topic Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved?? in Sky Stream

Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

dormouse — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:14:20 GMT

I cancelled Stream about 18 months ago and have been happily using Now on an Apple TV. Saving quite a bit of money too. However, I'm missing the 'all in one place' Stream interface, so it is tempting to sign up again.

My main reason for cancelling was the frustrating reboots which seemd to be needed every week. We used apps a lot and after a few days one would freeze, requiring a reboot. Not a huge task, but you shouldn't have to do it so regularly. The Apple TV only needs a reboot when there is a software upgrade.

I know the apps are run on the server side, not the device, and was curious if upgrades over the last 18 months have made the reboots fewer?

Thanks

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

Mark39 — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:18:13 GMT

@dormouse people have their own experiences, but personally I can't even remember when I last needed to restart my Puck. For me, my Puck has been more reliable than the Sky Q Mini box that it replaced.

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

Tommy2 — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:24:22 GMT

I only just got Sky stream in April, and whilst there are some issues (some glicthes such as missing episodes were on Sky Q as well) I am happy with it and confidnet that Sky TV through the internet is the way forawrd. More time and money is being invetsed in Sky stream now and when I wnet to teh Sky store they told me that eventually Sky will ahve to discontnue Satellite and thir focus is now on Sky TV through the internet. Id recommend giving it another chance, I certainly dont have to do a full reboot every week.

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

Angel_Aka — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:35:16 GMT

@dormouse

I think that a glance through this forum will reveal to you that the Sky Stream experience remains distinctly variable for many people.

There is simply no way to guarantee that it will work well for you unless you try it again.

There is the newer version 1B of the Stream puck which many people claim is faster and more reliable (for live UHD Sport in particular) but there's no way to request this version of the puck.

There's also no way to guarantee which server your service runs from, no way to guarantee that your own broadband network will be stable enough to work, etc. Yes, it should just be plug and play, but for many people it's not.

SkyOS is a sophisticated platform. It probably does work better than it did 18 months ago, but you put yourself in Sky's hands when you sign up. If you're happy for them to control everything and you miss their UI then go for it.

Personally, when I switched from SkyOS on Stream to tvOS on Apple TV 4K boxes, I found the experience to be vastly superior on the Apple hardware. It absolutely gives me everything we watch 'all in one place' quickly and reliably. It lets me be in control of the apps I have on the box, of the individual subscriptions, of the frame rates, of the resolution, etc. It works a lot better for me. It won't for everyone.

SkyOS runs perfectly well for hundreds of thousands of customers on hundreds of thousands of pucks. You'll just have to try it again to see if it works well enough for you.

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

Hunter2660 — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:43:18 GMT

Your best bet is to look through the various threads. At the moment you will find problems with Sky Sports UHD (about a year now so ongoing), problems with ITVX Ch4 & 5 apps using ad skip (although I believe a fix is now in place), the HBO Max app seems a common issue. Obviously these don't affect everybody so you may be lucky. Just remember to avoid the 2 year contract because if you feel you've made a mistake after the first month you'll be stuffed.

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

JazTheTim — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 18:34:06 GMT

I'm in my 3rd puck.
it's much much more stable for me

now

reeboot every so often and it's fine.

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

WelshGeezer — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 19:48:44 GMT

I signed up a month ago. I was using three pucks (v2's although some people hate you calling them a v2 or Gen 2 puck), now I have three glass TV's. The only issue that I have encountered would be this one:

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky-Stream/Streaming-puck-user-interface-icon-goes-blank-when-selected/td-p/5257338

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

Mitch16 — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 15:26:05 GMT

Hi,

I have thought about this because i use NOW tv at the moment and it's very cheap (£17 for sports at the moment, £27 including film and tv shows) but it's VERY clunky in terms of UI, but i am unsure if it will work for me (Sky Stream). If you go for the monthly rolling contract and you are not happy after the first month, how easy is it to cancel and, presumably, send the puck back? Can you do it online or do yoou have to do the usual, i.e. set a full day aside to go all through the stress of actually calling them?

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

Angel_Aka — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 15:43:32 GMT

@Mitch16 wrote:
Hi,
I have thought about this because i use NOW tv at the moment and it's very cheap (£17 for sports at the moment, £27 including film and tv shows) but it's VERY clunky in terms of UI, but i am unsure if it will work for me (Sky Stream). If you go for the monthly rolling contract and you are not happy after the first month, how easy is it to cancel and, presumably, send the puck back? Can you do it online or do yoou have to do the usual, i.e. set a full day aside to go all through the stress of actually calling them?

You can cancel via the live chat, or email them with your account number and details and request to leave. Sky will then contact you by phone, go through security questions and confirm cancellation. They'll send packaging for returning the puck.

If you want to phone them you can usually get through to an agent quite quickly if you say you are cancelling, or stay silent on the line when the bot asks why you're calling and you'll get straight through. Be polite but firm and they'll stop offering you 'deals' if you stay.

