Comments on: Is your TV ready for High Definition (HDTV)? https://blog.davidkaspar.com/archives/2006/05/is-your-tv-ready-for-high-definition-hdtv.php Online journal and ponderings about the Internet, gadgets and photography. Tue, 26 Sep 2006 10:11:34 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 By: mark https://blog.davidkaspar.com/archives/2006/05/is-your-tv-ready-for-high-definition-hdtv.php#comment-1045 Tue, 26 Sep 2006 10:11:34 +0000 https://davidkaspar.com/wp/2006/05/09/is-your-tv-ready-for-high-definition-hdtv/#comment-1045 Hi
Interested to hear how your “non HD” set copes with Sky HD.
I have a Panasonic monitor, resolution is fine for HD (even Panasonic do not suggest changing for a newer set!), with component input.
I see the Sky HD box has component out and wonder if I will get a noticeably improved picture?
Also, is the REALLY much change in quality by perhaps taking my existing Sky+ SCART output and running it through a converter so I can feed component to the monitor?
This would cost about £80 as opposed to a £300 HD box and £120 a year extra subscription.
Any comments?
Mark

David says:
In short my old set copes very well with Sky HD and I am sure you would not be disappointed if you would pick up Sky HD.
Some older Panasonic sets had a resolution of 852 x 480 which I would not recommend for a 1080i signal but anything above 1024×768 is great.
The picture quality depends on the source being used. Until now BBC’s planet earth and the World Cup have been stunning whereas HD movies are a bit hit and miss (Sin City being the best so far in my opinion).
The improvement of 1080i over Component compared to SD (standard definition) over Scart+RGB is very, very noticeable. It is very much a wow-factor for anyone who watches Sky HD for the first time.
While my set supports a pure digital signal via DVI, it does not support HDCP (encryption) so I have not been able to judge the quality of digital video from the SkyHD box.
Sky has promised to keep using the unprotected HD signal over component for a “foreseeable future”.
In conclusion the SkyHD quality is stunning but I don’t think the service is worth the money you mentioned at the moment due to very little true HD content being offered.

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