Wifi Max user review

[TimmyBGood]

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@Chasloyal wrote:

You say Sky Q is old hat and dying out now but folk was saying that about vinyl 30 odd years ago, yet even though technology has progressed huge amounts since there's been a marked resurgence in vinyl sales in recent times.

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It would be quite difficult to have a resurgence in satellite television once there are no longer television satellites in orbit to broadcast it...

Even a really good record deck doesn't cost £100,000,000 to build, and strapping it to the top of a giant firework generally isn't considered good practice in hi-fi circles.

[Chasloyal]

@Chrisee I get all of that and have seen mentions of what you speak of as regards them bringing down the time delay but until everyone consumes their content through the same medium some will see it quicker than others which is something someone as finicky as me will moan about.

And I think what I said in my previous post about never writing anything off to extinction stands, though that said if they do stop transmitting via satellite then there's of course no option. We'll only see what the future holds when we actually get there.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Chasloyal wrote:

if they do stop transmitting via satellite then there's of course no option. We'll only see what the future holds when we actually get there.

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The upcoming end of life of the existing broadcast platforms is an absolute certainty: once their on-board positioning propellant reserves are exhausted (by around the end of this decade) they simply cannot maintain position at 28.2E and will have to be 'deorbited' (i.e. destroyed through atmospheric re-entry or 'parked' in a non-functional location elsewhere)

What's currently unknown is whether anyone is now prepared to invest in what's essentially a 1990s technology to replace the three SES-owned Astra satellites which Sky (and Freesat) use with a new fleet, given that would involve the expectation of another 15 years of financial return through continued demand from channel owners who already have terrestrial internet distribution as a significantly cheaper way to deliver digital data to viewers.

All this has to be sorted out long before we 'get there' because build lead times and launch windows aren't exactly inconsequential, and satellite operations typically have to be booked years in advance.

[RIck7486]

Waste of money.

The new hub has a shorter range, doesn't reach rooms that the previous hub did + the internet speed doesn't seem as good. Have gone back to the old hub.

The only difference, the colour.

[TimmyBGood]

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@RIck7486 wrote:

The only difference, the colour.

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Whatever the performance difference in the real world may be, the Max Hub has WiFi 6 and WPA3 plus Parental Controls, none of which are present in previous models.

[CoffeeDrinker]

Had a WiFi mesh network prior to our Max hub, not for range but for coping with the household device concurrency (our Sky Broadband Hub struggled with it). Having a bunch of WiFi 6 devices such as iPhones, Sky Glass, work laptops etc, we updated to the Max hub when our renewal came due last month.

Been absolutely rock solid. Streaming 4K upstairs and down on two TVs, runnning two work VPNs if we're both working from home, son online gaming upstairs, music streaming whilst I work etc, it has all 'just worked' so far. We were paying £6 per month for Boost before, paying the same for Max now instead. Very happy with it here.

[John+B1]

How have you found glass. I am concerned changing because of no recording locally.

[neillondragan]

I have been on glass for a year now and love it along with the WI FI max.  Don't miss Q at all or the recording... you soon get used  to it.... everything is available more or less all the time anyway..  You just add series links etc the sane and it does it for you its kind of like a recording but it's in the cloud. 

[CoffeeDrinker]

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@John+B1 wrote:

How have you found glass. I am concerned changing because of no recording locally.

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We have our 43" Glass in our bedroom as a second TV, with a Sky Stream puck in the main TV+AV system downstairs. Prior to this we streamed everything as we mostly watch films & premium HBO style dramas via Apple TV 4K. No sports, next to no terrestrial TV and nothing watched live. We do pay and make heavy use of the 4K UHD & Dolby Atmos add-on for Sky's own content, mostly films and Sky Atlantic fare.

As such the streaming only/no recording aspect of Glass/Stream was no problem at all for us; the last time we recorded anyting locally was when we have up Sky+HD back in 2012. 9/10 of what we watch on Glass/Stream is on demand films and drama, the only recording is from Sky Arts for the likes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the odd documentary series that isn't on On Demand. Everything else is Apple TV+, Disney+, Prime & Netflix which is all pure streaming.

All of this relies on having a fast enough broadband connection (our is ~63Mb/s or so) and an absolutely rock solid, uncongested WiFi connection. 

If you have any specific questions or concerned about Glass, Stream and the implications for no recording, it might be worth posting them over in the Glass/Stream forums. There is bound to be someone who has similar viewing habits to yourself who may be able to re4ply with their experience.

