Loading ...In discussions over the months with ITV, and prompted by emails we’ve received from you guys, it would seem that ITV’s opinion from “research” is that most prefer ITV HD being a red button service rather than becoming a proper channel.
We have created a poll (left hand side) asking what you would prefer, ITV HD to remain a red button service, or become an actual channel.
To expand further what we mean; the current red button service means that ITV HD is only available when a programme is being broadcast both in standard and high-definition. The principle is that you press the red button at the start of the programme to switch to their HD service with better picture and sound quality. The original idea of this was to retain exclusively for Freesat viewers, as well as save money and avoid promotion of a channel with little HD.
Now that things have progressed (a little), the question is, would you prefer ITV HD to become a proper channel? Of course the HD content is still very limited; but at least with a physical channel you can watch all your favourite standard-definition programmes in up-scaled SD to offer a half-way house between SD and HD. This has proven successful for C4HD (not yet available on Freesat) who show all programmes in up-scaled quality when not available in the HD format.
So please vote, let’s gauge reaction, are ITV wrong to believe a red button service is preferred, can we possibly get their attention so things change, even if more HD content is not yet available?
Click here to see what HD programmes are available on ITV HD
July 4th, 2009 at 10:53 am
“…ITV’s opinion from “research” is that most prefer ITV HD being a red button service…”
I’d wonder what their “research” entailed. No one asked me or any of the folks who have voted in your poll I guess.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:54 am
if there was a link to vote i would
July 4th, 2009 at 11:03 am
A link? It’s on the left hand column?
July 4th, 2009 at 11:19 am
I think ITV’s research extends no further than the bean counters, who said “paying £30,000 for a freesat EPG slot that at best 500,000 will currently use isn’t a good use of money – make it a cheap red button system”.
With ITV HD due to launch on Freeview HD at the end of the year anyway, I suspect we will see movement then. Until then however, we will have to continue to hope that someone remembers to enable the red button prompt when a programme actually is available in HD… Frankly, about as crap a solution for the viewer as there could possibly be – and perhaps points to the route of a lot of ITV’s problems over the last 10 years or so.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:20 am
The “link” only shows “Would you prefer ITV HD to…”, then a white space then the link to previous polls at the bottom. There are no actual voting details are showing.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:24 am
I do not mind the principle of the red button, but have actually stopped using it due the fact of missing the beginning of a drama while the HD activates. If they could start the red button just prior to the start of the program, then that would be fine and obviously less costly to ITV. Until that changes, I’m staying with SD.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:29 am
@Esepee
Not sure why that is happening, never had anyone mention such an issue from over 20,000 votes over the year. Try going into the poll achieve and voting from there, http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/index.php/about-us/pollsarchive. If it doesn’t work, it might be the computer you are using which doesn’t enable javascript.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:33 am
The reason for the poll not showing is might be if you are using Internet Explorer 8. Join Freesat website polls won’t work unless you click on the compatability button. Hope this helps with anyone experiencing a blank poll.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:42 am
I confirm that since installing IE8 I have lost all polls. Thanks for the tip above which has restored the situation to normal.
Admin, you might want to place this tip in a position where poll users can see it (e.g. Adjust IE8 compatability settings to see poll).
July 4th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Thanks Snoods/Derek, have included a note as a temporary measure.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Although I voted for ITV-HD to become a ‘proper’ channel, I wholeheartedly agree with Esepee that in principle the ‘red button’ is not such a bad idea.
Unlike BBC-HD, which has different scheduling to their SD channels, ITV-HD is simply ITV1 but broadcast in HD when available. So if ITV could iron out the gremlins of their red button HD sevice then I’d probably change my opinion. It makes sense to have only one channel when both ITV1 & ITV-HD schedules are identical.
Would be nice to have firmware upgrades to Freesat receivers & PVRs to give an option to autoswitch to ITV-HD when available.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
@Julie Bell
The problem isn’t with the red button service for ITV though, as a manual tune on recent issues via say a Sky HD box also yielded no HD feed, so the issue is something more complicated.
Understand what you mean about not wasting on a simulcast channel, but wouldn’t you like all ITV SD programmes at least in up-scaled format?
July 4th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
“paying £30,000 for a freesat EPG slot that at best 500,000 will currently use isn’t a good use of money – make it a cheap red button system”.
