SKY HD review

If you've bought an HD-ready TV, you're probably wondering where the high-definition content is. The wait is over, as Sky is the first company to offer sharper broadcasts with its Sky HD service.

It's quite expensive, though, even if you're a current subscriber, with an initial cost of £300 for the set-top box. On top of that, you have to pay a Sky subscription fee and then an additional £10 a month for the HD service. For existing Sky subscribers, the extra £10 a month might seem reasonable. But for new subscribers enticed by the lure of HD, £44 a month for Sky HD, with movie or sports premium channels, is a stiffer proposition. If you didn't care enough about TV to pay for it before now, this is unlikely to tempt you.

The set-top box looks good; better than many of the Freeview hard disk recorders we've seen. The rear of the unit has every connector you could reasonably expect. HD video is provided via HDMI or component. There are SCART and S-video outputs, if you need a standard PAL output, and also USB, Ethernet and eSATA ports, though there's no current use for them. The remote is well laid out and easy to understand. The same goes for the interface, which is similar to the excellent Sky+ PVR system.

The set-top box has a 160GB hard disk that can record around 30 hours of HD programming, 80 hours of standard programming or somewhere in between for a combination of both. HD broadcasts will be a mixture of the 1,080i and 720p formats, and the set-top box is capable of outputting both. The resolution can be set manually to best match your display (most LCD TVs have a 720p resolution) or left on automatic, so it will adjust itself according to the programme.

The quality of the MPEG4 HD broadcasts varies, just like video quality on DVDs. At its best, it's simply stunning, with detail that exceeded all expectations. We were awestruck by a battle scene in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. It certainly put DVD in its place and re-created the impact and scale of the movie in a way we hadn't experienced since seeing it at the cinema. Sky's sports coverage is likely to be the key draw for many, with Premiership football at the forefront. We saw several sports, though not football, and it's very impressive. As well as the expected levels of detail, the action looked smooth.

Sky's HD service looks great and movie and sports fans with HD TVs will benefit from the new service. If you're not into movies or sports, though, there's little here to entice you to make the upgrade and we'd recommend that you hold out for more HD channels and wait for the cost to come down.

Author: Seth Barton