Sky Stream (Puck) vs Sky Q

[sampsk]

Hi All

New to this community.  I've got a Sky Q set-up and also subscribe to Netflix.  With the Sky Q set-up, I've got Sky TV Essentials.  To be honest, most of what we watch these days is on BBC, ITV, Ch4 and 5, as well as some films and shows on Netflix.  Other than Sky News, we don't really use the Sky TV channels.  We do though like to record some stuff from the likes of Ch4, Ch5 to watch later, sometimes only 30 mins later.  We're currently paying £67'ish for Sky TV Essential and Sky Broadband - 30mbps

I've seen that Sky Stream has a deal with TV channels, Netflix and Broadband (150-300 mbps) for circa £35-£39, depending on the mix. Unfortunately, when I try to change, it's telling me I'm inelligable for the deal, I presume because I'm an existing member.  Using my wife's details I am able to select Sky Stream.

I appreciate that Stream is a "streaming" service, that you can't record and are at the mercy of the subscriber providers, ie iPlayer, but are there any other drawbacks to it?  Stupid question, but I'm assuming you can still "flick" through the channels and that not everything is provided by streaming service.  If that's true, then can you still pause live TV?  I'm guessing not as there's no storage mechanism.  Could you add a usb stick and would the puck be able to store/save to it?

The deal, being provided almost seems too good to be true and makes my Sky Q package (incl broadband speeds) look positively medieval.

Many thanks in advance.

[GD1]

@sampsk  All the channels on the TV Guide are also streamed but works in the same way as Sky Q when accessing the Live channels.

Of course if you have a broadband outage you also lose access to Sky stream as it's delivered over your broadband.

[BenJoBanjo]

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@sampsk wrote:

Hi All

New to this community.  I've got a Sky Q set-up and also subscribe to Netflix.  With the Sky Q set-up, I've got Sky TV Essentials.  To be honest, most of what we watch these days is on BBC, ITV, Ch4 and 5, as well as some films and shows on Netflix.  Other than Sky News, we don't really use the Sky TV channels.  We do though like to record some stuff from the likes of Ch4, Ch5 to watch later, sometimes only 30 mins later.  We're currently paying £67'ish for Sky TV Essential and Sky Broadband - 30mbps

I've seen that Sky Stream has a deal with TV channels, Netflix and Broadband (150-300 mbps) for circa £35-£39, depending on the mix. Unfortunately, when I try to change, it's telling me I'm inelligable for the deal, I presume because I'm an existing member.  Using my wife's details I am able to select Sky Stream.

I appreciate that Stream is a "streaming" service, that you can't record and are at the mercy of the subscriber providers, ie iPlayer, but are there any other drawbacks to it?  Stupid question, but I'm assuming you can still "flick" through the channels and that not everything is provided by streaming service.  If that's true, then can you still pause live TV?  I'm guessing not as there's no storage mechanism.  Could you add a usb stick and would the puck be able to store/save to it?

The deal, being provided almost seems too good to be true and makes my Sky Q package (incl broadband speeds) look positively medieval.

Many thanks in advance.

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Sky are making Q contracts more expensive in order to tempt customers over to Stream but if you like the Q interface and ability to record then they are still offering Sky Q Essentials, which is basically all the free-to-air channels and ability to record, for between £5 and £15pm depending on who you speak to. You'd normally have to cancel your current contract and then negotiate during your 31 day notice period in order to get this though, but it's worth speaking to Sky anyway. 

You can still pause live TV on Sky Stream, but only for a short amount of time (it seems to vary depending on who you ask) and there's no way to add a USB drive to record. You can restart most live streamed programmes whilst they're still showing. 

The alternative, if you only want free-to-air channels, is of course your TV's own internal Freeview or Freesat tuner. Many smart TV's have the ability to record onto a USB flash drive with live pause, instant rewind etc, available for no charge. Check your TV's instruction manual to see if yours has this capability. It can be a bit more cumbersome than Sky Q, but if finances are tight, it's a free (aside from the cost of a USB flash drive) means of recording programmes. 

[Jporch316]

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@sampsk wrote:

Hi All

New to this community.  I've got a Sky Q set-up and also subscribe to Netflix.  With the Sky Q set-up, I've got Sky TV Essentials.  To be honest, most of what we watch these days is on BBC, ITV, Ch4 and 5, as well as some films and shows on Netflix.  Other than Sky News, we don't really use the Sky TV channels.  We do though like to record some stuff from the likes of Ch4, Ch5 to watch later, sometimes only 30 mins later.  We're currently paying £67'ish for Sky TV Essential and Sky Broadband - 30mbps

I've seen that Sky Stream has a deal with TV channels, Netflix and Broadband (150-300 mbps) for circa £35-£39, depending on the mix. Unfortunately, when I try to change, it's telling me I'm inelligable for the deal, I presume because I'm an existing member.  Using my wife's details I am able to select Sky Stream.

I appreciate that Stream is a "streaming" service, that you can't record and are at the mercy of the subscriber providers, ie iPlayer, but are there any other drawbacks to it?  Stupid question, but I'm assuming you can still "flick" through the channels and that not everything is provided by streaming service.  If that's true, then can you still pause live TV?  I'm guessing not as there's no storage mechanism.  Could you add a usb stick and would the puck be able to store/save to it?

The deal, being provided almost seems too good to be true and makes my Sky Q package (incl broadband speeds) look positively medieval.

Many thanks in advance.

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hi @sampsk 

you get a TV guide (with a slightly different channel setup so its worth checking if soemthing you want is missing)

You are able to pause / rew live TV as you can on Q but the buffer is less - approx 20-25 minutes.

[Richardr1]

If you really are only watching the five main channels, then it is worth looking at their apps to see if the sort of programme you normally watch appears on there, and using the app can replace recording. Virtually all programmes do with the odd exception, e.g. the BBC can only put their Champions League highlights show on iPlayer for a day.

If so, then your TV may have the apps including Netflix, if not a one off payment for a Fire TV Stick, Roku, Apple TV, etc. will carry the apps you need.

As others have said, if that makes sense to you, see if your TV has freesat, if not an aerial will give you freeview, and either will give you the free channels live, which will include Sky News.

[Hunter2660]

One thing to point out, HD is standard on Stream, and the majority of channels are in HD. There are still SD channels, but these are not subject to the compression that is present on satellite and Freeview, so look pretty sharp. In fact the pic quality overall is really hard to beat.