NEWS: Sky HDR launch rumoured for 27th of May

There is going to be a lot of people that have the generation 1 UHD box with the internal power supply really pissed off as their box will not be HDR compatible. Let's see what the upgrade path looks like.

With the fact we only rent the boxes and don't own Sky Q boxes Sky should just replace the boxes so we can have HDR content. I feel this is going to be an absolute mess of a rollout from Sky.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if they charge for this in the end. It is Sky after all.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if they charge for this in the end. It is Sky after all.
Well, I tell you when it goes live and my box which is a version 1 2tb box won't support it I will not be paying anything for a box that actually works the way their service is intended.
 
My Sky Q was originally being installed back in March but due to lockdown got cancelled, new installation date is 3rd June.
Coming from a HD sky box I am very keen to see the difference in picture quality.
 
It’s a complete mystery why Sky (UK) have been so far behind the curve when it comes to HDR. One of the primary reasons why I abandoned Sky was because I never felt comfortable paying for Sky Q, while HDR was just a ‘promise’...

Their HDR delays without any reasonable explanation have not helped Sky convince their viewers that they are serious about HDR broadcasting. It’s very telling this is going to be a video on demand service - it means they deliver it via streaming, rather than via satellite.

When digital TV was first introduced Sky were at the forefront of the technology and customer deployment, same with HD in 2006, but they are so far behind with HDR. Also, their continued push to squeeze more and more channels into the available satellite spectrum means that channel bandwidth is very limited and video is overly compressed.

I’m surprised they don’t retire their MPEG2 (SD) services. There can’t be that many customers with very old receivers that don’t support MPEG4 and the MPEG4 receivers can still output SD video via SCART for compatibility with very old TVs. This would free up lots of bandwidth.

Ultimately, Sky will move to internet only delivery.

Regards,
James.
 
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I dont have Sky anymore but am looking for deals as Virgin boxes are pretty awful imo.

But yeah since Sky Q has rental boxes there should, in no single way, be a cost for upgrading old boxes for those paying for UHD tiers.

Also, about time Sky!
 
Fuming that loyal Sky subscribers lose out again. It’s us loyal customers that give a **** about AV quality! Sort it out Sky...
Maybe you should wait until Wednesday before getting all upset, a post on sky community is saying all 2 tb boxes will work with hdr so maybe only the original 1 tb box won’t be compatible.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if they charge for this in the end. It is Sky after all.
They are not charging extra, unless of course you need to upgrade your box.
Maybe you should wait until Wednesday before getting all upset, a post on sky community is saying all 2 tb boxes will work with hdr so maybe only the original 1 tb box won’t be compatible.
Not all 2tb boxes will work, these are the compatible ones
20200524_231139.jpg
 
Maybe you should wait until Wednesday before getting all upset, a post on sky community is saying all 2 tb boxes will work with hdr so maybe only the original 1 tb box won’t be compatible.
I’ve been with Sky long enough to know of the incompetence and lack of support for long standing customers thanks 👍🏻
 
My current Sky contract runs out in September. I have the 2TB SkyQ and my subscription is likely to rise by 50%. HDR and no Atmos on Netflix on their platform is a poor showing and if they implement it it still may not be enough for me to stay with them. I've been a loyal customer for almost 20 years and unless I get what a new customer gets, I'm off.
 
I had Q when it first rolled out, 5 years ago if my memory serves me correctly. It's laughable that they are only now getting ready to broadcast HDR!

Half a decade :rotfl:
 
I’m surprised they don’t retire their MPEG2 (SD) services. There can’t be that many customers with very old receivers that don’t support MPEG4 and the MPEG4 receivers can still output an SD video via SCART for compatibility with very old TVs. This would free up lots of bandwidth.

Ultimately Sky will move to internet only deliver.

Regards,
James.

MPEG 4 is nothing to do with HD.
 
I had Q when it first rolled out, 5 years ago if my memory serves me correctly. It's laughable that they are only now getting ready to broadcast HDR!

Half a decade :rotfl:
Q was launched early 2016. The broadcast standard for HDR (HLG) wasn't ratified until late 2016..

Sky Italia have been using HDR for about 18 months, which has provided a lot of useful data about it. From technical issues to viewer perception (especially the strange coloured Ferraris in the early F1 coverage...).
 
MPEG 4 is nothing to do with HD.

Indeed. Virgin finally switched all their channels (including SD) over to mpeg4, which freed up quite a bit of bandwidth on their network.

Sky's problem is there's still a surprisingly large number of non HD boxes in use, some in homes, some in hotel systems. They offered free Sky+HD boxes to residential customers a year or two ago and still didn't persuade them all to switch.
 
They are not charging extra, unless of course you need to upgrade your box.

Not all 2tb boxes will work, these are the compatible ones
View attachment 1305689
Just checked my box 32B061 I got skyq within a couple of months of it coming out so no hdr
hopefully get it swapped out before the sports return if they’re going to be in hdr
 
Just checked my box 32B061 I got skyq within a couple of months of it coming out so no hdr
hopefully get it swapped out before the sports return if they’re going to be in hdr
Don't hold your breath. New installations ( i.e. new customers) will be their priority. Sky have yet to announce how much revenue they have lost with subscribers suspending/cancelling their sports channels. HDR has not been a priority up to now so they will hardly drop everything to swap boxes unless they charge.
 
New installations are not their priority, they have only just started to open their new customer attractions, vulnerable/key worker/service still get priority.
 
They are not charging extra, unless of course you need to upgrade your box.

Not all 2tb boxes will work, these are the compatible ones
View attachment 1305689
Ohhh *** my box isn't compatible then, great so much for being a loyal customer. What a cluster Fu** of a roll out.
 
MPEG 4 is nothing to do with HD.

The older Sky Digital receivers only supported MPEG2 video compression.

When Sky introduced their HD service the new HD (Thompson) receivers supported MPEG4 (H264/AVC). This is far more efficient and is used for encoding the HD channels.

Sky could have also used the newer codec for SD channels, but they couldn’t do this unless they replaced all the older MPEG2 only receivers. Thus the split between SD and HD encoding.

Regards,
James.
 
Ohhh *** my box isn't compatible then, great so much for being a loyal customer. What a cluster Fu** of a roll out.

If they'd gone for a full HDR launch with box sets, movies and sports in HDR, then it would have been a cluster Fu**. But they've not - they've gone for a low key launch with a small amount of content instead.
There was supposed to be a box swap programme in place, but that's been delayed by Covid19 - they're still working on getting their support staff working remotely (sourcing 10,000 laptops at the moment is a challenge, let alone the rest of the setup needed..) so can't handle the number of calls a big launch would generate.
 
I'll bite when they give us sport coverage in 60fps. Blows my mind that the USA has better tech than the origin country providing it. Greed comes to mind
 

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