Sky Friends and Family deal thread! Now with, er NOW deals!

Soldato
Joined
20 Aug 2008
Posts
6,826
Personally, I prefer NowTV because I can use it on any device I like without having to rent hardware from Sky to do it. The ability to pay on a month to month basis is also a big factor for me because I work away from home and some months cancel it altogether as I do with Netflix etc.

What I really can't understand is why anyone would even contemplate Sky Glass.

That was my question too. I understand why people choose now TV, but no idea why, if someone was considering SKY TV, why they would turn down Sky Q and go with Stream/Glass
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Nov 2003
Posts
3,386
I'm still trying to get my head around why people prefer Stream over Q

Was just the ease of not needing to run cables for myself personally. I moved house and where my TV is I would have had to have ran cables either under floorboards or tagged along skirting then round a door.

I also like the fact that if I forget to record say the F1, then I can start the program off whenever I like from the start.

Picture quality is better and sound is better as well as you can set it to passthrough instead of just Dolby digital or DD+.
 
Caporegime
OP
Joined
17 Jul 2010
Posts
25,742
Was just the ease of not needing to run cables for myself personally. I moved house and where my TV is I would have had to have ran cables either under floorboards or tagged along skirting then round a door.

I also like the fact that if I forget to record say the F1, then I can start the program off whenever I like from the start.

Picture quality is better and sound is better as well as you can set it to passthrough instead of just Dolby digital or DD+.
No 18 month Contract. No waiting for an install due to next day delivery. No dish on the wall, no cables running down the side of the house, no hole in the wall having to be drilled. No Engineer with dirty boots traipsing through your house, taking what could be a couple of hours to sort everything if you're having 2 or 3 boxes. The advantages for Sky are less Engineers, cheaper equipment costs and faster uptake and income with less opportunity to cancel before Install.
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Nov 2003
Posts
3,386
No 18 month Contract. No waiting for an install due to next day delivery. No dish on the wall, no cables running down the side of the house, no hole in the wall having to be drilled. No Engineer with dirty boots traipsing through your house, taking what could be a couple of hours to sort everything if you're having 2 or 3 boxes. The advantages for Sky are less Engineers, cheaper equipment costs and faster uptake and income with less opportunity to cancel before Install.

Yeah, plus all of those. :p The only thing I dislike is still having to pay for UHD and advert skipping. Find those two things a bit of a **** take from Sky but hey ho.
 
Associate
Joined
4 Oct 2017
Posts
1,221
I really wish Sky would offer stream as an app,

I have now TV but wish it had 4k. Obviously that is unlikely to happen as then it gives people less incentive to go for stream.

I get it from a business point of view. Sky want to get people using their hardware, but I’m convinced there’s money on the table that they’re missing out on, as some people are happy with their existing hardware (Apple tv’s, fire devices, even built in tv apps etc) and would sign up to stream if access was available on an app.

The reason I’m not prepared to use stream is I’d prefer to use just one unit for all my video needs. I’d have avoided now tv for example if that was exclusive to their old now tv devices.

Oh and lastly what is it that I’m missing about sky wanting you to use their own hardware for stream, often there’s no cost for the device so what benefit do they get?

More control yes but I can’t see anything else obvious….
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
30 Nov 2003
Posts
3,386
I really wish Sky would offer stream as an app,

I have now TV but wish it had 4k. Obviously that is unlikely to happen as then it gives people less incentive to go for stream.

I get it from a business point of view. Sky want to get people using their hardware, but I’m convinced there’s money on the table that they’re missing out on, as some people are happy with their existing hardware (Apple tv’s, fire devices, even built in tv apps etc) and would sign up to stream if access was available on an app.

The reason I’m not prepared to use stream is I’d prefer to use just one unit for all my video needs. I’d have avoided now tv for example if that was exclusive to their old now tv devices.

Oh and lastly what is it that I’m missing about sky wanting you to use their own hardware for stream, often there’s no cost for the device so what benefit do they get?

More control yes but I can’t see anything else obvious….

Thing is you can use stream for all your video needs. It integrates every app on the device. Example if you're signed up for say Netflix, Amazon, Disney and Sky movies, when you search for a movie it will search all the libraries, then you just select the movie and off it goes and plays it. Yes, you can still go into the apps seperately but there's no need if you know what you want to watch or you use the search method. The box will also do Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision so you have both the high res audio and video.

While I haven't tried this, I'd assume the boxes somehow get locked down to your own network. Would be easy enough to take it elsewhere as it's small enough and just plug in. Something I'll try at the weekend when I visit my parents and see if it works.

Same scenario would go for a TV app. It would make things incredibly easier to hack / share around the world, so I do understand why they use hardware.
 