@ ChrisA
Not sure if that fee applies to the BBC or ITV who actually developed, own & run the system as a joint venture. I think they charge the other channels so as to recoup some of their costs in addition to what they receive from the licence fee, very little point in charging themselves. I’d guess running the ‘red button’ service for HD is probably quite costly in itself.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
@ admin
“Understand what you mean about not wasting on a simulcast channel, but wouldn’t you like all ITV SD programmes at least in up-scaled format?”
I find my Humax PVR upscales SD transmissions very well when watching on my 50″ Plasma so not too fussed. I think ITV have to prioritise first in getting their ITV1 broadcast quality up to that of the BBC’s. Better shut up now, I’m getting a little off-topic!
July 4th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
I don’t think your going off topic at all, it is all valid to the discussion, ITV do need to improve the quality and reliability, but opting for a separate channel may at least give them chance to make improvements without things being so noticeable as they are when you are prompted to change to HD. What I mean by this is that with C4HD, if a programme is meant to be in HD but for what ever reason isn’t, it is possible that up-scaling may just save their blushes and some may not realise at all.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Red button is fine if you use a reciever that supports it. I use Windows Media Center (Win 7) and Xbox 360 as an extender and I cannot use the red button to watch ITV HD.
SO it doesn’t matter how much or how little they spend on it, I am one less viewer who would like to watch ITV HD
July 4th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
I think I’d prefer something along the lines of BBC HD to be honest. I mean ITV have so little HD content on their main channel and so many repeats of shows on their other channels it would be simple scheduling most stuff without a clash. And in case of any clash ITV1 takes precedent.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
£30,000 is nothing to ITV.
The real issues to them are twofold.
One – doing it via a red button service gets around their lack of room on Astra 2D – their other services not on 2D are scrambled
Two – the regional problem, they have only room for one HD service on satellite, but their advertising model is based on serving regional adverts.
July 4th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
ITV HD (as it is) is not good, the sound is very poor
July 4th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
@Richardr’s comments
1) Regional advertising ? In the US this would be like offering different advertising within different parts of Texas – surely that can’t justify not going HD.
2) Lack of room? The channel is always transmitting isn’t it? How does the red button then free up space?
@Sol O’Malee – you can watch ITV-HD on your extender with Win7, and if they made it a regular channel you could use the (ITV) EPG to record etc – at the moment you have to do manual recordings (plus flick from BBC to ITV to see it)
@Julie and Admin, they don’t really need to upscale – I’m happy with ‘service is unavailable’ ITV-HD logo when they’re not broadcasting content. Just make it a regular channel technically.
July 4th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Richardr’s point two (post 18) is the one I was going to make.
I suspect I’ll be dead before there is an HD version of every ITV1 region. The STB would need to switch from the HD channel to 103 and back at advertising breaks, but without the assistance of the Red Button software.
July 4th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Red button is a joke.That is it!
The sooner they get rid of it the better.
What is wrong with BBCHD?
Why can’t ITV do the same?
I think majority of the viewers feel the same.
Just look at the polls! 258 against 15 for it.
July 4th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
@ Jason
ITV HD is transmitted from Eurobird on pan-European beam. The ‘red button’ makes it ‘not quite’ FTA.
There is no space on 2D, where it would need to be to be 24/7 FTA.
July 4th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
The red button does not support subtitles – a serious limitation for folks like me with poor hearing. I therefore never watch ITV HD on the red button.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
@admin [12]
@derek500 [23]
ITV HD is FTA. The problem is you have to manually set the VPID. This functionality is lacking on ‘standard’ satellite receivers. I can change this setting on my PC using a popular tv/satellite programme (that can be purchased as a download) and a PC satellite receiver card (when not using a Freesat box).
July 4th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
A C4HD style service is the way forward, the red button service is just not cutting it any more. With the ITV HD due to lauch on freeview this year, maybe we can get a tester service launching on freeview 1st!
July 5th, 2009 at 12:23 am
In fairness to Freesat viewers we have put up with this inferior “Red Button” service from ITV for over 12 months now. OK they have increased their output of HD content since the service began in May 2008, but there is still a long way to go in my opinion. I find my viewing is spoiled by loosing the beginning and end of programmes when using the Red Button, and I am now watching the SD broadcast rather than the HD version for this reason.
