Migrating to new tech always tends to bring with it some compatibility issues between devices, but thankfully Sky seem to have ironed out any possible problems with their upcoming Sky 3D service.
The satellite TV giants sent out a message today, reiterating that "Sky 3D, its forthcoming 3D TV service and Europe's first 3D TV channel, will be compatible with all 3D TVs being introduced by Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and LG. Sky 3D will work with both 'active' and 'passive' 3D formats." That means that no matter what new 3D TV set you get, Sky have pretty much got you covered.
Dont fret if you're already a Sky+ HD subscriber but are not planning on upgrading your set just yet. Sky's HD content already available will not be affected by the additional 3D channels.
Look for Sky 3D to roll out sometime over the summer. For more info, click here.
The message boards over here at HDTVUK have been alight with readers venting their spleens over the new-look Sky + HD guide, which completed its nationwide roll-out last week.
Many of you have been complaining that the new Sky Guide isn't up to scratch, either running too slowly, not being particularly intuitive or with text too small to read.
Alex Foligno posted on December 17th:
SERIOUSLY AWFUL the greatest injusticed (sic) is the fact that non-HD (lower paying customers) have the classic menu which we have all loved for the past decade. A CLASSIC option would be much appreciated.
James followed up with a similar sentiment:
I thought I would give it a go for a week before I complained as I thought it would grow on me. I was wrong. I still hate it. I want the old one back. The old one was straight forward and easy to use. This one is just a mess. It really puts me off watching TV.
Some readers have had such difficulty reading the new guide that they have contacted the Royal National Institute of Blind People, believing the new guide to be an affront to accessibility for the visually impaired.
Your complaints have not fallen upon death ears completely however! A Sky customer services representative today confirmed to HDTVUK that visually impaired Sky viewers will be able to revert back to the previous Sky + EPG. However Sky + HD subscribers will have to downgrade to a Sky + box in order to get the old guide back. This may be however just a temporary solution, as all Sky boxes, including earlier models, are expected to take on the new look guide sooner rather than later.
What do you think? Should all Sky +HD subscribers be given the option to revert back to the previous guide? Or are the complaints all smoke and no fire, with the guide being well suited to your needs?
Let us know!
(Thanks to HDTVUK reader Mark for the tip!)
Korea's Communications Commission (KCC) has announced plans to start 3D HD TV trials in the near future.
Pay-TV provider CJ HelloVision will be among the first to run the tests, kicking off in 300 homes, eventually hoping to expand to 1,000 by 2010. Most of the content looks set to initially be cartoons. No pricing details have yet been unveiled, but an extra set-top box is sure to be a requirement.
Korean TV giants LG expect as many as 30 million 3D-ready TVs to be sold by 2012.
UK homes are going to have to wait until an as-yet unspecified 2010 date before we get to try Sky Digital's 3D offerings.
Via: TechRadar
Though Sky News is not set to go high definition until Spring 2010, that doesn't mean it can't do "specials" in HD.
Michael Jackson's memorial service, for example, which takes place tomorrow.
Kay Burley will present "Michael Jackson: The Farewell" from 5.30pm BST, with commentary from US correspondents Robert Nisbet and Greg Milam.
As Sky News HD currently doesn't exist, the HD version will be simulcast on Sky Arts 1 HD, as well as Sky News and Sky Arts 1 in standard definition.
There's a bit more info over at the Sky News Editor's blog.
Update: For those without Sky, you can also catch a special programme on Five. "Michael: The World Says Goodbye" starts at 6.30pm and will be hosted by Matt Barbet with additional reporting by Five's Chief Correspondent Jonathan Samuels.
There will also be coverage on BBC2 and the BBC HD channel from 6pm (thanks Max for the heads up on this late schedule change).
(Via Press Gazette)
To celebrate the first high definition broadcast of The Ashes on Sky HD, and to raise money for some worthy causes, Sky will auction off five unique Sky+HD digiboxes hand-painted by legendary England cricketer Jack Russell MBE.
Jack picked four of his favourite Ashes moments for the first boxes, with the fifth being painted on 8th June as the first-ever Test match ball is bowled at Cardiff's Sofia Gardens.
Sky has decided that the best way to celebrate its high definition coverage of The Ashes is to produce a special remote control unit where all the buttons are rotated through 180 degrees.
