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Just for those that might not be aware, King Kong, Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson’s blockbuster remake of the seminal 1930s thriller, premieres on Saturday 6th September in high-definition (HD) on ITV HD.
Viewers can access ITV HD via the ‘red button’ when prompted on screen during the programme’s transmission from 7:50pm onwards.
Commenting on the HD broadcast, Emma Scott, MD of Freesat said;
The UK television premiere of King Kong marks the start of a great season of HD movies on ITV HD. Films such as King Kong truly showcase the potential of high definition, and Freesat is thrilled offer this exclusive broadcast.
King Kong is followed by Shakespeare in Love on Saturday 13th September at 10:15pm.
Don’t forget you can find up to date listings of all programme’s on ITV HD here.
September 6th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
I started watching King Kong on ITV Freessat at 8:30 and haven’t seen the red button yet. So no HD for me ! Is there any other way of accessing it ?
September 6th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
That was excellent……very good…!!!!
September 6th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
No problems here . .
Did anyone experience the ‘Dolby Digital’ symbol popping up from time to time during the movie on their Humax Foxsat?
September 6th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Can someboby please explain the logic in ITV HD only broadcasting it content on Freesat and not Sky HD?
September 7th, 2008 at 6:32 am
I have experienced the same dolby logo popping up from time to time but unlike most other ITV HD programs i did not notice any audio level fluctuation, which is particularly bad on Harley Street. I am not sure if this is a problem with the transmissions or the humax foxsat box. if anyone has any information on this i would appreciate it as it is spoling a service that was sold on its HD potential and so far all we have is a few hours of BBC which has been very good and a dodgy red button service from ITV with regular audio problems hurry up more HD
September 7th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Saw five minutes on my FTA HD box and it looked pretty damn good. Shame there was no Dolby Digital soundtrack though - has there ever been on ITV HD?
September 7th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Had to reprogram my Humax box to a London postcode to get the red button, looks like STV still not allowing HD programs.
September 7th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Watched it last night on my Humax box. No problems with the red button, tho as mentioned we did get a ‘Dolby Digital’ symbol popping up from time to time
September 7th, 2008 at 9:18 am
That film was absolutely awesome in HD - the best thing i’ve seen so far on Freesat HD. I had no problems getting it in HD but also experienced Dolby Digital popping up a few times which was kind of annoying.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:14 am
It was indeed phantastic on my Nanoxx 9500, First I had no audio, but somewhat later it worked (strange..) flwlessly.
I recorded it, according to my manufacturer it does not work, but it Does work !!! Unbelievable what a saturday night. So my children looked at it today fantastic device nanoxx 9500 HD.
Thanks for this website I know what and when ITV broadcasts in HD
From a dutch TV watcher
September 7th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Thanks Richard.
Yes, I too am in the STV region. Next time there is an HD programme on I’ll try changing my postcode to a London one.
Can’t understand why some (maybe only one) ITV region wouldn’t broadcast the HD version.
September 7th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Hi Guys in Scotland. there is no need to change your postcode to a london one to get ITV HD. Just add the other ITV regions using the add non Freesat channels faciltiy and tune into one when a HD programme is scheduled to air. The red button will then pop up. Easier than using an England postcode as STV is still on 103.
September 7th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
King Kong was visually very impressive, like the saurapod chase scene. I don’t like the film much though.
Which regions can’t get ITV HD?
Also, I’d be interested to hear someone answer ASP’s question about why ITV HD is on freesat but not on sky.
September 7th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
See frequencies list below then use add non Freesat channels facility to manually add channels.
http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html
Don’t forget Lux TV HD is FTA. That gives us 2 HD channels free and a red button service from ITV.
Richard in Fife
September 7th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
ITV HD is not technically a channel. It’s an add on interactive service.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=809539
Richard in Fife
September 7th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
I have King Kong on HD-DVD and the ITV transmission blew it away apart from the lack of surround sound.
Richard in Fife
September 7th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Thanks Richard C, but the Humax doesn’t have that option when in freesat mode as far as I can see, and there is too many non-working channels in non freesat mode.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
ASP, maybe its because they want you to buy Freesat and not Sky.
