Page 1 of Does the UK have High Definition tv`s (HDTV)?

I am currently in the USA and nearly all the tv`s are HDTV`s, I can`t remember seeing these in the UK. I have never seen such great picture qualities, and the functions of the tv are mouth watering. Can you get these in the UK?

having just bought a fujitsu 42" plasma, although we do not consider ourselves as techies, can offer a short reply.

No, the uk does not have HD TV yet. Although it is expected later this year 2005. Sky along with other set top box people will be launching decoders, but again your screen or panel need to be able to cope with the resolution. Some (most cheaper plasma`s) will NOT be able to display Hi Def images. Our fujitsu has 1024 x 1024 so will be ok, the pioneer is also a very good panel and will cope well.

People who have bought the panasonic viera will unfortunately be disappointed.

Sky will probably output using component, possibly HDMI too. All those interested will need a new sky box, a new dvd player (two major formats doing battle as we speak, Blu-Ray & HD DVD) You will probably be relieved of a few quid from your bank account too.

That`;s all i know really. Roll-on autumn, we are all ready to get it when it arrives.

Hope this answers your Q

d

Quote:
That`;s all i know really. Roll-on autumn, we are all ready to get it when it arrives.

Hope you have an ever increasing bank account just o feed SKY. It seems you get 7.1 sound. The seventh channel is the sound of SKY laughing all the way to the bank.

There are HDTV downloads out there... if you have a big enough hard drive.

Definately answers my question, thanks!

Quote:
Hope you have an ever increasing bank account just o feed SKY. It seems you get 7.1 sound. The seventh channel is the sound of SKY laughing all the way to the bank.

Well, i don`t like to criticise other people`s tastes and feel a little bitter that other people do, yet am not naive enough to think that all people would respect that. However in our defence, we have had sky (and now sky+) for about 8 years. We have no complaints. Excellent picture quality, excellent sky+ programming which integrates 100% with the sky menu system. What can i say?

Yes, you`re right, it is a little costly, yet we do not drink copious amounts of alcohol and neither do we take three or four foreign holidays each year. We both work very hard and enjoy the facilities that sky offer. As for the `SKY laughing all the way to the bank` comment, well, if there was a viable alternative i`m sure we would consider it. We tried leaving BT once, never again ! I travel 16,000 miles p.a. by car just getting to work and back, but i tell you one thing, if public transport was reliable and good enough, with ample seating, etc, then, again, i would use it. I suppose what i`m saying is that Sky have themselves a niche in the market, with very little (or no) competition. That is not the consumers fault, but is a credit to sky offering a good service. If enough people didn`t like it for the cost, then i`m sure they would be cancelling their contracts and buying freeview boxes.

High Definition was definately in our minds when we bought our new panel. we wanted something that would be capable of displaying HDTV. It also needed to be (to a degree) futureproof. I muted sky above as an example to the person who posted the original thread. We will, when the time arrives, look at all the alternatives. If Sky have the best product for the price, then we, along with many others i guess, will buy it.

Sky will profit from the large number of consumers, yet that is what all good businesses do. If they didn`t they would go out of business. If you need more clarification on this last point, just think back to On-Digital.

I guess, if i`m honest, i`m jealous that i don`t own a multi-million dollar profit making business.

That`s all really...

HDTV is available in the UK- Euro1080 broadcasts in HDTV off Hotbird@ 13 East.

OK, it`s only one channel ,but it is available!! I`m not even going to think about jumping into that until the broadcasters have sorted out their standards. When SKY announced their HDTV plans a few weeks ago, the reports I saw reckoned virtually none of the Plasma`s sold so far will be compatible because of the connection type

Sky have announced the key thing is the socket (whether HDMI or DVI) will have to be HDCP enabled. The majority of DLP sets coming through now are capable of handling this.

