New to Sky Q

[Lucyliu2]

Good morning. After several weeks of trying to get Sky Glass to work, I am back on Sky Q with a new UHD 2Tb box. Though familiar with the old Q box there are some changes that take some getting used to, I have 'Signature', 'Sports' and for the moment 'Ultimate add on' all running through a modern LG tv being used as a dumb monitor.

I watch sports live and recorded and a few programs across all channels but mostly on Netflix. Two or three programs are current and recorded as broadcast, the rest on demand.

I am trying to work out what I have in terms of HD, what programs and delivery platforms it affects and how I am paying for it. Sky Billing is as complicated as always and little help.

Can anyone help with that in plain English?

[oldfella]

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@Lucyliu2 wrote:

Good morning. After several weeks of trying to get Sky Glass to work, I am back on Sky Q with a new UHD 2Tb box. Though familiar with the old Q box there are some changes that take some getting used to, I have 'Signature', 'Sports' and for the moment 'Ultimate add on' all running through a modern LG tv being used as a dumb monitor.

I watch sports live and recorded and a few programs across all channels but mostly on Netflix. Two or three programs are current and recorded as broadcast, the rest on demand.

I am trying to work out what I have in terms of HD, what programs and delivery platforms it affects and how I am paying for it. Sky Billing is as complicated as always and little help.

Can anyone help with that in plain English?

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Hi @Lucyliu2 

Sky Signature includes BoxSets and Entertainment channels only in SD as standard.
Only free to air channels such as BBC, ITV etc are in HD. The Q HD pack is required for all other Sky Signature HD content, including Catch Up in HD, On Demand in HD and BoxSets in HD
If you do not have the Optional HD pack you need to change the Download to SD in All Formats (as HD is the default setting).
So that you do not need to do this every time it’s best to change your Download preference to SD in Home - Settings - Setup - Preferences.
This needs to done on the main Q box.
Then if you want to download any HD content from free to air channels (BBCHD ,ITVHD etc) you can select HD in the All formats tab of the content . This will change the format for that particular download only but still leave your format to SD in preferences.

As regards Netflix assuming you subscribe through Sky
Sky Ultimate TV includes the Netflix Basic plan (1 screen + SD)
You can upgrade to Netflix Standard (2 screens + HD) by adding the HD pack On Sky Q.
You can upgrade to Netflix Premium (4 screens + UHD/HDR) by adding the Ultra HD pack (requires the HD pack first) on Sky Q.

[nigea99]

hi @Lucyliu2 

Just to add a minor point to the detailed reply from @oldfella 

SKY Sports has it's own HD add on which is automatically included (& cannot be removed) in the UK - not often mentioned but billed as a separate entry -  &, I believe,  optional for  Ireland

Just to confuse this slightly SKY Sports News and SKY Sports Mix are not part of the Sports Pack but included in Signature & thus need the standard HD add on to watch in HD

Edit : BTW in case it isn't obvious Netflix via SKY is the 'Ultimate' add on rather than being called Netflix 

[Lucyliu2]

@oldfella  @nigea99 

Thanks for the briefing, very helpful. Sky up to their usual tricks of making every as complex as possible, and then some!

It would appear that the combination of Signaure and Ultimate give me all that I want but strangely Netflix is part of Ultimate, not Signature, I find that odd. To be honest I do not do Cinema or F1, so HD is barely of interest to me, but I do like to know what is going on and what I am paying for, bit obsessive, I know.

Technically I am working things out as I go, the 'mini guide' can be annoying as it pops up when you really dont want it, finger trouble mainly, but can it be disabled?

Similarly the 'Now playing' miniscreen, top left of the home page keeps playing things that you are looking at but can not be stopped without going back to the guide, am I missing a trick here?

[oldfella]

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@Lucyliu2 wrote:

Technically I am working things out as I go, the 'mini guide' can be annoying as it pops up when you really dont want it, finger trouble mainly, but can it be disabled?

Similarly the 'Now playing' miniscreen, top left of the home page keeps playing things that you are looking at but can not be stopped without going back to the guide, am I missing a trick here?

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Hi @Lucyliu2 

Mini guide cannot be disabled but is easily removed by press the Dismiss button (left of Home button).

The 'Now playing' mini screen cannot be removed but does move offscreen when you scroll right in most content

[TimmyBGood]

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@Lucyliu2 wrote:

strangely Netflix is part of Ultimate, not Signature, I find that odd.

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'Signature' is the baseline Sky channel bundle: 'Ultimate TV' is 'Signature' plus Netflix Basic.