As HD Notebook has reported for several months, the European DBS firm BSkyB soon will launch its HD services in Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe. The satellite service has given a few new details to the Digital Spy Web site in the UK, through an in-depth interview with an unnamed Sky executive. Some of the exec's observations include:
• Sky has not made a final decision on which of its HD channels will use which formats, but "the general consensus" is that movies look better in 1080i and sports looks better in 720p.
• Each Sky HD channel will use one format or the other; they won't be switching back and forth between programs.
• All HD material will be in 50Hz, including live telecasts from the U.S., which will be converted and encoded in MPEG-4 by Sky.
• The Sky One HD channel will simulcast the main Sky One channel. While some programs will be in true HD and some apparently will be up-converted (which means it will not, technically, be HD), true HD material will be noted with a voiceover and logo at the beginning of each program. HD programming also will be noted in the EPG with the "info" button.
• Sky Sports HD will contain a mix of the four regular Sky Sports channels to maximizing HD content.
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