Sky Q opinions?

[Armageus]

You can use channels app instead of plex / emby on hdhome

Like I posted you can use the channels app, available on android, Apple TV, iOS and fire tv, with a hdhomerun tuner works better than plex or emby but dvr is a subscription based server, its the best tv app in my opinion and the support is great

Channels App isn't available for Roku or PS4, and I'd rather have "generic" tuner hardware than be tied to a specific brand. Having tried Plex, I would actually make use of all the media library side as well, which Channels doesn't offer.

Anyways haven't bothered trying Emby as found out it needs a separate EPG unlike Plex - so more cost (e.g. schedules direct etc) and another separate service (and more to go wrong)

Gave it a try anyway - software is fussy and required Windows Update to be fully up to date before it would install correctly. Despite supporting Hauppauge TV cards, small print doesn't say that you need WinTV installed for this anyway (so had to track down a v7 CD image so I could install the latest WinTV software). After getting all that done, tried the TV out (without an EPG just a channel list), only to find it hangs after switching channels a couple of times.

Think I am just going to park this on the backburner and keep an eye out for the eventual Roku update of Plex.

 

[Jamauk]

I made the switch last year for the F1 content and found it fantastic. I'd upgrade another TV if it were 4k on the mini boxes. Do they do any self install offers - I'm sure I read that it was £30 for them but the guy I spoke to insisted it was £60?

Only real issue is the EPG, which took some getting used to but I think I'm finally there with it.

 

[MissChief]

I made the switch last year for the F1 content and found it fantastic. I'd upgrade another TV if it were 4k on the mini boxes. Do they do any self install offers - I'm sure I read that it was £30 for them but the guy I spoke to insisted it was £60?

Only real issue is the EPG, which took some getting used to but I think I'm finally there with it.

First mini box self install is £29, subsequent mini boxes are £69.

 

[Jamauk]

First mini box self install is £29, subsequent mini boxes are £69.

That's interesting, I've not got a self installed mini box, just the one from when Sky Q was installed I think in May 2017. I contacted Sky about this last month and the guy I spoke to insisted that if I wanted it I would have to pay £60 for it (may have been £69, I can't remember!).

 

[easyrider]

What an absolute joke . The engineer came around with a face like a slapped backside. It was raining...he took one look at the satellite dish with a sky lnb on it and said he couldn’t get up there to that height for health and safety reasons...

He wanted to install another dish lower down and run a new cable into the lounge....the lounge already has two satellite cables already installed in it.

Then things went bad to worse...he said that the sky mini boxes wouldn’t work over WiFi due to the length from the router....I said you can connect them over cat 6 cable....he said he didn’t know how to do this....

He rang his mate from the study and proceeded to explain the setup...he clearly didn’t have a clue and just Came across like he CBA....

I said....all you need to do is swap out the lnb....fit a sky Q lnb then join the cables with a coupler and connect the box.

He said he couldn’t do what I wanted...

He wanted to install a new dish in a different location. Run a wire around my house and drill a new hole in the wall entering my lounge....

In the end I sent him packing....I rang sky to cancel and explained what had happened....

They apologised and said that I should get the dish and lnb installed by a third party and ring them when this is done and an engineer would come and connect the q boxes and the minis over lan....

I’m speechless !

 

[Jamauk]

What an absolute joke . The engineer came around with a face like a slapped backside. It was raining...he took one look at the satellite dish with a sky lnb on it and said he couldn’t get up there to that height for health and safety reasons...

He wanted to install another dish lower down and run a new cable into the lounge....the lounge already has two satellite cables already installed in it.

Then things went bad to worse...he said that the sky mini boxes wouldn’t work over WiFi due to the length from the router....I said you can connect them over cat 6 cable....he said he didn’t know how to do this....

He rang his mate from the study and proceeded to explain the setup...he clearly didn’t have a clue and just Came across like he CBA....

I said....all you need to do is swap out the lnb....fit a sky Q lnb then join the cables with a coupler and connect the box.

He said he couldn’t do what I wanted...

He wanted to install a new dish in a different location. Run a wire around my house and drill a new hole in the wall entering my lounge....

In the end I sent him packing....I rang sky to cancel and explained what had happened....

They apologised and said that I should get the dish and lnb installed by a third party and ring them when this is done and an engineer would come and connect the q boxes and the minis over lan....

I’m speechless !