Out of interest, what hardware are you using NOW on? The experience of using it can vary dramatically depending on whether you're using a decent streaming device or not.

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

Mitch16 — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 15:47:49 GMT

Thank you. I am just using the NOW TV app on my LG and Hisense TVs. It's ok, picture wise but it's interface is rubbish. Plus, like the previous contributor I like having one interface for everything, TV, streaming, EPG.

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

Angel_Aka — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 16:06:04 GMT

@Mitch16 wrote:
Thank you. I am just using the NOW TV app on my LG and Hisense TVs. It's ok, picture wise but it's interface is rubbish. Plus, like the previous contributor I like having one interface for everything, TV, streaming, EPG.

If you want an EPG and like to watch live TV and channel hop easily then Sky Stream might be perfect for you - it's the one thing it probably does better than most other streaming services.

FireTV OS and Apple's tvOS are both very good, more versatile streaming devices with a lot of positives over the Stream puck, but the one thing neither of them can do is offer good quality live streams of all channels direct from an EPG.

That's why it's worth giving Sky Stream a go. It can be a bit of a marmite product - some people love it and have minimal issues, others hate it and have endless problems. It's impossible to know whether it'll work for you on your home broadband network without trying it.

Good luck!

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

Tommy2 — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 16:19:09 GMT

@Angel_Aka Good point ! have to say im really impressed with the epg on our Sky stream, its hardly ever lagged and whilst there were some inital issues they have improved. I agree about it being a somewhat marmite product I think a lot of this is teh fact you cant record locally.

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

Mitch16 — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:04:08 GMT

I'm ok for an EPG, the Hisense has Freely built in and the LG has the freely aero plugged into it. But it's a stand alone system, you have to come out of it to watch anything else. And the presentation is just not as good as Sky (speaking from my SkyQ days).

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

Angel_Aka — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:18:18 GMT

@Mitch16 wrote:
I'm ok for an EPG, the Hisense has Freely built in and the LG has the freely aero plugged into it. But it's a stand alone system, you have to come out of it to watch anything else. And the presentation is just not as good as Sky (speaking from my SkyQ days).

Yeah, everybody's different in the type of UI and experience they want from a TV service. I have a Manhattan Aero too on one of our TVs but it gets minimal use. We now mainly use tvOS on Apple TV 4K boxes in our household. It integrates perfectly with all the app content we watch from Apple TV, NOW, Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix, HBO Max and all the UK FTA apps. The TV Launcher app provides an EPG and will trigger the appropriate live stream to open in an app when we need it, but live TV is pretty much dead in our household - we set our own schedules, create our own watchlists and watch what we want with ease.

If Sky Stream pucks were more reliable and a bit more versatile then we'd probably still use them, but for us as a family, the NOW app works perfectly for getting Sky content on tvOS. We might be able to save a bit of money on app subscriptions via Sky, but TBH I favour reliability and versatility above cost.

Do give Sky Stream a go - there are plenty more happy users of it than those that hate it.

Re: Cancelled Sky Stream 18 months ago - has it improved??

Gincap — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 19:41:59 GMT

I signed up just after launch and like you binned it at 3 months in. Nine months ago I gave it another go the UI is basically still the same and it can be very glitchy at times. Prime is still not working properly many threads on it here, itvx app quality is poor 720p perhaps definitely better on Apple, 5 app still has issues especially when fast forwarding. Iplayer is UHD but again UHD content is not the best, iplayer issue.

Playlist still requires work not consistent with listing's starting first to last or last to first with episodes depending on how broadcasters provide data I suspect. What you've watched is still not tracked fully so it can be unclear what you've viewed so I Still keep Apple TV up to date to track history as their continue watching always updates your viewing. Occasionally Playlists disappear down to server errors they may or may not come back.

Continue Watching remains as frustrating as day 1 requiring a complete education on the user how to remove content using a variety of methods that do or don't work. Sky have closed their ears to customer requests to improve.

Pucks can be hit n miss on quality I have 2 one needs pretty regular power reboots.

Don't get a Glass as your main TV I did get a Gen 2 to try but the quality is still poor especially in darker scenes with shadowing, halo etc. earc was problematic with my sound system and HDMI kept losing contact with Apple TV and the reality of actual sound against advertising is questionable. I bought a SQD TCL the picture quality is outstanding and a all round superb TV the sound very good with built in Bang & Olfsen speakers plus works with my Apple Homepods Glass did not and my sound system too is brilliant. Glass Air is OK as a second TV I got a 43" for the kitchen when they were on offer a month or so ago, very happy no issues but couldn't have it as main daily TV

All that said if you want all your content at ease in one place and are prepared to drop picture and sound quality Sky is OK but if you aim for outstanding picture and sound with lightening fast processing with more apps than you could ever use and Talking Pictures too (still not on stream) and in your control flexibility for subscription go down the Apple road.