Is Sky Q being phased out?

[JHB]

My Sky contract ends in a few days.  I have been told that Sky Q boxes are being phased out & Sky Glass is the future?

 Taking Sky Glass will reduce our monthly bill from £150 to £115.

What are peoples experiences with Sky Glass?

Pros & Cons?  

Can you record programmes? 

TIA 

[Daniel0210]

@JHB 

The actual satellites bringing the content to your dish, then Sky Q box will run out of propellant in about 5 years so beyond that you would need to move to Sky Glass or Stream to continue with a Sky TV subscription. 

[GD1]

@JHB  Unless you're after a new TV set then you don't need Sky Glass, Sky stream would be the best option if your exisitng TV works assuming you wish to go down this route.

Sky Q has a short life left (then end of the decade is when the satellites in orbit reach end of life) so you can continue with Sky Q if this is your preferred option, you don't need to switch at this moment in time.

[hrai]

Sky will move to a 100% streaming  service as soon as they can - older viewers will remember the move from analogue to digital. 

I personally like my Q box as it can record and I can keep stuff... but tbh I make little use of that now. We have shows series linked and recorded each week but more and more we just end up watching a stream from the iPlayer, ITVX, Sky etc instead. We don't watch movies "live" we just download as and when we need to. It's effectively now just a streaming box for all intents and purposes.

It reminds me of early 2000s when Steam launched for PCs. I swore blind that I would only get games on CD/DVDs and only installed Steam so I could activate Half-Life 2. But I haven't bought physical media for my PC for over 10 years now. I'm certain in a few years I'll have Sky Stream or similar regardless of my current feelings. I still buy the odd Bluray for stuff I really, really, really want to keep* (eg LOTR)

My two problems are 1) licensing issues* - we've seen content disappear on platforms and 2) provider network issues - we saw Sky's service for Stream/Glass going offline for a period earlier this year and last week Samsung TVs losing their streaming abilities for a few days. There's something to said for old fashioned tv transmission and an aerial.

[LynneCockley]

I've got a sky glass (and sky Q box) and used the glass for a couple of days and really didn't like the fact that you could only watch BBC for instance on BBC Iplayer, ITV von ITV X etc etc.  I didn't like this so asked that I keep the Sky Glass TV but continue with Sky Q to watch it on.   

[TimmyBGood]

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@LynneCockley wrote:

really didn't like the fact that you could only watch BBC for instance on BBC Iplayer, ITV von ITV X etc 

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For catch-up/on-demand, yes: that's a decision made by the channel owners.  Live content is delivered into the EPG channel listing.

[Invisiblename]

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@LynneCockley wrote:

I've got a sky glass (and sky Q box) and used the glass for a couple of days and really didn't like the fact that you could only watch BBC for instance on BBC Iplayer, ITV von ITV X etc etc.  I didn't like this so asked that I keep the Sky Glass TV but continue with Sky Q to watch it on.   

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You should make it clear to others that you don't have 2 Sky contracts, but are effectively using the Sky Glass TV as a 'dumb' device to view the output of your Sky Q receiver.

[work+lap+top1]

Sky stream and vurgin streaming are absolute garbage compared to Sky Q.

You're forced to sit through adverts, the pic quality is rubbish (compared to Q) the puck is effectively just a distributor to each of the catch up platforms, ITVX, IPLAYER, CH4 CATCHUP ETC ETC.

I'm not sure why I pay Sky or virgin (have both via 2 properties) at all?

Once I'm out of contract I will use free view and then just subscribe direct with the platforms as its cheaper and its a better service. Personally I think both Sky and Virgin are charging good money for old rope as they don't offer anything to justify their costs except perhaps Sky sports.

Had I known the streaming services were so bad I woukd have kept Q even if Sky were deliberately charging more for it to persuade you to swap to their **bleep** streaming services.

Streaming is a cheap no frills service and it shows, def not worth the money.

I pay for the Sjy/virgin streaming service, pay for apple, pay for Netflix premium. Pay for YouTube premium, pay for prime and pay for Disney. I may as well cancel the Sky and virgin service once out of contract and just pay for paramount. Sky go, and discovery/ Tnt direct. Cheaper and no loss if service

[TimmyBGood]

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@work+lap+top1 wrote:

Personally I think both Sky and Virgin are charging good money for old rope as they don't offer anything to justify their costs except perhaps Sky sports.

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They spend a huge amount of time, effort, technology and personnel keeping hundreds of live channels on air 24/7

If your personal viewing requirement doesn't include live channels then yes, ditching the two platforms makes sense.

[xenon81]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

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@work+lap+top1 wrote:

Personally I think both Sky and Virgin are charging good money for old rope as they don't offer anything to justify their costs except perhaps Sky sports.

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They spend a huge amount of time, effort, technology and personnel keeping hundreds of live channels on air 24/7

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Although as often pointed out on here Sky don't operate the vast majority of channels on the platform which are owned by third-parties. Many channels are now little more than servers in a racks room playing out repeats. 

[TimmyBGood]

@xenon81 

Certainly, but as the platform provider Sky (and Virgin) has to continually monitor every one of those sources and liaise with their owners: the control centre is rather impressive.

What I was trying to impart is the fundamental operational difference between a linear channel source such as Sky and Virgin and a streaming app provider.

[ZivvaNet]

Yes it has similar SKY OS operating system which should allow you to record your programme content.  You can opt for Sky Stream which is like a mini Sky  Q , you can get a SKY stream for less and more flexibility than SKY Glass TVs and setup is much easier and cost is more affordable than the SKY Glass TVs.  SKY stream allows you to continue to use existing TV which Sky Glass TV needs a Sky subscription to full operate and if you cancel or get subscription terminated you can't use Sky Glass TV really.  So opt for Sky stream for more affordable and flexibility solution.  

[TimmyBGood]

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@ZivvaNet wrote:

Yes it has similar SKY OS operating system which should allow you to record your programme content. 

Nope.

You can opt for Sky Stream which is like a mini Sky  Q

It's really not.

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[surethom1]

I'm ok if sky is moving to stream & away from satellite dishes but I'm absolutely disgusted in sky for not having a streamer option with record. Even if that means installing our own SD card or USB drive just having stream so you can add. Your favourites is absolutely nowhere near the same as recording, especially when you want to record your own series or programs or films and then a few weeks or months later sky lose the rights or remove it from download. That was the point of sky Q. You can record what you want. Keep it for as long as you want.

[Daniel0210]

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@surethom1 wrote:

That was the point of sky Q. You can record what you want. Keep it for as long as you want.

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@surethom1 

Not quite correct. Sky Q was never designed to keep recordings indefinitely although the majority of customers probably do so. It's there for what's described as 'time shifting'. You record a programme, watch it and delete it.