Sky Glass

We need a new telly and being a long time Sky prisoner I have been looking at Sky Glass.

Has anyone got any first hand experience with it – particularly against Sky Q? My only concerns initially are losing the recording programmes feature and the picture quality.

Cheers

I don’t really understand why they’ve brought it out (OK I do – it’s to get revenue quickly as they can bundle in hardware). I wish they’d have just done a premium version of Now TV (4K and more content) as I’d have switched from Sky Q in a flash – but I guess that’s their concern. So instead of making a decent streaming service they made a half-way house and force you to buy a mediocre TV to use it. Meh.

The best thing that can happen to Sky Glass is that it’s a dismal failure so they pull it after a year and do a better job with Now TV instead – so please don’t buy it :p

Run for the hills

Why would you want everything bundled into your TV, I thought SMART TVs had generally been discredited as the apps can be limited in function and availability as well as losing support. I’ve heard the TV is poor as well. This is just SKY waking up to streaming and missing the point.

We have it and it’s brilliant. I don’t know why people think it’s a mediocre TV, it’s not- it’s really very good. Really good picture and the sound is immense for a built in speaker solution.

If you’re already very much in Murdoch’s pocket then I think it’s the way forward. No contracts (other than the credit agreement for the TV), pick and choose services as and when you want them, cheaper than Sky Q and no annual dance around the bushes when contract renewal comes up.

We have the 55″ and it feels the right size. The 42″ is too small and 65″ way to big for us.

And having less boxes etc is a good thing imo. No need for any extra boxes, dongles or anything else.

Downsides – The UI is a bit clunky still but improving all the time and the lack of ability to record takes a bit of adjusting to.

Further, yes there are better TVs out there for the same money it terms of pure picture quality but as I say, if you’re already deep in the Sky ecosystem then what it does makes it worthwhile I think.

An average TV, locked into Sky and offers no benefits. Can’t see why you would get one.

Half the content on Sky is streamed already isn’t it?

No contracts (other than the credit agreement for the TV),

😂

@robola. Not sure what the emoji is for. With Sky Glass you have no contracts with Sky. You can cancel any part of the TV packages at any time with 30 days notice. You do not have annual contracts even for the base service.

Don’t want it for a few months just stop it and use the built in Freeview tuner or watch YouTube, Netflix etc.

You don’t even have to buy the TV on credit, you can just buy it outright off course so then you’d have no contracts at all

You would be bonkers to buy it if you weren’t going to use Sky services. And if you weren’t paying for the TV monthly you could get a cheaper TV elsewhere. Contract by stealth. If you like it and Sky content then fair enough.

But sky say this, i’m not sure about not being able to record, but i’m sure we will see more streaming only services.

I’m going to cancel sky, i’ve already got a freeview recorder and i’m going to add a few streaming services.

Sky Glass requires Sky Ultimate TV (includes Netflix) at £26 a month extra, including Sky Exclusives and Sky Originals. Plus a fantastic range you won’t find on Freeview.

Fast forward ads included free for 12 months, then £5 a month to keep or simply remove it. All Sky TV packs have a 31 day contract.

but now seen this so you can.
https://www.sky.com/help/articles/sky-glass-without-a-subscription

And having less boxes etc is a good thing imo. No need for any extra boxes, dongles or anything else.

The extra bits & pieces are either updated regularly (if very expensive) or cheaply replaceable if an update is not possible. TV’s tend to lose support after a couple of years and the circus moves on leaving an expensive screen that will no longer play the latest channels.

@Sandwich – our Samsung TV is 5 yo and still receives updates and all the apps still work just fine.

Smart TVs have also evolved to the extent they are much easier for devs to update. I have no concerns that the TV won’t be good for at least 5-6 years.

Given Sky Glass is essentially a streaming device with a screen glued on I see no reason it will not always be able to receive all the Sky channels and should YouTube support etc cease then I can still plug a Chromecast, Apple TV box or whatever into it and carry on using these services as well. Not that I see such support being dropped.

It will always be usable as a TV accordingly.

As an aside, can you even buy a non- smart TV these days?

My curved screen Samsung is over 5 years old now and I regularly watch Netflix-Amazon and YouTube etc on it without issue.

Exactly. Early smart tvs were a bit of a nightmare but these days the apps and firmware are stable and easily updated when needed.

Don’t forget as well Sky regularly push updates to their satellite boxes as well. Sky Q in particular still receives new features and UI updates.

Building a device with updating very much as part of the design ethos is not new for them. Further they need to keep subscribers and dissing them over by making kit obsolete isn’t going to do that.

Are you saying that monthly charge never goes up? I’ll see it when I believe it, Sky stealth increases are their revenue increase modus operandum.

I’d be quite up for this if so, Sky everything package has gone from £78 to £97 with no input from us (Q Box), and I’m about to go through the oh so complicated bill breakdown for an annual review.

My riding buddy is a Sky installer, and i asked him this question over Christmas.

He said the Hardware is a ‘Supermarket TV’ made by TPV with the streaming hardware/firmware embedded inside.
He said if you want a method of paying for a big TV monthly then it sort of makes sense, but there are no other real benefits over SkyQ

but there are no other real benefits over SkyQ

At the moment at least it is cheaper than Sky Q. Even after our negotiated retention discount all the channels we had plus the cost of the TV works out cheaper than just our Sky Q package. Plus there’s no annual contract which is a big plus for me.

Also I’d put the quality of the TV above a supermarket special. It is at least a QLED panel, the speakers are way way above a cheap TV and the enclosure is a really nice metal as opposed to cheap plastic. In fact the sound is possibly the best in-built sound I’ve heard yet. No need for a sound bar at all.

I’d say it’s closer to a mid range Sammie or LG – for the 55” size something around the £500-600 mark rather than a £250 Blaupunkt or whatever Tesco sells.

I’ll happily admit £ for £ there are better TVs in terms of outright picture quality/panel but yes, your friend hits in on the head. If you are married to Sky and want a decent enough new TV paid monthly it does make sense.

@Kryton57 – whether the monthly subs creep up. Who knows at this stage but they have to keep it competitive otherwise I’ll just cancel the services. As I say it’s 30 days notice just to switch off the subs should they reach a point of being overpriced.

The TV has Freeview built in and a standard aerial socket to receive it on and 3 HDMI ports so it’ll still function as a TV – albeit yes, without the benefits of the Glass bit a little overpriced.