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Another Review : What Hifi

tarbat — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 22:43:14 GMT

Quite a detailed review at https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/sky-glass

It performs well given its limitations. Sky should be particularly pleased with the balanced picture performance, which avoids the temptation of trying to dazzle and takes a far more subtle approach that is better suited to its abilities. That said, the smeary motion is bothersome, and the sound, while generally very good, lacks the dynamic range to be really exciting.

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

tarbat — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 22:46:50 GMT

Also worth noting the review was on a later version of software than currently deployed to customers TVs.

It's worth pointing out that the Sky Glass TV's picture quality could change a little over time. Indeed, this review is based on software version QS001.16, which was applied to our sample during testing and which alters brightness and contrast when compared with the launch software. This update will be pushed out to customer sets soon, but don't expect it to make a vast difference to picture quality.

And the review recommends using the AUTO picture setting.

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Urban+Splash — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 22:51:49 GMT

Zero credibility now. To give the picture a 4 is outrageous. Sponsored

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Joe-Bow — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 22:54:46 GMT

Yes, a very good, balanced, and comprehensive review.

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Urban+Splash — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 22:56:07 GMT

Hahahahhahahahahahaha

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Joe-Bow — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 22:56:55 GMT

@Urban+Splash Thanks for that. Care to explain?

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

tarbat — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 22:58:58 GMT

@Urban+Splash wrote:
Zero credibility now. To give the picture a 4 is outrageous. Sponsored

What I saw of my neighbours Glass TV before she returned it was a good, natural looking picture in SDR. Maybe not enough "punch" for some viewers, but in my opinion the SDR picture is pretty good.

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Urban+Splash — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 23:00:48 GMT

It performs well given its limitations

This should say it all. An ambiguous statement. Why should it have limitations? Are customers expecting limitations?

It's a budget panel for not budget price. Happy to call them out on this

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Joe-Bow — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 00:34:07 GMT

@Urban+Splash The numbers mean nothing in reality.

Reading and comprehending the reviewers remarks tend to give you more detailed information than just the number 4 in a summary.

Give people the credit for making up their own mind by actually reading the review rather than constantly imparting your own disappointment with Glass.

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Urban+Splash — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 23:03:21 GMT

I did read the review. It's not accurate regarding picture quality. Simple as that. I can't image anyone can think the picture is acceptable when watching HDR

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Joe-Bow — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 23:11:24 GMT

@Urban+Splash And nowhere does it say it is. In fact it says it performs best in SDR:

Then goes on to give some more accurate detail:

So I'd say it's pretty balanced.

Also don't forget they have a different firmware with image updates. It won't make the panel equivale to a £3k OLED, but until we see the improvements, this reviewer is in a better position than us to judge.

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Urban+Splash — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 23:14:01 GMT

It's all just opinions. All valid.

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Jayboy1990 — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 23:19:59 GMT

It's frustrating that sky have issues reviewers with a future OS version to use as a review base. Unless it's in the wild and available they shouldn't be allowed to use these versions. Especially when sales are made off the back off these reviews and opinions expressed about features we don't have.

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Chrisee — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 07:00:11 GMT

@Urban+Splash of course they are but people reading them need to reflect on the experience and knowledge of the person expressing that opinion. I am not a fan of What Hifi myself but reading the whole review I think it is fair and does stress the fact they are judging it at its price point. You can of course get better TVs I am fortunate to own one, a LG OLED, but it cost almost double the price of the Glass and guess what it has a better picture what a surprise!.

I spent quite a bit of time viewing my own Glass TV in a variety of lighting conditions over the last few days and think the review reflects my own conclusion that the picture is a good compromise. Given the number of complaints that the picture lacks punch and is "too soft" in the forum maybe Sky are trying to hard to get the neutral image professionals favour over a retina burning one many customers want?

As @Jayboy1990 points out it would help if we had the same firmware as the reviewer.

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Urban+Splash — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 07:39:56 GMT

There shouldn't be any compromises though. There is a feeling of 'it's ok for the price point', but this simply isn't the case. Glass isn't 'cheap'. It's a premium price, going again serious competition. Appreciate OLED is a step up in price and quality, but glass is a budget panel. Look at the uniformity issues. Its acknowledged poor hdr performance. Not acceptable on a £1000 tv. In my view people seem to put up with it because it's Sky. Of course that's up to you. However, given its limitations and quality issues, I can't see how what hifi can score it so highly. It's misleading. What hifi need to come clean on £ etc. because I don't believe it's impartial. Can't even see who wrote the 'review'.

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Joe-Bow — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 08:51:44 GMT

@Urban+Splash It's not exactly just a £1000 TV as there are three options. "Tested at £849" plus all the other prices for the different sizes are mentioned, from £649 to £1049.

You're effectively paying for the TV, Atmos Soundbar and Sky hardware in one unit, so as far as a total price goes it's a probably pretty reasonable price all things considered at first launch.

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

TimmyBGood — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 10:17:29 GMT

@Urban+Splash

"So, now we're all set up, how is the picture performance? In short, it's good, as long as you have got your expectations in check. Pay too much heed to Sky's promotional material and you might start thinking that Sky Glass offers a flagship TV performance – the kind that you would expect from an OLED or top Samsung QLED . But that's marketing for you, and expectations really ought to be calibrated to the price.

Let's remember that you are essentially getting a TV and a Dolby Atmos soundbar in one package that, in the case of our 'Medium' review sample, costs just £849. Consider that the cheapest Dolby Atmos soundbar we recommend (the four-star Sony HT-G700 ) is £299 and you are leaving just £550 for the TV. That's not a lot of money for a 55-inch TV of any kind, and a long way short of OLED money.

These are rough figures, of course, and we're not saying that the Sky Glass sound system is necessarily 'worth' £299; but they broadly represent the costs that would be involved in buying a TV and Dolby Atmos soundbar separately, and they help to set expectations."

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 10:22:29 GMT

@Urban+Splash wrote:
It performs well given its limitations

This should say it all. An ambiguous statement. Why should it have limitations? Are customers expecting limitations?

It's a budget panel for not budget price. Happy to call them out on this

That's not ambiguous at all, all TV's are built to a certain price point and Glss complicates this with having the soundbar and Sky built in. They apportion £299 to the soundbar (I'd lower it myself to £199 value) leaving a £550 TV still with Sky built in. That's the level they're comparing it too, so is a fair enough rating. The way you seem to be looking at is that only very expensive TV's would get 5 stars and anything budget would be zero. That's not how their reviews work.

As for testing with software that's not released yet, as long as it will be with customers very shortly then I can't see any issues myself. I did note that Apple TV is on theirs now.

Of more concern given how much sport Sky have and actively promote is the 'smeary motion' comments. As that's mostly down to hardware processing(?), that would raise some serious red flags for sports lovers (not to mention fast paced movies?).

Overall I'd say it's a fair review by all accounts.

Re: Another Review : What Hifi

Joe-Bow — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 10:27:06 GMT

@Anonymous I have noticed that the grass on the sport in particular looks pretty bad on the Sky channels, even in UHD. Even worse is was the picture for the Spurs v Arsenal women's game on BBC . I know BBC uses a terrible bitrate and, IMHO, substandard encoders, but even by their low standards the picture was abysmal, but if the source is bad nothing can makeup for that lost detail.