Sky HD

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The Sky HD logo

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 an 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.

Sky reported they had signed up 184,000 customers to their HD service by the end of December 2006^[1].

1 Subscriptions
2 Technical Information
3 Teething Problems
4 Channels
- 4.1 Currently available
- 4.2 Unconfirmed
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Subscriptions

A subscription to the Sky HD service carries an extra £10/€15 per month fee on top of the standard Sky subcription. This fee allows customers to view the equivalent HD channels of their chosen channel package. 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.

If you subscribe to any Sky Digital package, the Sky HD subscription also includes a Sky+ subscription and enables the PVR features of the box. (A Sky+ fee was previously charged at an additional £10/€15 per month, or waived if you subscribed to a premium package including sports and/or movies.) This does not apply if you have a FreeSat agreement - Sky will charge £10 for HD and an additional £10 for Sky+ (although this charge is not detailed in the terms and conditions^[2]).

Only those who subscribe to Sky HD can watch pay-per-view Sky Box Office HD movies. The FTA trial BBC HD service does not require a subscription (but does require a HD capable digibox such as the Sky HD box).

[edit] Technical Information

The Sky HD Digibox and remote control.

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. It has been proved possible to modify a Sky HD box with a larger hard drive, although this can void warranties and is not approved by Sky. 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 via SCART, S-Video and composite video. The box is High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) compliant. All programming is currently 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.

All HD channels are 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. They use HDMI to connect to an HD Ready TV. 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 number 2 on the remote control, listings for only the HD channels are shown. An update was sent to the HD boxes early on the 20th of March 2007 which also included code for Sky Anytime. Sky Anytime TV is accessed by pressing "TV Guide" and then the red button.

The Sky HD Digibox backpanel.

[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 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.

Sky have also been criticised for not yet allowing the use of certain interfaces, such as the SATA, Ethernet and USB ports.

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

Channels available at launch

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.

The majority of these channels, such as Sky One HD, broadcast the same programmes as the standard definition version, and only use HD for certain programmes.

Channel Number	Channel	Notes
145	BBC HD	Free-to-air
197	Sky One HD
268	Sky Arts HD	Formerly Artsworld HD
311	Sky Movies 9 HD	On April 4 will become Sky Movies HD1
312	Sky Movies 10 HD	On April 4 will become Sky Movies HD2
408	Sky Sports HD
409	Sky Sports HD 2
483	PremPlus HD	Pay-per-view service
536	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

This article or section contains information about a future television station, channel or 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: