Anthony Pearce takes a breezy look at Sky HD

You can now enjoy the UK’s widest selection of high definition programmes with Sky+ HD. The Sky HD Pack has 31 HD Channels available: the largest selection by any HD TV Provider in the UK by some way.

Sky+ HD really brings entertainment to life offering up to 4 times better picture detail with superb colours and sound. You can enjoy everything from Sports and Movies, to Documentaries and Dramas.

If you’re into James Bond then make sure you don’t miss The Bond HD Weekend on Sky Movies HD starting on Friday 27th March.

Also coming in March on National Geographic HD is Kingdom of the Blue Whale which sees the best Blue Whales Scientists attempt to find and tag California Blue Whales.

If you’re more into your sports, then there is plenty to get your teeth into. England look to fight back in the Caribbean and the Champions League enters the later stages.

The 31 Sky+ HD Channels include:

Sky 1 HD, Sky Sports HD, EuroSport HD, Sky Movies HD, Discovery HD, National Geographic HD, History HD, MTV HD, SciFi HD, Disney Channel HD, Bio HD, BBC HD, 4HD

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Image Credit: James Jordan

Tags: High Definition TV, Sky by Anthony Pearce
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We’ve now got HD channels by the bucket load. Sky Box Office HD, Sky Sports, Sky Premier, Sky One, BBC and Channel 4 are just a short collection of these, each of them available in glorious high definition.

The number of channels is testament to the big step forward the technology has taken. Launched in May 2006, the longest subscribers to the Sky HD service will now have been enjoying the service for around three years, and in the next three years the service is set to grow quickly.

The UK’s two biggest broadcasters, Sky and the BBC, are both committed HD enthusiasts, and by the time the London Olympics arrive in three summer’s time they aim to have a vast majority of the British public hooked onto their network.
One of the key draws is price. The Sky HD service is now available for well under £100. At the time of launch a subscription would have only been possible after the £299 initial fee was paid. And with the appropriate technology, BBC HD can be received for free.

So, whether Bond is your bag – or you’d prefer to put your feet up to the sound of the Premiership, it could be time to jump onto the HD wagon, because it’s already off downhill and it isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.

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Image Credit: fmc.nikon.d40 on Flickr

Tags: Digital TV, High Definition TV, Sky, Switchover by Peter Moore
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Back in the good ol’ days

Clobbering the television with a fist and skirting about the living room with an aerial, attempting to plot its electromagnetic potential are vivid recollections that I have of my time as a student.

As best the picture displayed on our fifteen year old wooden box was a fuzzy blur, with weathermen and news announcers flickering in and out of focus; coloured with a similar green hue to the animated character Shrek. At worst the picture would disappear completely into a black and white snowstorm as my housemates and I growled angrily away on the sofa.

Fast forward a decade and I have no idea as to whether or not that television is still chugging away – although I am rather sceptical. What I do know, is that with the advent of high-definition or HD television, even tightly hinged students’ wallets s should be tempted to cast their television punching days to history.

Sky announced at the end of last week that they are planning to increase their HD content and cut subscription prices to their flagship service. It all sounds a little convoluted, so in layman’s terms it means that you can snatch a cheaper digital deal for unparalleled crystal clear broadcasting quality. Sweet.

‘There’s a lot of changes coming,’ Sky announced expectantly, stating their hope to launch ITVHD in the near future. The prices are dropping too – with a £10 per month HD subscription fee being banded about a number of websites with a certain amount of alacrity.

Currently amongst the clump of high-definition channels, you can find Sky Sports HD, Sky One HD, Sky Movies HD, BBC HD, Sky Arts HD and the History Channel HD. The picture quality on HD is as sharp as a tiger’s tooth and the array of vivid colours and clear definition of animate objects is four times better than you’ll receive from the standard television signal.

Sky have already forged a reputation as the leading provider of high definition television and a spokesman mused recently that a re-launch of the HD programming guide (EPG) was a subtle augury of what was to come. ‘The EPG re-launch is just the first phase of a really good push on HD.’

Tags: BBC, Digital TV, High Definition TV, Sky by Peter Moore
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