There’s finally a way to enjoy Sky without needing to install a satellite dish or buy a new TV.
Sky Stream : Read more
Sky Stream : Read more
Sky Stream
- Thread starter What Hi-Fi?
- Start date
Hifiman
Well-known member
Movielad76
Member
As impressive as the picture quality is, and how well the live channels work - there are still a considerable number of bugs to sort out. Looking at the Sky Community forums, there are a good number of complaints that the remote control (which ships to people with a paper tag in the battery compartment that needs to be removed before it's operational) bricks itself due to a bug relating to remote control over a TV or external speaker system.
Additionally, third party apps on the system suffer problems whereby after playing one title, attempting to play another results in a blank screen/no playback until the app is restarted (I came across this one with BBC iPlayer). Or the Disney+ app (which is the only app out the lot that makes it hard work to log into by forcing you to use an email address and password which has to be painstakingly entered via the remote) suffering audio and video problems when pausing and fast forwarding or rewinding.
I've had problems with Sky content playing back too - at one point the system kept pausing, reloading and occasionally rewound itself or just plain dropped out during an episode of Resident Alien. I thought I would try watching via Sky Go on the Apple TV instead, but despite indications that Sky Go is included within the Stream package,the Apple TV app said I needed Sky Q (which I migrated over from) or Sky Glass Whole Home. Yet, the Sky Go Mac app still works for me.
Then there is HDMI control. Very much a hit and miss with a Sony KD-55XH90/P in that pressing the Home button on the Sky remote will switch on the box and the TV and make sure its set to the right HDMI input, but there are equally many times when the TV switches on and doesn't change input (resorting to the switched off Apple TV instead). And it doesn't turn the TV off when switching off via the remote. Volume controls do work, however.
One also needs to go into Settings and make sure that if the TV is UHD capable to set that as such, since the system ships with 1080 by default. I also found that in order for UHD content to be flagged as such in the guide, I had to set the Picture Format to UHD (default is Auto).
This is a far from ideal experience from Sky Q, and I strongly urge those considering switching from Sky Q to Sky Stream to consider that the software is still quite a bit immature even after a year from being used with Sky Glass. And while the hardware is undoubtedly impressive for Sky content, I do wonder if it's up to the job with the third-party streaming services apps and has enough RAM to manage everything.
Additionally, third party apps on the system suffer problems whereby after playing one title, attempting to play another results in a blank screen/no playback until the app is restarted (I came across this one with BBC iPlayer). Or the Disney+ app (which is the only app out the lot that makes it hard work to log into by forcing you to use an email address and password which has to be painstakingly entered via the remote) suffering audio and video problems when pausing and fast forwarding or rewinding.
I've had problems with Sky content playing back too - at one point the system kept pausing, reloading and occasionally rewound itself or just plain dropped out during an episode of Resident Alien. I thought I would try watching via Sky Go on the Apple TV instead, but despite indications that Sky Go is included within the Stream package,the Apple TV app said I needed Sky Q (which I migrated over from) or Sky Glass Whole Home. Yet, the Sky Go Mac app still works for me.
Then there is HDMI control. Very much a hit and miss with a Sony KD-55XH90/P in that pressing the Home button on the Sky remote will switch on the box and the TV and make sure its set to the right HDMI input, but there are equally many times when the TV switches on and doesn't change input (resorting to the switched off Apple TV instead). And it doesn't turn the TV off when switching off via the remote. Volume controls do work, however.
One also needs to go into Settings and make sure that if the TV is UHD capable to set that as such, since the system ships with 1080 by default. I also found that in order for UHD content to be flagged as such in the guide, I had to set the Picture Format to UHD (default is Auto).
This is a far from ideal experience from Sky Q, and I strongly urge those considering switching from Sky Q to Sky Stream to consider that the software is still quite a bit immature even after a year from being used with Sky Glass. And while the hardware is undoubtedly impressive for Sky content, I do wonder if it's up to the job with the third-party streaming services apps and has enough RAM to manage everything.
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