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Sky News Right Now
Ramsay Ladders
Posts: 3,017 Forum Member
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Why do we need to have Obama's press conference obliterated by the "watch in high definition in channel 517" banner at the top of the screen? Might this be a new tactic to force us over to HD?
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Indeed, fat load of good it did for Freeview or VM viewers.
It dissapeared off screen the moment Obama finished btw.
Why do we need the Obama press conference full stop !
Good point! Sky seem to have an unhealthy interest in US affairs.
Guess they are pushing the HD big style.
How long will it be before it all looks like shite.
I don't think HD is really needed for news channels much, I don't know if it makes a lot of difference apart from the picture.
What do they mean is there more banners than the SD one? They really are plugging it in HD right now.
I'm sure that HD viewing for people who are able to watch HD programming is FAR lower than it could be. Whether it's people being thick or just set in their ways, I'd put money on it being the case.
Masterchef is stunning in HD, yet out of three million viewers only 80,000 were watching in HD (according to BARB). And this is on BBC HD, the channel which is available to more people than any other (approx 1 in 5 homes).
Either people are stupid or the ratings are wrong. I think it's the latter. Sky get 900,000 HD viewers for a 3m football match, (using their ratings panel) so they can find the HD version.
Because the average viewer doesn't care about HD.
"The public wants what the public gets(!)" as The Jam sang.
I assume they're the ones who haven't made the decision to upgrade to HD.
And they won't. They're the kind of viewer, like a lot of casual viewers, who'll watch a 4:3 or 14:9 image stretched across a widescreen TV and think that's normal. There's far too many of them.
Could it be that the other viewers have found something more interesting on another channel; they are out; they are on holiday; they are at work; they are ill. There could be many reasons.
My own family back home, with the exception of my brother, will watch the SD version of a channel instead of the HD version.
My own father thought he was watching HD when Sky HD was installed despite the engineer wiring up the box with a SCART cable. I could tell the instant I walked in the room.
I know fellow students, you know, of the generation that should know these things, who play Xbox 360's and PS3's on HD sets, but they are using SCART cables and think it's HD.
For those of us who actually appreciate HD and will seek it out, it's a fantastic viewing experience generally speaking. But I think the truth is, a huge proportion of the general public don't have a clue and possibly don't care enough to make the effort. It's hard to believe how widespread the cluelessness it is until you witness it first hand.
The future of HD actually having a point to it for these people is for the user interfaces/ EPG's of these TV's and boxes to make it clear that people are, or are not watching HD content, and also give them a simple option to quickly switch to the HD version. I myself cannot remember all the HD channel numbers on Sky, especially for BBC, ITV, C4 and C5, because they don't even have a logical order.
That might affect the overall rating, but not the share of HD viewers.
If one in five viewers have BBC HD, then the target HD share should reflect that ratio.
Instead we have roughly 35 out of every 40 viewers who have access to BBCHD are still watching in SD.
Indeed they do, a neighbour bought a new flat panel TV set and told me the programmes looked far better in HD. We have not got cable in the area, she has not got a satellite dish and we have not got DTT HD until late next year. On inquiring what programmes she was watching in HD she said all of them, as her TV was HD Ready, so they were all in HD now. Mmmmm, sums it all up.
A friend who is not very technology aware phoned me last night asking me if I could get BBC1 HD as he trying to get BBC 1 HD yesterday on DTT, I told him he would have to wait until next year.
Many people even watch anamorphic pictures on their TV sets too oblivious that they are set up wrong and perfectly happy watching them like that.
No, Sky News is the big loss leader on Freeview for them to advertise their HD services. Haven't you also noticed the huge number of promos for the HD stations, films etc that are on their pay service. Not to mention the huge "Sky Sports HD" banners and logos everywhere on the set during that segment of their news.
Remember the pre-election debates were billed by them as the "Sky News HD Election Debates" They have been at this game for ages.
The purpose of the side bars is the same as on US news where they only have an SD feed as I believe the White House press conference room (and certainly Congress) still is. Instead of upgrading, the news organizations use side bars or shove a couple of boxes up so you can see both sides of the interview from different viewpoints.
Does she just have normal DTT?
Well certainly not me anyway. I think I'd be scarred for life