February 08, 2009

Mad Men returns to BBC HD

It was one of the unexpected highlights of 2008 and now it's back for a second series: AMC's Mad Men returns to BBC HD on Tuesday night at 10pm, repeated on Wednesday at 11.20pm. Can't recommend it highly enough: a brilliant Emmy-winning US import up there with the best of them.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is a message for Nialli,I recently email vm here is my email and reply.Dear Sir,
I am writing to inquire when we are likely to see the supposed HD Channels which were promised recently and with only a month to go before this is proven to be yet another false promise,I have had a V+ HD box (HD Box thats a joke) from day 1 when it was TV Drive and have had constant promises that HD Channels were coming.
12 months ago i paid the £100 to stop all other charges on the box(£10 per month,Which was a totally rip off) and was promised HD Channels were coming,Still waiting and am now feeling totally ripped off.£100 out of pocket and still nothing to show for it.
Now will Sky dropping price of HD Box yet again you lag further behind and what staggers me that all quiet from your end regarding a counter attack to combat this,Is it just plain ignorance on your part or just more proof that the VM have no interest in the tv side and consentrate on broadband only for if thats the case sell the tv side to a company who cares and is willing to invest for the customers and certainly listens to what the want.
You constant go on bragging about VOD i personlly dont use it,Dont need it and feel if you charge for it nobody would have it,They think its great because it free,I have already a Sky + box in my house from when you lost sky and am now so tempted to jump like the rest will.To be honest the only thing stopping me at moment is the £10 charge for the HD Mix,Proving yet again how greedy Sky are.
It proves yet again Sky put greed before customers,If they had used there head and left HD Box at £100 and scrapped the £10 charge then i would not hesitate .
I am Very saddened by the quietness and lack of interest from VM,When you took over from telewest i was very and happy and was looking forward to a cosy future.But now all i see is a bleak 1,Sky is like comparing to a colour tv and VM a b+w.
No doubt this email will never see Mr Berkett as he is not interested and probably wont even be read,I will be yet another one moaning about HD.Who knows i might even get a reply,Just please dont reply with yet more false promises just facts.
Just one last thing 12 Months ago promise of some CH4 hd programs still waiting,Is it gonna take that long to see ITV.

H.Saurin

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Actually I am interested!

As we have said we have initially invested in VOD and our broadband superiority. We will now start to invest in HD. Your greedy Sky will only allow us access to their HD though when we are successful through the courts.
This was was my response from neil berkett`s office.Notice no mention of the 4 HD Channels due

Alexei said...

Thats is most interesting! looks like nothing until it goes through the courts.

Anonymous said...

this is a message for H.Saurin,Nialli has an email address

Anonymous said...

its all very complex and not as straight forward as people think.
There are many things to consider.
1. infrastructure (the investment in broadband is actually all the infrastrucutre which allows for more HD channels.)
2. number of customers to get income to buy HD content
3. obtaining the channels with HD.

If you read the VM share holders meeting slides from early december, I think (there was a link on this site) you will see the rollout plan for HD. It is comming.

As for feeling ripped off. I have a Tivo from 1999 and a telewest tvdrive from about 2005 (i got on the pilot). I never viewed the TV drive as an HD service but instead like sky+, more like the tivo box to provide pause, record and season pass. if you look at it like this, its good value and the HD is a bonus.

re HD - there was an interesting article I read someone which says that HD is being waisted on most people. Playing on anything less than a 40inch screen is pointless.

Another article I read last year explained about HD content being produced in USA and a proportion,mostly stcoms and drama, are not in 1080 but is in 720. Whilst this is significantly etter than NTSC it is only marginally better than PAL. But I can't verify this perspective - is an interesing debate tho.

Finally I have sent three emails to people on the board at VM over the last 2 years and always recieved a polite and complete answer from them. On every point I have raised they have been honest and delivered what they committed to in the timescales they informed me of.

The world is changing and the fact that people use sky+; V+;Tivo;BT Vision; Apple TV; BBC iplayer etc which means they are not watching live, does mean VM are having to play a juggling act. They built a strategy to lead the way with VOD and got it wronge by being 2 years ahead of the time, but they are trying to compensate.

Whilst I get frustrated by them, the service is actually better than sky (imho)but they still haven't got live HD sorted and the acknowledge this and are working on it.

Anonymous said...

Ok Sky may or may not be evil, most large companies are, but they are not restricting access to HD. They have PAID for those channels in HD and thats what they get.

Most of the stuff you want to watch, eg lost, 24, prison break etc is filmed in the states in HD and sold to syndicate stations and yes, sold to the UK and other countries... Sky is willing to pay, Virgin is not.

Virgin are still clinging to the automated idea of the man in the back room putting whatever tape you want into the VCR. It wont cut it. VOD is lame,its nothing new either.

People want channels where they know at 9pm they can watch Jack Bauer save the world in 1080i and then pause it with their spiffy lock-up boxes. Thats what VM dont understand and dont care about understanding, they dont listen to their customers (evidence is loss of sky1,sky news etc and its return)

So, Virgin will get HD when they take their fingers out of messing up telewest and pull their wallets out and.. you got it.. pay for them.

As for 720p being the same as a PAL broadcast... HAHA HAHA HAHAHAHAHA, I suggest you do some reading first pal.. get it. Granted, its close but it is much more detailed than a PAL broadcast and can natively carry HD audio as well.
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