Will Sky Q record in 4k UHD?

[splinternet]

I've just signed up for an upgrade to Sky Q on two assumptions. Firstly, recording in UHD format is possible.  Secondly, that four rooms round the house can each have a minibox for simultaneous viewing.  However, the specs I've found online (of the 2TB box) only say that it can broadcast UHD content, and only two miniboxes can simultaneously view content: 

So does this mean it can only record in HD, i.e. you can only view live transmissions in UHD?   And only two of the four miniboxes I've bought can work at the same time?

[blade+the]

Spoiler

D

Minis only do stunning HD. Main box will view and record in breathtaking UHD.  

[splinternet]

Just to nail the point, it would be useful (and unambiguous) if the specs said how many hours of UHD recordings can be made.  I suspect it's about 90 hrs.

[MightyQuinn]

Hi @splinternet 

1. You can record live Sports and some Arts programmes.  There is no need to record UHD entertainment and movies as they are available at any time via download and never broadcast in UHD.

2. You can view a maximum of two Mini boxes at the same time maximum resolution of HD.

[nigea99]

Hi @splinternet 

Not too sure what is meant by the Ability to broadcast UltraHD content 

Anyway as @blade+the says the Main box will let you view & record 4K / UHD content - only sport and the odd special event is broadcast in 4K live  which can usually be reorded - I record the F1 sessions in UHD

All films & entertainment  that are UHD is downloaded as it is not broadcast live in UHD

The minis do not support UHD

The spec  is correct that you can only watch 2 minis (for SKY content - e.g. Satellite channels and recordings) simultaneously, although I believe you can use more if only being used for Apps such as Netflix and they need to be 'active' first.

The reason for the limit to 2 is because the main box acts as a media server to the minis and it can only support the 2 active 

P.S. I am slower at typing than @MightyQuinn 

[splinternet]

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@nigea99 wrote:

Hi @splinternet 

Not too sure what is meant by the Ability to broadcast UltraHD content 

Anyway as @blade+the says the Main box will let you view & record 4K / UHD content - only sport and the odd special event is broadcast in 4K live  which can usually be reorded - I record the F1 sessions in UHD

All films & entertainment  that are UHD is downloaded as it is not broadcast live in UHD

The minis do not support UHD

The spec  is correct that you can only watch 2 minis (for SKY content - e.g. Satellite channels and recordings) simultaneously, although I believe you can use more if only being used for Apps such as Netflix and they need to be 'active' first.

The reason for the limit to 2 is because the main box acts as a media server to the minis and it can only support the 2 active 

P.S. I am slower at typing than @MightyQuinn 

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Thanks @nigea99 .  By "ability to broadcast" I meant watching a live transmission in UHD.   As the specs only mention recording in HD, I wondered if this was saying that the box will only record in HD, regardless of whether the content was transmitted as HD or UHD.

[PandJ2020]

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@splinternet wrote:

Just to nail the point, it would be useful (and unambiguous) if the specs said how many hours of UHD recordings can be made.  I suspect it's about 90 hrs.

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Whilst UHD is 4 times the resolution the file sizes are usually around twice the size of HD.

[MightyQuinn]

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@splinternet wrote

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Thanks @nigea99 .  By "ability to broadcast" I meant watching a live transmission in UHD.   As the specs only mention recording in HD, I wondered if this was saying that the box will only record in HD, regardless of whether the content was transmitted as HD or UHD.

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Hi @splinternet   To be clear, only Sport and some Arts programmes are broadcast in UHD and you can record them.

[splinternet]

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@MightyQuinn wrote:

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Hi @splinternet   To be clear, only Sport and some Arts programmes are broadcast in UHD and you can record them.

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Thanks @MightyQuinn .  Live sport in UHD and other content (downloaded) in UHD will do me for now.

[nigea99]

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@PandJ2020 wrote:

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@splinternet wrote:

Just to nail the point, it would be useful (and unambiguous) if the specs said how many hours of UHD recordings can be made.  I suspect it's about 90 hrs.

---

Whilst UHD is 4 times the resolution the file sizes are usually around twice the size of HD.

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Of course there will be variations but as a guide :

On my box

HD recording is typically around 2.5-3.5 Gb per hour
UHD around 7.5-8.5 Gb per hour

[splinternet]

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@PandJ2020 wrote:

Whilst UHD is 4 times the resolution the file sizes are usually around twice the size of HD.

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@PandJ2020  - thanks for clarifying this.  I previously found this albeit for BT's 4k UHD TV box:

• With BT 4K you get our 4K recordable TV box which has a 500GB memory. So you can record up to 300 hours of SD TV, 125 hours of HD TV or 30 hours of 4K TV

This indicates that UHD content requires 4 times as much capacity as HD on the BT box.

[Chodley]

Of broadcasts or downloads? I suspect the downloads are better compressed but that probably applies to HD too.

The box can handle more than 2 streams because you can use 2 tablets in addition to 2 minis.

And yes, that "ability to broadcast" terminology is very strange. The box receives the broadcast, it doesn't do it (nice noun/verb conflation with that word too)

[fizzdisco]

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@splinternet wrote:

I've just signed up for an upgrade to Sky Q on two assumptions. Firstly, recording in UHD format is possible.  Secondly, that four rooms round the house can each have a minibox for simultaneous viewing.  However, the specs I've found online (of the 2TB box) only say that it can broadcast UHD content, and only two miniboxes can simultaneously view content: 

So does this mean it can only record in HD, i.e. you can only view live transmissions in UHD?   And only two of the four miniboxes I've bought can work at the same time?

---

Those are very old specs. The Sky Q app hasn't been around for a couple of years at least. The Sky Go app is now used for streaming content from the Q box (with a multiscreen subscription) or directly from Sky (without multiscreen). 
The size of UHD files varies greatly depending on compression. Variable bit rates will affect file size as will the actual amount of detail in an image. Letterboxed movies for example have large amounts of 'empty' black space at the top & bottom of the frame so can be smaller in terms of file size, compared to if the same movie had been full frame.