I can’t fault BBC HD at all, they seem to have embraced HD more than ITV, and I also have Sky + HD and am able to watch Channel 4 HD which I am very impressed with and has more HD content than ITV. The “Red Button” service is not the way forward, in my opinion based on the problems viewers have experienced with this service.
Will ITV be extending this “Red Button” service to Freeview HD when it starts rolling out across the country from December? I hope not! PS fingers crossed that 4HD will be on Freesat soon
July 5th, 2009 at 7:03 am
ITV HD would be much better on a dedicated channel.
July 5th, 2009 at 8:46 am
My problem with ITV HD on the red button is that when my Humax PVR auto scans for new channels, it removes all my scheduled recordings of ITV HD, this problem does not effect any other channels just ITV HD, I have missed so many ITV programs that I now wonder if its worth the risk to schedule an ITV HD recording. I have just noticed that I have no recording of Kingdom, even thou I scheduled it to record the entire series on ITV HD.
These problem would not happen if ITV HD had its own channel.
July 5th, 2009 at 10:13 am
A channel dedicated to ITV HD has to be the way forward. STV (my channel) does not broadcast HD at all so I have to watch an English channel to get it. And despite their claims, STV said from day one that they could not afford to put HD out – so would not join in.
In this respect then, a separate channel would solve the problem.
July 5th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
I wonder how ITV worded their question.
The only way their survey result makes sense to me would be if it was something like:
“Would you prefer a red button service, providing approx 1 hour of HD per day, or wait three years until ITV has got its finances sorted out and is able to launch a proper 24/7 channel ?”
July 5th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Who cares? Theres nothing worth watching on ITV anyway. Watching Coronation St. in HD would be enough to make me kill myself.
July 5th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
I disagree there is plenty worth watching on ITV.
These naysayers make me puke.
Go and be negative somewhere else.
July 5th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
There’s always someone who makes the post saying “Who cares?”
If you don’t care, don’t click on the link, Don’t read all the posts, don’t make a poitless post saying who cares. If you don’t care don’t come on here.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
No big surprise then. 93% (currently) want it as a separate channel.
In addition to what the vote says, I wouldn’t want it to be channel 143 (or what ever the next available is), I want it to appear as 103, unless of course they launch ITV HD which has different programming.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Yes i agree, I would like it as channel 103, to replace itv at the moment,
The old channel can just go to 9** within all them channels.
I would also like the same with 4hd and 5hd if they come along to us.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
no to red button no no no its a nono ok
July 5th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
HD channel or Red button. Both really are crazy. Why broadcast SD in upscaled HD. This is a stupid waste of bandwidth. Transmit in SD and then my Humax will upscale anyway to 1080i for my TV. Even if it didn’t my TV would upscale the 576i PAL signal to 1080 anyway. Anyway you look at it my TV presents me the image at its native resolution of 1080.
If however there is an HD source transmit this in HD. No upscaling will be required.
Can’t the Freesat system cope with both signals on the same “channel”. If it can’t then transmit in HD.
RS
July 5th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
The advantage of it been a HD channel all the time, is that everything will be at least in dolby digital stereo maybe even surround sound for proper HD content.
Instead of Linear PCM which all SD channels broadcast in.
People with digital cinema amps will notice the difference.
July 6th, 2009 at 9:39 am
ITV did have a survey that included people who bought the Foxsat HD PVR .. me included. There was a card in my box asking if i would be interested and i said “yes”. i’ve just filled in mhy watching for yesterday (theres a sample of viewing days each month)
Now, a couple of months back there was a follow up survey on HD – clearly from ITV. i expressed my views which reflect most of you on here (eg poor billing, poor technicals, would prefer actual channel number)
I dont know who else they asked !
July 6th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
It would also be nice if when they do bother to broadcast films in HD they broadcast it with 5.1 audio & not the 2.0 they currenty expect us to be happy about!
July 6th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
1. I am convinced the red button ITV HD is to “limit” the availability on sky. ITV DONT want (reasonably) people watching/subscribing to sky and having the “freebie” of ITV HD. Freesat is the “only” way that Joe Public can “as standard” get ITV HD.
2. When Freeview HD comes along ITV may well change this as they will have a full ITV HD chain placed onto freeview that negates the concerns of above and will pave the way for a full time freesat ITV HD
3. Don’t underestimate how difficult it is for ITV to produce a full time ITV1 HD chain – they have the complication of regional commitments and regional advertisments that may have contractual and OFCOM requirements.
