Setting up with HDTV in Germany

I have an HDTV ready TV and would like to see some shows in HDTV. What is the best way to go on this? I would prefer to see HDTV in English shows of course. Has someone gone to the local electronic stores like Saturn and asked about HDTV options or has anyone done this yet?

I saw a topic for this on Toytown but it was back in 2006, so I am seeing if things have improved or changed or what the latest options are.

Thanks!

I'll tell you all about it once my useless technician finally shows up to hook up my dish and HD sat receiver and gets me BBC anf ITV with HD.

All HD Channels in Germany (If there are any) are in... GERMAN

If you want English HDTV then your going to need a SkyHD Setup, so contact Bavaria Satellite.

You don't need SkyHD for English HD, but it will give you the biggest choice. You can get BBC-HD with almost any HD capable digital satellite receiver and correctly sized and aligne dish. If you buy a "Freesat" (unique to the UK) receiver you can also get ITV-HD on the same dish setup. Everything else needs SkyHD and a Sky subscription, which is very good for Sports and Movies content in HD. On the German front Pro7 and Sat-1 actually stopped their HD transmissions recently although the subscriber service Premiere has (like Sky) quite a number of sports and movies transmitted in HD

Quick question, how old is your HD ready TV, I had this the other day a friend also wanted to use his HDTV to watch HD unfortunatly it is an old set without HDMI (only composite). It's worth noting as Sky will be stopping produciton of HD boxes with composite due to the lack of HDCP content protection.

For the freetards:
Humax are releasing a Freesat HD box with PVR in November, so if you are not wanting to pay for Sky services this should be a good option.
Else you can get a Freesat box without PVR for under 150GBP from the UK.

Incorrect...Premiere HD show movies in 'ZweiKanalton' which in the majority of cases means the original version will be in English.
Not sure if the 'ZweiKanalton' on HD means Dolby Digital would also be available in English though.

Whether its worth buying/renting a Premiere HD set-top box and paying subscription for 2 or 3 year old movies is another issue entirely.
Earlier this year they were showing series like Battlestar Galactica on Premiere HD but now it just seems movies, which is why I would not subscribe at the moment.

I'm assuming you mean component here, as composite will not carry an HD signal. I believe Premiere also uses HDCP.

Only HD Free-to-air German channel on 19,2°E is Anixe, which is not so great in terms of what programms are shown. As has already been said, both pro7 and sat1 stopped transmitting HD in February, although ARD and another channel(I forget which) is due to start transmitting HD sometime in 2010.

BBC-HD is the current Free-To-Air offering on the 28,2°E although you can also get ITV-HD on some HD Receiver with some fidling (so far not managed it on my skyplus 2000HD though, but is possible through manually setting the transponder and PIDs apparently). On the freesat boxes, it is accessed via a red button service whilst on normal ITV...

HD programms are gorgeous though. Can't wait for more channels

I was talking about actual TV channels with US shows, news, home improvement, movies, sports, etc. etc. not just 1-2 dedicated movie channels
that happen to have English as a 2nd audio channel. The only way to get a good HD line-up in FULL (Not as a 2nd thought) English setup is with a
sky box/subscription. The FTA channels that are avail in HD suck ass. And correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Premiere a Cable TV only service?
Do they even offer their entire line-up via Satt.?

Update: Ok, it looks like they do. But according to this Web Site the Satt. Decoder box costs 1100 GBP.. F***k that. For that price I'd rather go with SkyHD.
Atleast the Sky box has a built-in DVR...

nah, you can get HD receivers that will take premier cards for about 200€. Philips do a nice range.

But yes, Free-to-air sucks pretty much in both UK and Germany presently and SkyHD via skynow.tv is 699€...gulp.

[url=http://www.zdnet.de/it_business_bizz_talk_niederlaendisches_experiment__hdtv__kann_spottbillig_sein_story-39002398-41515638-1.htm]Cheap HDTV via placebo effect -- a Dutch study shows that people who were told they were watching HDTV thought it was really great, but it was actually just a regular TV with an extra-thick cable. FYI...

is SKyHD NTSC or PAL?

