Confused now

[avevale_intelligencer]

There's supposed to be this new channel coming up on Sky, which will have all kinds of neat stuff including the Game of Thrones series, which I know Jan will be interested in even though I haven't cracked the doorstop novels yet. Sorry, grrm; I will get to them, honest.

Only thing is I can't tell whether there's going to be a standard definition channel, or whether it's going to be HD only. It's called Sky Atlantic HD, there's only one channel number given, and while the site says "Sky Atlantic will also be available in HD" that isn't quite enough for me to be sure we'll be able to watch the thing without shelling out ££ more a month for the HD pack. And since I am still unsure whether the difference between SD and HD will actually make a difference for Jan's eyesight, I'm still not ready to take that plunge.

I could contact Sky, and if necessary I will, but if anyone here knows the answer I'd be happy if they could tell me.

Comments

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

The Game of Thrones books are GRIM. I don't recommend them unless you like your fiction decidedly black and hopeless.

Possibly the movies will be more cheerful... It's hard to imagine how they could do that without completely deranging the plot, but movie-makers sometimes do derange plots, so maybe.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

My problem was as soon as I got fond of a character, he or she got killed off in a particularly nasty fashion! And I adore Martin's other books. *sigh*

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you both for the heads-up. That sounds exactly like a series of books I would rather not bother with. Black and hopeless I can do for myself.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

My thoughts on the matter also.

[aunty_marion]

I've seen the posters for Game of Thrones, and at first wondered why they were advertising what was 'obviously' LotR, as I recognised Boromir, with a different name. (When you're going past on a bus it's hard to read the small print...)

[murphys-lawyer.livejournal.com]

Looks like it's going to be SD as well as HD. Not sure if I'll be watching any of 'The Game of Thrones' despite Sean Bean reprising looking nothing at all like Boromir...

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Do you have an HD tv? If so, how does Jan do with the free HD channels?

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

We have an HD-ready TV, but our box is not an HD box, and the onboard Freeview is from before there was HD. Have I been very stupid in not realising that there *are* free HD channels?

[armb.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television_in_the_United_Kingdom#Terrestrial:_Freeview_HD

Not spending money on a new box for a benefit you aren't sure Jan will be able to see doesn't sound at all stupid, even if it was only because you didn't realise the possibility was there.
But maybe you could borrow an HD box to see whether an upgrade would be worthwhile?

(I can't comment on what the free HD channels are like, because my box is not an HD box and my TV is not HD-ready.)

[armb.livejournal.com]

And http://www.freeview.co.uk/HD says they won't be available here until April anyway. Not that that's relevant if you are using Sky. The Wikipedia link above has a Sky bit just under the Freeview bit.

[aunty_marion]

Unless I come into money, I'll never know what HD looks like - my TV is so old it's suspicious of the bog-standard Freeview box half the time. The VCR has to be on to access it; and they all three sneer superciliously at the DVD player, which in retaliation cuts out at interesting moments during films.

[armb.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Atlantic claims "Sky Atlantic HD will be on channel 108 and the standard-definition version will be on channel 173", citing http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/news/a296093/sky-atlantic-to-launch-next-month.html