4. Sky have it MUCH easier than ITV – they get a (HUGE) subscription fee AND they get the revenue from the adverts on top AND they have NO regional commitments. It would be a trivial task for them to HD a channel (ie what they do with SKY1)
5. Up conversion at the broadcaster has significant performance and quality advantages and is FAR better quality that an up conversion in a digibox
6. Dolby Digital stereo only ever matters if the source material is in that format. For most TV programmes, the sound will be standard stereo – HD’ing that material will not “make” it Dolby digital stereo!
July 6th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
@ Steve “ITV DONT want (reasonably) people watching/subscribing to sky and having the “freebie” of ITV HD.”
Do Freesat viewers pay for ITV HD then? ITV hit its lowest audience share in its 54 year history last week. What’s the point of denying the two to three million Sky HD viewers the opportunity to ‘officially’ watch their channel?
ITV need viewers!! They should be trying to get them any way they can.
Luckily, I’ve got the new Sky HD so was able to watch Trevor McDonald last night, very good it was too. Both in content and PQ.
July 6th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
@derek500: As of 31 March, there were about 1m Sky+ HD subscribers. ( http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/a154456/1m-homes-now-have-sky-hd.html )
That said, I agree that ITV should try to reach viewers on all platforms with their HD channel, otherwise they’re shooting themselves in the foot as some viewers who are hooked on HD might get out of the habit of watching ITV if they can’t watch it in HD. And once ITV HD launches on Freeview in December, I really don’t see the point in trying to sell ITV HD as a Freesat exclusive on satellite anymore when it obviously isn’t.
July 6th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Well at least ITV put the odd film on in HD, some might be a bit old, some very old, but they put more on than the BBC.
I would like to know when we can see the likes of The Da Vinci Code & Angels and Demons on freesat in HD ?
July 6th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
ITV dont want their channel “overlooked” by Sky – they dont want people to say “I want to watch ITV HD, so I will go and give Sky a bucket load of money, get a Sky subscription (money->Sky) and I will also watch Sky channels (that have adverts that give money->Sky)”
Sky are ITV’s main competitor – they are fighting Sky for advertising revenue and they will want to protect that as best they can. When there is a system that gives the viewer an option to switch away and view other adverts on channels owned by the operator of that system then that is gonna hurt ITV.
Quite simply, they DONT want people to get Sky – Freeview and Freesat are fine, but NOT Sky cause it gives Sky subscription revenue and steals advertising revenue from ITV
July 6th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
The red button arrangement makes no sense whatsoever. I actually forgot that ITV broadcast any HD material at all because it doesn’t appear on the Programme Guide. I imagine it’ll have an effect on the number of viewers they get – that’s certainly the case with me.
-David Mackenzie
Hardware reviewer, AVForums.com
July 6th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
@AndrewM Subscribers doesn’t equal viewers. Average household size in the UK is 2.36. SkyHD had over one million subscribers as at Mar 31. It appears from early reports that that figure has risen considerably in the last quarter. So on that basis two to three million would be about right.
Three of us watched Trevor McDonald in our household last night. Only one subscriber though. .
July 6th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
@ Steve “Quite simply, they DONT want people to get Sky
True, but at the same time they want more people to watch their programmes. So you’re saying ITV don’t want Sky viewers to watch their channels?
Mind you, if they’re forced to make ITV1/2/3 subscription channels, which has been already been the subject of a Sky/ITV meeting, they might change their mind!!
July 6th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
JEEZ
DOES IT ACTUALLY MATTER?
July 7th, 2009 at 8:29 am
I would watch a physical channel but no this upscaled bull. I don’t want to have to guess whether I’m watching HD or not. I would prefer it like BBC HD does it. When there is no HD on just put out a demo of what’s to come.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:20 am
@derek500
Sky viewers CAN watch all the ITV channels, there is nothing different on ITV HD, just a HD version of the current programme.
ITV DONT want a non Sky person to subscribe to Sky, they want them to get Freesat, or when it arrives, Freeview HD
@Tom
The idea of using barker is a fair point; it would be a bit more difficult because ITV HD doesn’t have a continuous block of schedule so it would dip in and out. Also remember that there is significant production and operational costs to that.
