Upgrade Sky+ box to Sky Q ?

Is the future actually better?

Sky are offering me a “free upgrade” to my Sky + box  , but is it actually a better receiver?

Nothing is free is it?

This doesn’t help but I ditched Sky years ago – -one of my better decisions!

But no,nothing is free, I bet the new box comes with a new contract which will go up in prices.

Apparently they are stopping supporting the software on the older boxes so they may become a bit clunky to use.

Sky+ box has always been clunky to use. But it’s better than the alternative… Well, it is when you’re a stuck in your ways old fuddy duddy like what I is.

We upgraded years ago. The Q has more features and links up better with apps + streaming services. If you have additional boxes they connect via Wi-Fi so no need for extra cables. One negative if that you don’t own the box so have to send it back if you cancel the contract.

We’re just about to pack Sky in though as prices have gone daft and the deals nowhere near as good as they used to be. Virgin offering virtually the same for almost half the price.

The sky Q UI is nice, don’t know how it compares to sky+.

I was going to cancel sky due to the ever increasing cost, they didn’t offer me anything decent to stay so after 30 days, it went off. Found out at that point that the Q box also acts as a WiFi booster, so then discovered we no longer had coverage all round the house, it was a right ball ache.

Phoned Sky, they said this happens all the time, how about we make your monthly payment £40 for TV and super fast broadband. Took the offer, makes life easy!

Do not go near the Sky Stream/Puck – it’s useless. Good picture though when it works.

I cant remember using a sky+ box and can only just remember what the remote looks like, but, I have sky Q and like the box, its display menus, can record lots of things and supports app such as Netflix, Amazon, etc. I really like the remote and the voice assistant mainly works.

I did sample replacing my Sky set up with a Firestick or Apple TV, but it just didnt feel right.

The sky Q UI is nice, don’t know how it compares to sky+.

I found some parts of it better, some worse.  But soon after dumped Sky for a Freesat box which we now basically only use for Channel 4 news and the TdF.  Everything else is streamed via an AppleTV (including a NowTV subscription to stream Sky content when theres something on we want to watch).

The only disadvantage to streaming is you can’t skip adverts – that’s basically the only reason to record anything now.

Do not go near the Sky Stream/Puck – it’s useless. Good picture though when it works.

We haven’t had any issues with ours (x2) in almost a year of using them. Have you checked for updates?

Prices must be going up to support these “free” boxes!

We are on a pretty basic package , the cheapest with Eurosport.

Its becoming weird if you miss a XC world cup for example and you download it from catch up you only get like half a program!

So you miss the end , its done it a few times now on sports stuff.   I put it down to  Discovery+  not allowing replays?

I think its cos Eurosport randomly change their schedule (sometimes cos live sport overruns, stuff like that)

I put it down to  Discovery+  not allowing replays?

I use Discovery+ through my SmartTV.

Pretty much everything is available to replay. I can go back and watch the whole of the WEC season if I want to.

Recording Eurosport and hoping to get the full programme has been a hazard for years

We haven’t had any issues with ours (x2) in almost a year of using them. Have you checked for updates?

Yes of course.

Do not go near the Sky Stream/Puck – it’s useless. Good picture though when it works.

I moved a few months ago from Sky Q to Sky Stream and the pucks are better in every way. Much quicker to navigate, better user experience, quicker to boot up and most importantly, I’m paying a fraction of what I was with Sky Q and packages are available on a rolling basis with Stream which they weren’t with Q, so if I want to add movies at xmas, or sport for a particular month, I can do that and not be tied into a 12 month+ contract, with the price for those packages going up during that 12 month period. 3 pucks around the house and they’ve been faultless and they can all do UHD and Atmos, whereas only the main Sky Q boxes have that capability, whereas the mini boxes they use for multi room dont have that functionality

There are different versions of the Q box. Some support UHD and some don’t. The ones which don’t support UHD also don’t support Atmos audio or HDR or any of the other modern stuff.  So not only can you not watch Sky in 4k (that you have to pay through the nose for anyway), you also can’t watch UHD content via streaming on any of the apps in the box. If youvegot Disney+ for example and sign into it on the Q box, your stuck at HD resolution.

The posher Q box does all that stuff though but its worth checking which one they’re offering you for ‘free’.

I say ‘free’ because next year at renewal time, they’ll likely double what you pay.

The Sky Q remote has a hard plastic, rounded back, so smooth it slides off everything.

Even the floor that it slid onto. A real PITA

Have Sky Steam now, previously Q. I can see why lots of people don’t like Stream, but the benefits in picture quality (mainly on the second screen) just about outweigh the negatives for me. The main negative being just how underpowered the processor is in the boxes – app launch time and laginess in general is bad, particularly if you are used to a decent TV or an Apple TV.

Possible worth noting that, as of about a week ago, 4K HDR is available on NowTV, which will be a cheaper route to get Sky channels at decent quality now.

app launch time and laginess in general is bad

Hmm. With the exception of the Discovery Plus app, which is brutally slow and clunky, every other app loads instantly for me and runs quickly once open. Shockingly quick actually. Either using the voice control or navigating to it in the menus

Hmm. With the exception of the Discovery Plus app, which is brutally slow and clunky, every other app loads instantly for me and runs quickly once open. Shockingly quick actually. Either using the voice control or navigating to it in the menus

Interesting. It’s notably less responsive than my Q box in general usage. iPlayer would be an example of an app who’s first launch takes forever compared to my LG TV or Apple TV. My understanding is that Sky’s approach is to essentially run all apps off the server rather than on the box, and therefore they decided the on-board processing requirements were minimal, which is why the hardware is so underpowered. My Stream boxes are hardwired to my router which is feeding it a 1Gbps connection with single figure latency, so it’s not my internet that’s the rate limiting step.

Slightly off topic maybe for the OP but I have had Sky Stream since Christmas and it has been great, no speed issues and advert skipping makes on demand TV so much better