Is HD over the air really this bad?

buglawton

Usually I see the Bluray demo DVDs running and apart from some movement flicker that I never notice on my 11 year old CRT TV, they look superb.

Then today I saw in Lakes a demo of a BBC HD broadcast (it even had a "HD Demo" logo showing) . It looked not much better than the old 625 lines and a whole lot worse than Bluray.

Are they any real BBC / ITV Sky HD viewers out there who can give their opinion? This would decide what kind of hurry I should be in to "upgrade".

geewhiz

I've only had Sky HD for a few months but find the difference in HD pictures impressive.

Watching sports is particularly good, so much so that watching on a non HD channel feels like going back in time !

Non sports programs are a significant improvement too, I just wish it didn't cost £10 a month for it all !

buglawton

Yeah, I would be looking at the new Freesat or Freeview HD offerings, £10 to view what you have already paid a license for is ridiculous.

gjchester

We have Freesat HD and it's not just good, it's stunning. We have a panasonic with it built in.

My guess is it may have bene a HD signal at the start but by the time it go to the set you saw it on it' had bene through so many boxes, amplifiers anc cables it was bad.

However whilst there is the quality there is not so much quantity, there is 6-9 hours of BBCHD each night, some is repeats (but the rugby is all in HD) and ITV uis usually an hour a night if your lucky. More will come but it's not here yet.

savemoney

BBC HD looks fine on my 40" tv 1080i. Occasionally get the odd blip due to weather but its fine

Cat695

buglawton wrote: »

Yeah, I would be looking at the new Freesat or Freeview HD offerings, £10 to view what you have already paid a license for is ridiculous.

£10 to view freesat....erm the name gives it away...FREEsat....you just buy the box and ITV/BBC HD is free

so whoever said its £10 is ripping you off

savemoney

You wont get HD for £10

There are two systems

Freesat with ITV/BBC
Freesat Sky (the £10 option assuming you have a sky box)

With BBC ITV Freesat there are different boxes, HD boxes more expensive option and take SD and HD around £150 and freesat SD only Standard Definition around £60-£80

Then there is Freesat+ Humax HDR is the only box that can record HD/SD broadcast with its built in twin tuners around £280

Moneymaker

The shop TV was probably connected by Scart cable - resulting in SD.

samhale

Cat695 wrote: »

£10 to view freesat....erm the name gives it away...FREEsat....you just buy the box and ITV/BBC HD is free

so whoever said its £10 is ripping you off

He's on about the extra £10 Sky charge.

bamboozled2

I think it was last summer, (may of been earlier) that it was reported that blu-ray manufacturers had decided to throw in the towel and not go into battle with HD, in a 'this town ain't big enough for the both of us' scenario. They didn't want to go down the VHS/Betamax route.
Then suddenly Blu-ray is more to the fore than HD. Am I the only one who is confused by all this?
We bought a HD ready Tv last christmas, but haven't watched any HD on it yet, as I refuse to pay to watch HD tv.
I have found out that you can watch blu-ray dvds by putting them into an Xbox or PS3 and connecting to your tv with an hdmi cable. (tesco leaflet)
Also, if you put blu-ray dvds in an xbox and watch them on an hd ready tv, will you be watching them in hd quality or do you have to have a blu-ray telly?
Told you I was confused!

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

An XBox 360 won't play blu-ray discs, only the PS3 at the moment.