Author Topic: SkyCable HD  (Read 738946 times)

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Offline Ice Storm

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #60 on: Oct 28, 2008 at 02:08 PM »
I am on the 15 day 12Mbps Skybroadband trial and was able to talk to the installer. The cable & infrastructure they're using for HD is the same one for 12Mbps internet.

They do not have price but they know it'll come out first half of 2009.

Offline ninjababez®

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #61 on: Oct 30, 2008 at 08:21 AM »
I am on the 15 day 12Mbps Skybroadband trial and was able to talk to the installer. The cable & infrastructure they're using for HD is the same one for 12Mbps internet.
They do not have price but they know it'll come out first half of 2009.
ei this is great news .. ;D
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Offline pchin

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #62 on: Mar 23, 2009 at 11:37 AM »
Has anyone subscriped to the Digibox Skycable? Feedback pls thanks. :)

Offline ninjababez®

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #63 on: Mar 23, 2009 at 11:41 AM »
Has anyone subscriped to the Digibox Skycable? Feedback pls thanks. :)
si neverblocker bro .. maganda ang feedback nya eh .. :D
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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #64 on: Mar 23, 2009 at 11:56 AM »
hd na ba ang skycable digibox?
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Offline checkyoulater

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #65 on: Mar 23, 2009 at 12:14 PM »
we have the digibox installed, but we never really subscribed for it, more like it was forced upon us lol....without it we would only be getting local channels..bummer

while there is definitely a significant improvement in PQ, not all channels improved evenly, some with only minor improvement. still that's better than nothing....

i just read this thread for the first time, and got a bit excited about the possibility of HD programming locally...can't wait to watch crystal clear TV shows.

i was in the US a year ago around jan, and if there's anything that i can't forget about the entire trip was the reception of the cable TV that was being broadcast....i don't think my relatives are even savvy enough to be ordering any kind of HDTV programming (i never really asked, maybe later when they get on skype i'll ask) but every single channel was astounding....of course i was only watching on a regular ray-tube TV, but still, i have never seen cable television that clear, every channel seemed like it was being fed from a DVD player...it's scary to think what real HDTV might look like :P
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Offline ninjababez®

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #66 on: Mar 23, 2009 at 12:17 PM »
hd na ba ang skycable digibox?
no its not, yet. :D
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Offline DViant

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #67 on: Mar 23, 2009 at 01:01 PM »
I expect SkyCable's HD will be low bit rate 720p streams.

Offline checkyoulater

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #68 on: Mar 23, 2009 at 01:58 PM »
I expect SkyCable's HD will be low bit rate 720p streams.

720 is already better than what ordianry dvd can give, which is more or less what standard HD progrmamming in the US offers (at least i think so....not sure if i read that somewhere on the net too), i for one would be happy at DVD quality programming.

it's like apple's itunes store selling HD stuff but in reality it's not fullHD stuff, not yet anyway....(well that's how it was last time i checked, if things have changed in apples itunes store then maybe i'll start considering ordering shows, maybe even an apple tv soon)
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Offline pchin

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #69 on: Mar 23, 2009 at 02:33 PM »
Good to hear these positive feedback. So SkyCable HD progamming could materialize sooner than we thought. I'm already happy with 720p...  :D

Offline Mr. Big Boy

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #70 on: Apr 29, 2009 at 11:14 AM »
SKYCABLE LAUNCHES HIGH DEFINITION TV SERVICE
By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes Updated April 29, 2009 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Leading cable television service provider SkyCable has brought television viewing to a higher level with the introduction of high definition TV (HDTV), the new standard in TV technology fast sweeping across the United States, Europe and Asia.

The new service is now available to its subscribers in Metro Manila in areas that are digital-ready. SkyCable officials revealed that about 90 percent of the metropolis is digital-ready. The company has around 100,000 subscribers in Metro Manila, of which around 40 percent are already using the digital platform.

SkyCable invested about P6 million for the two HD channels as well as for the installation of the transmission equipment and additional integrated receiver decoder.

SkyCable marketing head Ray Montinola revealed that the company is also set to launch another new service within the year – video on demand (VOD). Also in the works are two other new services which may be made available next year – picture on picture and personal video recorder (PVR) which will require additional set-top boxes. The PVR is similar to TiVO (tv on demand) which has a very large following in the US.

