Sky Q vs Sky Stream

[ovine]

I have Sky Q; what's the deal here - is Sky Stream now the best way to get the best possible picture across all channels?

I'm curious as to what sort of bitrates they are using when compared with Sky Q, including at 4K, does anyone know if overall one platform is better than the other in terms of picture quality? I understand that Sky Stream would allow 4K across the house, whereas as we all know, the trust Sky Q minis are HD-only.

The other thing is I was planning on taking a puck for a month to try it out and answer my own Qs, but it seems impossible via the website? Either the stream page doesn't load (gives error 400) whenever I'm logged into my account or if I navigate to it when logged out, then sign in, it gives a bland message about thanking me for my interest, but as I have Sky Q I already have the best channels (or something along those lines). Do I take it then that Sky do not want people to switch from Sky Q to Sky Stream? Then again, in the FAQs it has a whole piece on transferring from Q to Stream, and how they won't turn off Q until Stream is running, so it must be a viable path. Maybe they don't want you to have both at the same time - but switching from Q to Stream for the whole house would be a big decision, so I was rather hoping I could try a puck for a month and see how I get on first?

[Chrisee]

@ovine You cant have Q and Stream at the sametime you havecto switch totally. Trying the system for a month is logical but from Sky's perspective you are switching permantly. You will have to argue to get Stream on a rolling month contract as they will try to sell you a 18 month deal. Neither affects the 31 day cooling off period where you can switch back to Q simply.

Regarding picture quality the bandwidth used is very similar (up to 30Mb/s for UHD)  but it is running from a far more modern streaming system and using hardware which is also pretty recent. Stream certainly is no worse than Q and supports Dolby Vision for those apps thst use it - Sky's HDR content is still in HLG. I have no complaints about the picture on my LGC9.

You can have up to 6 Stream pucks IIRC. Critical to the system is very stable data delivery. Wifi does work but you need a very good home network as a single ISP supplied router often doesnt cut it. Ethernet or powerline are an alternative which do work. UHD requires around 30Mb/s HD around 10Mb/s but as important is low jitter. 

[ovine]

Thank you, I appreciate the info!

So it seems like if I wanted to do this, I would basically need to call them and ask to switch to Stream, like-for-like, same/equivalent packages and then if my understanding is correct, if I wanted to cancel during the cooling-off period (let's say for some reason I wasn't happy - I can see some rather disturbing reports of bugs in the UI) they would just switch my Sky Q signal back on? So presumably they wouldn't take away the equipment until that cooling-off period had expired (otherwise they'd have to do a whole new installation again), or I just wouldn't send it back rightaway or something?

[Chrisee]

@ovine Yup that is how it works. When you switch from Q you keep the Q kit for roughly a month before Sky send you the packaging to return it. Loads of people have reverted although plenty more haven't but you hear less from happy customers than unhappy ones. 

The UI is quite different and whether it works for you depends on how you watch TV. Watching linear channels as broadcast is much the same assuming the channel is on Stream some smaller SD channels are not. However if you routinely time shift Stream can be a pain as you are often using catch up apps and not all content us available. If you mainly watch downloads Stream works well especially iif you subscribe to apps like Disney+, Apple TV+ etc as they are in Dolby Vision and seem to run smoother than on Q. 

[Floydianslip]

@ovine 

If you're after improved PQ then Stream is the way to go, its stunning on my LG G2. If you need or require recording then stick to Q. I had Q from 2016 and haven't regretted switching.

[ovine]

Many thanks.

One other thing, does anyone know if the Sky Stream puck exposes the same/any IP control interface as the Sky Q and Sky+HD boxes do? This is for basic stuff mirroring the physical remote control used by the likes of Crestron etc.

I know they kept the same protocol for these two boxes, and I'm wondering if this has also propagated to Sky Stream.

[Chrisee]

@ovine Stream has no IP control interface anyone has found to my knowledge. Q and Sky+ have one that is  unsupported by Sky but used by Crestron etc. The only control that works other than the bluetooth is by infrared.

[ovine]

Right ok, that's a shame.

[Anonymous]

• @ovine 

Stream is very marmite!

You'll probably need to hardwire ethernet cable to your router, the best of WiFi connections seem to struggle.

Picture quality with a decent oled tv is outstanding

If you miss a programme there can be a delay if waiting for catch up but generally very good.

