Sky Stream ITVX app issues

[electricmonk]

The relationship between the Sky Stream puck and it's ITVX app is unreliable.

I have had two different issues in the last two days.

The first was the absence of any sound after an ad black screen interval.

Stopping and restarting the app made no difference.

As the puck does not have a restart option in settings, I did a hard restart by turning the power off and on at the puck's wall socket.

Today's issue was that the ITVX app got stuck in a loop.

From Playlist I selected Trigger Point.

It went to the app, then the parental controls warning, then the episode, the back to the playlist again and again. See video.

The solution was a hard reboot as with the first issue.

I have now installed a Meross smart switch at the Sky Stream power socket, as this will simplify reboot using Apple Home or Alexa.

[MarkGoldsmith]

So that second issue you mention can actually happen with all the apps. I believe its likely related to a memory issue, and indeed a turning it off at the plug for 30 seconds does solve it.  I've had sky stream for 2 months and have seen that issue on iplayer, ITV X and C4 but its only happen twice.

[electricmonk]

@MarkGoldsmith 

I think that you are right about memory, as I also get buffering stutters, and the puck regularly resets video to 1080 from 2160 setting.

I also have had Sky Stream for about two months. I think that once that we the customers have identified the bugs it will be OK. Product development style pioneered by Microsoft. 

I am also disappointed that some features were oversold.

Ad free actually means that the customer can whizz through the ads.

Including Netflix actually means Netflix with ads included.

[TimmyBGood]

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@electricmonk wrote:

I am also disappointed that some features were oversold.

Ad free actually means that the customer can whizz through the ads.

Including Netflix actually means Netflix with ads included.

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In Sky terminology it's always been 'Ad skipping', not 'Ad free'.

Netflix introduced their current structure (including 'Standard with Ads' replacing 'Basic' as the minimum tier) long after Glass/Stream was launched, so much of the information online regarding bundled Netflix on Sky hardware is simply outdated and refers to products which no longer exist.

[MarkGoldsmith]

The Netflix with ads is a new thing come in that's 6ish weeks and was forced by Netflix as they finally have to switch over to the new Netflix tiers, whereas previously Netflix allowed third parties to continue selling the old tiers.

to be honest I expect semi frequent reboots of a device as these are now essentially mini computers and like every good computer it needs a reboot once in a while. So if a have to reboot it once every fortnight due to some wierd issues personally I'm not that bothered. What would be good is an option in the settings to actually reboot the device rather than having to do it via the plug though.

[Jones_The_Cat]

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@electricmonk wrote:

@MarkGoldsmith 

I think that you are right about memory, as I also get buffering stutters, and the puck regularly resets video to 1080 from 2160 setting.

I also have had Sky Stream for about two months. I think that once that we the customers have identified the bugs it will be OK. Product development style pioneered by Microsoft. 

I am also disappointed that some features were oversold.

Ad free actually means that the customer can whizz through the ads.

Including Netflix actually means Netflix with ads included.

---

Sky Stream is OK. But only just OK. We customers have been identifying bugs in it since the puck was launched, alongside Glass, in October 2021. 

We're now at the end of January 2024 and the product has not improved significantly in that period. 

You are correct in saying that it simply doesn't have enough internal memory to function reliably, and there's nothing other than a change in hardware that can solve this. 

The pace at which Sky implements product changes and improvements is just not fast enough for me. It took over a year for them to identify and rectify an audio driver problem in Sky Q boxes which caused random sound drop-outs. I stuck with them throughout that debacle and I've stuck with them for a year with Stream, but I'm now in the final days of my notice period having cancelled the service completely. I'm just not willing to waste any more of my time finding other irritating bugs or suffering the usual recurring issues which never get fixed. 

Whenever there's a Stream puck V2 I might give it another go, but much better streaming alternatives are now out there and that's what I'm sticking with for the foreseeable future.

Sorry Sky, but it's bye bye from me.