This year's Ashes are the first to be shown in HD, with coverage starting on Wednesday 8th July exclusively on Sky Sports HD:
- 1st npower Ashes Test - Wed 8 - Sun 12 July
- 2nd npower Ashes Test - Thurs 16 - Mon 20 July
- 3rd npower Ashes Test - Thurs 30 July - Mon 3 Aug
- 4th npower Ashes Test - Fri 7 - Tues 11 Aug
- 5th npower Ashes Test - Thurs 20 - Mon 24 Aug
Quite apart from the fact that if you followed one of Sky's latest ads to the letter you'd be staring at a blank screen, the fact is that the small print makes no mention of how much "true high definition" content is being aired:
- Turn off your HD ready TV.
- Connect a Sky+HD box to it.
- Say "wow!"
Pedantic, perhaps, as it doesn't take much common sense to realise that you have to switch your TV back on after connecting up the Sky+HD box.
Sky has announced that its award-winning news service, Sky News, will begin broadcasting in high definition early next year.
Sky News HD is scheduled for a Spring 2010 launch, following studio and production facility upgrades in the UK and overseas. It will be the UK's first dedicated news channel to broadcast in HD.
The commitment to launch Sky News HD follows the channel's successful first ever HD broadcast and HD online streaming of Barack Obama's Inauguration in January 2009 - and, from launch, Sky News will bring spectacular HD pictures to viewers from around the globe as experienced HD cameramen work alongside the channels' world class UK and foreign correspondents.
Sky has announced that it will be exclusively showing two of pop's latest tours in high definition.
Madonna's "Sticky and Sweet" and Girls Aloud's "Out of Control" Live from the O2 will be broadcast on Sky1 and Sky1 HD in July and August respectively.
The two-hour "Sticky and Sweet" programme features Madonna's greatest hits plus songs from her latest album "Hard Candy".
The controversial, record-breaking tour, recorded at Buenos Aires' River Plate Stadium in December 2008, features four sections 'Pimp,' 'Old School,' 'Gypsy' and 'Rave'.
The two-hour "Out of Control" Live from the 02 includes greatest hits from the past seven years plus songs from their latest "Out of Control" album.
The high definition coverage includes full Dolby 5.1 surround sound audio.
Sky has announced that it has acquired the rights to show World War II drama serial "The Pacific" from HBO.
Produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who co-produced Band of Brothers, it will premiere on Sky Movies in high definition in Spring 2010.
The 10 episodes track the intertwined odysseys of three US marines -- Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge and John Basilone -- across the vast canvas of the Pacific.
The extraordinary experiences of these men and their fellow Marines take them from the first clash with the Japanese in the haunted jungles of Guadalcanal, up the black sand terraces of Iwo Jima, to the triumphant, yet uneasy, return home after VJ Day.
Sky has announced that it is bringing six new, original plays to high definition TV on the Sky Arts HD channel.
Six best-selling authors have written the plays, with five established directors overseeing proceedings, and twenty actors taking part.
Sky Arts: Theatre Live! will air from July on Sky Arts 1 and Sky Arts 1 HD.
Sky Arts Theatre Live! will see six highly successful authors make their debuts as playwrights collaborating with lauded directors and high-profile actors to create original plays, performed to a live audience in the purpose built Sky Arts Theatre Live! studio. The Sky Arts Theatre Live! company is led by artistic director Sandi Toksvig, and includes author Kate Mosse, actress Pauline Collins and director John Alderton.
Sky has filmed Usain Bolt running on a specially-designed 150 metre track using five 3D camera rigs and a total of ten HD cameras.
For the first time ever, one rig was mounted on a rail cam and tracked Usain's movement, stride by stride, along the whole of the track's length.
Brian Lenz, Sky's Head of Product Design and Innovation, said, "It's great for Sky to be involved in capturing another compelling piece of content in 3D, to add to the catalogue of events we've recorded so far - from Ricky Hatton's Manchester Homecoming fight last May to a live 3D broadcast of Keane last month, and even the UK's first 3D ballet. As part of our on-going research and development work, we're continuing to assess how 3D can work across a range of events and programming genres."
The footage will be shown in Odeon cinemas later this year.
In the last year (31 March 2008 to 31 March 2009) the Sky+ HD service has more than doubled its subscriber count.
