topic Re: Sky stream Puck 2 in Sky Stream

Sky stream Puck 2

Super+Anthony — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:20:37 GMT

Wonder if Sky will also be bringing out a more equipped Steam Puck just like they have with Glass

Please do not move this to Glass forum as it's not for this but to stay here 😀

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:24:59 GMT

If they do, I suspect it will be a small change with a different SOC for the next production run.

I don't think there'll be any promotion around it or upgrades to it unless there's a fundamental change, which seems unlikely and unnecessary at this point.

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

mikealanr — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:58:55 GMT

I dont think so. I would have expected it to be announced with the Glass announcement if they were.

MikeAlanR

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

Chrisee — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:07:18 GMT

@Super+Anthony nothing briefed by Sky but as others have mentioned there is no need for any changes to the pucks as they operate as thin clients with most of the heavy lifting being done on the servers.

You may have noticed that you never have to update apps unlike smart TVs and other streaming devices? This because apart from a minimal loading application the app is running remotely. This is great approach but dies require a stable feed of data while bandwidth required is not great (anything over 35Mb/s is wasted) regularity is vital.

Home networks vary and people confuse speed to their router as meaning their WiFi is going to be also great. As someone with a good few years experience with WiFi networks that is simply not necessarily true. Jitter, the measurement of data regularity, needs to be low which in many homes is problematic due to interference from neighbours' WiFi networks and their own electrical kit. Given a stable feed the pucks are very reliable in my experience.

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

ChrisEB — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:32:50 GMT

This may be relevant. Had an email from Sky to say my puck's OS is being "upgraded" to Sky OS (from Entertainment OS) and that's the "new" OS on Sky Glass 2.

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

mikealanr — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:39:32 GMT

@ChrisEB

Afraid you have been had by Sky marketing. Sky OS is the new name for Entertainment OS which all pucks and gen 1 and 2 Glass is running. However they are releasing new features as per the email sent over the weekend.

MikeAlanR

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

ThePotterFan — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:54:51 GMT

I was hoping for a upgraded puck as well, for lots of reasons i think it could be snappier and less buggy and maybe stop the sound cutting out every so often mostly on dolby atmos.

So in thoery could upgrades server side fix most these issues? also the same way could they introduce invidiual profiles like whats coming to now tv in feb the same way server side? If so I do hope they do that, i thought we would need a new puck for such upgrades.

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

Super+Anthony — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:19:52 GMT

I agree @ThePotterFan the puck needs massive updating so to reduce the constant issues and that it's nothing to do with our ISP or networks. The issues are still that the puck can't cope with the fast streaming needed

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

Ellie_TV — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:20:47 GMT

@Chrisee

I would agree that the current pucks can be reliable if fed with a stable network connection. I've never really had the buffering issues reported by others on here. Lip sync is another matter though - it still remains somewhat random.

One thing I'd disagree on however is the remote approach to app hosting. I don't think it's great at all really, and only serves to slow down the app launching process and opens the system up to problems which are clearly still occurring for some customers.

Your statement about never having to update apps "unlike smart TVs and other streaming devices" isn't correct.

I've been trying out various alternative streaming devices over the past few months in view to potentially cancelling Sky Stream and I can state with good authority that you do not need to manually update apps on Amazon Firesticks or TVs running FireTV OS, Roku Streaming Sticks, Apple TV 4K running tvOS, TVs or streaming boxes running Android TV or Google TV, or on Samsung TVs running Tizen OS.

All of these devices automatically check for app updates periodically and will install them in the background without any user interaction necessary, the same as with SkyOS on Stream pucks and Glass TVs, but just done internally on the device, rather than on a server based app.

Automatic app updates are turned on by default on most devices so the user doesn't have to do anything. You can still manually check for updates yourself and apply them if you want to, but it's not essential, apps will update by themselves.

As much as I like the idea of Sky Stream, I am becoming more and more irritated by its foibles and finding that its USP - the aggregation of content from multiple sources, live channel streams, voice control and playlists are either not of any use to us any more or are available on other devices with locally stored apps and fewer glitches.

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

Super+Anthony — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:20:55 GMT

@mikealanr I haven't received the email, any chance we can put the details on here? I am signed up to receive them but don't seem to get them

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

ChrisEB — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:46:32 GMT

https://m.email.contact.sky/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%40SU2WrxF2CioMdfJardLbSXkfxyOdMJ%2BKPB0CdL7ijHk%3D is my link.

