# Sci-Fi channel: HD soon? How does SD look?



## ixian (Apr 18, 2006)

I'm a big Battlestar Galactica (new one) fan and I'm about to get the E* 622 package in a few weeks. I can't stand how Sci-Fi and other "analog" channels look from my current provider, Cox Cable, and was wondering - how does Sci-Fi look in SD on Dish? And has anyone heard whether Sci-Fi would be going HD soon or not?


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

ixian said:


> I'm a big Battlestar Galactica (new one) fan and I'm about to get the E* 622 package in a few weeks. I can't stand how Sci-Fi and other "analog" channels look from my current provider, Cox Cable, and was wondering - how does Sci-Fi look in SD on Dish? And has anyone heard whether Sci-Fi would be going HD soon or not?


Havn't heard anything concrete on SciFi HD, I like the sd better than my old cable (don't know how it would compare now with yours). Battlestar Galactica (the new one) is shown in HD on Universal HD (not new episodes, but current year).


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## ixian (Apr 18, 2006)

garys said:


> Havn't heard anything concrete on SciFi HD, I like the sd better than my old cable (don't know how it would compare now with yours). Battlestar Galactica (the new one) is shown in HD on Universal HD (not new episodes, but current year).


Oh no kidding? I signed up for the HD Platinum package so I assume I will get Universal HD? That's great news; no new episodes until October anyway so I can watch the rest of Season 2 in HD until then. Are they delayed by a few weeks or until the season is actually over, do you know?

With Cox, Sci-Fi is still on the analog side of things - you don't even need a box to pick it up, it's part of their basic low-fi package. It looks and sound horrible and is near-unwatchable on my 110'' projector screen - I ended up watching BSG on my 27'' bedroom TV. I'm hoping the digital quality on E* will at least be a little better because seriously, it can't get much worse than what I have now.


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

ixian said:


> Oh no kidding? I signed up for the HD Platinum package so I assume I will get Universal HD? That's great news; no new episodes until October anyway so I can watch the rest of Season 2 in HD until then. Are they delayed by a few weeks or until the season is actually over, do you know?
> 
> With Cox, Sci-Fi is still on the analog side of things - you don't even need a box to pick it up, it's part of their basic low-fi package. It looks and sound horrible and is near-unwatchable on my 110'' projector screen - I ended up watching BSG on my 27'' bedroom TV. I'm hoping the digital quality on E* will at least be a little better because seriously, it can't get much worse than what I have now.


Yes, you will get Universal HD.


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## rbishop (Feb 7, 2006)

How about NFL HD, has anyone heard if E* is going to provide it?


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## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

Actualy my Cox analog Sci Fi on my 65" HDTV looks better than DIshnetworks digital Sci Fi.

I think it depends on how far you are from the cabel co Head End (Im 2 1/2 miles) and if you have there Approved amp on the line (the more you split it the worse it gets).

In other words every neighborhood is different with Cox.


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## R_Childress (Jan 4, 2006)

Yes DIsh will have NFL HD.


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## ixian (Apr 18, 2006)

scottchez said:


> Actualy my Cox analog Sci Fi on my 65" HDTV looks better than DIshnetworks digital Sci Fi.
> 
> I think it depends on how far you are from the cabel co Head End (Im 2 1/2 miles) and if you have there Approved amp on the line (the more you split it the worse it gets).
> 
> In other words every neighborhood is different with Cox.


I must be in the bad Cox neighborhood then because I can't stand their feed. It's a new development, I have no amps on the line (that I am aware of), but my neighborhood is kind of out in the boonies, so I don't know if I am close or not.

We're one of the few areas that doesn't have Cox HD yet either.


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## David_Levin (Apr 22, 2002)

In my opinion, I think Dish's Sci-Fi feed is horribly overcompressed. If I take thier 4:3 letterbox then zoom it to fill my 92" 16:9 projector, it's almost unwatchable.

Both satellite companies are notorious for overcompressing the SD channels (wasn't so bad when a huge TV was 36").

Now, Battlestar Galactica on Universal HD is a joy. As for timing, the 2nd half of season 2 started airing on Uni-HD a week or 2 after ending on Sci-Fi (the season).


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## grooves12 (Oct 27, 2005)

Are you serious?? You are trying to watch SD on a 92" screen and complaining about the quality?? What do you really expect?? Even much HD content wouldn't be completely clean on a screen that size... especially if you are not very far away from it.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

A few months back, there where some threads at TCF (www.tivocommunity.com) and other sites, that had a rumor that BSG may move to NBC in the fall.

It is already known that the new season is not going to start until the fall (be it on Sci-Fi or NBC)

But... if it does go to NBC, that would mean that we would get new episodes in HD... not 6 months delayed.

As for a Sci-Fi HD network... that won't be happening anytime soon.
Not with Universal HD "in the family"... until it fills up all it's programming slots.


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## ShockerEngr (Apr 18, 2006)

grooves12 said:


> Are you serious?? You are trying to watch SD on a 92" screen and complaining about the quality?? What do you really expect?? Even much HD content wouldn't be completely clean on a screen that size... especially if you are not very far away from it.


I've got about a ~9ft screen, and my OTA dvd recorder looks ok for standard def.