HDtv ushers the era of superior resolution and digital sound. HD programs seen on HD-compatible TV sets enable viewers to enjoy rich and vivid images completed by clear sound. This revolutionary technology gives the viewers the feeling of being ‘in’ the program because of its superior clarity, with pictures two to five times sharper than ordinary tv resolution and seen on a 16:9 wide-screen format or the same format used in movie theaters.

SkyCable’s HDtv subscription requires the use of an HD decoder box that will decrypt SkyCable’s HD pay-per view signal. Subscribers will then get access to HD programs that feature images and sound of superior quality. But aside from decoding the signal of SkyCable HD content, the HD box also provides a seven-day on-screen program guide to help subscribers keep track of program schedules as well as the convenience of the ‘favorite channels’ function.

Company officials emphasized that SkyCable’s move to bring HDtv to the Philippine market is in line with the firm’s commitment to bring innovation in the cable industry. Local subscribers first got to experience HDtv when SkyCable presented the Ryder Cup gold tournament in high definition during the last part of 2008.

SkyCable will offer two new channels, History HD and Discovery HD, with high definition content, as part of the P499 monthly service fee per television, which will be on top of the MSF being paid per tv by subscribers currently on digital platform. Meanwhile, the HD decoder box is included in the one-time P5,000 installation fee.

Officials revealed that those that are on digital platform and have a digital set-top box (digibox) will only have to pay a P3,000 installation fee, representing the difference between the P5,000 HD installation fee and the P2,000 already paid for the digibox. Those that are on the analog platform will have to check whether their areas are digital-ready and go directly to an HD subscription. The digibox cannot decode the HD signal and will have to be replaced by the HD box.

It was also learned that SkyCable is working on bringing another HD channel in soon, but any channel in addition to History and Discovery HD will be charged separately.

Right now, HD content is foreign produced. Companies like ABS-CBN Broadcasting, GMA Network and ABC-5 are preparing for the shift from analog to digital transmission and are awaiting government rules on the shift to digital.

Offline Mr. Big Boy

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #71 on: Apr 29, 2009 at 11:16 AM »

SKY CABLE GOES 'PICTURE PERFECT'
by Kristine Servando, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak | 04/28/2009 8:17 PM


In the posh boardroom of the company's top cable provider sat a shiny new Sony Bravia high-definition television (HDTV), curiously enclosed within iron grills, and showing a herd of lions. A top SkyCable executive joked, "The grills are to prevent the lions from leaping out at us."

This is precisely the kind of "clear as real" experience that SkyCable aims to provide with the launch of two new high-definition programs on cable TV, reportedly a first in the entire country.

With the introduction of the SkyCable HD box and two new educational programs in HD, the company guarantees it will entice viewers who want a "life-changing" TV experience via enhanced picture and sound quality.

For now, the HD channels being offered are Discovery Channel (ch. 164) and the History Channel (ch. 165), both of which offer exclusive documentaries and features.

However, SkyCable Marketing Vice President Rodrigo Montinola revealed that negotiations are in the works for other HD offerings like sports, a follow-up to their prior HD coverage of the Ryder Cup in 2008.

"We're looking at one way to really appreciate HD via sports events so we're looking at a specific set (of sports events), which may follow a [pay-per-view] format. It will be something that our subscribers can appreciate," he said.

Malou Esparrago, SkyCable's head of Postpaid Marketing, said the HD package is meant for households with LCD, plasma, or projector TV sets, who have had to contend with slightly pixellated standard-definition programming because of a lack of HD content in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

According to SkyCable's Research and Development Vice President Engr. Mike Martir, there are only so many HD programs available in Southeast Asia because they occupy too much bandwidth and are too expensive to be beamed via satellite.

He said each HD channel cost the company P3 Million, amounting to about P6 Million or more, including  equipment costs for an additional integrated receiver-decoder (IRD) and transmission equipment.

Subscribers also need to be "digital-ready" SkyCable subscribers, or must own TVs with digital connections, to avail of the service so they can make the easy transition to HD. Programs will be beamed via satellite in both 1080i or 1080p formats, along with mpeg2 audio, basically giving a subscriber a clearer picture and superior sound.

The SkyCable HD box, which can only work with LCD or plasma screen TVs, as well as projector TVs, can carry both standard definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) programs. Subscribers will pay a one-time installation fee of P5,000 for the HD box (which can also play music from a USB flash drive) and P499 a month for the two HD programs. Additional TVs in the household each require a separate HD box, but HD programs for succeeding TVs will only cost P152 a month.

Households which have already purchased the SkyCable DigiBox, which offers digital content, will pay less if they swap their existing Digibox with an HD box.

