KEY POINTS:
The fruits of more than $65 million of investment in digital TV production will be on show for viewers from early July, when pay TV operator Sky launches its new high-definition satellite service and a successor to the MySky digital recorder.
Sky will broadcast Sky Sport 1 and
Sky Sport 2, Sky Movies and Sky Movies Greats in high-definition, allowing subscribers with Sky's new MySky HD set-top box and a high-definition TV screen to receive a better quality picture than DVD and surround sound on those channels.
Sky has not yet released pricing details for the MySky HD receiver which is needed to receive the service. Sky spokesman Tony O'Brien said it will be offered on the same terms of contract as the existing MySky box and that a "compelling arrangement" would be on offer for existing MySky users looking to upgrade.
For an upfront fee of $600, current MySky users rent a receiver and hard drive recorder from Sky but never actually own the box. Sky reclaims it if a subscription is cancelled. Sky has more than 720,000 subscribers, but only 31,000 are MySky users.
A major revamp of the MySky box by set-top box maker Pace has seen little change to the look of it but its components have been updated to allow for pictures to be displayed in 720p and 1080i high-definition formats.
"Black is the new silver," said Sky's strategic project specialist, Wayne Tibby, of the new black box.
The digital recorder's 320GB hard drive allows around 30 hours of recording of high-definition content or 90 hours of standard-quality TV. It will have four TV tuners, allowing three channels to be recorded simultaneously while another is being viewed.
But O'Brien said that function would come a few months after the July launch as a major software upgrade was needed to increase the TV tuner capability. In the meantime, MySky HD converts will be able to record while they view another channel.
The electronic programming guide has been revamped and features allowing viewers to pause live TV, skip through adverts and reverse and fast-forward through programmes are still key features.
A remote booking service allowing subscribers to schedule recordings via a web browser while away from the home would also debut after the launch, and later in the year scheduling recordings via text message from a mobile phone would be possible.
MySky HD users will need to have a high-definition TV screen that's compatible with HDCP (high-definition digital content protection), a standard the consumer electronics industry introduced to crack down on content piracy.
"Pretty much any high-definition TVs in the shops sold in the last two to three years will meet requirements," said Tibby.
Sky will broadcast several hundred hours of high-definition sports content each month to MySky HD users and O'Brien said two-thirds of movies would be HD, with the proportion quickly increasing to 90 per cent.
The high-definition content coming via satellite from international sources and from local broadcast units is fed into a new high-definition production and editing suite built at Sky's Ellerslie headquarters.
MySky HD was developed in conjunction with Sky's Australian sister company Foxtel, which will sell the same box under the iQ2 banner. But that's where the co-operation ends.
O'Brien said the New Zealand high-definition launch was not timed to coincide with Foxtel's Australian HD launch and while Foxtel will broadcast the BBC, Discovery Channel and National Geographic in high-definition, Sky has not indicated it will do likewise.
Freeview claimed the title of being the country's first high-definition broadcaster when in April it began a high-definition service beamed from broadcast towers throughout the country.
Freeview general manager Steve Browning declined to reveal how many people had purchased the high-definition receiver needed to receive the free-to-air service.
Four TV makers had HD TV screens with integrated tuners capable of receiving the Freeview HD service in "various stages of the certification process", said Browning.
BRAVE NEW WORLD
* MySky HD will debut in early July and is needed to receive HD content broadcast on SKY Sport 1 and SKY Sport 2, SKY Movies and SKY Movies Greats.
* The digital recorder will have a 320GB hard drive, four tuners for simultaneous recording of channels, an HDMI connection and an ethernet connection for a possible video on demand service over broadband.
* Sky subscribers will rent the MySky HD box from Sky.
