Sky Glass - Advice for elderly neighbour

[DorsetJon]

PLEASE NOTE - As the title of this post would suggest,I'm posting this question on behalf of my elderly neighbour,who is 88 years young.His daughter is a total technophobe,so I thought I'd ask the following in here,as I wasn't entirely sure either.

It would appear as if Terry is and has been out of contract with Sky for over a year,which for someone living on a pension like he is,is terrible to hear.So I've told Sarah she must ring Sky to get her dad a new contract,and to hopefully save him some money,but NOT until I've got some good advice for them,from you guys in here.

So he's out of contract,and now it sounds as if his trusty television which he's owned for years,is now beginning to cough and splutter.She got a local aerial company out to troubleshoot,but turns out he said that the TV was beginning to go south.

So heres the question - "What brand etc are the Sky Glass sets,and would you recommend them,over and above just going out to buy a good quality reasonably priced,television?"

Turns out that Richard has already got a good deal and great quality fibre broadband installed with Virgin Media,which is mainly for when the grandchildren stay with grandad,they're gamers,so the infrastructure is already there,they just need to contact Sky about a new contract,and also try and fathom whether or not to kill two birds with one stone with Sky Glass OR to surce a new normal TV.

As always,thanks in advance.

Jon.

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@DorsetJon wrote:

PLEASE NOTE - As the title of this post would suggest,I'm posting this question on behalf of my elderly neighbour,who is 88 years young.His daughter is a total technophobe,so I thought I'd ask the following in here,as I wasn't entirely sure either.

It would appear as if Terry is and has been out of contract with Sky for over a year,which for someone living on a pension like he is,is terrible to hear.So I've told Sarah she must ring Sky to get her dad a new contract,and to hopefully save him some money,but NOT until I've got some good advice for them,from you guys in here.

So he's out of contract,and now it sounds as if his trusty television which he's owned for years,is now beginning to cough and splutter.She got a local aerial company out to troubleshoot,but turns out he said that the TV was beginning to go south.

So heres the question - "What brand etc are the Sky Glass sets,and would you recommend them,over and above just going out to buy a good quality reasonably priced,television?"

Turns out that Richard has already got a good deal and great quality fibre broadband installed with Virgin Media,which is mainly for when the grandchildren stay with grandad,they're gamers,so the infrastructure is already there,they just need to contact Sky about a new contract,and also try and fathom whether or not to kill two birds with one stone with Sky Glass OR to surce a new normal TV.

As always,thanks in advance.

Jon.

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In all likelihood they would be able to purchase a good modern, better quality TV for less than the price of Sky Glass. The Sky Glass is based on hardware from about 4 years ago now and hasn't been refreshed.

With regards to the Sky part, it probably makes sense to stick with the current Sky platform your neighbour has. The Sky streaming platform is quite different from Sky + and Sky Q, the way things work are different the UI is completely different, so it's quite possible your neighbour may struggle with adapting to the different Sky platform.

when calling Sky they will try and sell them Sky glass or Sky stream, and will certainly likely give better offers on those platforms than Sky Q but I would say the big thing to consider for your neighbour is perhaps whether they are happy with how their current Sky platform works as opposed to having to get familiar with a new platform and UI.

[CoffeeDrinker]

My late 70s parents have just moved from Sky+HD to Q. Whilst they could have got a decent offer moving to Glass TV or a Sky Stream puck with their existing TV, they'd have struggled with moving from recording off of the TV/Sky EPG to the apps and playlists streaming world. 

id say unless your neighbour is already happy with streaming, maybe say with Netflix, then he's best getting a new TV and staying with his existing Sky Q/Sky+HD. He'll spend more time happily viewing than dealing with a new interface and the playlists & apps paradigm.

Of course if he is happy with streaming viewing, the Sky Glass TV is a good all in one set with a good but not great) picture, very good sound for a TV with no extra boxes or cables.

[DorsetJon]

@MarkGoldsmith @CoffeeDrinker Many thanks for your replies,folks.

Just as I thought,really.He like us here at home still runs a Sky HD box,and just knows where everything is.

Same as my mum who has eyesight issues,the HD box epg and infrastructure offers her something that they've both become familiar with.

And having visited our local Curry's for myself yesterday,Richard can bag himself a very good new television,for his budget of around £800.

Thanks again.

[TimmyBGood]

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@DorsetJon wrote:

And having visited our local Curry's for myself yesterday,Richard can bag himself a very good new television,for his budget of around £800.

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Maybe advise him to avoid the inevitable extended warranty and 'premium' HDMI cable sales-pitch.

If there's any suspicion of age-related hearing loss, spending a little less on the television and investing £50 -£100 in a minimum spec soundbar might be wise: having front-facing speakers, particularly for dialogue, is a valuable upgrade.