You might not want to entertain upscaling, but it is certainly no bull. The upscaling would be done on full SDI video, pre MPEG encoding (which would be at a higher bit rate) so there will be a significant quality increase. So long as they are honest about it (ie NOT state the programme is HD when it is upscaled) then it IS progress – it is certainly the most cost effective and easily integrated solution.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Just another voice to the ‘Yes, we want it as a channel’ crowd. The picture quality of ITV on Dsat is so absolutely shocking as to make an upscaled ‘HD’ channel (with the occasional *actual* HD program) a must. Didn’t ITV experiment with some upscaled footy that people with non-Freesat boxes could see and it looked superb?
July 7th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Simon King – well said, that is a major point well made….
July 7th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I’m with Simon King, I was just thinking the same thing myself. @Richard Shepherd this is why its not a waste of bandwidth.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Infact. it’s actually more of a waste of capacity at the moment only showing an ‘ITV HD is currently off-air’ type static caption for most of the week, than if it was showing enhanced upscaled SD content when native HD content is unavailable 24/7…
I’m sure a 24/7 ITV HD channel would tuck quite nicely into that space between More4 and the Zone Channels, whilst also leaving slots free for potential additional future HD services from C4 and Five
July 8th, 2009 at 9:15 am
The powers that be managed to slip in an extra HD channel last weekend – BET HD – which worked OK on my Foxsat HD box. If this is possible what’s all the hooha about lack of space for a dedicated ITV HD channel ?
July 8th, 2009 at 10:30 am
ITV HD is required to broadcast on the tighter 2D beam which is more UK focused, where as BET doesn’t have such a restriction, therefore was broadcast from one of the other beams.
July 8th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
We contacted ITV’s press office for a statement based on this post and the poll etc; unfortunately ITV have decided they do not wish to make any comment at this stage. Shame!
July 9th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Are you surprised? ITV think they have a ‘trump card’ in ITV HD that they can use as a bargaining chip with Sky (yes I know Sky have a stake, but there’s a very anti-sky attitude inside ITV) and as an ‘exclusive’ feature of Freesat. This is exactly what they did when Sky Digital launched with On Digital as competition and we all know how that worked out.
Somebody at ITV desperately needs to get a grip WRT HD. Make it a channel, get rid of the ‘copy never’ flag and give us some 5.1. Only then will you see an uptake and then maybe you can charge your advertisers more because the people watching this channel *must* already have HD. And if they’ve got HD, they’re probably quite techy. Oh look, a ready made path into a demographic that’s willing to spend money on shiny toys. Come on ITV – if I can figure it out, why can’t you? *facedesk*
July 9th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I think ITV have lost the plot!!!!!
July 9th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
If you look at how well BBC HD is working – tie ins with BBC1 and BBC2 content plus exclusive HD repeats with the occasional HD exclusive – I cannot see how ITV are not looking to do the same. It really is a no brainer. They have 4 channels and more then enough content to sustain a full HD channel.
Someone at ITV wants putting up against a wall and shooting. To suggest that customer feedback shows a red-button service is what the customer wants says so much about the overall quality of the management at ITV – thank god we don’t pay for it!!!
July 9th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
BBC have a huge budget supplied by us.
ITV are strapped for cash and have shareholders to keep happy. Anything that increases their costs (HD) is not welcome. Once the recession is over things may improve if ITV is still going by then.
July 9th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
What research have ITV done to conclude that most prefer ITV HD being a red button service?
None by the looks of it.
I’m sick of missing the start of programmes because it takes a few seconds to load ITV HD. The same after I’ve been flicking channels during adverts – it takes a few seconds to load and I miss a few sentences.
July 9th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
@Richard Crichton,
The Beeb DONT have a huge budget – they are, however, as a PSB in a VERY different position to ITV who have different technical and production requirements.
July 9th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
What’s all this nonsense? We don’t pay for ITV? Of course we do – with every product we buy that has been advertised on their channel.
At least the BBC are honest and charge up-front. As for Sky, they make you pay MORE than the licence fee & STILL make money from you via the advertisers. They’re laughing all the way to the bank.
I’ll be happy with a dedicated channel when ITV can afford it.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
The claim that the majority of ITV Freesat viewers prefer the red button over a proper HD Channel is a lie because every person would prefer higher quality picture at all times.
July 10th, 2009 at 4:22 am
No one said we don’t pay for ITV Dipper.
The BBC must have a huge budget. Just mulitiply the amount of licence payers by the cost of the licence and what do you get Steve?
