Sky stream early observations V Virgin Media Strean

[Anonymous]

As someone who also has virgin stream some early observations. 

I am running the puck on wired Ethernet 500 Meg. 

1. The sky device is far more likely to splutter, stall on live television. I have had the virgin device three months and not had a single interuption. I have had several on sky already.

2. Time delay - all the channels including Sky sports are about 20 seconds behind the same channels on virgin. Including sky's only channels 

3. The picture quality on both virgin and sky stream is comparable. Both order HD and UHD. Although UHD isng available on sky channels yet on virgin stream 

4. Virgin Stream only works with VM broadband and is restricted to only one box. Sky stream works with any broadband provider and you can have numerous boxes which is better 

5. The voice search is much much better on the Virgin remote, more responsive and just works better, find myself having to repeat in to the sky remote as it often doesn't pick up what I am saying correctly 

6. monthly cost - virgin is much cheaper but does offer less channels. The base channels (freeview) are free you can then add on packs. Which are currently cheaper than sky. Sky sports for all channels in HD is £18.75 a month for 18 months. Sky Cinema HD channels are £10 and BT Sports channels in 4K are £10 for 18 months.

[JonP83]

I have both, and would say your observations are fair.  If Virgin Media O2 allowed more than 1 stream box per account, then I would say that it beats Sky Stream in every way in it's current format.  Sky desperately need to sort out the stability of it's product, and I still don't understand how competitors can massively undercut Sky on its own channels.

[Anonymous]

virgin stream is much more stable isn't it ? The voice remote works so much better too. If virgin stream had sky sports/cinema in 4k and would allow more than one box, it would be so much better than stream 

[Anonymous]

Yeah how can virgin offer sky sports for £18.75 without contract when the sky stream out of contract price is £27??? Just doesn't sit right. Sky cinema is £10 on virgin stream when it is £13 on sky stream out of contract. The biggest difference though is BT Sport only £10 including 4K channels on virgin stream. Sky want £30 for BT Sports and then you need the UHD pack at £6 a month. So on sky stream you need to pay £36 a month out of contact to watch BT sports in 4 K. Virgin stream it is £10

[Joe-Bow]

I find network performance quite a mystery on the Glass Pucks/TV (same hardware as Stream).

When I had Q, I found the only way to make the mini boxes to work was hardwired to a mesh system while the Q mesh never worked for me (and yes, I did have Sky Broadband and the Q router).

So naturally when I went to Glass I used hardwired mesh connected pucks and the Glass TV, which seems fine at first.  I then noticed some network instability on glass/Pucks after a few F/W releases which I couldn't put my finger on, so thought I'd give WiFi a go to see if the same issues occurred.

I was staggered to see the improvement to Wi-Fi in Pucks/Glass and how stable it was over my previously hardwired mesh connections, and now run 2 Glass TVs and 6 pucks all over Wi-Fi and a 56Mb/s fibre connection, and without any issues unless the mesh nodes are having a wobble, which is generally the only time I see issue with Glass/Pucks.

I have very good Wi-Fi coverage via my mesh with strong signal at every position where there is a puck/Glass TV.

Finding out that Wi-Fi works as well as it does for Glass for me is a pretty excellent outcome compared to Sky kit of the past.

[Anonymous]

The sky pucks are no where near as stable as the virgin stream box. I have both sky stream and Virgin stream 

[Joe-Bow]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The sky pucks are no where near as stable as the virgin stream box. I have both sky stream and Virgin stream 

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For some, @Anonymous , yes.  Not for all.

[Floydianslip]

@Anonymous 

I have 4 Stream pucks, all connected wifi6 to my router since last October and they've been rock solid, no disconnections or wifi issues.

[stereohaven]

The only blocker for me with the Virgin Media Stream is the thought of having to deal with Virgin Media again.

Their Trustpilot customer satisfaction scores even give Sky Glass a run for its money! 🤣

[Dunlop73]

I have both too. I've had some stability issues with the Sky puck but since it's been replaced it's been fine. The Virgin box has been stable throughout. Personally I find the look of the Virgin guide and home pages more pleasant - not as brash and busy. 
The biggest issue for me is picture quality though and here Sky beats Virgin hands down. It's clearer, brighter, smoother and just beautiful to look at. 

[Anonymous]

Sky customer service has always been excellent for me and worth paying the premium for. VM are simply horrendous 

[Dave6018]

What ever sky charge it is worth it,, virgin customer service is absolutely shocking, 

[Jason+Golding]

@Dave6018  Agree. Virgin are absolutely horrendous. I have sky and virgin stream but i am happy to pay a lot more to have the premium channels on sky.