[Chasloyal]

Couldn't help but notice you made a point of mentioning you weigh on the extra dough for the 4K and Dolby Atmos and I couldn't agree more.

I am giving the notion of jacking Sky Q and moving over to EE TV some serious thought as they've offered me a ridiculously good deal now that we've gone ahead in switching our FTTP from BT to them.

EE TV Box Pro with two mini boxes on the Full Works package for 50 quid a month. That includes all TNT Sports and all Sky Sports channels which as someone who consumes sport like Pac-Man scoffs dots makes it extremely tempting.

We've got three tellies in the house and they're all decent sized OLED's: a 77" C3 in the living room, a 55" C9 in one bedroom and a 55" CX in the other bedroom so getting a mini box for each of the TV's upstairs is oh so enticing.

I am even willing to take the hit of that up to a 60 second delay on live transmissions that comes with streaming but there is one lingering prospective deal-breaker. It turns out that all the Sky content on EE TV comes via Now which means there's no 4K as it maxes out on HD. 

Once you've become accustomed to 4K UHD everything else including HD is all rather meh, we're talking that it's almost like grainy dull images from the analogue era.

[stereohaven]

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@Chasloyal wrote:

Once you've become accustomed to 4K UHD everything else including HD is all rather meh, we're talking that it's almost like grainy dull images from the analogue era.

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Why are you moving to EE TV then?

Edited to add:

Ahhh... I missed this bit... 🤣

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@Chasloyal wrote:

I am even willing to take the hit of that up to a 60 second delay on live transmissions that comes with streaming but there is one lingering prospective deal-breaker. It turns out that all the Sky content on EE TV comes via Now which means there's no 4K as it maxes out on HD. 

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Honestly, you will kick yourself if you do this with a bunch of OLEDS, moving to EE TV will be like watching SD.

Sounds like you need a to do a deal on Sky Stream to me.

[Chasloyal]

Nah Sky Stream is absolutely not in the equation whatsoever as I'm not prepared to lose the option of recording content. It is a straight shoot out between keeping Sky Q or moving to EE TV.

We ain't had any mini boxes upstairs for years so have just used the PS4 through Sky Go Extra to watch Sky content which is also only up to HD. Usually it's only either regular terrestrial through the aerial or app based gear like Netfilx which we've got the Premium for that we watch up there anyway.

Downstairs on the 77 incher mind is a totally different matter, the 4K UHD is very much a must have! Even though depressingly, right now I'm watching Satan's very own forces of darkness smashing the Middlesex degenerates 4:2 I still love watching it in UHD 

If I go with EE I'll only be getting the TNT Sports in UHD from what I can work out. Seems the bundled Netflix is the basic sub but I think that's also the case with the new Sky contracts too.

Sky have already made me a half decent offer to stay since I whacked in my 31 day notice but I would like them to drop it a good bit more yet obviously.

I got a fair bit of thinking to do over the next two or three weeks I suppose.

[stereohaven]

Well, if it helps, EE TV is not like Q, you cannot watch or schedule any recordings on the mini boxes, which many people who move to save money assume it does.

Mind you, the EPG is a mess, so it is hit and miss if it records anything on the pro box either, or whether it manages to catch the end of any over running live events!

I have Q and EE TV, but only because it was cheaper to buy TNT Sport with EE TV and then just use Discovery+ Premium on my Q boxes.

Still, getting back on topic, the Sky Max Hub looks nice. 👍🏻 

[Chasloyal]

Haha yeah you got a point there, this thread has drifted off the topic of the Sky Max Hub a bit. As is obvious already, I ended up opting to go with EE for our new FTTP so I just hope I've made the right decision. The Smart Hub Plus router actually got delivered yesterday and it's humongous, at that size I'd like to think it's got superior range to the BT Smart Hub 2 which has never let us down.

Saying about the TV again, we did take the BT TV standard box for a trial a couple of years back and I weren't impressed I must admit. I've read this 'new' box pro is much improved, is that the one you've got or do you have the older standard box?

[stereohaven]

@Chasloyal 

I'll keep it short and sweet.

I do have a Pro Box and it is the best version BT/EE have ever had in terms of power under the hood. But the UX is poor, the apps are not great and some key ones are missing. It can only record 4 channels if you plug an aerial in.

BT/EE routers have typically been much better in my experience than Sky hardware, but the Smart Hub Plus 2 is presenting a number of firmware/software issues for users currently.

I think that is the same for Sky Max Hub at the moment (or was).