Sky HD - High Definition Television from Sky

Sky HD

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 to have 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.

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+ (the Sky+ £10 charge was dropped in early 2007; the Sky HD page What does it cost? has more details).
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 an HD capable digibox such as the Sky HD box).

Technical Information

The first generation of Sky HD Digibox were produced by Thomson.
It is a version of the Sky+ PVR with a 300 GB hard drive, 160 GB of which is for consumer use, with the other 140 GB reserved for Sky Anytime 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 component. 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 March 20, 2007, which also included code for Sky Anytime. Sky Anytime TV is accessed by pressing "TV Guide" and then the red button.

Hardware & Software problems

Many early adopters of Sky HD 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 Ethernet, Serial ATA and 2xUSB ports (all of which have planned future use.
According to James Murdoch (current CEO of BSkyB), Sky intend to combine Sky Broadband with Sky HD to offer a true on-demand service using the ethernet socket of the Sky HD box.
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.

HD Channels

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.
The launch line-up consisted of Sky One HD, Artsworld HD, Sky Movies 9 HD, Sky Movies 10 HD, Sky Sports HD, Discovery HD, National Geographic Channel HD, Sky Box Office HD 1 and Sky Box Office HD 2.
High definition broadcasts from ITV1 will launch on digital satellite next Spring, the network confirmed today.

Current HD Channels

EPG Number	Channel	Notes
140	Channel 4 HD	Free-To-View
143	BBC HD	Free-To-Air
175	Sky One HD	Subscription
268	Sky Arts HD	Subscription
284	Luxe TV HD	Free-To-Air
311	Sky Movies HD1	Subscription
313	Sky Movies HD2	Subscription
408	Sky Sports HD1	Subscription
409	Sky Sports HD2	Subscription
483	Sky Sports HDX	Subscription
536	Discovery HD	Subscription
543	National Geographic Channel HD	Subscription
545	The History Channel HD	Subscription
756	Sky Box Office HD1	Pay-per-view service
757	Sky Box Office HD2	Pay-per-view service