High Def looks really good, as long as your at least a couple feet away (pixel size becomes an issue closer than that)

My big problem when I had cox dvr was it would way over pixelate, and had a lot of artifacting, muddied colors and just wasn't all that enjoyable.

Now if I ever get my 622, I'll give a comparison of cable and sat.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Last season Battlestar Galactica was about half-a-season delayed.

When the second half of Season 2 started after the Winter hiatus on SciFi, UniversalHD started at the beginning of Season 2.

So, as someone else already said, they were showing the second half of Season 2 around the time the second half ended on SciFi.

Mileage may vary next season with Season 3 not starting until October.


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## dfergie (Feb 28, 2003)

SD Scifi PQ between E* and D*pretty much the same... UHD much better on both with E* having the advantage Imho...


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## mikeyoung (Jan 15, 2006)

R_Childress said:


> Yes DIsh will have NFL HD.


That reminds me ... I had meant to ask this for a while, I could have sworn that I SAW the NFL-HD channel on the guide with my old 6000, I cant find it now.

Was I dreaming ?


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## Rogueone (Jan 29, 2004)

they were showing NFL HD on Thursday nights as I recall, from 9-11 pm. The games on the NFL network this year will have an HD channel as far as we've been hearing. 

BSG move to NBC? That would blow for Sci Fi, but I could see it. NBC has shown the pilot/mini series, and I think the year ender of season 1, and they are stinking so bad in the ratings why not. though I would miss it being with the gates, I'd much rather see it in HD. I wish Uni would pick up the gates in HD as well, I can't imagine those aren't in HD as well. if not, shot the producer! haha j/k'ing


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

mikeyoung said:


> That reminds me ... I had meant to ask this for a while, I could have sworn that I SAW the NFL-HD channel on the guide with my old 6000, I cant find it now.
> 
> Was I dreaming ?


Channel was hidden and is supposed to be back in time for regular season.


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## normang (Nov 14, 2002)

SD PQ on large screens suffers no matter how good the signal is because there just isn't enough depth to begin with. Yes some channels do still look better than others, but the larger you make it, the worse SD looks. SCI-FI on my 60" doesn't look bad, some other channels do look a touch better... however its all in the eye of the watcher as to whats good, bad or OK...


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## David_Levin (Apr 22, 2002)

grooves12 said:


> Are you serious?? You are trying to watch SD on a 92" screen and complaining about the quality?? What do you really expect?? Even much HD content wouldn't be completely clean on a screen that size... especially if you are not very far away from it.


You're right, or course. But, as normang points out some channels are better then others.

SD DVDs loke fine at 92" (especially if they are anamorphic). The PPV and Premium channels look better then Sci-Fi.

Good analog Locals also look better then Dish's SD feed.


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

Looks fine on either my 57"hd Toshiba or my 26" hd Toshiba. I really think the tv makes all the difference in the way you see the Sci Fi channel.


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## silverback (May 3, 2005)

The receiver makes a big difference as well IME, Scifi looks great for SD from my 622 via component to my CRT, from my 625 it looks a lot worse.

I'm not sure what the deal is, I thought it was badly overcompressed too, but the 622 doesn't show nearly so much artifacting.

It could be that the 622 does a better job of decoding and upconverting than the SD receiver and TV do in concert.

Whatever the reason, I'm very happy with the 622s SD picture quality.


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## kckucera (Aug 1, 2005)

grooves12 said:


> Are you serious?? You are trying to watch SD on a 92" screen and complaining about the quality?? What do you really expect?? Even much HD content wouldn't be completely clean on a screen that size... especially if you are not very far away from it.


Actually I find real OTA HD looks good on my 94" but Voom seems to have degraded over time while HBO and Show look pretty good. Back to topic SciFi on Fox OTA in Denver at 031-01 has always been vastly superior to Scifi on E* 122 even though it is hardly HDTV. I have noticed recently that on Fridays they seem to be less compressed, color is better and I can zoom the 3x4 SD image to fill my 16x9 without too much visual pain. This is not true on other nights. I think E* is finally figuring out that scifi friday has an audiance and is trying to please. My 2.5 cents. 
ken


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## cyberized (Mar 7, 2003)

I have a 46" HDTV and I have found that often when I switch to my S-Video Connection to watch SD - that the PQ improves, not always, but nice to have that option.


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## brotherbear (Sep 6, 2006)

I love the sci-fi channel but since when is wrestling sci-fi on tuesday we give up good shows for wrestling if I want to watch professional wrestling that is what I would watch. I may be posting in the wrong spot and please forgive me as I am new to this forum stuff here.
BB


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## wingnut1 (Nov 10, 2005)

I agree brother bear. I was watching a recorded show and when it ended there was some hideous wrestling show on the channel the 622 was tuned to, which was SciFi. I couldn't believe that they had that on. There are a lot of SciFi movies out there they could be showing instead.


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## SpenceJT (Dec 27, 2002)

Hey guys, just wanted to pipe in my .02 on BSG in HD on UNI.

Don't know if there are any Firefly (or Serenity) fans in here (hope there are), but I wanted to remind any of you not to forget that UNI HD will also be showing the entire Firefly series in HD this month (I think).

Spence


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## M5Guy (Jun 24, 2006)

cyberized said:


> I have a 46" HDTV and I have found that often when I switch to my S-Video Connection to watch SD - that the PQ improves, not always, but nice to have that option.


You are correct - I do the same thing.


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