topic Re: BBC iPlayer App - UHD stream for World Cup games. in Sky Q

BBC iPlayer App - UHD stream for World Cup games.

Davidstevan — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 13:06:11 GMT

I pay Sky a subscription which enables me to watch Sky Football in UHD - it's very good. Unfortunately, Sky is not broadcasting any World Cup games so I asked an AI bot the following question - "Does the BBC iplayer app available on my SkyQ main box deliver a uhd picture?"

AI answered - "Yes, but only if you have a 3rd-generation (v3) Sky Q box.While the BBC iPlayer app itself is fully capable of streaming World Cup matches in Ultra HD, older models of the Sky Q main box lack the hardware power required to process BBC's 4K format."

My SkyQ box is not 3rd -generation and the BBC IPlayer App does not give me the option of watching in UHD. My Smart TV does but I'd prefer to go through the SkyQ box.

If I ask will Sky offer a newer SkyQ box for free?

Re: BBC iPlayer App - UHD stream for World Cup games.

PandJ2020 — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 13:33:18 GMT

@Davidstevan wrote:
if I ask will Sky offer a newer SkyQ box for free?

No.

Doesn't your TV have the iPlayer app?

Re: BBC iPlayer App - UHD stream for World Cup games.

xenon81 — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 13:33:13 GMT

You could try but it's unlikely, there is usually a charge for a new Sky Q box (£99 I believe).

Re: BBC iPlayer App - UHD stream for World Cup games.

Me134 — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 13:35:49 GMT

@Davidstevan wrote:
I pay Sky a subscription which enables me to watch Sky Football in UHD - it's very good. Unfortunately, Sky is not broadcasting any World Cup games so I asked an AI bot the following question - "Does the BBC iplayer app available on my SkyQ main box deliver a uhd picture?"

AI answered - "Yes, but only if you have a 3rd-generation (v3) Sky Q box.While the BBC iPlayer app itself is fully capable of streaming World Cup matches in Ultra HD, older models of the Sky Q main box lack the hardware power required to process BBC's 4K format."

My SkyQ box is not 3rd -generation and the BBC IPlayer App does not give me the option of watching in UHD. My Smart TV does but I'd prefer to go through the SkyQ box.

If I ask will Sky offer a newer SkyQ box for free?

Probably not. Just use the apps (all of them) on the smart TV as you get better sound and vision on all streamed content.

Re: BBC iPlayer App - UHD stream for World Cup games.

DaveDrizen — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 14:18:25 GMT

@Davidstevan wrote:
I pay Sky a subscription which enables me to watch Sky Football in UHD - it's very good. Unfortunately, Sky is not broadcasting any World Cup games so I asked an AI bot the following question - "Does the BBC iplayer app available on my SkyQ main box deliver a uhd picture?"

AI answered - "Yes, but only if you have a 3rd-generation (v3) Sky Q box.While the BBC iPlayer app itself is fully capable of streaming World Cup matches in Ultra HD, older models of the Sky Q main box lack the hardware power required to process BBC's 4K format."

My SkyQ box is not 3rd -generation and the BBC IPlayer App does not give me the option of watching in UHD. My Smart TV does but I'd prefer to go through the SkyQ box.

If I ask will Sky offer a newer SkyQ box for free?

From I read on another source the iPlayer on the Sky Q box is not capable of 4K what ever generation box you have. If can get on your smart tv that better option.

Re: BBC iPlayer App - UHD stream for World Cup games.

MightyQuinn — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 14:23:57 GMT

@DaveDrizen wrote:
@Davidstevan wrote:
AI answered - "Yes, but only if you have a 3rd-generation (v3) Sky Q box.While the BBC iPlayer app itself is fully capable of streaming World Cup matches in Ultra HD, older models of the Sky Q main box lack the hardware power required to process BBC's 4K format."
From I read on another source the iPlayer on the Sky box is not capable of 4K what ever generation box you have. If can get on your smart tv that better option.

Hi @DaveDrizen Your other source is wrong! The 32B2xx boxes support BBC iPlayer in UHD. Not that I use it, prefer any of my other devices, Smart TV, Apple TV or Fire TV Max.

Re: BBC iPlayer App - UHD stream for World Cup games.

nigea99 — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 16:12:46 GMT

hi @Davidstevan

As the others have indicated, it is correct that the V3 box as we know it here (H/W version 32B2xx) is the only version to support UHD on iPlayer (we never found out why the V2 boxes don't even though they support HLG/HDR)

It is extremely unlikely that SKY would consider swapping the box due to the lack of Iplayer UHD capability.

SKY's Systems do not generally differentiate between the V2 (as we know it here) 2TB & the V3 - most of their systems just know them both the same, as 2TB UHD/HDR capable boxes

From what we can tell 2TB V3 boxes appear to be very thin on the ground and anyone needing a replacement mainly get refurbished V2 boxes

f you really wanted a V3 box you would possibly need to drop to a 1TB box (1TB being the standard V3 box)

As per the others, we do recommend customers use apps on either their smart TVs or other edvices such as Firesticks & APple TV boxes - SKY Q is now an ageing platform and TVs / Other devices are much newer tech & likely to provide more responsive apps & in the case of other apps mostly support Dolby Vision (not relevant for iPlayer)

Realistically SKY Q apps are there for initial activations & more for convenience rather than performance

Re: BBC iPlayer App - UHD stream for World Cup games.

cuke — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 09:19:14 GMT

What's the maje/model of the tv?

Personally I'd use the tv's own iplayer version if possible. It would be a better experience.

Re: BBC iPlayer App - UHD stream for World Cup games.

simon194 — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 11:19:34 GMT

@nigea99 wrote:
hi @Davidstevan

As the others have indicated, it is correct that the V3 box as we know it here (H/W version 32B2xx) is the only version to support UHD on iPlayer (we never found out why the V2 boxes don't even though they support HLG/HDR)

It is extremely unlikely that SKY would consider swapping the box due to the lack of Iplayer UHD capability.

SKY's Systems do not generally differentiate between the V2 (as we know it here) 2TB & the V3 - most of their systems just know them both the same, as 2TB UHD/HDR capable boxes

From what we can tell 2TB V3 boxes appear to be very thin on the ground and anyone needing a replacement mainly get refurbished V2 boxes

f you really wanted a V3 box you would possibly need to drop to a 1TB box (1TB being the standard V3 box)

As per the others, we do recommend customers use apps on either their smart TVs or other edvices such as Firesticks & APple TV boxes - SKY Q is now an ageing platform and TVs / Other devices are much newer tech & likely to provide more responsive apps & in the case of other apps mostly support Dolby Vision (not relevant for iPlayer)

Realistically SKY Q apps are there for initial activations & more for convenience rather than performance

The V2 boxes do support iPlayer UHD because they have the exact same chipset as the V3 boxes. The problem is the iPlayer app checks the designation of the box and if it's a TITAN (V3) box then all good and you get 4K, but any other box V1 (X-WING) or V2 (FALCON) is identified as a 2016 UHD box and no 4K.

I did raise this with the BBC app team years ago but as Sky only provided a V3 box for testing they couldn't/wouldn't do anything.