The real HD Broadcast has just arrived in India (full time). You may already be seeing few HD channels now but HD is no HD until you see sports in HD. There’s a huge difference between seeing soaps and cinema in HD than to see real, live, fast moving sporting action. Starting today, 19 July 2011, ESPN Star network, the leading sports content provider in the country, will begin delivering their content in full HD (1080p).
The reason I said ‘full time’ is because Sony Max has recently broadcast the IPL in HD but that was just limited to IPL. But from today, both ESPN and Star Cricket channels will have a HD feed (this apart from the normal SD feed). Star Sports is left out, for now, but will join the league very soon.
If you are a DTH user, Videocon D2H HD and Tata Sky HD should be the providers you must be heading to. While Videocon D2H will provide both ESPN and Star Cricket channels in HD, Tata Sky will only stream Star Cricket channel in HD, for now. If you are already using either of these DTH services, enjoy the 2 month long India England series in full HD (you may need to subscribe to the special HD packs)
It’s only a matter of time before other DTH operators conclude their talks with ESPN Star and start offering HD feeds since Sports in HD, as I said, is the real HD.
PS. Just as a note, you need to have a HD set top box and a full HDTV (‘HD ready’ TV’s are only half good) to get the best possible experience.