I agree with Julian.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Enough! Let’s move on
July 10th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
i think the hd service on itv is poor. missing the beginning of the programm while it loads? not good is it. also the quality is not as good as it should be. the picture is better on the virgin v+ system upscaled
July 11th, 2009 at 12:13 am
At time of writing – 70 replies.
ITV.
Are you listenting?
Is there actually anybody there?
July 12th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Boring….!
July 12th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
At a broader level, there has been very little debate about the reduced functionality of the BBC Red Button on Freesat compared with what is available on the Sky platform particularly given that Freesat is a joint BBC/ITV initiative. I would have thought that the BBC would aim to have at least the same functionality on Freesat as they are providing for Sky users.
July 13th, 2009 at 6:50 am
Did anyone else have trouble with red button service last night during Trevor McDonald’s Caribean prog?
July 13th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Yet again! I had trouble with True Lies Film on ITV HD; I set my Humax PVR to record it the day before and have just noticed it has not recorded it. This is happening so often that I will no longer use the ITV HD recording facility in furture. So why have I invested in this FreeSat technology !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! which clearly does not work.
July 13th, 2009 at 9:18 am
@ Denis .. yes .. it went on the blink a couple of times with me .. i wasn’t sure if it was an ITV fault or my HD box .. as no message was flagged up to say there was a fault! .. grrr!
July 13th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Would prefer a dedicated channel. Then they might deem it possible to show films in their correct aspect ratio – something they don’t now do, which is incredible for an HD service trying to be state of the art and high quality.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Yes had terrible problems with Trevor McDonald’s Caribean prog and the later half of the Royal. Not impressed with ITV HD @ all.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Get real everyone, there’s a credit crunch on & ITV have severe financial issues! They’re cutting shows and closing regional offices. Yeah, I’d like a permanent ITV HD channel, but given it’s an unnecessary cost, can you really see ITV shelling out for it? I’m happy just to have an HD option for both ITV & BBC without having to pay $ky for the privilege. It you want more HD why not start a debate on CH4HD instead?
July 14th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Another debate on 4HD are you joking?
It’s been done to death over the last year. We all know why it’s not on freesat.
July 14th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
I think Jaz is missing the point – ITV are saying we’d prefer a red button service instead of having a dedicated HD channel. Not that they can’t afford a proper channel (which may be true) but that we don’t want one. Hard to believe.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:42 am
I suspect this debate will be redundant, as as soon as ITV HD becomes a full time channel on Freeview, in December 2009 in the Granada region.I imagine it will do the same on Freesat and the red button will be history. Likewise I expect channel 4 HD to arrive on Freesat at the same time as if it is showing on Freeview it must be out of its much rumoured Sky tie in contract. Freeview have said that both these channels will be available from HD launch.
July 17th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Wednesday 22nd July 2009
))))))))))))))))))
Grimefighters – 7.30pm to 8.00pm
Red button or not do we really need to see filth in HD?
July 18th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
My generic HD STB would not pick up ITV HD.I finally had to buy a Foxsat once ‘The Bill’ went HD
ITV HD was launched as a red button service to deny access to Sky viewers. Sky have now cracked this, but ITV persist in denying service to the few remaining viewers with generic boxes. Advertisers,please note.
If ITV CH4 (which is Government owned) and Ch 5 eventually need a Sky subscription to watch, then Sky will have almost won. If, in the future they manage to close down the BBC then see what the price of a subscription becomes!.
July 19th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Who ever has Itv HD on there Sky HD box, will have to tell me how they got it soon.
As Freesat has seem to frozen of moving on with new channels.
For £25.25 i can get a new sky HD box for free, with £25 tesco voucher and all the HD channels except sky sports and sky movies!
unfortunately my HDR will only get about £180 on ebay, but over a year, that means sky HD will only cost me £10.40 a month.
I am giving freesat 1 more month to improve, but i’m sorry guys.
July 19th, 2009 at 11:22 am
I would like to have itv hd as proper channel on the epg.
July 20th, 2009 at 8:40 am
I have just purchased the Panasonic BS750, which brings in pictures on a par with Freeview, HD is not as jaw dropping as had hoped, the improvement is marginal.
ITV have the right idea, if the red button is available for HD reception it means you know instantly that you can receive it, without having to trawl the Guide or Radio Times etc. (It’s quicker, that means better)
The BBC’s dedicated HD channel is a waste of time!
