Sky Stream - my worst decision in decades

[larky+marky]

The user interface is horrible.

It buffers quite often too. Make sure you have a fast internet. Forget the minimum Sky advises, get 10x that!

The 'Watch from the start' message every time to change channel is really annoying! I can see the point of it, but at least give the user the choice of setting it to 'off'.

I don't think Sky did ANY consumer tests on it's interface or usability.

Going from the 'old' Sky to stream, there are too many channels missing and annoyingly, lots of the channel numbers are different, why!

It's definately a Marmite device, and I love Marmite, but not this!

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@larky+marky wrote:

The user interface is horrible.

It buffers quite often too. Make sure you have a fast internet. Forget the minimum Sky advises, get 10x that!

i think you are getting confused with internet speed and your network connection. The internet speed does indeed only need to be the 30 Mbps recommended by Sky.

However if your network setup isn't providing that to the device (due to the strength and stability) then it would cause issues.

Plenty of workarounds for this including ensuring routers and stream pucks are out in the open to help prevent network interference. The make up of properties can also affect WiFi signal quality so somethings mesh networks or Ethernet connections/powerline adapters may be needed.

the key thing to understand is that a strong and stable network connection is what is required for Sky Stream or Sky Glass to function correctly.

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[Bordonbert]

My own experience is that this system is running downhill even at this stage.  Mine frequently buffers and I know I have no local network issues of any kind. I have Sky Fibre to the Home, a 1Gb base network for programming purposes, which is hard cabled to the Sky Puck so no wireless for me because of the very reasons Mark mentions.  So, sorry Mark, that view that it is virtually always down to local network issues holds no water I'm afraid.

What I can tell you is that I have a good indicator of programming problems in the software.  I can take these steps to demonstrate it at any time.

Unplug the power and plug back in to ensure starting up the puck completely from scratch.

Go to the channel listing and drop down a full page of a time.

See how fast each page in the listing is processed and displayed, virtually imperceptible steps between each channel.

Use the box for a couple of hours, often even less, and do the same test.

Now each page drops with two notchy steps to each channel taking a huge amount of time more to process and display each page.

At this stage I also experience processing and display lockups at random times.  This all adds up to memory leaks due to poor programming technique and a lack of bug chasing!  These cause the available memory within the puck to drop and drop as memory is lost from the system until there is not enough available for proper function.  Developers use, (should use), software development tools which report on errors like memory leaks in the code and point the programmer towards where they are most likely occurring.  It takes only a little effort to correct them, if you have the will to.

Just because someone comes with an already reported complaint, (there are very few new ones now as we have all reported the long list of faults for ever), then are advised that it is probably down to their network and not to Sky and then is never heard from again, does not mean that the problem WAS down to their network.  Most people just don't bother to come back to a place where their issue is not given serious consideration.  I do feel that the percentage of "local network issue" faults, while it is certainly not zero, is not the high level that is imagined.

[Padam_Padam]

@Bordonbert 

100% agree with your assessment.

[Bigal66]

I to am regretting getting this piece of crap .. worked great but now the same problems everyone else is getting . Been away from sky for many years but decided to gave their broadband a go which has been really good. But this puck thing is atrocious. Constantly switching off  or going back to the home page for no reason . I got the sky streaming as I wanted to get rid of the ugly dish and tv aerial on the wall . But having to reboot every day is tedious. Come on sky there is obviously I serious problem with these pucks get it sorted .....

[Floydianslip]

@Bigal66 Yet many don't. Only people who have issues take to forums to vent. Take a look at the Q forum, it's been around for years yet people are on there complaining about various problems. 

[Bigal66]

Yeh that not the point of forums .. so people can tell others about problems and look for advice .

[Floydianslip]

@Bigal66 You're claiming there's a serious problem with the pucks......there isn't, they perform perfectly well for many many people, you're having issues doesn't make them atrocious by any sense.

[Bigal66]

There is a serious problem with them .. look at the amount of people with the same problems 🤷‍♂️

[Bigal66]

Just sat and watched the whole of dragons den on my fire stick without so much as a blip .. back onto the puck and within 5 mins sitting with a blue screen... same tv same broadband same Ethernet cable .. so yes there is a serious problem and the service is atrocious 🙄

[Fothergill1]

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@Floydianslip wrote:

@Bigal66 You're claiming there's a serious problem with the pucks......there isn't, they perform perfectly well for many many people, you're having issues doesn't make them atrocious by any sense.

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@Floydianslip I fully agree.  The vast majority of subscribers are perfectly content with their stream pucks and Glass TVs and don't seek out the forum for help.  However I appreciate that many people have some awful experiences for which they need assistance.

I had a few issues when I first subscribed to the streaming platform nearly 2 years ago and was helped through the problems by other forum members.  Consequently I stuck around to try to help others.  

Stream is by no means perfect but then neither was Sky Q and both still experience issues.  Personally I am happy with my Stream puck and would not contemplate returning to Sky Q.  The issues I have with it are implementation rather than hardware.

[Bigal66]

But it should be perfect  or at least watchable .. your paying for a service!!!

[Jporch316]

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@Bigal66 wrote:

But it should be perfect  or at least watchable .. your paying for a service!!!

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Try using WiFi instead of ethernet ....

the ethernet card is 100mb. I'm pretty sure you ll get a better experience 

[Fothergill1]

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@Bigal66 wrote:

But it should be perfect  or at least watchable .. your paying for a service!!!

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@Bigal66 Ideally yes of course it should be perfect but what is these day.  Sky Q has been around for years.  I was a fairly early adopter and initially it was full of bugs and was a dreadful experience.  Even now Sky Q has issues from time to time.  

Whether the service is up to scratch or not I feel it is certainly overpriced and I have been cutting down on my subscription package.  I dropped Sky Sport at the end of last year and will shortly be cancelling Cinema as soon as my wife has finished watching a series on Paramount.

[Bigal66]

The only reason I went for the streaming service was to do away with the sky dish and tv aerial..when the bloody thing works it is good and I like it ..but when your constantly rebooted and changing things over to see if it helps you soon regret getting it ..like I said earlier on everything else works perfect with the same tv and broadband so there must be a problem with the pick ..I'll get in touch with sky and see about a replacement and hopefully that will resolve it 😊