Sky's HDTV

BSkyB advances HDTV launch plans

British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) announced today that it had appointed Thomson
as the initial manufacturer of the set-top box for its forthcoming
High-Definition Television (HDTV) service. Speaking at the DVB World
conference in Dublin, BSkyB's Chief Operating Officer, Richard Freudenstein,
revealed for the first time that Sky's HDTV box would feature a similar
Personal Video Recorder capability to the existing Sky+ box*.

Mr Freudenstein said: "More than 600,000 customers already enjoy the control
and flexibility of our Sky+ product. Offering PVR capability as a standard in
the HDTV arena will ensure that they can continue to enjoy these benefits in
association with our highest-quality programming."

Confirming that BSkyB was on track to launch HDTV in 2006, Mr Freudenstein
added that the step change in picture quality would help BSkyB to achieve its
target of 10 million customers in 2010. "Innovation and technology leadership
are at the core of the Sky brand," he said. "By introducing HDTV, our ambition
is to raise the bar again. We want to re-affirm that the digital satellite
platform is the home of the highest-quality viewing experience available."

Current strong growth in sales of flat-screen television sets indicates rising
consumer demand for a high-quality viewing experience in the home. BSkyB
expects that sales of "HD Ready" TV sets will accelerate as equipment prices
continue to fall and the availability of HDTV programming grows.

Although BSkyB's HDTV box can be connected to any kind of TV set, customers
will require an "HD Ready" TV set with a flat-screen display of 26" or more to
enjoy the full benefits of HDTV picture quality. BSkyB estimates that almost
two million "HD Ready" sets will have been sold in the UK by the end of 2006.

*PVR capability requires a Sky+ subscription.


About BSkyB's HDTV plans

· Sky's HDTV channel line-up will include a combination of sports, movies,
entertainment and documentary programming. Full details of content and pricing
will be announced in due course.

· Sky's HDTV system will support both 720p and 1080i picture formats.
Broadcasters will be able to choose the format which is most appropriate to
their individual requirements.

· Sky will use the advanced compression coding system MPEG-4 for its HDTV
broadcasts.

· BSkyB's HDTV box will be equipped with an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia
Interface) as its primary means of connecting to an HD display. HDCP
(High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) will also be required to view
BSkyB's HD content using an HDMI connection. HDMI can also be connected to DVI
equipped displays that support HDCP using a suitable adapter cable.

· "HD Ready" is a labelling scheme that is being introduced by the TV
manufacturer's organisation EICTA. The "HD Ready" logo will appear on an
increasing number of TV displays in shops over the coming months. Any TV set
that carries the "HD Ready" label will work with Sky's HDTV service.

http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir... em_id=680733


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Thomson? oh dear.

{{{{{Welcome}}}}} wrote:
BSkyB advances HDTV launch plans


A bit more technical information he

http://www.eetimes.com/story/showArt...cleID=60404901

H.264 with DVB-S2.

Say they use a bit rate of 8-10 Mbps then the 1/3rd improvement in
spectral efficiency provided by DVB-S2 would mean that an HD channel
would fit into the same bandwidth as a 6-7.5 Mbps MPEG-2/DVB-S channel.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview, DAB & MP3 Player Prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/da...tal_radios.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/mp...rs_1GB-5GB.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/mp...e_capacity.htm

Thus spaketh :
Thomson? oh dear.

Thomson aren't bad when they get it right, anything is better than Amstrad!

I have a Ferguson (Thomson) Freeview box, and it is very reliable.

I know people with Thomson Sky Digiboxes and they are fast and never had a
problem with them.

I stand corrected, just a knee jerk reaction.
Purchased a Thomson TV a few years ago for my bedroom and had nothing
but trouble with it.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I stand corrected, just a knee jerk reaction.
Purchased a Thomson TV a few years ago for my bedroom and had nothing
but trouble with it.


You hve to find out if anything electrcial is made by any company, or
rebadged!

Can't wait to find out how much all this is going to cost.

"Bart Simpson" wrote in message
oups.com

Can't wait to find out how much all this is going to cost.


It will be expensive... and very rewarding for the News Corp group in
the medium term.

Expect the usual pleading poverty and whining about the investment risk
during the first 6 years even though in the long term, it is a
dead-certain winner and will be a generation ahead of FREEVIEW / DTT for
a decade or more.

Of course the cost of hardware, software, and spectrum is cheap and
constantly depreciating (look at Pace's withdrawal from non Sky STBs).
The technology - like the first generation analogue Sky service, like
the second generation Sky Digital service - are all off the shelf
industry standard components.

Sky's genius, if you can call it that, is the excellence of their
marketing, "customer-ownership" (yes they think they own customers),
their call-centre and accounts regime, and of course their software
security, which no-one beats (except the BBC regime of farting old men
spying on people through gaps in their curtains under duress of criminal
prosecution).


Investment view: HOLD BSKYB. It is a commodity and aside from the 1999
dotcom bubble, it will make utility type profits, not 20x multiples, and
eventually competitors will break into the market.

This time, Murdoch does not need to shaft his shareholders by freezing
dividends, but the move to HDTV is not a market innovation, rather a
defensive play to maintain BSKYB's lead, and retain existing customers,
not extract new ones.



http://logofreetv.org/




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Heracles Pollux wrote:

Sky's genius, if you can call it that, is the excellence of their
marketing, "customer-ownership" (yes they think they own customers),
their call-centre and accounts regime, and of course their software
security, which no-one beats (except the BBC regime of farting old men
spying on people through gaps in their curtains under duress of
criminal prosecution).


It's a great image, but could you tell me what the following means: "BBC
regime of farting old men spying on people through gaps in their
curtains under duress of criminal prosecution"?


Investment view: HOLD BSKYB. It is a commodity and aside from the 1999
dotcom bubble, it will make utility type profits, not 20x multiples,
and eventually competitors will break into the market.

This time, Murdoch does not need to shaft his shareholders by freezing
dividends, but the move to HDTV is not a market innovation, rather a
defensive play to maintain BSKYB's lead, and retain existing
customers, not extract new ones.


What about if the BBC, ITV and C4 (and maybe five) cooperate to launch a
Freesat platform, with one of the features being that they'll have
free-to-air HDTV?


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview, DAB & MP3 Player Prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/da...tal_radios.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/mp...rs_1GB-5GB.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/mp...e_capacity.htm

On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 13:51:41 GMT, "DAB sounds worse than FM"
wrote:

Heracles Pollux wrote:

Sky's genius, if you can call it that, is the excellence of their
marketing, "customer-ownership" (yes they think they own customers),
their call-centre and accounts regime, and of course their software
security, which no-one beats (except the BBC regime of farting old men
spying on people through gaps in their curtains under duress of
criminal prosecution).

It's a great image, but could you tell me what the following means: "BBC
regime of farting old men spying on people through gaps in their
curtains under duress of criminal prosecution"?

He is referring to the TV Licencing Agency I believe.
--
Andy Norman
http://www.norman.cx/
Replace the fish with my first name to reply