My thoughts after 7 days

[Pete+offaLeeds]

My dish was in need of replacing so I thought I'd give Sky Stream a try. These are my thoughts after 7 days.

Pro's

1) Dead easy to setup. I got three pucks up and running in 20 minutes.

2) Picture quality marginally better than Sky Q.

3) I had expected the live sport delay would be the biggest problem i might have had but several tests showed it only 12 seconds behind Sky Q, so just over 30 seconds on the real event. Quite imppressed and not the game changer i thought it would be.

4) The interface is really intuative and i like the playlist fucntionality where you can set up a list per user.

5) The settings are clear and concise.

6) The channel favourites is really useful.

7) Everything is in 1 place and you can add programs from any app into the playlist (with caveats, mostly on Netflix where some programs won't add)

😎 I don't have to brush snow off my dish anymore or watch pixilations if there is a storm, i can get rid of the dish and the wiring......or dare I???? Read on.

Cons

1) Scrolling through the ad's is not as easy to do (if you've paid for that option) as the preview of where you are doesn't always align or shows nothing. So essentially its Russian roulette where you land.

2) Lip sync was a massive issue if you use it directly out of the box. I have a Sonos sound bar and the Dolby Diigital Plus setting (default) worked but lip sync was out from the start and got worse the longer you used it for. After searching various forums i found that the sound needed to be set to Passthrough. That allowed the Sonos to control the input and decide how to decode the signal. All good you would think BUT.....

3) Once Passthrough is set you then play Russian roulette again, this time with whether the sound will come back on if you Pause or Fast Forward the program (particularly on Netflix). Only way to get it back is switch the Dolby Digital Plus, play the program again, get fed up with the lip-sync being out and go back to Playthrough. 

Conclusion.

The big question is do the sound issues create a big enough problem to box it all up and swop back or do i get out there with the spanner and wire cutters and remove the dish..........21 days left to decide.

[Stephen+Mourton]

@Pete+offaLeeds   I think that is a very good and honest review and was exactly my view after 7 days and I considered whether to go back to Q before my trial month was over.  Well it has now passed and I have stuck with Stream.  Like your list the pro's far out weighed the con's.

Also the time difference on sport events has already been partially addressed with the latest update and Sky Sports Main Event now has a Sync option which I've not tested yet but apparently brings the time delay close to watching it live, plus this will be rolled out to other sports channels in the future.  

This is why I have stuck with Stream as unlike Q it is constantly being updated and improved.  Making the forward and reverse wind more user friendly would for me be the next thing I would like to see improved but I have now after 6 weeks began to get used to it.  So far I have no regrets but as you say a good internet connection is vital and I have found not keeping my router on the floor or out of sight but in a more prominent position to have improved it even more.

[Gincap]

With Netflix if you search for an actor, producer or Director that often finds the program you are after that can't be found when searching for it. 

A feature 😉

[Pete+offaLeeds]

Well it's going back after black screening 3 times in 20 minutes and pretty much a niggle a day with sound, play back issues, dropping out of programs and overall consistency, it's just not ready for consumers. The idea is great, the delivery is poor.

AND THE REAL KICK IN THE NUTS? It was a 30 day trial BUT what they don't tell you is that you don't get the up front costs back! So I'm £80 down because Skys product is not fit for purpose. 

[Fothergill1]

@Pete+offaLeeds  If you cancel before the end of the trial period you should be reimbursed in full.