No good moaning when the shoes on the other foot. Sky’s being doing that to the rest of us for years.
Its nice to finally see something worthwhile thats Freesat exclusive. Its about time Sky didn’t have the monopoly on everything.
September 8th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Al I agree 100%. Sly have been bleeding us for far too long. Their greed knows no bounds.An extra £10-15 for Hd on top of the normal subscription.Get knotted Sly.
September 8th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Richard I can’t comment on the Humax as I have a Bush HD box.
September 8th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Why does Richard C
September 8th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
need to use multiple comments?
September 8th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
bbc northern lights was in hd was bril last night
September 8th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Agree the Joanna Lumley programme was one of the best that has been in HD so far. The Northern Lights were absolutely stunning.
September 8th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Re ITV HD Channel listing
I found it listed at the following
http://www.flysat.com/28east.php/astra28.php
under Arqiva ( whatever that is ) presumably you can get it from here using a non Freesat FTA box ?
September 8th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I stand to be corrected but I think it uses a transmission codec that isn’t supported by Sky boxes, only Freesat which is why its Freesat exclusuive despite being on the Astra satellite.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:08 am
King Kong is an awful movie, you couldn’t pay me to watch that film again
September 9th, 2008 at 8:30 am
I saw King Kong on the cinema and really enjoyed it. A great bit of escapism.
Still each to their own.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:44 am
All that aside when is five coming
September 9th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
ITV HD uses exactly the same code (H.264) as other channels (otherwise it wouldn’t be receivable on other boxes), but the channel is flagged as a data stream, rather than a channel, which means many boxes skip past it when they store it.
It’s partly a tactical decision by ITV, I think. As well as the fact that there’s not much content, so offering it as a whole channel would seem odd to many. It would also require it to be on a 2D beam, or the commissioning of a similar interactive app for Sky boxes (which means money…)
Given the amount of content, at the moment, they’re not missing out much on ad sales by not being on SkyHD - which is in 500,000 homes, who can all watch the program in SD anyway, and will have a selection of probably more tempting content on the other HD channels very often. So, no great loss.
Meanwhile, if it tempts people - via the football and other things - to go for Freesat, in the long term that’s good for ITV. Their viewing share is higher in freeview homes than on other platforms, because there’s not so much competition. The same will be true of freesat too, in the longer term, so it’s advantageous to push people towards that platform, and ITV HD is a useful tool to help in that, with no real loss for now.
As more HD appears, and SkyHD gains more subscribers, they will have to go on that platform too. But short term, why not use it to help secure the platform and so help prop up their longer term figures?
September 9th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Nigel - Thanks for that detailed explanation - I finally understand the whole thing now.
September 9th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Yes the picture quality was excellent, but what’s the point of ITV broadcasting ‘blockbuster’ films in HD without 5.1 sound? Totally pointless!
September 9th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Nigel, I understood that ITV HD is using h.262 not h.264 compression and thats why Sky receivers can’t receive it. I also understood thats why ITV HD allegedly has a lower quality of picture than BBC HD, because the h.262 codec isn’t as efficient and has a lower bit rate.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Thanks Nigel for your interesting and informative post.
You seem pretty well informed. You don’t happen to know what the approx figures are for the uptake of Freesat?
September 10th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Steven - Freesat have not publically announced any figures to date, so any given will be best guess only.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:02 am
The video is still compressed with H.264 (aka AVC/MPEG4 Part 10), but it’s flagged as an H.222 (not H.262, which is MPEG2 compression) data stream.
H.222 isn’t a compression standard - it’s just a generic way of encoding a stream of data. But it’s not the way that data for live TV channels is normally encoded (that’s an MPEG Transport Stream, and I’m afraid I can’t remember the H number).
It’s the encapsulation and flagging that stops some receivers storing ITV HD - they don’t usually bother looking a H.222 streams when they’re storing channels.
September 12th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Thanks for clarifying Nigel.