Neither. Colo(u)r encoding is not relevant in an HD signal (or SD signal up-scaled) over HDMI

If the question you really want to ask is "can I connect my US TV to a SkyHD system", then the answer is "maybe". It should work if the TV is HD Ready and you connect over the HDMI interface. However, idiosyncrasies in the implementaiton of the HDMI standard between both Sky and US TVs might mean there may be mode incompatibilities which create problems in the connection. The Sky HDMI implementation is tuned towards compatability with European TVs, despite HDMI being a so-called "standard"

Interest, and I thank you for your explanation. What about non HD channels on SkyHD because even in the States, I have Direct TV HD and not all channels are HD.

I take it there is probably no way to know unless I subscribe and see, literally. Problem is I am sure there is a contract, so if it doesnt work I will have to go buy one that does which stinks.

I included some tech specs, not sure if they will help or not.

Tuner: NTSC/ATSC/QAM
Native Panel Resolution: 1920x1080 pixels
Signal Compatibility: Supports 480i (SDTV), 480P (EDTV), 720P (HDTV), 1080i (HDTV), 1080P (HDTV)
Colors: 16.77 Billion
Computer Support: 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1366 x 768, 1920 x 1080
Dynamic Contrast Ratio: 6,500:1
Brightness: 500 cd/m2 (typical)
Response Time: 5ms
Viewable Angle: 178° (horizontal and vertical)
Pixel/Dot Pitch: 0.5415mm (H) x 0.5415mm (V)
SRS TruSurround HD™: No
SRS TruVolume™: No
SRS TruSurround XT™: No

INPUTS (REAR)
HDMI with HDCP 4
RF Connector for Internal Tuner 1
Component YPbPr plus Stereo Audio: 2
S-Video: 1
Computer RGB: 1
Composite Video:
USB Ports:
Service Ports:

INPUTS (SIDE)
HDMI with HDCP
RF Connector for Internal Tuner
Component YPbPr plus Stereo Audio:
Composite Video:
S-Video:
Computer RGB:
USB Ports: No
Music (MP3): No
Video (MPG): Yes
Photo (JPEG): No
Service Ports:

OUTPUTS (REAR)
SPDIF Digital Optical: 1
Stereo Audio: 1;
Headphones: No

ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Smooth Motion: No
LED: No
Picture-in-Picture (PIP): Yes
Picture-outside-Picture (POP): Yes
Zero Bright Pixel Defect Guarantee: Yes
V-Chip: Yes
3D Comb Filter: Yes
3:2 or 2:2 Reverse Pull-down: Yes
ATSC with 8VSB & QAM demodulation: Yes
ATSC with MPEG-2 decoding: Yes
NTSC Video decoding via Video: Yes, thru CVBS, S-Video, or Component
Progressive Scan Video: Yes, thru Component YPbPr, VGA or HDMI
Color Temperature: 6500K, 5400K and 9300K
Color Fine Tuning: Independent Red, Green and Blue
Speakers: Built-in 10W x 2 Speakers
Panel Lamp Life (typical): 50,000 hours
Voltage Range: 100 to 240Vac at 50/60 Hz
Power Consumption: 280 W (avg)
Universal Remote: VIZIO Remote Control - VUR9

SkyHD upscales SD material to pass over the HDMI connection or transfers it with a lower common resolution denominator, depending on the source. Your TV supports HDMI/HDCP 4. It *should* work, and HDMI/HDCP is an international standard, but like I said, idiosyncrasies in implementation of the "standard", both by Sky and your TV manufacturer may mean it won't work. These idiosyncrasies arose as manufacturers needed to make sure their own devices were compatible with each other and cared less about connectivity to the opposition. This was a common problem a couple of years ago as HDMI was emerging, but is less so now with newer devices where the manufacturers have got their act together in standards compliance. You will only know when you try it. Examining specifications won't help one jot.

You don't need a subscription to try SkyHD hardware. There are many channels (including a couple of HD ones) you can receive without a subscription, so there's no reason not to try before signing up (notwithstanding you will need a dish at least temporally installing). Having said that, if you connect even without a signal, you will at least see a menu/error message (or not) which would tend to imply compliance (or not!)

Thanks again Yorkshire, so I was looking at the website for SkyHD and feel really good about it over other options. Seems like I can get a pretty good line up and some stout broadband for not too much money. Little confused though, I will be living in Landstuhl, DE ... do I call the UK number on the website to seek service or is there a 3rd party I will have to seek out locally?