Sky Glass two years on

[Elbo28]

As an early adopter of Sky Glass I though I'd share some of my experience with it.

Firstly, it took 5 sets to get one that had an acceptable screen. They all had dirty screen effect quite severely, except for the last one, which whilst it still had it, it was acceptable. I was very impressed with the sound, which does sound amazing for a TV, though I would have preferred the upwards firing speakers to be on an angle, so sound reflects off the ceiling to where we are sitting. The UI is good and straightforward, and it does have a large selection of apps.

Now, as for the screen, it!s awful. It has terrible bloom, which is the result of them trying do bodge in a better contrast ratio, and not doing a very good job of it. Colour banding in SDR is the worst I've ever seen in a TV, which you can check out here compare it on your TV to on your phone and you will see. This was marketed as an upper mid-range TV, and the screen on a basic Philips 55" is just as good, or even better. 

Gaming looks awful in a lot of games, even though it has HDMI 2.1 it is a 60Hz screen, with no variable refresh rate. I have my PC connected to it and if I don't have Vsync on, I get screen tearing. HDR looks muddy in a lot of games, which ruins the experience, and I can't turn on Frame Generation because of the screen tearing. 

I've decided that I've had enough, and I'm going to move the Sky Glass into the bedroom and replace it with a 65" OLED TV with an Atmos soundbar with rear speakers, so I can get the full immersion. It's a shame, as on paper the TV looked good, but it had too many flaws. The screen is a low end/entry level screen housed in a mid range aluminium case and built in sound bar to try and add value.

All in all, if you're in the market for a new TV, there are a lot of TV's in this price bracket that are significantly better. Buy one, and if you can afford it, theres plentu of good Atmos soundbars out there, like the Hisense AX5120G 5.1.2 SSoundbr, which will give you true Dolby Atmos at a price that wont break the bank. Subscribe to a Sky Stream Puck and you'll have a much better experience. 

TL;DR, Sky Glass isn't very good, get a better Qled TV and Atmos soundbar for a better experience

[Stephen+Mourton]

@Elbo28   Effectively then the advice seems to be don't bother with Sky Glass and buy your own tv and get Sky Stream. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Elbo28 wrote:

The screen is a low end/entry level screen housed in a mid range aluminium case and built in sound bar to try and add value.

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Which, to be fair, is pretty close to what almost every independent review said three years ago when Glass was launched.

[Suskha]

Day one Glass adopter, still have it as front room TV (have an OLED upstairs in cinema room), never had a any real issues with it - was better than the LG LCD I owned before in terms of screen & sound quality. Just one plug, one remote and its still working fine. Posted for balance.

[mrwwt]

I think there are a few ways of looking at it – and neither are right or wrong as such.

MOST people (Sky's target audience), it'll be the best TV they've ever owned and super convenient for them to have everything in one. MOST people won't notice a significant difference between a Glass and a "better OLED TV" (MOST people won't have what they need to take advantage of that). 

People who DO want the best that technology has to offer right now, who DO notice the difference between this 4K screen and that 4K screen, who DO notice the "deeper blacks" and "richer colours" – say the type of people who visit internet forums – won't be all that happy with this TV. BUT, that's why this TV isn't for them.

If there was/is a demand for it, Sky would probably do something like Apple does with the iPhone and have Sky Glass and Sky Glass Plus/Max (whatever you might call it) – a more expensive option which DOES offer everyhing the enthusiast wants. Or they might decide that wouldn't make sense for them and instead offer Sky Stream so people can hook it up to the top-of-the-range TV of their choice.

Ultimately, your Sky Glass experience (or at least, the experience you get with a working Sky Glass) depends on how you've come into it. For me personally, it's the best TV I've ever owned – for others it won't be good enough.

[Elbo28]

That's what I said in the Tl;Dr at the end. But yes, that's what I'm suggesting 

[TimmyBGood]

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@mrwwt wrote:

If there was/is a demand for it, Sky would probably do something like Apple does with the iPhone and have Sky Glass and Sky Glass Plus/Max (whatever you might call it) – a more expensive option which DOES offer everyhing the enthusiast wants. 

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Also worth remembering that in its current form Glass was released in October 2021 just as the world was emerging from the pandemic which was in effect during its design, manufacturing and testing phase. 

[Elbo28]

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@Suskha wrote:

Day one Glass adopter, still have it as front room TV (have an OLED upstairs in cinema room), never had a any real issues with it - was better than the LG LCD I owned before in terms of screen & sound quality. Just one plug, one remote and its still working fine. Posted for balance.

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@Suskha I have my old Philips LCD Ambilite in our bedroom, and it's hugely inferior to the Sky Glass, and I also agree that the sound is excellent for TV speakers. But, I find the blooming very distracting when I'm playing games, it made Star Wars Outlaws look awful, when it should have looked incredible as by PC is relatively high end. 

I guess that, as someone else commented, I'm a techy, who wants the best viewing experience, and I'm disappointed that the Sky Glass, after all the updates, isn't delivering that for me. 

[Mister_Dalek]

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@mrwwt wrote:

I think there are a few ways of looking at it – and neither are right or wrong as such.

MOST people (Sky's target audience), it'll be the best TV they've ever owned and super convenient for them to have everything in one. MOST people won't notice a significant difference between a Glass and a "better OLED TV" (MOST people won't have what they need to take advantage of that). 

People who DO want the best that technology has to offer right now, who DO notice the difference between this 4K screen and that 4K screen, who DO notice the "deeper blacks" and "richer colours" – say the type of people who visit internet forums – won't be all that happy with this TV. BUT, that's why this TV isn't for them.

If there was/is a demand for it, Sky would probably do something like Apple does with the iPhone and have Sky Glass and Sky Glass Plus/Max (whatever you might call it) – a more expensive option which DOES offer everyhing the enthusiast wants. Or they might decide that wouldn't make sense for them and instead offer Sky Stream so people can hook it up to the top-of-the-range TV of their choice.

Ultimately, your Sky Glass experience (or at least, the experience you get with a working Sky Glass) depends on how you've come into it. For me personally, it's the best TV I've ever owned – for others it won't be good enough.

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100% this. 

Sky Glass is a mass market product. It's not meant for tech nerds or AV Forums members. It's perfectly adequate, revelatory even, for the type of customer who may be moving from a basic £100 LCD TV bought from Tesco five years ago. 

[Fothergill1]

@Elbo28  Like you are thinking of doing, last December I sold my Glass after 18 months  of use and moved to a 65" Samsung TV with soundbar and a stream puck.  I don't regret this decision at all as the picture quality is absolutely outstanding.  The sound is only marginally better than the Glass built in sound though.

[Elbo28]

@Fothergill1 it's got too many bad points that now I've noticed them, I can't see past them. It'll do for watching half hour of TV before sleep though, and my daughter can have the one that's in the bedroom now, which I know she'll appreciate. 

[Elbo28]

@Stephen+Mourton it depends on the TV you have now. If it's a budget model, it will be better, if you've already got a mid-range set, then I'd just say get a Puck