Sky stream vs sky Q and HD/UHD questions

[rovingwarrior]

Hi bit of advice pls. I’ve tried googling but get inundated with unhelpful ads or articles plagued with pop ups; considering getting sky , primarily to watch premier league football so want sky sports and bt sport (tnt sport as it now calls itself)

I understand the basics of each but what I can’t find a straight answer to is ;

- can you ‘record’ live footy with sky stream ; I understand it’s not got a hard drive but can I ‘+’ something specifically a live footy game on sky or tnt in advance and then start watching it, fast forward pause rewind etc at my leisure at any time (even while it’s part way through) …. In essence is sky stream record / playback functionality broadly similar to sky Q ? Or put another way does streaming football on the sky puck work in the same way that streaming on amazon or BT on a PC does where by you can start watching at any point and jump to wherever in the programme you want to be? My only experience of sky streaming is using sky go which is really limited in being able to only watch what is happening right there and then

- does sky sports come in HD as standard  with sky Q? TNT clearly states it’s HD but can’t find info on whether sky sports is HD (sky in fact offer HD as an upgrade and separately ultra HD but sky sports is not mentioned in the what’s included blurb)

- assuming sky sports comes in HD as standard does HD tv on sky Q and the puck include sound in Dolby 5.1 (or better)

- on sky stream you can upgrade to ultra HD; is this worth it when pretty much only watching footy? Like is the footy broadcast in ultra HD or is it only movies and stuff ?


thanks 

[BenJoBanjo]

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@rovingwarrior wrote:

Hi bit of advice pls. I’ve tried googling but get inundated with unhelpful ads or articles plagued with pop ups; considering getting sky , primarily to watch premier league football so want sky sports and bt sport (tnt sport as it now calls itself)

I understand the basics of each but what I can’t find a straight answer to is ;

- can you ‘record’ live footy with sky stream ; I understand it’s not got a hard drive but can I ‘+’ something specifically a live footy game on sky or tnt in advance and then start watching it, fast forward pause rewind etc at my leisure at any time (even while it’s part way through) …. In essence is sky stream record / playback functionality broadly similar to sky Q ? Or put another way does streaming football on the sky puck work in the same way that streaming on amazon or BT on a PC does where by you can start watching at any point and jump to wherever in the programme you want to be? My only experience of sky streaming is using sky go which is really limited in being able to only watch what is happening right there and then

- Sort of. Technically you can set matches to 'cloud record' but there are frequent reports of this not being particularly reliable on Sky Stream. Fast forwarding and rewinding can be sluggish and can cause the Stream puck to crash if done repeatedly and too quickly. There is always usually a 'watch from the start' option if you want to join a broadcast that is already underway, but again, it can be dangerous to pause or fast forward through bits in case you get kicked out of the stream. Reliability still isn't 100%.

- does sky sports come in HD as standard  with sky Q? TNT clearly states it’s HD but can’t find info on whether sky sports is HD (sky in fact offer HD as an upgrade and separately ultra HD but sky sports is not mentioned in the what’s included blurb)

- Yes. Sky Sports is in HD on Sky Stream. 

- assuming sky sports comes in HD as standard does HD tv on sky Q and the puck include sound in Dolby 5.1 (or better)

- Some sporting events come with Dolby Atmos sound

- on sky stream you can upgrade to ultra HD; is this worth it when pretty much only watching footy? Like is the footy broadcast in ultra HD or is it only movies and stuff ?

- The only live UHD channels are Sports channels, so yes, UHD is probably worth it if you like that kind of thing. Many events are also shown in HDR (High Dynamic Range) too. There are quite a few drama and nature series available on demand in UHD with HDR, as well as Sky Cinema movies. You can normally get the UHD/Atmos add-on for free for a couple of months via the MySky app. You can usually then repeat this offer. Be aware that your broadband network MUST be fast and stable in order for live sport to stream effectively in UHD. There are frequent reports of customers having issues with it. 


thanks 

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[lettice]

@rovingwarrior 

Have a read and watch the video in this Sky Stream FAQ.

https://www.sky.com/help/sky-tv/sky-tv-stream/sky-stream-faqs/articles/sky-stream-faqs

I moved form Sky Q to Sky Stream 21+ months ago.

I have no reliability problems with Sky Stream, just a few odd blips over that time that have been more around Skys back end.

I find it fast channel hopping, through the menus and launching the On demand and many apps.

A good reliable local network is key to a reliable Sky Stream experience.

Have a read of my journey, linked  in my signature.

Dolby sound outputs depends on the sport and the broadcaster. The broadcasts match exactly what you get on Sky Q.

I have added many Sky sports to my playlist and regularly add all of Sky Sports football and F1. I have no issues watching any of that.

The other Sky Sports like Golf and cricket allow the same, with one exception the Tennis. As that is down to the broadcaster not offering all the rights in conjunction with Sky, it ends up as mostly highlights with only the semis and finals offered on demand along with most British player participation games.

Sky Sports on a linear channel is recorded  as a cloud recording and will after a week or so revert to an on demand full version.

The channels, like QVC, Legend, Together TV Great set of channels, international channels and the like, that do not offer any form of on demand, allow you to cloud record. Some stay for months, but some only stay for weeks.

C5 offers some of its content through its own app when added to playlist, but it also cloud records a fair bit that C5 to do not have in their app.

Watch from start has improved recently and allows you to do so for any channel. It also now allows you to carry on if you started it live and continue using after the live current programme event, not dropping as it did previously into ghe next programme intermittently.

HD is the standard on Sky Stream.

The available channel lists are available in the Sky help, Sky Stream section;

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/tv-channel-list-sky-glass

UHD is definetly worth it, it's a noticeable uplift if you have been watching previously on Sky Q, for the live Sports, Sky TV series On demand and Sky Cinema, especially noticeable if you have a medium to high spec TV.

Well worth a visit to a Currys or a Sky shop to get a feel of it.

[Stephen+Mourton]

@BenJoBanjo " Sort of. Technically you can set matches to 'cloud record' but there are frequent reports of this not being particularly reliable on Sky Stream. Fast forwarding and rewinding can be sluggish and can cause the Stream puck to crash if done repeatedly and too quickly. There is always usually a 'watch from the start' option if you want to join a broadcast that is already underway, but again, it can be dangerous to pause or fast forward through bits in case you get kicked out of the stream. Reliability still isn't 100%."

Your assessment regarding watching back live sport is very true.  It is my one big issue with Stream.  I have had Stream for over a year and in every other way I am delighted with it but replaying a previously live event is a nightmare.  It is fine if you want to watch it back without trying to fast forward it but touch that forward/rewind button at your peril.  You say reliability isn't 100%, well in regard to this particular issue I would say reliability is 10% and that is being generous.  

[Chrisee]

@Stephen+Mourton You should not have issues with cloud recordings which can be controlled like any other stream. The play from the start feature does have limitations. Cloud recordings for live events set up from the TV guide will be added to the playlist and as far as Sky's own sports channels go I find reliable. I use this to watch sections of the F1 weekends skipping the bits I dont. Control using voice command is easy and reliable so saying something like "forward 30 minutes"  will jump the fluff before the section you want. 

Avoid sending multiple commands via the remote as it is possible to lock up any stream as there is a slight delay before the server can respond