Luxury product

The HD package, however, is far from becoming a mass-market product, a fact which SkyCable executives are fully aware.

Esparrago admits that the product, which is exclusive to SkyCable subscribers, is only geared towards a small market of affluent males who are likely to have disposable income.

"We realize it's not going to be a mass market kind of thing, it's really for the upscale market who want it and who can pay for it. What we're doing for HD is that those who want to get that kind of technology, at least the content is already available," she said.

Currently, 90% of SkyCable's estimated 250,000 Metro Manila subscribers are already digital-ready, and about 100,000 already have DigiBoxes, but only a small percentage of this constitute the rich boy market who are willing to make the HD transition.

However, SkyCable executives and their partner companies Sony electronics company and appliance retailer Abenson, are reportedly not worried about the global economic crisis, when consumers tend to scrimp on spending for big-ticket items like plasma screen TVs.

Esparrago said they are confident in Abenson's and Sony's sales figures, which reportedly show that people are still buying expensive gadgets.

"For now, we are still having a lot of buyers of the LCD TVs, and I think for the Philippines, it's not affected by what they call the recession because most of our items, normally LCD TVs, are still being bought," said Jong dela Cruz, an Abenson Marketing officer.

The HD's luxury status, however, does not mean that the companies are not coming up with promos to capture the less affluent market.

Montinola said they will be launching SkyCable Select, which allows the subscriber to customize the amount and type of programs he or she watches on TV; "Video on Demand", which allows viewers to watch any program at any time; as well as partnerships with Abenson and Sony to make the HD experience more affordable through discounts.

Dream home theater

However, is the HDTv and plasma screen experience really the life-changing event that it's hyped up to be? Is it really worth the hole in your wallet? Definitely, said ABS-CBN Corporate Communications Manager Kane Choa, who recently purchased one such plasma screen TV.

"I pay a lot more. But it's nice, it's like having a mini-theater in your living room. Usually you can only experience HD quality when you watch DVDs, and you can really see the difference--the colors are sharper, it's much clearer than the regular SD," he said.

"I feel like I don't want to go back to SD because you'll really acquire the taste for HD, you'll learn to get used to it," he added.

Aside from this leap into HD, SkyCable also promises to make more innovations in the future, all geared towards giving the Philippine public amazing viewing experiences.

"We're also developing a box now that is supposed to provide picture on picture (where viewers can watch several shows in one TV screen). We are also developing a box with a personal video recorder, much like a TiVo. The new boxes are still in the testing stage, maybe within the year or next year, we can have these," Martir said.

Esparrago said, however, that a quick jump into a "super-box" that encompasses many features will be too costly, should it be introduced to the market right now.

"The more features, the more expensive it will be, something that the market cannot bear at this point. But we want SkyCable to be the first to bring it into the Philippine market so that the Philippines can be as advanced as other countries," she said.

Nevertheless, with SkyCable's initial steps into HD technology, and with more TV innovations lined up in the immediate future, who knows maybe we can expect lions and more to leap out of our TV screens someday.

abs-cbnNEWS.com is the online news department of ABS-CBN Interactive Inc., a subsidiary of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. ABS-CBN and SkyCable, which 66.5% owned by Lopez-controlled holding firm SkyVision Corp., are both part of the Lopez Group of Companies.
as of 04/28/2009 8:32 PM

Offline et414

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #72 on: Apr 29, 2009 at 11:39 AM »
ang cool naman! gusto ko sana nito kaso wala namang sky dito sa tarlac :( i was hoping they would come out with a satellite dish based system

Offline otepsy

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #73 on: Apr 29, 2009 at 11:54 AM »
Quote
"However, is the HDTv and plasma screen experience really the life-changing event that it's hyped up to be? Is it really worth the hole in your wallet? Definitely, said ABS-CBN Corporate Communications Manager Kane Choa, who recently purchased one such plasma screen TV.

"I pay a lot more. But it's nice, it's like having a mini-theater in your living room. Usually you can only experience HD quality when you watch DVDs, and you can really see the difference--the colors are sharper, it's much clearer than the regular SD," he said.

"I feel like I don't want to go back to SD because you'll really acquire the taste for HD, you'll learn to get used to it," he added."



hehehe..... napansin nyo ba?


Offline Mr. Big Boy

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #74 on: Apr 29, 2009 at 12:45 PM »


hehehe..... napansin nyo ba?



