I finally got my Telewest TVDrive fixed yesterday (the HDMI signal had died) and whilst my TVDrive was out of action the BBC HD and ITV HD channels had been added to the lineup. On the BBC HD channel there is a rolling demo of shows that will be broadcast, as well as a trailer for the World Cup 2006 HD broadcasts.
They have a clip of Michael Owen scoring against Brazil in 2002 (video below) and then a clip of Rooney doing some ball skills. The Michael Owen goal looks great but given that it is old content upscaled it doesn’t show off the full beauty of HD.
However the Rooney clips which is recorded in native HD look absolutely amazing and I can’t wait for the games to start as they should be the same quality. It was so good that both myself and the engineer, who hadn’t seen it before and was gutted because he can’t Sky HD installed in time, waited twice for the promo to roll around again.
Although HD has got off to a slow start in the UK with both Telewest and Sky experiencing problems, I really think the World Cup will give the service the kick-start that it desperately needs and will encourage more people to invest in upgrading their sets and set-top boxes. Although Sky HD users will only be able to watch half the games as ITV HD will not be available on Sky HD.