Audio description and subtitles can be a bit hit n miss.

Voice search not the best but key pad operation quite good.

AD fast forwarding at £5 a month does not go down well!

Apps generally work, Netflix can be problematic, Apple occasionally and ITVX is not the best, but that's ITV not Sky.

ITVX and All4 work best by premium subscription but that's a further £10 ish for the two.

Playlists and Continue Watching are still work in progress, not the best but kind of workable. Sky working on a fix but by when ???

There are bugs still so be prepared for frequent reboots. I've learnt to reboot regularly anyway and it tends to refresh the puck for better stability.

I'd recommend you visit a Sky Store and play with the equipment in store if you can.

If you like to keep stuff and just like the ease and simplicity of recording then stick with Q. If you like to gamble on ensuring you can watch what you intended go for stream 😉 

Personally I like it but you have to put the work in, family hate it, too complex just to watch some TV 🙄

But as said you have 31 days anyway to return.

Good luck on your decision 👍 

[ovine]

Thanks for the feedback, very useful.

I think this bit kills the idea for me, for now:

"There are bugs still so be prepared for frequent reboots. I've learnt to reboot regularly anyway and it tends to refresh the puck for better stability."

I'm used to a pretty solid Sky Q setup, I can't remember the last time I had to reboot either the main box or the mini boxes.

[AdzSNR420]

@ovine Hi. I can't speak on sky q as I've never had it but I did recently get sky stream via the "puck". I paid extra for UHD & Dolby also 4k netflix. Although I'm not exactly sure of the bit rate number I can confirm its full 4k. Streaming through all the 4k apps is seamless but i have pretty decent WiFi also from sky 500 mbps download & around 60 mbps upload. Unfortunately it's an extra £6 a month for UHD & Dolby sky & another £8 per month for "premium 4k HDR netflix". The puck for me was free as I'm a long term customer. If you are a sky vip you can claim a free puck. I'm still considering adding more pucks to bedrooms but at another £12 a month I can't really justify that atm. The main benefits for me are all apps merged on the home screen & the rolling contract is a bonus so as you can imagine you are able to pick & chose each month exactly what you want i.e possibly a month of sky sports or something as a games coming up. I really did notice a big difference when I changed my puck from default 1080p hd to UHD & the sound to. Premium netflix pops perfectly like it does on most modern 4k tvs. I would say it's worth a try but from what I've read you are tied to sky entertainment (with free basic netflix) for 18 months & apparently the puck needs that to function properly although I've had my puck less than a week so I don't for sure know. Definitely recommend especially with the deals on just now. Happy watching 🙂

[Chrisee]

@ovine I can only speak for my own set up but I reboot my 4 units less frequently than the Sky Q boxes they replaced  BUT I understand the system and have a very solid wifi network. One benefit from my end was getting rid of the Sky Q wifi mesh system which was problematic. Buying a solid whole home wifi set up was a good use of £100.

Try reading the Q forum and you will see what I mean about forums overcstating the negative. There are issues with the UI but stability is not one of them at least for me.

[ovine]

Yes I turned off the Sky Q wifi too and have everything wired, as I always try and do with any device caoable if possible.

[Chrisee]

@ovine in which case Stream should be pretty solid for you. You can lock the system up by not waiting for commands to complete and start hitting the remote although that is far better than it was. Some apps can crash the OS but they do that on Q as well. 

[Anonymous]

@ovine 

Your curiosity won't be satisfied unless you experience it. Go for it as you have 31 days to test it out. It can only go one of two ways.

Yes, forums lean to the negatives over the positives and users can only report on their personal experiences. Some think it is the best piece of kit ever and will sing its praises others would willingly take a sledge hammer to it in total frustration.

At the end of the day it's plugging in a box and see how it goes.

There are reasons to reboot some of us now have the puck on a hive socket for ease of rebooting, yesterday my puck froze using Netflix, black screen only solution power off. So it happens it's software the nature of the beast power off and on the staple of any software driven kit from mobiles to servers, as Sky found out only this week with a server crash!

If you get it test it hard it will only be after a week or so you get a true feel on the functionality as series broadcast so you can see if they work for you in playlists etc. over recordings.

The big plus is the picture quality.

The negatives are what you consider them to be as a user.