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This message was authored by: Kevin+McQuaid

Moving to streaming service

I am currently on Sky Q but am thinking of moving to using streaming services now that I have full fibre network connection. I am not yet sure whether to go to Now TV, Sky Stream or just use Freeview channels. 

My main consideration at the moment is the lack of recording facilities on any of these to replace the recording on Sky Q. I know I can use catch up but this is at the mercy of the program being available when I am ready to watch and I often download to watch months later. 

Apart from just putting up with catch up do I have any other options to ditch Sky Q and move fully to streaming?


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This message was authored by: Padam_Padam Answer

Re: Moving to streaming service


@Kevin+McQuaid wrote:

But if I am correct, Sky Stream playlist will only be available for the time the program is available for. If Sky Stream pulls that particular program before I have a chance to watch it it will be gone.


Sort of, yes. The key difference with any purely streaming service, not just Sky Stream, is that control of the content lies with the broadcaster/streamer, not you, the customer. 

With Sky Q, the physical recording of a broadcast onto a hard drive gives you much more control. You can press play and watch it whenever you want, pause, rewind, and fast forward with ease. You can delete it whenever you like or keep it for as long as you like. Sky do have the power to remotely remove on demand downloads of content which they no longer have the rights to, but remotely deleting recordings of broadcasts is much rarer. 

With Sky Stream, the playlist is not like a big hard drive in the cloud - you can't store 'recordings' or delete them yourself. The playlist is merely a list of content that you'd like to be able to watch later. Whether you can or not is determined by the broadcaster/streamer and whether they have the appropriate on demand streaming rights.

Some content will play back via a third party app, some content will play back from a 'cloud recording' or basically a stored section of the original broadcast live stream. It's not a personal recording, unique to you, stored on a special hard drive in the cloud with your name on it, it's just a file on a server which anyone else who playlisted the same thing has access to. You can play it, rewind it, and fast forward it but you can't delete it. You can remove it from your playlist but it'll remain on the server for others to watch until such time as Sky loses the rights to stream it.

Other content will play back from an on demand library, again on Sky's servers. 

If you come in late and want to watch something that's already started, you can 'watch from the start' on a live stream and if you'd playlisted it, then it should be available to watch again later. 

If you're used to being able to sit and watch exactly what you want, when you want, then streaming can be a bit of a shock, but you can get used to it. If you like to pause programmes for a period whilst you go to the loo or make a cuppa, if you like to fast forward or rewind quite often to re-watch a bit of sport for example, the experience of doing this on a Stream puck is slower and glitchier than on Sky Q. 

It sounds to me like you'd be best off sticking with Sky Q for a while longer.  

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This message was authored by: MightyQuinn

Re: Moving to streaming service

Posted by a Superuser, not a Sky employee. Find out more

Hi @Kevin+McQuaid 

 

If you are eligible, see if Stream suits you. follow this existing post.

Existing customer Switching From Sky Q to Sky Stre... | Sky Community 

 

Can you record on Sky Stream?

You won’t need to. With Sky Stream, you can add content to your Playlist. With Playlist you can add all your favourites from live TV, on demand, apps including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+ and more. Even better, when you add something to Playlist, you’ll get every available episode, all in one place.
This message was authored by: Padam_Padam

Re: Moving to streaming service

@Kevin+McQuaid 

If you want to move to a fully streamed service but still want the ability to record then your options are limited. 
EE TV has their EETV Pro box which is a hard drive based PVR like Sky Q and can record a select number of DTT channels either via an aerial or via streams. NOW TV channels can also be streamed and recorded via this box. 
Virgin offer a Stream box similar to Sky's which does not record but offers the same, if not more channel options, and ability to create watchlists to view content later. 
For maximum flexibility you can always just use a streaming device such as a Firestick, Roku or Apple TV 4K box for live channel streams from most of the UK broadcasters. You can also then choose which apps to download and subscribe to, rather than be limited to those Sky chooses. 
The Apple TV 4K box has a lot of versatility and a playlist-like watch list which keeps track of your viewing. It works for most apps and has been very reliable for us. 
The streaming TV market is much more varied than the satellite TV market. It offers you the chance to choose a service based now on what you watch and how you want to watch it. Sky's USP is having an EPG with a lot of live channel streams and a few popular apps. If you don't watch live TV (or sport in particular) and can get the apps elsewhere then do you really want to pay for all those channels you'll never watch? 
There are plenty of streaming options out there - Sky is just one of many, unlike the satellite service where they were market leaders. 

