HD streams please ....

[Anonymous User]

Any news on when / if NOW TV will stream HD content for Sky Movies, Sports etc ... I love the service but struggle with SD movies all the time! 😫😫😫😫

[Anonymous User]

@Anonymous User Sport is 720p, and most of the movies are available to watch on demand in 720p instead of live. I'm also pretty sure that most of the entertainment channels are actually 720p (although Comedy Central and GOLD still look SD).

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for your reply. It maybe 720p but it's not advertised as a HD broadcast and no DD audio either? So many streaming services offer full HD with DD surround. It would improve the service a lot in my opinion. 

[herojan]

With Sky investing in its premium service of Sky Q (with 4k!) who know what the plans are for Now TV.

[Anonymous User]

Sky UK Do not have 1080p mastered broadcast content because the dish only has 1080i services...

The 4K dish service will only provide specific content in 4k, At release of the Q service the box its is going to be 4K disabled and content is still going to be 1080i with an upgrade later to enable 4k pictures... 

SkyUK own Spec sheet states 4k to be enabled at a later date...

Even then Most Zero day TV content is only a 720p master only allready...

Yes the old out of date content for films and DVDs could have a BD master but live will still be upscaled to 4k by the box...

but the Q box is only upscaling and the consoles can do that allready and have done for a long time from 720p to 1080p ...

1080p upscaled by console... 

[SeeMoreDigital]

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PureChimpie wrote:

Any news on when / if NOW TV will stream HD content for Sky Movies, Sports etc ... I love the service but struggle with SD movies all the time! 😫😫😫😫

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As others have pointed out... Given that 1080p is not distributed by Sky via their 'live' satellite service, it's not possible for it to be distributed via their (Now TV) 'live' streaming service.

Indeed, it's more likely for their 'non live' movie service to be streamed in 1080p... but who knows 

[Anonymous User]

Hi All

Firstly, I have to say that I think I was misinformed when I recently purchased the new NOWtv box; I have been told that even though Sky on demand/catchup content would be at 720p, the BBC iPlayer could be at 1080p when available. I predominanly want the box for BBC and All4; not really interested in the Sky content, although it does appear to be decent value and I do have a 3-month entertainment voucher.

However, since receiving the box, which I think is great by the way, I have found that:

1. It outputs at 60hz resulting in lots of motion judder on the iPlayer. My Panasonic 50" plasma does identify 60hz but the resulting judder is pretty bad ( I have read this to be a common problem especially on the iPlayer).

2. I also have a TalkTalk Youview box also running catchup services through 20Mb broadband only. Yesterday, I tested two different BBC IP programs at the same time using the NOWtv box and the TT Youview box both on different HDMI inputs (and swapped over for parity). On both programmes (BBC1: Antiques Roadshow, BBC2: The Hunt) it was vey clear that the TT Youview box had far more detail and clarity and I assume was being streamed at a higher definition. I sit close to the screen and could easily see more definition with the TT box. Both devices are identified as 1080p (50hz for TT box and 60hz for NOWtv box) but the output on exactly the same BBC IP programmes is visibly different. I even tried the NOWtv box with an ethernet connection but it made no difference to the quality. Motion judder aside, it does not do justice to hd streams. Both devises have the 'Best Quality' setting enabled in IP.

Having read the forum, it appears that BBC IP does not broadcast above 720p; I had thought it was 1080i

Question: Why would there be adiffernce between the 2-boxes? I am not sure whether I was seeing 720p from the TT and SD from the NOWtv or 720p from the Now and higher from the TT, but there was a definite difference in quality.

BTW, the NOWtv box is much quicker in every way, but for me Image quality is important.

Thanks in advance.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hi and welcome to the forum celticprince,

Youview boxes are specifically designed for the UK market to output 50Hz video, which is the correct frequency for UK (and EU) 25fps content.

Sadly all of Roku's devices only output 60Hz video (most probably because they were designed for the US market), so if you require a dedicated device for watching UK TV catch-up services, a Roku device is not the product for you!

[Anonymous User]

Thanks very much for your reply.

Yes, it does seem that I did not purchase the best box for my requirements; the only reason I bought is because the TT Youview box is very slow and does have 'buffering' issues. However, the picture is superior to my eyes.

I understand the 60hz issues you mention, but would you expect this to affect the definiton of the picture? I cannot understand why the picture is so different with the same BBC IP broadcast? From my reading, 60hz would only add 'motion judder' and some artifacts but no real definition issues.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

Thanks

[SeeMoreDigital]

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celticprince wrote:

I understand the 60hz issues you mention, but would you expect this to affect the definiton of the picture? I cannot understand why the picture is so different with the same BBC IP broadcast? 

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It would appear that different streaming service providers are given access to different stream qualities.

For example, my LG television often lets me view content from Demand 5 in high-definition. But I can't obtain anything like the same picture quality on my Panasonic or Samsung televisions!