Go Back  DVD Talk Forum > DVD Discussions > HD Talk
Reload this Page >

HD-TV in Europe

HD Talk The place to discuss Blu-ray, 4K and all other forms and formats of HD and HDTV.

HD-TV in Europe

Old 04-19-06, 10:45 AM
  #1  
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 312
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
HD-TV in Europe

I plan on getting Sky-HD soon. (it's a package with HD channels, mixed with SD) Mainly for my tv I recently brought.

Anyway, Sky has 10 Movie Channels (1-10) with two HD Movie Channels. It's 12 really, but the HD are duplicates of 9 & 10.

None of the films they show are in widescreen, so does anyone know whether they'd show the films in widescreen on the HD channels?

Mainly a european question, but their site has nothing.

Danke.
Old 04-19-06, 11:12 AM
  #2  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 464
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Eh? Sky's movie channels have shown everything in widescreen (where appropriate of course) for several years now. It might be that your digibox is set up wrongly, since IIRC the default setting is to crop all 16:9 material to 4:3.

Since an HD broadcast is always widescreen, and all HDTVs in the UK are widescreen, I'd say it's a certainty that Sky's HD movie channels will show movies in widescreen just as their regular movie channels do.
Old 04-19-06, 12:37 PM
  #3  
Moderator
 
Giles's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Washington DC
Posts: 33,630
Received 16 Likes on 12 Posts
under theory, wouldn't PAL HiDef have greater clarity than NTSC HiDef?
Old 04-19-06, 12:43 PM
  #4  
DVD Talk Reviewer/ Admin
 
Adam Tyner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Greenville, South Cackalack
Posts: 28,737
Received 1,852 Likes on 1,226 Posts
Originally Posted by Giles
under theory, wouldn't PAL HiDef have greater clarity than NTSC HiDef?
NTSC and PAL don't factor in when discussion high-definition resolutions. I'll leave a more definitive response to someone like Josh Z, who's much savvier about what different countries are doing than I am, but I believe both Europe and the U.S. are using the same resolutions for their HD material...it's the frame rate that could potentially differ (24fps for filmed content vs. 25fps). There's a thread about this on AVS.
Old 04-19-06, 12:53 PM
  #5  
Banned
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 15,957
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
My big question is: wouldn't that mean a disc that's R0 would play on either machine regardless of PAL or NTSC?
Old 04-19-06, 01:03 PM
  #6  
DVD Talk Reviewer/ Admin
 
Adam Tyner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Greenville, South Cackalack
Posts: 28,737
Received 1,852 Likes on 1,226 Posts
Dunno about R0, but as far as other regions go, here's what Synapse Films' Don May, Jr. had to say:

On that note, I'm very sad to report that the Toshiba player is not happy with PAL discs or NTSC releases from other regions. I put in my PAL UK DVD of WOLF CREEK and was met with a whirring, sad sound coming from the player with the unfortunate words "ERROR" appearing on my display. The same held true for my Region 2 NTSC Japanese disc of DEATH SHIP.
I have a number of R0 NTSC DVDs I could use to test and at least one R2 PAL disc, but I don't have any region-free PAL discs.
Old 04-19-06, 01:15 PM
  #7  
Moderator
 
Giles's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Washington DC
Posts: 33,630
Received 16 Likes on 12 Posts
Originally Posted by Adam Tyner
but I believe both Europe and the U.S. are using the same resolutions for their HD material...
I thought Europe was SECAM, when you state Europe you're including the UK -right?


