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Right well we at Online Review have had Sky HD for a while now so I think we can come to some sort of conclusion as to if it is worth the hype and more importantly the extra cash. Let’s start as we mean to go on, yes it is! The number of programs now available in HD is getting pretty good, I am not going to lie to you when we first got HD we were pretty much limited to the cricket and the HD preview page. But now with the launch of BBC HD and several other HD specific channels you can watch most of your favorite programs in high definition. And I have to say it is a relief. In the early days we were getting annoyed when programs were not in HD, going as far as not watching them in standard definition and choosing to watch the HD preview channel. The closest similarity I can give is pirate DVDs (not that anyone at Online Review has ever bought one) once you have seen a real DVD then watching a poor quality pirate DVD is just annoying. Another problem has come up this week when we were given a Blu-Ray player and some Blu-Ray disks and now we are struggling to go back to DVDs, but that is a whole other story. The two big winners on HD are sports and documentaries both look stunning and there is, thankfully, a huge range available to watch at the moment. The cricket looks almost unreal and actually took a little time to get used to along with the football which brings the action a little closer. Documentaries really come to life on this system too, I have never been a fan before but find myself watching them hour after hour just to take in the brilliance of the HD box. There is another problem, you need to invest in a decent TV to really appreciate the picture, we are running on a true 1080 Sony Bravia 40 inch LCD which looks amazing, but try it out on a cheaper “HD” TV and the picture is a bit of a let down. In summary, it may cost an arm and a leg for the box (£299), for the extra subscription (£10 a month) and a decent TV (up wards of £1.5k) but if you have got the money it is well worth it. If you don’t have the money and one of your mates has got a HD set up, don’t go to visit, ever! You will only feel deflated when you watch the football at home.
Staff editor, Digital TV Section, February 2007 |