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This message was authored by: Kevin+McQuaid

Re: Moving to streaming service

Thanks for the response. I do watch a lot of live sport and intend (at least short term) to continue with Sky Q as the best solution for this. However, as you point out, when it comes to general entertainment Sky is just one of many options and certainly not the cheapest hence why I am looking at ditching Sky Q for that side of things. the big stumbling block is the lack of recording ability.

I will take a look at the EE box as it seems to tick a few boxe. 

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This message was authored by: Kevin+McQuaid

Re: Moving to streaming service

But if I am correct, Sky Stream playlist will only be available for the time the program is available for. If Sky Stream pulls that particular program before I have a chance to watch it it will be gone.

This message was authored by: MightyQuinn

Re: Moving to streaming service

Posted by a Superuser, not a Sky employee. Find out more

@Kevin+McQuaid wrote:

But if I am correct, Sky Stream playlist will only be available for the time the program is available for. If Sky Stream pulls that particular program before I have a chance to watch it it will be gone.


Hi @Kevin+McQuaid   Probably better to ask these type of questions on the Stream community.

Sky Stream - Board | Sky Community

This message was authored by: Mark39

Re: Moving to streaming service

Posted by a Superuser, not a Sky employee. Find out more

@Kevin+McQuaid wrote:

But if I am correct, Sky Stream playlist will only be available for the time the program is available for. If Sky Stream pulls that particular program before I have a chance to watch it it will be gone.


Yes, in much the same way that Sky Q On Demand downloads expire and become unavailable at some point. Timings may not be the same for Sky Stream.

This message was authored by: Padam_Padam Answer

Re: Moving to streaming service


@Kevin+McQuaid wrote:

But if I am correct, Sky Stream playlist will only be available for the time the program is available for. If Sky Stream pulls that particular program before I have a chance to watch it it will be gone.


Sort of, yes. The key difference with any purely streaming service, not just Sky Stream, is that control of the content lies with the broadcaster/streamer, not you, the customer. 

With Sky Q, the physical recording of a broadcast onto a hard drive gives you much more control. You can press play and watch it whenever you want, pause, rewind, and fast forward with ease. You can delete it whenever you like or keep it for as long as you like. Sky do have the power to remotely remove on demand downloads of content which they no longer have the rights to, but remotely deleting recordings of broadcasts is much rarer. 

With Sky Stream, the playlist is not like a big hard drive in the cloud - you can't store 'recordings' or delete them yourself. The playlist is merely a list of content that you'd like to be able to watch later. Whether you can or not is determined by the broadcaster/streamer and whether they have the appropriate on demand streaming rights.

Some content will play back via a third party app, some content will play back from a 'cloud recording' or basically a stored section of the original broadcast live stream. It's not a personal recording, unique to you, stored on a special hard drive in the cloud with your name on it, it's just a file on a server which anyone else who playlisted the same thing has access to. You can play it, rewind it, and fast forward it but you can't delete it. You can remove it from your playlist but it'll remain on the server for others to watch until such time as Sky loses the rights to stream it.

Other content will play back from an on demand library, again on Sky's servers. 

If you come in late and want to watch something that's already started, you can 'watch from the start' on a live stream and if you'd playlisted it, then it should be available to watch again later. 

If you're used to being able to sit and watch exactly what you want, when you want, then streaming can be a bit of a shock, but you can get used to it. If you like to pause programmes for a period whilst you go to the loo or make a cuppa, if you like to fast forward or rewind quite often to re-watch a bit of sport for example, the experience of doing this on a Stream puck is slower and glitchier than on Sky Q. 

It sounds to me like you'd be best off sticking with Sky Q for a while longer.  

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