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

mikealanr — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:57:52 GMT

Hi @Super+Anthony

You keep saying this ignoring posts where people like me are saying we don't have any issues. How do you know it's not your ISP? It may be an issue on backhaul that doesn't affect day to day use, but does impact the puck. It could be the CDN you are connected to, depending on location in the UK.

I agree some users are having issues, and this needs investigating, but don't see how you can assert it's the hardware, just based on your experience. I am amung the many that don't have any issues... Out of interest why do you think it's the hardware? Rather than the software? The puck is a thin client and in theory actually does very little.

Re the email @ChrisEB has beaten me to it.

MikeAlanR

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

Super+Anthony — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:23:42 GMT

Nothing to do with the ISP as I have had it checked several times by them, and if there are issues, it would affect my other gadgets and machines, but they all work fine and by speeds are 500MBps

Issues are with a puck that is not sufficient and can't cope with high speeds required

@ChrisEB thank you so much for the link, very helpful

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 14:02:42 GMT

@Super+Anthony wrote:
Nothing to do with the ISP as I have had it checked several times by them, and if there are issues, it would affect my other gadgets and machines, but they all work fine and by speeds are 500MBps

Issues are with a puck that is not sufficient and can't cope with high speeds required

@ChrisEB thank you so much for the link, very helpful

It makes perfect sense why you'd susppect it being a hardware issue and I'm not denying your experience with it. The problem is that many of us have the exact same hardware that work well, so that means it's important to consider

Environmental factors: Things like network congestion, interference, or home setup can impact performance in ways that might not be immediately obvious. Your ISP might be reporting all is well but there could be an internal home issue, also other devices might be less demanding or more tolerant of these types of issues.
Software or firmware issues: Bugs or inconsistencies in updates can cause specific problems for certain users but not others - the one that comes to mind for me is the lip sync issue. That's a software issue because it seems to only affect Sky channels (live, on-demand) but not the apps. Other apps manage fine, so the hardware works fine, so that speaks to an issue either on the software or Sky's infrasturcture - not the hardware itself.
Server-side differences: Your account might be linked to a particular server that behaves differently from others, which I have no evidence of, but seems plausible.

And to be honest, there could be differences in expectation here. Ours might be behaving exactly the same, but your expectation of it might be higher than mine.

All this to say, and I think what @mikealanr is trying to say is that I don't think this is a clear cut "hardware is bad" issue because if it was it would be reproducable.

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

MarkGoldsmith — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 14:04:19 GMT

@Super+Anthony wrote:
and if there are issues, it would affect my other gadgets and machines,

As has been mentioned in replies to your numerous posts on this point this simply isn't the case.

Practically all of your other internet enabled devices don't work in the same way that the sky stream puck works as these devices typically won't be thin clients,.

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

Mark39 — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 14:24:57 GMT

@Super+Anthony wrote:

Issues are with a puck that is not sufficient and can't cope with high speeds required

That's just speculation. There's no evidence to support that at all.

Indeed the evidence is that it's not a Puck issue as others with the same hardware don't have the issues that you're experiencing (I'm not doubting you're having a number of problems).

We'll have to wait for Sky to get to the bottom of it (or you could doubtless cancel).

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

Super+Anthony — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 14:27:10 GMT

It has been mentioned by folks, including engineers who work at Sky have said there are still issues with the puck and Sky have also told me the same but apparently can't put a time frame on it to fix and update. My question to Sky, why bring out things just to rush it out as they know they need to compete with others.

Again I will say it's a great product but needs updating

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

ThePotterFan — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 14:36:56 GMT

Just out of curosity the fact they launching sky stream 2 and no updates as such for sky stream puck users, which is the larger of the customer base i would assume there are many more puck users than glass customers do we know which is the larger?

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

Mark39 — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 14:41:16 GMT

I doubt there will be a Puck Gen2 for the foreseeable. I'd make the same assumption on numbers as you.

Re: Sky stream Puck 2

Super+Anthony — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 14:43:38 GMT

@ThePotterFan My guess is more steam then glass simply cause many of us already have decent TV's, probably better than Glass. Also there was a lot of negative vibes when Sky brought out Glass and they quickly realised it was a disaster, hence why Stream was quickly brought out