Bzzzzzzzzzzz! It's MySky HDi
Office opinion is split on Sky TV's new MySky HDi box, which lets you watch and record high definition (HD) broadcasts. Or at least over its noise pollution. Ted reckons the whir of its hard drive and cooling system is louder than a PC, and major nuisance value. Scott maintains it's only "a bit loud" (though he adds that he lives on a main road and no longer hears the traffic ...).
Olympics go AWOL
There's also a political problem with MySky HDi. Back in May Sky TV CEO John Fellet told me he wanted to have TVNZ and MediaWork's channels TV1, TV2, TV3 and C4 onboard for Sky HDi, the better to mute Freeview HD's appeal (and the freebie platform continues to charge ahead; as of July 11, 123,903 Freeview decoders had been sold, for an estimated reach of 300,000 people. The pace will pick up with the Olympics - especially with Sony and others now selling widescreens with Freeview decoders built-in).
But as of MySky HDi's July 11 launch, Fellet had only secured MediaWorks' free-to-air HD free-to-air channels. TVNZ refused to sign on. So any one who wants to receive the HD versions of TV1, TV2 or the Freeview-only TVNZ Sports Extra - due to launch with the Olympics - will have to subscribe to Freeview HD (it is possible to run both services through the same TV).
Tour de HD
Our reviews editor is totally sold on MySky HDi overall, incidentally. He's Sky Sport 1 and Sky Sport 2 now look so good, he's watching the Tour de Drugs France ("Even though I hate cycling"), plus NASCAR, golf, and of course the All Blacks (Sky TV has spent tens of millions on new Sony gear to create an HD-capable outside broadcast unit).
We've panned Sky TV's digital broadcast a number of times. It often looks rubbish, with motion-blur whenever an All Black starts running with the ball (OK, that hasn't happened much lately) due to Sky's stingy compression, which allows it to stuff more channels into the same bandwidth. And Scott says the standard definition digital Sky Sport 3 now looks awful by comparison. But in their new high definition digital glory, Sky Sport 1 & 2 (and Sky Movies and Sky Movie Greats) have our reviews ed glued to his set. Scott says even sports events shot in standard definition but upscaled to 1080i HD for Sky Sport 1 & 2 are a great leap forward.
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Comments
1) Can I use one of the the output signals as input to a PC (and thus record it on the PC hard drive?
2) Does the MySky box have an HDMI input so it can take a feed from a PC which can then be relayed to a TV screen?
Posted by: Robert Murray Gough | September 1, 2008 10:08 PM
1) Can I use one of the the output signals as input to a PC (and thus record it on the PC hard drive?
2) Does the MySky box have an HDMI input so it can take a feed from a PC which can then be relayed to a TV screen?
Posted by: Robert Murray Gough | August 28, 2008 12:16 PM
I got Hi Def My Sky in August.
It is a BIG step back in convenience from My Sky. Yes, the picture is sharper. But it freezes every day, and the freeze, rewind, slow mo don't work nearly as well. I'm very close to returning it just from having to reset the box every day. A pain.
Posted by: Saint Mark | August 27, 2008 9:12 PM
I have had My Sky HDi for 10 days now and it has crashed and frozen 7 times, requiring the power lead to be removed to reset it - with the result that programs being recorded at that time were lost - most unsatisfactory and buggy software.
Posted by: Chris | August 27, 2008 10:38 AM
There are three separate video/audio out interfaces.
So you can pipe the signal out to two other sets or rooms with only composite/left right audio extensions. And then you can daisy chain that signal if needed. The SD signal is delivered even if the HD signal is output for the main TV. Unlike say a PS3 which will only deliver either SD or HD at one time.
Posted by: Ripping Silk | August 23, 2008 8:23 AM
I get that you need a second MySky HDi decoder if you want to be able to watch different channels in different rooms but if you are just want to be able to watch the same channel, can you use the second room connection if you have one with your old Sky Digital decoder (i.e. not My Sky).
Posted by: Brett | August 18, 2008 8:41 PM
I got the HDi box installed yesterday, and sure enough the HD channels are a great step up in quality. But it seems the SD channels that this box delivers are well below par, in fact worse than the original mysky box.
I spend most of my time watching CNBC, and that now looks truly awful through the HD unit. The ticker coughs up every few seconds and is near unreadable, with stuttering movement, and the interlacing 'splitting' up. This is in addition to the picture looking horribly compressed and slow. You can just about count the frames per second its that bad. I'll reserve my overall decision, but it ain't all its cracked up to be !
Posted by: Ripping Silk | August 14, 2008 6:07 AM
There are a few ways around this:
1. if you want HD in all rooms you can take the HDMI out of the MySky HDi and feed it into a HDMI splitter with multiple outputs and run HDMI (or Cat5e with suitable baluns) to all other tvs.
2. If you want just sd picture you can use a RF Modulator which takes a composite signal and sends it down rg6 cable. (alternatively use an old vcr and feed a composite cable from sky to vcr then the rf out from the vcr will contain sky channel.
Posted by: Harry Barnes | July 31, 2008 1:43 PM
I got my new Sky hd yesterday and the picture is unreal, however they dont have RF outs because I had sky running in all the bedrooms from there and now is unable to. Wonder if this was on purpose to make people the multiroom
[Yes, it's true, if you want a MySky HDi box in more than one room, you've got to buy two or more MySky HDi boxes - CK]
Posted by: Scott Reid | July 30, 2008 4:26 PM