In Praise of Sky.
Posted by: tonym on 11 May 2013
Time to heap some more praise on Sky. Although the Sky HD and + boxes can decode Dolby D surround, this was not previously obtainable through the HDMI connection and had to be picked up via the optical digital output. Now, Sky have updated the firmware to allow the sound to be output via the HDMI output.
Excellent, but even better is that the optical connection still outputs, and both audio options can be configured for Dolby D or stereo (or mono if the fancy takes you). This has a couple of advantages for me; I use the box in a couple of locations (the viewing card's paired to the box so you can't use it in another box without faffing about re-registering it with Sky, and I ain't gonna fork out for another subscription) and here I feed the sound into an Anthem surround processor, so I can set the TV sound up for Dolby D via the HDMI feed, and stereo through the optical feed. The latter is ideal for listening to the radio broadcasts via satellite. I'm not sure how this stacks up quality-wise against internet radio but it definitely sounds better to my ears.
Using the box in the second location I feed the optical output into my DAC/ passive digital preamp for stereo through the main speakers and it now saves having to change the optical sound output setting.
Sky have also considerably reduced the power the box uses on standby. Good stuff!
My box originally did not have this feature but thankfully they have just updated the box so I can now also take advantage of the DD output via HDMI 
At last!! Thanks for the info Tony, worth knowing. About blinking time considering how much you guys pay for the service...
As for heaping praise, nahh - contempt is the best I can muster, but I do love the latest Sky advert with Al Pacino in it!
Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.
I'd like to detest them Frank, but their system's so bl**dy good...
...and there's more! The latest boxes are going to have wi-fi built in (just ethernet connection at the moment), which makes it even easier to use their quite superb iPad app. for controlling all aspects of the box. Oh, and me being on an incredibly slow internet connection, the addition of iPlayer allows me to download missed programs to the HD, in high-def, to watch later. Damn, they're Good! 
I'd like to detest them Frank, but their system's so bl**dy good...
...and there's more! The latest boxes are going to have wi-fi built in (just ethernet connection at the moment), which makes it even easier to use their quite superb iPad app. for controlling all aspects of the box. Oh, and me being on an incredibly slow internet connection, the addition of iPlayer allows me to download missed programs to the HD, in high-def, to watch later. Damn, they're Good!
The Virgin Tv box is pretty good. It can be controlled with the iPhone via their own app. Allows you delete and record programmes by bringing up the same menus that you see on the tv display. Works away from home too - which came in handy yesterday as i was visiting the folks and realised i had forgot to record the football, so set the recording from there and watched it when i got back.
Tech can amaze you at times. 