Comments Sky+HD Movie Experience - TV recorder & set top box - review

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dev

1:34 AM on 23 April, 2009

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I absolutely love sky HD, the picture quality is great, movies and football look awesome...plus its a doddle to use!

But...i cannot get my sound in sync, am outputting optical via toslink to a bose entertainment system for 5.1 but it always seems out. I have tried messing via the manual delay setting but cannot get it right :( any suggestions?

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Pbryanw

1:40 AM on 23 April, 2009

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Thanks for the interesting article. It seems that Sky+ HD's the only choice if you want a good variety of HD material, especially linear TV channels. The monthly cost has always put me off though - £55 (though less without Sky Movies) - ouch!

Anyway, looking forward to the Virgin V+ piece. Don't know what you'll make of the one linear HD channel (BBC HD) and limited Video on Demand, in HD.

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BOFH UK

9:25 AM on 23 April, 2009

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Just a quickie but I think your costs are slightly off on the first page. Looking through the Sky web site the cheapest I can get a movie package is £33.50 for one entertainment pack and the movie channels, plus a tenner for the HD subscription. Still shockingly expensive but thought it worth mentioning.

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Vivid

9:30 AM on 23 April, 2009

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@Dev - I've run into this problem with playing DVDs back through my X360 into my amp and Samsung LCD TV. My A/V receiver is a bit too old to be able to build a long enough delay in to make the sound in sync with the picture processing. This seems to be the cheapest way to remove the problem http://www.js-technology.com/index.php?cPath=26&osCsid=e649f4190b34080716ada94cb70e089f and there are more sophisticated versions available that can be adjusted via IR in sub 1ms increments. I thought that the manual delay adjust on the HD+ boxes was supposed to eliminate this problem?

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NirajGoyal

9:59 AM on 23 April, 2009

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You have the blu ray of Forgetting Sarah Marshall? Why?

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Chris

12:44 PM on 23 April, 2009

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@Dev - I think this sounds like a common problem where the video processing of your TV delays the display of video by a few milliseconds, but its enough to produce noticeable lip sync errors. I had this problem with my AV system.

If you turn the sound up on you TV speakers as well as the Bose system you should notice a slight 'echo' effect caused by the delay. If you hit the 'Services' button on the remote, there should be an audio setup menu with an 'Optical output delay' option. Adjust this until the sound from your TV and the sound from your AV unit are in sync, then turn off the TV speakers and enjoy your Bose goodness.

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Frank

1:07 PM on 23 April, 2009

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Missing from this piece but referenced by Dev is that not only the films are part of the top tier subs package but also the football with three HD Sports channels, though some events on them are only transmitted in SD on occassion, like snooker, (sods).

Another aspect though not neccessarily HD specific (save for the fact that HD revived my interest in TV viewing) is that the subs are easily regained on money you no longer spend in pubs and eateries, though I am finding that my pub abstinence is waning, perhaps due to more flexible ash tray policies by publicans these days :-)

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Keithe6e

1:58 PM on 23 April, 2009

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I suppose if your a massive Movie fan who watches movies nearly every day, then SKY's not a bad deal. For me though, I'm more of a max of 3 movies a month, and for £50 you could get higher quality keep forever blueray.

Rant Mode -> I know Sky don't have adverts between movies etc, but the fact you still get adverts on SKY for a subscription service is bonkers.

On a side note, I'm finding whats on TV less interesting everyday, very tempted to ditch my TV licence, de-tune my TV, and just watch BlueRay, catch up on news and other stuff on the NET, here comes another rant, if your a SKY user you still have to pay for a TV lic, how wrong is that.

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Chris

2:24 PM on 23 April, 2009

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@Keith - You still get all BBC channels for 'free' from Sky, but you can only legally view those if you've paid your TV licence. It's not as if you're paying twice.

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Keithe6e

2:34 PM on 23 April, 2009

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@Chris, I think I didn't explain what I meant properly, yes I know you still get BBC channels etc, but by using SKY your also forced to pay for a TV license, but say for example I only watched BlueRay movies and browsed the internet on my TV I wouldn't need a TV license. IOW: Say I had sky and only watched Sky+ and none BBC channels I still have to pay for a LIC, I just find the unique way the BBC is funded criminal.

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Chris

2:54 PM on 23 April, 2009

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@Keith - Very true. Not really Sky's fault though, just the larger issue of how the BBC is funded. You'd have the same problem if you bought a Tesco Value TV for £29.99.

I do agree though - the way the BBC is funded is completely out of step with modern digital TV packages. It needs to be reviewed.

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dev

10:09 PM on 23 April, 2009

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@Chris

Thanks very much, i will try it next time i'm home from uni :)

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GaryRW

3:26 PM on 25 April, 2009

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@Keith - not sure you 100% right on the not needing a licence just cos you've de-tuned your tv. I thought it was having equipment capable of receiving tv broadcasts that meant you had to pay, even if you steadfastly refused to ever tune in any bbc channel.

I thinking watching just blu-ray on a monitor would be ok, watching blu-ray on a tv would mean you should have a licence. (I use 'should' in a legal sense, not any sort of moral or fairness sense!)

I also suspect that watching BBC services on t'internet means that technically you should be paying a licence, but really not sure on that and the legislation may not have caught up with iPlayer yet...

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GaryRW

3:59 PM on 25 April, 2009

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Well, I was almost entirely wrong. proving to myself how bored I am, I looked this up and keith was right, not watching live tv means no license, but watching any tv broadcast means you have to cough up the license fee, even if you never use or tune in BBC. Apparently it's the broadcast bit that's important - watching recorded stuff is ok (copyright issues aside...)

As for internet, it seems the same logic applies - so if you're watching something at the same time as it's broadcast, tv license is needed.

Using iplayer to watch BBC stuff broadcast a few days ago would seem to be ok, even without a license - go figure??

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Keithe6e

2:52 PM on 27 April, 2009

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@GaryRW: hehe yeah, I wondered if someone would bring that up, as you have found out it's the broadcasting part. The biggest problem I've heard on the NET with doing this, the BBC would make you out to be a criminal, and you get hounded. I'm surprised they hasn't been a court case against the BBC for this type of behavior, or maybe a EU case to get this sort of license banned.

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Although Sky's HD movie offering certainly doesn't come cheap, your money does at least get you a genuinely massive selection of HD movie content, delivered with often good and sometimes excellent picture and sound quality. The platform's variable bit-rate system does occasionally come a cropper, meaning that the HD picture quality isn't as consistent as we'd ideally like it to be. But when it's good, it's very good indeed. The bottom line, really, is that no matter how much handing over loads of money to Rupert Murdoch each month might stick in your craw, there's simply no denying that for anyone wanting to get the best out of their lovely new HD TV or projector, having Sky HD is borderline essential.

Overall

8/10

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Reviewed by John Archer

23 April 2009

Price as reviewed

free/subscription

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