contact telephone number.
| Channel Number | Channel | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 145 | BBC HD | Free-to-air |
| 197 | Sky One HD | |
| 268 | Artsworld HD | |
| 311 | Sky Movies 9 HD | |
| 312 | Sky Movies 10 HD | |
| 408 | Sky Sports HD | |
| 409 | Sky Sports HD 2 | |
| 483 | PremPlus HD | Pay-per-view service |
| 525 | Discovery HD | |
| 543 | National Geographic Channel HD | |
| 545 | The History Channel HD | |
| 756 | Sky Box Office HD 1 | Pay-per-view service |
| 757 | Sky Box Office HD 2 | Pay-per-view service |
[edit] Unconfirmed
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This article or section contains information about a future television station or television network. It is likely to contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the channel or network launch approaches and more information becomes available. |
The following channels are rumoured to be planned to start at some point in the near future:
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Sky HD web site
- HDTV Org Independent guide to High Definition TV