So the TV is available you just can`t do much with it unless you connect a PC with downloaded Hi-Def content

Ok, As far as has been anounced. When Sky do bring out HDTV you will have to use HDMI or DVI as was said above. HDMI has HDCP as part of it`s standard. DVI does not nesserseraly have HDCP.

Davo. You need to check with Fujitsu will do Sky Hi-Def. Hitachi (who use the Fujitsu ALiS 1024x1024 panel) have removed talk of Hi-Def from thier web site as they don`t know if it will do Sky Hi-Def even though it can do Hi-Def. Can thu Fujitsu you do 720p @50Hz?

Emily. Sorry to be a pedantic f***er but there are 2 channels on hotbird Euro 1080 (HD1) and Astra HD (allthough Astra HD is just a demonstration channel)

They both look stunning on the Pioneer PDP435XDE.

All the best,

The 42%er.


It`s not easy being different. It`s not easy being cool....but somehow I manage....

Quote:
Davo. You need to check with Fujitsu will do Sky Hi-Def. Hitachi (who use the Fujitsu ALiS 1024x1024 panel) have removed talk of Hi-Def from thier web site as they don`t know if it will do Sky Hi-Def even though it can do Hi-Def. Can thu Fujitsu you do 720p @50Hz?

We were given a lot of good advice from our dealer (Sevenoaks Sound & Vision) who are much educated on the pro`s & con`s of the forthcoming HDTV. Many thanks for your advice by the way. What the guys at Sevenoaks thought (and this is just their minds doing some thinking) is that Sky will almost be forced to also put component on the back of their HDTV box too. This is to appeal to the majority of plasma & other large screen owners who do not have HDMI/DVI. Of course you could argue that they will make sales of newer plasma`s, etc, but it is also equally true to argue that not putting component outputs on could furiate buyers of many sky plasma`s. (No HDMI`s on those panels)

Another reason behind their thinking is that while they were in the Us recently, all HDTV decoders used Component. Yeah, i guess that HDMI is the way to go, and lucky for us we have it, but there will be a large number of people who do not.

Our Fujitsu model is the P42HHS30ES, not to be confused with the lower spec HHA model. Quoting from the manual : "In addition to the mD-sub terminal, the display also supports input of digital RGB signal input enabling DVI standard (HDCP) high definition picture quality.

Looking through the book that came with it it appears as though it can do either 720/P/50 or 1080/I/25 too. So hopefully we have all bases covered.

The Hitachi, we were told, is as u say the same panel, but, has been `botched` in the electronics department. Hitachi has mated that panel with a media box (or whatever u like to call it) from the warehouse that was found lying around from a much older model. When u consider that the thing that makes one of the biggest differences in the picture of a plasma is the chipset, then Hitachi`s move is a sly one, not too clever for their consumers though eh ?

Please forgive me if i talk rubbish or seem simple. I`m not a `techie` and only pass on what we were told. Our 3 finalists on our shopping list was 1.Hitachi, 2.Pioneer, 3.Fujitsu. The Hitachi was ruled out due to the above comment. (It was the cheapest though) The pioneer was next in line in price terms, but even though you couldn`t fault it, we didn`t like the surround. (fussy i know) For about £300 extra we got the Fujitsu. I think we made the right choice, too late now !

Cheers all for advice.

What Sevenblokes was it? I am The Leicester one. I don`t really do the Fujitsu plasmas thats why I did not have the spec to hand. Sounds like good news though. I had a mail from Sony yesterday.
Quote:
Hi there

Sky have reassured us that their hi-def box will feature component connections. This ensures the hi-def playback through our current screens such as the KDEP37 and 42XS1.

In their words:

"We were naturally aware that some customers had already purchased HD resolution TVs without either HDMI or DVI connections (with HDCP). We can now confirm that the initial Sky HD box will support an analogue HD connection using component connections (Y, Pb, Pr)." More good news by the sound of things.

All the best,

The 42%er.


It`s not easy being different. It`s not easy being cool....but somehow I manage....