No More HD - Confirmed By VM

[harmitage]

Surely the most important thing to consider is whether your enjoyment of a program is greatly increased by watching it in HD, SD or upscaled.

I can see the difference when I concentrate but to be honest it does not increase my viewing pleasure one iota. If a football game is **** poor then it's doesn't matter if it's SD or HD, it's still **** poor. Similarly if a game is absorbing then it doesn't matter if it's SD or HD.

If a movie requires high visual impact for it to be pleasurable then I'd have watched it in the cinema.

I believe that the increased use of pvrs and the excellent VOD are far more important advances in how we watch that goggle box in the corner.

[eth01]

somewhat rather sweeping (thread topic)..

[Rillington]

I still find it odd that VM has said publically it has no interest in high definition channels.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

This is my entire argument concerning VM, and the Sky dispute, VM have publicly stated that they will only have ONE channel for HD, we have major broadcastors, stating that they will have this system, what does VM say, no. I cannot believe it, wether it is ' content' on the V+BOX, from VM, you are still going to have people thinking that this is what you can do, with the box, but you won't be able too, it does not make sense. Sky are going to increase there HD channels, ITV are going to have HD on the new freesat service, along with BBC, so grow up VM and put the customer on the same platform as all the other major companies

[Mick Fisher]

Originally Posted by Rillington

I still find it odd that VM has said publically it has no interest in high definition channels.

Well if an activity is physically impossible then the best thing a Company can do is lose all interest in that activity.

[foreverwar]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

This is my entire argument concerning VM, and the Sky dispute, VM have publicly stated that they will only have ONE channel for HD, we have major broadcastors, stating that they will have this system, what does VM say, no. I cannot believe it, wether it is ' content' on the V+BOX, from VM, you are still going to have people thinking that this is what you can do, with the box, but you won't be able too, it does not make sense. Sky are going to increase there HD channels, ITV are going to have HD on the new freesat service, along with BBC, so grow up VM and put the customer on the same platform as all the other major companies

arthur, you really need to visit the doctor and get some Prozac (other sedatives may be available ).

You really do use the a lot - I am worried that the prominent pulsing, throbbing veins in your forehead are going to burst one of these days.

btw, I, and a number of people I know, didn't get the V+ for the HD content (I didn't have a HDTV at the time), we got it for the PVR functionality.

As our friends from Liverpool say "Calm down, calm down".

[andygrif]

Originally Posted by harmitage

Surely the most important thing to consider is whether your enjoyment of a program is greatly increased by watching it in HD, SD or upscaled.

I can see the difference when I concentrate but to be honest it does not increase my viewing pleasure one iota. If a football game is **** poor then it's doesn't matter if it's SD or HD, it's still **** poor. Similarly if a game is absorbing then it doesn't matter if it's SD or HD.

Perhaps this is where I am going wrong. I'm trawling around TV store after TV store, telling them to switch to FreeView from their Disney BluRay disc that of course makes the telly look wonderful. And then I am getting het-up with the fact that, whilst studying the TV picture quality, it's nothing short of garbage.

Perhaps I am putting too much emphasis on concentrating on the quality of the image in my screen selection rather than thinking about the programme - it's an interesting point - but it's not one I think I can get over when/if we finally buy one (I've been looking for the 'right one' for months and my other half is sick of looking!)

[nialli]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

This is my entire argument concerning VM, and the Sky dispute, VM have publicly stated that they will only have ONE channel for HD, we have major broadcastors, stating that they will have this system, what does VM say, no. I cannot believe it, wether it is ' content' on the V+BOX, from VM, you are still going to have people thinking that this is what you can do, with the box, but you won't be able too, it does not make sense. Sky are going to increase there HD channels, ITV are going to have HD on the new freesat service, along with BBC, so grow up VM and put the customer on the same platform as all the other major companies

Virgin has NOT said they will have one channel for HD; if you're referring to this story from Digital Spy ignore the headline as it's not actually said by anyone from Virgin Media. Nowhere (to my knowledge) has Virgin stated that they will have only one HD channel. They may only have one today, but they've not said that's it.

[andygrif]

Originally Posted by nialli

Virgin has NOT said they will have one channel for HD; if you're referring to this story from Digital Spy ignore the headline as it's not actually said by anyone from Virgin Media. Nowhere (to my knowledge) has Virgin stated that they will have only one HD channel. They may only have one today, but they've not said that's it.

It's kind of what was intimated though wasn't it? Whilst it's true that there's loads of scope for a plethora of HD content on-demand, there's a need, IMHO, for a balance between linear and on-demand channels in HD.

But I imagine that it will all pan our in the next year or two with HD offerings from all the main four broadcasters (BBC, ITV, C4 & Five) being available on all the HD platforms in some way shape or form.

[nialli]

Originally Posted by andygrif

It's kind of what was intimated though wasn't it? Whilst it's true that there's loads of scope for a plethora of HD content on-demand, there's a need, IMHO, for a balance between linear and on-demand channels in HD.

But I imagine that it will all pan our in the next year or two with HD offerings from all the main four broadcasters (BBC, ITV, C4 & Five) being available on all the HD platforms in some way shape or form.

I agree. VM have the rights to C4 HD and ITV HD won't stay exclusive to Freesat for long. Haven't heard much from Five but with so many US imports available in HD it would be a likely one within twelve months too. There's not much love lost between the main broadcasters and Sky, so I expect most if not all to appear on VM as well as via the dish.

More concerning is the lack of UK programming being shot in HD - next to nothing yet homegrown on C4 and still way too much BBC stuff shot in HD.

[moroboshi]

Originally Posted by nialli

I agree. VM have the rights to C4 HD and ITV HD won't stay exclusive to Freesat for long. Haven't heard much from Five but with so many US imports available in HD it would be a likely one within twelve months too. There's not much love lost between the main broadcasters and Sky, so I expect most if not all to appear on VM as well as via the dish.

More concerning is the lack of UK programming being shot in HD - next to nothing yet homegrown on C4 and still way too much BBC stuff shot in HD.

C4, C5 etc may or may not be fans of Sky, but one thing seems pretty clear to me - Sky see HD a major selling point and are aggressively expanding their offering. Virgin absolutely do not.

I agree more UK content needs to be shot in HD though. The BBC really should film at least all of their major shows - Top Gear, Doctor Who, all nature documentaries etc in high-def.

[wwe]

it this true that were not getting no more hd channels ever and why?

[moroboshi]

Originally Posted by wwe

it this true that were not getting no more hd channels ever and why?

We're not getting any more HD channels this year. What happens next year is still to be decided.

Things to consider though :

1 - Sky have (according to Virgin themselves) exclusivity deals with all HD channels except for BBC HD, and ITV HD.

2- Virgin Media's moronic CEO recently said they only need one HD channel, - BBC HD, and that their lack of HD was not causing them to loose many customers.

3 - Virgin are stuck with a network clogged with legacy analogue cable TV signals, and V+ boxes that can only decode the bloated and out of date MPEG 2 codec. HD video consumes a lot of bandwidth and should be encoded in MPEG 4 format. (as it is on Sky HD, and on Blu-Ray discs)

[Arthurgray50@blu]

I think l need a heart pacemaker, the amount of slagging off l get, for what l believe in, the consumer pays an amount of money per month, for a product which they are not getting, you have to stand up for yourself, and let people walk over you, l'll have the prozac now please.

[homealone]

Originally Posted by wwe

it this true that were not getting no more hd channels ever and why?

no, what it means is that, for now, VM are concentrating on the other parts of their network, the inclusion of HD programs in the VOD options is just one part of that, which you may not have noticed, but it is certainly worth a look, if you can ....