Thanks to Sky lowering the cost of the Sky+ HD set top box to £49, the number of subscribers grew by nearly a quarter of a million in the first three months of 2009.
The total number of Sky+ HD subscribers is now 1.022m.
Sky's Director of Product Management, Stephen van Rooyen, commented, "The growth of HD is really starting to take off as more people discover the difference in picture and sound quality. Whether you're a fan of Hollywood movies, Test cricket, dramatic documentaries or operatic arias, you can enjoy more of the things you love in stunning high definition with Sky."
Ahh, a four-day weekend beckons. Here's a look at some of the high definition highlights available across the UK channels this weekend.
Don't forget, you need Freesat in order to watch ITV HD, and either Sky or Freesat to watch BBC HD or Channel 4 HD.
Animation
Good Friday
10 April | Chicken Run
Classic Aardman Animations comedy with the voices of Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha and Imelda Staunton | 4.20pm | BBC HD |
Good Friday
10 April | Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death
Follows the plasticine pair running their own bakery business. | 8.30pm | BBC HD |
Easter Saturday
11 April | Finding Nemo
Animated underwater comedy | 5.10pm | BBC HD |
Easter Saturday
11 April | Persepolis
Animated drama based on graphic novel of Marjane Satrapi. | 11pm | Channel 4 HD |
Sky has been talking about 3D TV as one of the next big things for some time now, but last night it put its money where its mouth is and broadcast a live music event in 3D over its existing high definition infrastructure.
The live streaming took place at London's famous Abbey Road studios, with Sky broadcasting a simulcast of Keane's live gig over a high definition satellite link to a Hyundai "3D Ready" 46-inch high definition 3D TV screen. The VIP audience were able to view the full live Sky transmission in the Abbey Road studio next door to the live gig.
Sky has announced a new service that allows Sky subscribers and non-subscribers alike to gain access to online reminders, in order that they never miss a TV programme or film again.
When registered for Never Miss, viewers can select and track their favourite shows and movies months ahead of standard scheduling, so there's less reliance on EPGs and listings magazines.
Digital Spy reports that Sky HD is to get exclusive UK rights to the Nat Geo Wild HD channel from 1st April.
Details of ongoing content aren't available at present, but the channel title suggests more of National Geographic's stunning wildlife and nature programming. We do know that it will launch with the likes of Blue Whale Odyssey, In the Womb and Strange Days on Planet Earth.
"High-end wildlife programming lends itself brilliantly to HD and now through Nat Geo Wild HD, viewers can fully immerse themselves in a channel truly dedicated to the natural world in stunning HD quality," said president of National Geographic Channels Europe, George Jeffery.
Related posts: Sky begins rolling out new Sky+HD TV guide | Sky Arts to show High Definition Britain: five National Trust views | Audrey Hepburn is most enduring film beauty, says Sky+ HD survey
Here's a selection of the best high definition content available on UK TV today.
Comedy
The usual trio of comedy continues tonight from 10pm on Channel 4 HD, with Shameless, The Big Bang Theory (11.05pm) and My Name is Earl (11.35pm).
Documentaries
Horizon (9pm, BBC HD) follows comedian David Baddiel has he surveys the latest scientific research on how parents can best educate their children. After examining unconventional approaches such as hot-housing maths prodigies and rewarding good grades with cash, Baddiel undergoes a simulation of what it is like to struggle at school and discovers the neurological basis for teenage truculence.
Here's a selection of the best high definition content available on UK TV today.
Comedy
That Mitchell and Webb Glimpse (9.45pm, BBC HD) is a fifteen-minute highlights programme from series two of the sketch show.
Drama
Doctors (6pm, BBC HD) sees Julia helping a distressed gypsy with a skin problem.
Law & Order: UK (9pm, ITV HD) sees a pensioner's grisly discovery forcing the retrial of a man found guilty of murder.
Here's a selection of the best high definition content available on UK TV today.
Documentaries
Darwin's Dangerous Idea (9pm, BBC HD) sees Andrew Marr looking at how the naturalist's theory has been used for more sinister practices such as justifying imperial expansion with the oppression of indigenous peoples, selective breeding in the United States and the Nazis' plans for an Aryan race.
Drama
In today's Doctors (6pm, BBC HD), Archie's adherence to the rule of patient confidentiality is stretched to the limit.
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