KEY POINTS:
Our home is crammed full tech waiting to be reviewed, most of which my ever-patient wife is itching to get rid of. The one bit piece of gadgetary she won't live without, however, is our MySky box.
Not only has it totally changed the way we watch TV pre-MySky, it's also achieved the impossible by restoring domestic harmony in our lounge.
TV viewing was once a tricky process. My wife would want to watch DIY house and garden makeovers, whilst I focused on more intellectual shows such as When Mythbusters Explode.
These minor differences in viewing tastes in turn led to debate (and my wife usually getting to watch her shows). MySky's dual tuners and hard drive combo, however, meant we could record two channels whilst playing a third show we'd already recorded.
As amazing a marital transformation our MySky box was, it did have some shortcomings. Analogue-only standard-definition video output might have been fine for our old school tube telly, but after upgrading to an HD-capable LCD TV, video began to look pixelated and positively creaky.
While the original MySky's 160Gb hard disk may have had more data storage capacity than was used for NASA's entire moon landing programme, that didn't help matters when my wife's recordings of World's Worst Home Renovations filled it up. Compounding matters, Shuttling between rewind, pause and play also felt like driving a bus rather than something sportier.
Bearing these gripes in mind, I got Sky's new HD box installed to see if these issues had finally been sorted. MySky HDi has resolved most of these problems and, thanks to several planned upgrades, it also looks set to take video-spud kind to a totally new level of TV viewing.
Although it uses the same remote as the previous MySky box, the HDi interface has been subtly tweaked. The bulk of the changes are largely cosmetic, which isn't a bad thing for existing MySky users as there's no steep learning curve involved.
Those new to MySky HDi are also likely to find its interface pretty intuitive. Menu systems also appear to be a lot more responsive, but playback, recording and pausing are now positively zippy.
The big difference with MySky HDi is that it offers HDMI connectivity along with all the usual analogue video outputs. MySky HDI's HD channels (which include Sky Movies, Sky Sports which can be purchased for an extra $10 per month, plus TV 3) and the quality of the same channels on our old MySky box is night and day.
Blurred and pixelated TV shows are gone and have been replaced with crispy sharp content that shows really shows off HD.
The MySky HDi box can also be set to upscale standard definition output to 720p or 1080i, significantly improving non-HD TV shows in the process. Dolby Digital audio is also available for home theatre buffs and can really help bring movies to life.
As nice as HD TV shows are, they also consume storage space like its going out of fashion. To this end, MySky HDi has been fitted with a bigger and much roomier 320Gb hard drive, so you can double your recording pleasure.
Where the original MySky resolved our domestic viewing conundrums thanks to it's twin tuners, MySky HDi has taken things a step further, packing an impressive four tuners so (only three tuners are enabled for recording and viewing, with the fourth tuner reserved for downloading the electronic programme guide) you can record three shows whilst watching a fourth.
Last (but by no means least) MySky HDi also incorporates some serious future-proofing. Although Sky have yet to officially comment, An Ethernet network port on the back of the box could, in theory, be used to download on-demand video content over a broadband connection.
Equally nifty are the E-SATA and USB ports tucked away behind the box's front panel flap. Sky have yet to hint at their functionality, but I'd be willing to wager that both these could be used to add external hard drive storage capacity
Verdict
MySKy HDi is more of an evolutionary improvement than just an upgrade to its non-HDMI sibling. HD video, proper surround audio and what appears to be some serious future-proofing makes buying MySky HDi a definite no-brainer.
Sky's introduction of a more palatable $15 per month rental scheme alongside their steep $599 leasing fee (plus HD content charges) sweetens the pot.
