August 20, 2013
Film4 HD is still a Virgin Media exclusive
If you ever thought VM took an age to launch an HD channel whilst Sky seems to fire them up at a stunning pace, spare a thought for the poor Sky customer hankering for Film4 in high def. Sky announced the channel as coming soon last year but it's still not there and is still vaguely touted as "coming soon later this year". Virgin customers have enjoyed this superior movie channel in HD as part of its XL package since July 2010. And the picture quality on Film4 HD knocks those premium-priced Sky movie channels out of the park.
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9 comments:
Sorry, but Film 4HD was announced as launching on Sky this September. It's still only August and the channel is already testing and will definitely launch exactly on schedule.
I see no difference in the picture quality and, of course, viewers have to put up with regular interruptions of the films for adverts.
Not every film is in HD either, some are upscaled.
True, but it was announced in September 2012 and I think a lot of folk thought it had appeared some time back, hence me posting. http://www.techradar.com/news/television/tv/film4-hd-reaches-for-the-sky-and-sky-go-gets-4od-boost-1097346.
This is in sharp contrast to VM's non-communication on upcoming HD channels, but I don't know which I'd rather have: a twelve month wait or the "coming soon to Virgin Media" speculation
The announcement about Film4HD on Sky was part of a much wider deal struck between the two operators to include 4OD and More4HD, both of which have been available on Sky for months.
Film4HD has indeed been a long time in coming, but it's the exception rather than the norm for channels to launch on Sky so long after first being mooted.
Virgin don't like to make such early announcements, probably because they fear a weakening of their bargaining position, particularly because they are only a carrier these days.
http://www.film4.com/film4-hd
Launched today on Sky.:)
Like this channel a lot in HD on Sky, on Sky, I can see a difference in HD, the HD is good quality throughout all their HD channels, so it's a welcome to see this one.
A month after launch, I've been surprised by the fact that at least a third of the films shown are upscaled rather than in HD.
I don't know why the writer of the blog was waxing so lyrically back in August about the supposed picture quality being better than Sky Movies, the HD picture is no better (or worse) than that on other channels.
Very disappointing..
Maybe Sky customers get an inferior Film4 HD picture? Let's just think this through - surely Sky wouldn't deliberately weaken the PQ of a rival to their pay channel?
I know Film4 upscales older movies, but the PQ of the evening movies is, to my eyes, second to none.
Looks exactly the same to me on both platforms. It's not just the films shown earlier in the day which are upscaled either. As I said fully a third of total ouput is not HD.
I suppose it's okay for a "free" channel..
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