;D Napansin ko nga yan eh, DVD daw, baka mali lang ang pagkasabi.  Pero pag upscaled yung DVD eh parang HD rin ang dating, and that could only be achieved by using an upscaler DVD player with an HDTV set.  So parang tama pa rin yung statement.

« Last Edit: Apr 29, 2009 at 01:04 PM by Mr. Big Boy »

Offline gerardhamada

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #75 on: Apr 29, 2009 at 03:21 PM »
malamang oppo na upscaler ung dvd :)

Offline Mr. Big Boy

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #76 on: Apr 30, 2009 at 12:14 PM »
BusinessWorld
Vol. XXII, No. 189
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES


SKYCABLE LAUNCHES HDTV CHANNELS

THE COUNTRY’S top cable TV operator yesterday launched two new channels with "high-definition" content, now available to Metro Manila subscribers.

SkyCable Corp. executives said History HD and Discovery HDchannels now offer images and sound of superior quality.

"Pictures are two to five times sharper than ordinary TV resolution available today and are seen in a 16:9 wide-screen format, the same format used in movie theaters," SkyCable corporate marketing head Arlene Torres said in a statement.

History HD features original non-fiction series and "event-driven" specials that cover various historical genres, science, archaeology, and pop culture.

Discovery HD features programs on the different wonders of the world in "superb imagery and expansive detail."

The HDtv subscription requires the use of an HD decoder box which will decode SkyCable’s HD Pay-Per-View signal.

Online anya618

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #77 on: Apr 30, 2009 at 02:48 PM »
sana by the time mas maraming channels na available bumaba na ung rates ;D
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Offline raul21

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #78 on: Apr 30, 2009 at 06:02 PM »
hmmm.. soounds interesting.. thanks for the infos..

Offline gerardhamada

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #79 on: May 01, 2009 at 12:21 AM »
hmmmm I think 500 pesos for 2 channels is kinda expensive.  Sana mga 10 channels naman sana.

Offline ninjababez®

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #80 on: May 01, 2009 at 05:43 AM »
hmmmm I think 500 pesos for 2 channels is kinda expensive.  Sana mga 10 channels naman sana.
yeah i agree, atleast include hbo, star channels, fox and sports ;D
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Offline gerardhamada

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #81 on: May 01, 2009 at 05:50 AM »
o kahit entertainment weekly on HD  ;D

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #82 on: May 01, 2009 at 09:30 AM »
hmmmm I think 500 pesos for 2 channels is kinda expensive.  Sana mga 10 channels naman sana.

+1, parang lalabas 250 per channel kung 10 channels 2500?  :o
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Offline pchin

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #83 on: May 01, 2009 at 10:10 PM »
yeah i agree, atleast include hbo, star channels, fox and sports ;D

Same here...if they offer the above, I'll give it a try.

I did call SkyCable & complain the limited channels at such high cost...:D

Offline ninjababez®

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #84 on: May 02, 2009 at 09:18 AM »
Same here...if they offer the above, I'll give it a try.

I did call SkyCable & complain the limited channels at such high cost...:D
i always thought they were ridiculously priced ;D
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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #85 on: May 02, 2009 at 09:26 AM »
i always thought they were ridiculously priced ;D

Lopez ang owner ng skycable di ba?
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Offline gerardhamada

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #86 on: May 02, 2009 at 01:46 PM »
If lopez equals skycable
then skycalbe equals meralco
meralco equals unreasonable pricing
then skycable equals unreasonable pricing

Oo malamang Lopez nga ito ;D

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #87 on: May 02, 2009 at 09:05 PM »
Anyone subscribed to the service already?

Offline checkyoulater

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #88 on: May 03, 2009 at 10:48 PM »
i'm all for discovery and history channel going HD, but at 500php additional cost + the initial cost of 3-5k (installation) yikes, it's a bit too steep....especially when HD content readily available to most users educated enough to go HD in the first place...

it's a very promising thing though, and i can't deny the excitement that HD programming is actually just around the corner.. (weeeeee) :)

hopefully when the HD line-up expands it includes:

Biography channel (quickly becoming my fave channel)
BTV (i mean c'mon it's the NBA...or at least give us HD broadcast of the playoffs)
NGC

....that Tivo like box sounds very promising as well....can't wait to see the specs on that thing
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Offline raul21

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Re: SkyCable HD
« Reply #89 on: May 03, 2009 at 10:56 PM »
i agree to you bro, sana dumami pa yung channels, and mas less yung payment. im kinda excited also knowing that HD programing is available here in our country.