Sky HDR

[billington1998]

hi can anyone help me i got a 2tb box with silver round it has a power lead like a laptop o e just woundering if sky updated it also how do u know if its hdr is there a seting i can check as picture setings are same uhd 

[rscott]

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@Paulonthetelly wrote:

@Chrisee , I do agree with some of what you say. The facts are that Sky said they were bringing HDR in 2016. 4. Years  & 2 months later we are told that Q boxes V1 i.e those at launch were not & cannot handle HDR. Sky launched limited HLG content 27 May 2020 and we find out today. HDR covers a number of formats, HLG was chosen which dates well before the Q launch. Good to know finally that it was untrue .

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Sorry, @Paulonthetelly  I have to point out that this is another of your posts which is untrue. Sky never promised HDR in 2016. 

It was mentioned in financial statements as coming in 2019 - that's the only date they've ever publicly stated. They obviously failed to hit that target.

HLG does not date from before the launch of Q - the Sky press launch was November 2015 and installations started early 2016,.  HLG was a draft standard at that point - it wasn't formally agreed until late in 2016. As anyone who has purchased 'draft' compatible hardware ( I well remember the pain of draft Wireless N devices!) , compatiblity with the draft doesn't mean it'll work with the final standard. 

[rscott]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@arnsbrae wrote:

...I've just been looking at BT's bundled offering. On the face of it the cost seems a bit lower for a similar package. They don't have HDR either, but I just feel that my long running dissatisfaction with Sky over their casual treatment of long time, higher spending customers is like howling at the moon and I need to do something about it.

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As a BT TV customer who is returning to Sky because of how BT have introduced their new bundled offering I would recommend thinking very, very carefully before moving to them. Make absolutely certain you can have all the channels you actually want to watch together.

BT make Sky look utter novices when it comes to frustrating and mistreating their long-standing customers in my experience. 👍

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As you mention BT,  they've got an HDR capable version of their box due real soon now (been coming soon for about 7 months). Given their equipment is also loaned, I wonder what their upgrade policy will be...

[Maverick1975]

@rscott BT have had hdr for ages. Live sport has been hdr for all of the current football season. Sky are way behind

[Cuke2u]

@rozel unfortunately samsung qled's of the more recent kind do not show which content is being shown, it is by pressing the home button and a couple of clicks to the left to input. There the hdmi input being used will have a hrd symbol in it...

[rscott]

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@Maverick1975 wrote:

@rscott BT have had hdr for ages. Live sport has been hdr for all of the current football season. Sky are way behind

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Not on their set top boxes - they're UHD SDR only. For HDR, you need to stream via an app.

[Mikeyboy67]

I forgot to include the link !

https://www.whathifi.com/news/not-all-sky-q-boxes-support-hdr-does-yours

[arnsbrae]

@Anonymous 

Thanks for the heads up. I am looking very closely.

On the face of it, their VIP bundle looks strong, but I'm going to take my time and do a bit of research before I do anything. I won't be posting here about it, as it's inappropriate in my view, to do that on a Sky provisioned forum.

[Paulonthetelly]

@rscott , nice to disagree with an oracle. A Sky debacle yet again and no one from Sky wants to take ownership. You are wrong about HLG, the clues in hybrid. Oh dear the launch was not February 2016 it was the press launch in November 2015. Interesting thing q became available Feb 2016 for people like me to loan 

[arnsbrae]

"Not on their set top boxes - they're UHD SDR only. For HDR, you need to stream via an app."

That would be okay though, you can use the app on four devices including Amazon TV and Apple TV.

[Anonymous]

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@rscott As you mention BT,  they've got an HDR capable version of their box due real soon now (been coming soon for about 7 months). Given their equipment is also loaned, I wonder what their upgrade policy will be..

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The same as it always is, discounted kit in exchange for a new contract.

Unless NOW TV are going to start offering UHD and HDR (they are not), the only 4K content through their new box will be BT Sport (for those that have at least a 44MB broadband speed), Netflix and Prime Video.

[Anonymous]

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@Maverick1975 wrote:

@rscott BT have had hdr for ages. Live sport has been hdr for all of the current football season. Sky are way behind

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But only some games, the vast majority have been HD or 4K SDR only.

[rozel]

This is the Wiki definition: -

Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) is a backwards-compatible high dynamic range (HDR) standard that was jointly developed by the BBC and NHK.[1] It provides the ability to encode a wide dynamic range, while still being compatible with the existing transmission standards in the standard dynamic range region. This reduces complexity and cost for both equipment manufacturers and content distributors.[2] The HLG standard is royalty-free and was approved as ARIB STD-B67 by the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB).[1][3][4] HLG is compatible with standard dynamic range (SDR) displays.[1] HLG is defined in ATSC 3.0, Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) UHD-1 Phase 2, and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Rec. 2100.[5][6][7] HLG is supported by HDMI 2.0b, HEVC, VP9, and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC,[8][9][10][11] and is used by video services such as BBC iPlayer, DirecTV, Freeview Play, and YouTube.

[rscott]

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@Paulonthetelly wrote:

@rscott , nice to disagree with an oracle. A Sky debacle yet again and no one from Sky wants to take ownership. You are wrong about HLG, the clues in hybrid. Oh dear the launch was not February 2016 it was the press launch in November 2015. Interesting thing q became available Feb 2016 for people like me to loan 

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A Sky staff member has posted on this thread, many, many pages ago. They confirmed v1 boxes can't be upgraded and that an upgrade path was beging developed alongside the gradual addition of new content.

Yes. press launch was 18th November 2015, where boxes were on display (but very closely guarded and only operated by Sky personnel). HDR wasn't discussed at that event by Sky and they wouldn't be drawn on any questions about it.

Installs did indeed begin in February for Sky broadband customers ( a little later for people like me who use other ISPs).

The ITU ratified the Rec.2100 - the standard which defines both PQ and HLG as variants of HDR - on 4th July 2016. So well after Q hardware had shipped. 

[nkelly0]

Samsung UE55KU6670. 

Thanks