Associate
Joined
4 Oct 2017
Posts
1,221
Thing is you can use stream for all your video needs. It integrates every app on the device. Example if you're signed up for say Netflix, Amazon, Disney and Sky movies, when you search for a movie it will search all the libraries, then you just select the movie and off it goes and plays it. Yes, you can still go into the apps seperately but there's no need if you know what you want to watch or you use the search method. The box will also do Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision so you have both the high res audio and video.

While I haven't tried this, I'd assume the boxes somehow get locked down to your own network. Would be easy enough to take it elsewhere as it's small enough and just plug in. Something I'll try at the weekend when I visit my parents and see if it works.

Same scenario would go for a TV app. It would make things incredibly easier to hack / share around the world, so I do understand why they use hardware.
Having everything integrated is massively appealing. Apple TV tries doing this but apps like Netflix aren’t included so it all feels a bit half baked.

I’ve looked deeper and all the streaming apps I use are supported, which is great.

As silly as it sounds though is my other streaming hardware is then essentially rendered a paper weight which would be slightly annoying.

The only other thing I’ve heard (no experience obviously) is complaints with the sky puck lagging at times.

How true is that? Is it similar to using a chromecast, fire stick etc which often do lag and stutter or more like an Apple TV which is really smooth.

Based on the current £19 deal and with my addons, cinema, uhd and ad skipping it would cost me £38 on the 31 rolling contract. But it includes paramount plus which would save me money and if I cancel my Netflix premium and do it through sky it’s only 8 quid….
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
30 Nov 2003
Posts
3,386
Having everything integrated is massively appealing. Apple TV tries doing this but apps like Netflix aren’t included so it all feels a bit half baked.

I’ve looked deeper and all the streaming apps I use are supported, which is great.

As silly as it sounds though is my other streaming hardware is then essentially rendered a paper weight which would be slightly annoying.

The only other thing I’ve heard (no experience obviously) is complaints with the sky puck lagging at times.

How true is that? Is it similar to using a chromecast, fire stick etc which often do lag and stutter or more like an Apple TV which is really smooth.

Based on the current £19 deal and with my addons, cinema, uhd and ad skipping it would cost me £38 on the 31 rolling contract. But it includes paramount plus which would save me money and if I cancel my Netflix premium and do it through sky it’s only 8 quid….

Haven't had any complaints my side with lag. I'm on 150mbps broadband. I always tend to reboot the device once a week or once every 2 weeks just to completely refresh it. Wouldn't say you have to do that, it's just force of habit on something I did with an old device that was prone to stuttering issues, hah!

I know there used to be issues with things on the original release but I'd say they've finally got it to a nice stable build now
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Nov 2003
Posts
3,386
Having everything integrated is massively appealing. Apple TV tries doing this but apps like Netflix aren’t included so it all feels a bit half baked.

I’ve looked deeper and all the streaming apps I use are supported, which is great.

As silly as it sounds though is my other streaming hardware is then essentially rendered a paper weight which would be slightly annoying.

The only other thing I’ve heard (no experience obviously) is complaints with the sky puck lagging at times.

How true is that? Is it similar to using a chromecast, fire stick etc which often do lag and stutter or more like an Apple TV which is really smooth.

Based on the current £19 deal and with my addons, cinema, uhd and ad skipping it would cost me £38 on the 31 rolling contract. But it includes paramount plus which would save me money and if I cancel my Netflix premium and do it through sky it’s only 8 quid….

Plus forgot to mention if you are going on a 31 day rolling contract then if you don't like it, there's no harm done, just cancel.
 
Associate
Joined
4 Oct 2017
Posts
1,221
Plus forgot to mention if you are going on a 31 day rolling contract then if you don't like it, there's no harm done, just cancel.

That’s what I’m thinking.

Cancellation aside, I assume that’s the way to go anyway as if they release a great deal you have more flexibility right?

If you’re tied into an 18 month contract and let’s say they do a big discount in 6 months time you’re stuck. But with the rolling you can cancel and re-sign up for the offer or not?
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Nov 2003
Posts
3,386
That’s what I’m thinking.

Cancellation aside, I assume that’s the way to go anyway as if they release a great deal you have more flexibility right?

If you’re tied into an 18 month contract and let’s say they do a big discount in 6 months time you’re stuck. But with the rolling you can cancel and re-sign up for the offer or not?

You can technically re-sign up anytime now even with a new offer but obviously it would add an extra 18 months on.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Oct 2008
Posts
4,773
Location
SE London Born and Bred
Decent deal on Stream at the moment with TCB - Stream, Entertainment, Netflix and Sports for £37 a month for 18 months with £80.75 cashback. Thought that was a good deal and dont have anything for TV since I left Sky Q in April, but everytime I get to the entering email address page and continue it returns a Technical Difficulties page.

Really annoying as its on multiple PCs and internet connections so its got to be an issue on Skys end. Ill try again in the morning, but would be annoying having to phone them and not be able to get the cashback.
 
Back
Top Bottom