Regards,
Barry Smith
July 20th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Barry you can’t be serious. The BBC HD channel is excellent! Would be nice to have a little more content, but overall am very happy with BBC HD.
ITV on the other hand unfortunately is lucky to show one programme a night. Come on ITV HD have a dedicated channel with some more content.
July 20th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I’m doubtful that we can hold out much hope of ITV-HD becoming a stand alone (subscription free) channel, given that a shadow has now been cast over the continued presence of some ITV channels (2, 3 and 4) on the Freesat platform. Apparently, due to the economic downturn, ITV are in talks with Sky about the possibility of making these subscription services.
This story’s been around for a while now, but I’ve only just picked up on it – so for anyone else whose missed this, check out:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2009/jun/02/itv-susbcription-talks-old-media-crisis
July 20th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
That story was released almost a week before the guardians Monday publication and was immediately dismissed by ITV so it is unlikely to happen.
July 21st, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Alex (85) – and the year after £300+, and then another £300+ … so in 3 years, you’ll have given the murdoch empire over a grand – you could afford a new tv every 3 years instead.
I know where i’d rather spend my money and it aint on $ky.
Barry (87) – nowt wrong with BBC HD that a bit more content wouldn’t put right.
July 21st, 2009 at 1:11 pm
@ Barry Smith – i think your just being confrontational, are you Mr ITV?
not sure of its the Panny box or your telly (severely doubt the box to be honest) or you glasses but BBC HD is in no way shape or form a slight improvement on SD version. The picture quality rocks in comparision to SD and I dont say that lightly because on a Humax / Sony 1080p combo the SD quality is great in its own right.
And as a statement, to say the BBC HD channel is a waste of time – come on. You cannot BE SERIOUS ! Its the best thing on Freesat by a million miles.
July 21st, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Al Catraz, For you information, its only £315 for the first 12months which includes all the free to air channels, all there HD pack channels (expect sky sports and movies) and the variety pack.
after my 12 month contract, i can get rid of the variety pack, and just keep the HD pack, which keeps my record facility, and give me all of the following channels for £10 a month.
Lisa: You would get: (Lisa was the person who helped me from sky)
Lisa: Sky1 HD
Lisa: Sky Arts 1 HD
Lisa: Sky Arts 2 HD
Lisa: Sky Real Lives HD
Lisa: Biography Channel HD
Lisa: Crime & Investigation Network HD
Lisa: Discovery HD
Lisa: Eurosport HD
Lisa: FX HD
Lisa: History HD
Lisa: MTVN HD
Lisa: National Geographic HD
Lisa: Nat Geo Wild HD
Lisa: Rush HD
Lisa: Sci Fi HD
Lisa: Luxe TV HD
Lisa: BBC HD
Lisa: Channel 4 HD
For £10 a month for all them channels, i think its worth it!
July 21st, 2009 at 6:31 pm
This deal isn’t officially available however and I know of only a handful of people that have managed to obtain it. Try at your own risk
July 21st, 2009 at 7:44 pm
ok,
as i said in my original post, i am going to keep freesat for one more month, until iplayer comes to it, then i will make my decision depending on how good the new service is.
I’m hoping with this iplayer update, humax will also address a couple of problems i have with the box currently
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
93. ‘Only £319′ . That’s £319 more than I want to pay. That’s why I got Freesat.
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Alex, if I could just get the HD pack from Sky without the variety pack then that would swing me to the dark side/Sky, but I seriously doubt they would let you have a HD pack without a standard pack with it. In fact Sky advertise the service as from £26.25 per month. Would be interest to hear from anyone else with just the HD pack.
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:07 pm
There are many people on the AV forums with the £10 HD pack. You have to wait until your 12 month variety pack contract ends. Then you cancel that, and keep the HD pack paying £10 per month.
Its £319 for the first 12 months (which is just over the price of a humax HDR) but you get more channels, then after that its £10 a month which is worth it for all the channels
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:18 pm
[...] ITV HD Red Button Or Proper Channel? [...]
August 7th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
[...] HD service, although no definite date has been given for this. We’d like to think that our post helped make this decision, although we suspect it had been planned for some time. Share and [...]
September 1st, 2009 at 3:39 pm
The ITV HD red button is rubbish it should be like the BBC HD channel.