F1 in High Definition - Our Guide

by Adam Milleneuve on Feb 2nd, 2011

Finally, after years of waiting, fans across the globe can get to enjoy their favourite sport in high definition thanks to the folk in charge actually agreeing to broadcast the HD feed.  If like Badger, you're based in the UK then you'll be doubly pleased to hear that this new television feed will be available via BBC HD and you can watch this channel over Freeview or Freesat.

How?

High Definition (or commonly referred to as simply HD) takes up a lot more bandwidth (capacity) than standard definition (SD) - i.e. there's more data to fit down the cables and because of the amount of data coming in, in this new form, you may need to purchase a new magic box in order to do anything with it.

There are number of ways to get F1 in HD.  First things first - you'll need an 'HD Ready' television set, chances are that if you bought a new one in the last couple of years, it will be HD ready, and if not, they aren't massively expensive - depending on how large you want to go.  In short without an HD telebox, you won't be able to watch F1 in HD.

Now, assuming you have the HD telly, you'll either need to have a box to receive the HD Freeview signal or if you're Sky user, upgrade to an SkyHD box/contract (if you already have SkyHD then you're sorted!  As for Freeview, just as when it first came out and you had to buy a little box, the same is true for Freeview HD, it's just you have to buy a HD version and these come in various guises from around £100 upwards.

Before you go and splash any cash on a Freeview HD box, check your area is covered - you can do this at Freeview.co.uk and if your area is covered, then you're free to go out and bag yourself an Freeview HD box, plug it in and rest that you're ready to enjoy F1 2011 in glorious high definition.

If your area is not covered, then all is not lost, because there's something called Freesat, which, like Sky telly, uses a satellite dish, but unlike Murdoch's empire there's no contract or monthly charge, just the one off cost of buying and installing it.  It's not tricky and there are various kits out there in your high street electronics shop (Maplin, PC World, Currys etc - even Homebase and co).  Once you have it setup then again, you're ready to enjoy F1 in HD.

Why?

If, like me, you weren't fussed by this High Definition lark - go and try it for yourself in a TV shop and you will see the benefit immediately.  For example, on a small (that's 20" these days) screen normal TV channels look fine.  If you then go to a 30" or larger screen you'll see that it's not that sharp almost VHS like.  Switch to an HD feed and the sharpness, clarity and colour will astound you.

Ok, so watching Eastenders in high definition may not add much to your enjoyment of Albert Square, but with things such as F1 and other sports and films it makes the whole experience just awesome.  With HD, you'll be able to see tyres wearing or blistering with ease and all the car's movements just look so much sharper.  Once you've seen your favourite sport in HD, you won't go back!

What do I need again?

To make it easier, here are a selection of items on sale at the ever popular online retailer, Amazon:

One more thing

If you're in the position of having to buy a new telly box, there's another option, which we've taken up here in the Sett at Badger HQ.  Simply, projection.  High Definition projectors have finally, in the last 12months become affordable and for the price of a 40" flat telly, you can have a 3 metre screen on your wall.  We have ours all setup here and it's glorious - onboard camera shots are actually larger than real life!

Questions

If we've missed something or you're still a little confused, you can ask any questions in the comments below and we'll help you out!