Originally Posted by Adam Tyner
but I don't have any region-free PAL discs.
nearly all the DVD-Singles I get from the UK are region free PAL, which incidently play on my non-modified Phillips player (who knew?).
Old 04-19-06, 01:24 PM
  #8  
DVD Talk Reviewer/ Admin
 
Adam Tyner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Greenville, South Cackalack
Posts: 28,737
Received 1,852 Likes on 1,226 Posts
Originally Posted by Giles
I thought Europe was SECAM, when you state Europe you're including the UK -right?
SECAM is almost exclusively used in/around France, but this has nothing to do with HDTV either. SECAM is a standard definition video standard.
Old 04-19-06, 01:26 PM
  #9  
Moderator
 
Giles's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Washington DC
Posts: 33,630
Received 16 Likes on 12 Posts
Originally Posted by Adam Tyner
SECAM is almost exclusively used in/around France.
thanks for the explanation there, I never understood where or what SECAM was implemented.
Old 04-19-06, 01:27 PM
  #10  
Banned
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 15,957
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Adam Tyner
Dunno about R0, but as far as other regions go, here's what Synapse Films' Don May, Jr. had to say:



I have a number of R0 NTSC DVDs I could use to test and at least one R2 PAL disc, but I don't have any region-free PAL discs.
Well, they're not supposed to be region free for SD-DVD's. I didn't expect that they would be. BUT...I'm curious to know if they would handle PAL since, with HD, there really is no NTSC/PAL any more.
Old 04-19-06, 01:37 PM
  #11  
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: England
Posts: 129
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by T1000
I plan on getting Sky-HD soon. (it's a package with HD channels, mixed with SD) Mainly for my tv I recently brought.

Anyway, Sky has 10 Movie Channels (1-10) with two HD Movie Channels. It's 12 really, but the HD are duplicates of 9 & 10.

None of the films they show are in widescreen, so does anyone know whether they'd show the films in widescreen on the HD channels?

Mainly a european question, but their site has nothing.

Danke.
Telewest Cable is the same. There isn't a setting on the box (and a friend received a newer box that didn't have one either) that will allow the change from 4:3 to 16:9 so all of the films are in 4:3 even if you have a 16:9 TV. I can't say whether or not the HD channels will be the same since I don't know if they'll supply a different box for it.

I was in Dixons today and some other shops and they had Telewest Cable HD and also SkyHD and compared to some of the HD demos that were being displayed, the channels looks terrible. It was the first time I'd seen them though so there's the possibility that it wasn't setup properly (in two different shops...).
Old 04-19-06, 04:04 PM
  #12  
DVD Talk Legend
 
Josh Z's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Boston
Posts: 11,756
Received 253 Likes on 179 Posts
Originally Posted by Adam Tyner
SECAM is almost exclusively used in/around France, but this has nothing to do with HDTV either. SECAM is a standard definition video standard.
SECAM is also just a broadcast standard. DVDs in SECAM countries are released in PAL format. (There were SECAM VHS tapes in some countries, but it wasn't widely used.)
Old 04-19-06, 04:06 PM
  #13  
DVD Talk Legend
 
Josh Z's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Boston
Posts: 11,756
Received 253 Likes on 179 Posts
Originally Posted by digitalfreaknyc
Well, they're not supposed to be region free for SD-DVD's. I didn't expect that they would be. BUT...I'm curious to know if they would handle PAL since, with HD, there really is no NTSC/PAL any more.
The Toshiba HD-A1 will not play PAL DVDs regardless of region coding. As you say, there really is no NTSC/PAL when it comes to high-def, so that shouldn't even be a factor to worry about.
Old 04-19-06, 04:29 PM
  #14  
Banned
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 15,957
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Josh Z
The Toshiba HD-A1 will not play PAL DVDs regardless of region coding. As you say, there really is no NTSC/PAL when it comes to high-def, so that shouldn't even be a factor to worry about.
But it will be for people in other PAL countries. That's what I'm talking about.
Old 04-19-06, 11:04 PM
  #15  
DVD Talk Legend
 
Josh Z's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Boston
Posts: 11,756
Received 253 Likes on 179 Posts
Originally Posted by digitalfreaknyc
But it will be for people in other PAL countries. That's what I'm talking about.
I'm sure they'll release a PAL version of the player for those countries, just as most manufacturers do for regular DVD players now.
Old 04-30-06, 09:40 AM
  #16  
New Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Any idea when it will be available in Israel?

How much it will cost?
Thanks

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.