What does HD Ready mean?
HD ReadyHD Ready is a European standard agreed by the TV industry to describe HD TVs. In order to use the HD Ready label TVs must comply with a set of criteria. Sky HD is designed to work with HD Ready TV's.
Some press clippings
British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) confirmed on March 24th, that the first installations of its high definition service Sky HD are scheduled to begin in May 2006. Brian Sullivan, Sky's Director of Product Strategy and Management, said: "Sky is just weeks away from an exciting new era that will transform the television viewing experience. Sky HD customers will be able to enjoy stunning picture and sound quality from the widest range of HD channels in the UK and Ireland. We're delighted that the BBC has said that its HD coverage of the World Cup will be available to all customers with a Sky HD box as a non-subscription channel."
Sky estimates that 2.1 million HD TVs will have been sold in the UK by the end of the 2006, compared with 700,000 at the end of 2005.
The initial Sky HD channel line up will consist of:
Sky Sports HD: Live Barclays Premiership football and Guinness Premiership Rugby union are already being produced in High-Definition by Sky Sports in preparation for Sky's HD launch. From the start of the domestic cricket season, England's home Tests and one-Day internationals and country matches will also be produced in HD. From the 2006-07 season, Sky HD will offer live matches in the Coca Cola League in high definition, together with live coverage from the Carling Cup.
Sky Movies HD and Sky Box Office HD: Viewers will be able to choose from two Sky Movies HD screens dedicated to films broadcast in HD, and up to ten extra movies in HD each week on Sky Box Office.
Sky One will be simulcast in HD offering a selection of high quality entertainment with a range of Sky One shows and cutting edge series from the US in HD.
Artsworld will be simulcast in HD showing a selection of arts programming including opera, dance and classical music.
Discovery HD: Delivering the ideal viewing experience, Discovery HD will bring audiences even closer to their world with breathtaking imagery and expansive detail, featuring a selection of programming from Discovery's extensive library of more than 1,000 hours of high-definition content ranging from culture, engineering, science, technology and nature to travel and lifestyle themes.
National Geographic HD: An HD National Geographic channel will be available at launch offering a range of HD content including innovative factual programming, produced in the UK and around the world, covering natural history, wildlife, science and world exploration with the added benefit of Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.
We will have all these details shortly and will announce through or mailing list. If you are not already subscribed please click on the mailing list icon in the right hand column of this web page.
Sky HD digibox specs
*DVB-S2 demodulation capability used for HD transponders
*300 gb hard drive - 160gb for customer recordings , 140gb reserved for future use
*v90 ( 56k bps) Modem
*128Mb General RAM & 32 MB Decode RAM
*2 x 16Mb Flash Memory ( software downloads)
*32Kb NVRAM ( user settings storage)
*Digital Optical Output - supporting Dolby Digital 5.1
*Support for down sampling Dolby Digital to Dolby Prologic for other outputs
*MPEG2 / MPEG4 Decoder
*PAL i UHF Modulator (channel21 -69 controlled by software ) with 2 RF outputs ( one capable of providing 9v to power TV link and accept remote commands )
*HDMI connector
*Component Video - Y pb pr
*TV SCART ( composite video out , RGB in )
*VCR SCART ( composite video in / out RGB in )
*S- Video output ( permanantly on )
*RJ11 telephone socket
*left and right Phono outputs
*2 ISO 7816 compatible Smartcard Slots
*2 USB ports ( 1 front & 1 rear ) reserved for future use
*2 cooling fans 1 in base, 1 on front left side of box
*RJ45 / Ethernet socket - reserved for future use
*SATA interface - reserved for Future use