The guy that installed mine was a little difficult about just changing the LNB & dish, he wasn't overly happy about using the existing cables, but changing them would have involved running them through the channel in the wall that has since been plastered over, the F-Type faceplate would also have needed removing for a brush faceplate, when I explained this to him he accepted it would be more hassle that it's worth, confirmed with me that the cables ran straight through from the dish and that there were no breaks or joins in them, I was a little frustrated with him at this point so I told him to connect it all up, see the signal strength and decide for himself. Both cables were roughly at 95%. He didn't have an issue with the wired network as opposed to wireless, he then had an issue with the HDMI cable as changing that would have meant the AV rack needing to be moved out, considering there are 4 power amps on there weighing a considerable amount I told him that it was already a HDMI 2.2 cable there and if he really wanted to change it then he would be the one moving everything out and connecting it all up again, to which he also gave in and told me that at my earliest convenience to change it with the official Sky one - I still haven't 18 months later! Thankfully the multi-room box was much simpler.

I can only imagine that the training they are given leaves them terrified for their own jobs that if they don't follow the Sky bureaucratic installation procedure that they'll shortly be collecting their P45!

My only regret is that I didn't keep the old dish and LNB as I'd paid for them separately when I had Freesat installed in a different room. I could have sold them and reclaimed some of the money I had to pay up front for Sky Q.

 

[Begbie]

What an absolute joke . The engineer came around with a face like a slapped backside. It was raining...he took one look at the satellite dish with a sky lnb on it and said he couldn’t get up there to that height for health and safety reasons...

He wanted to install another dish lower down and run a new cable into the lounge....the lounge already has two satellite cables already installed in it.

Then things went bad to worse...he said that the sky mini boxes wouldn’t work over WiFi due to the length from the router....I said you can connect them over cat 6 cable....he said he didn’t know how to do this....

He rang his mate from the study and proceeded to explain the setup...he clearly didn’t have a clue and just Came across like he CBA....

I said....all you need to do is swap out the lnb....fit a sky Q lnb then join the cables with a coupler and connect the box.

He said he couldn’t do what I wanted...

He wanted to install a new dish in a different location. Run a wire around my house and drill a new hole in the wall entering my lounge....

In the end I sent him packing....I rang sky to cancel and explained what had happened....

They apologised and said that I should get the dish and lnb installed by a third party and ring them when this is done and an engineer would come and connect the q boxes and the minis over lan....

I’m speechless !

Email customer care, although a long time ago, I used to work in 'Damages' and dealt with calls like this all the time. You'd phone up their manager and they would get some one savvy to come out and have a look or the manager himself to determine if it can really be done.

Though, it may have changed this was 10 years ago!

 

[easyrider]

Email customer care, although a long time ago, I used to work in 'Damages' and dealt with calls like this all the time. You'd phone up their manager and they would get some one savvy to come out and have a look or the manager himself to determine if it can really be done.

Though, it may have changed this was 10 years ago!

Yeah I think i will email them and see what they say. I might even send a letter with pictures of the dish already installed asking them why the engineer wanted to install another dish on my property when I already had one.

Oh and why he wanted to drill another cable into my lounge when I already had 2 x satellite cables installed.

And why are they sending engineers around to my property that dont know how to configure minis over lan.


I actually hate sky now....In fact I'm not that fussed getting it ..but I dont really have any other alternatives needing three independant recorders in three lounges,

 

[Columbo]

And why are they sending engineers around to my property that dont know how to configure minis over lan.

Lets be clear Sky don't have Engineers installing equipment, I wouldn't even call them technicians.
They are tool jockeys trained in one way of working and that is to follow the script.

If it ain't on the script it doesn't get done, like plugging a damn Cat6 cable in, that is not in the script, Sky say WiFi and thats it. It would require the possibility of independent thought and reasoning for such a task to be completed which some if these installers seem incapable of. I was shocked how the last guy that visited my house was able to even drive the van to my premise, let alone commence the drilling of holes in my wall which I eventually banned him from doing.

The fact that Sky have the audacity to call these guys engineers when most of them wouldn't know a degree even if it was in Celcius tells me everything, its a too loosely used term that should be corrected.

 

[easyrider]

This is my setup and yet the clown still wanted to drill a hole in my wall in the lounge and run a cable around my house walls.

Network switch in study





Satellite Matrix feeding every room in the house



Dish and Sky LNB ( he wanted to erect another dish lower down)




4 feeds for satellite Free view and Dab plus 2 x Cat 6 in every lounge. He wanted to discard these and drill another hole.

 

[jpaul]

I have some sympathy for them
.. if you did not give them a heads-up that they needed to access existing dish with a horizontal jog, across first storey roof, what kind of ladder config do you need for that ?
[the original purpose of this thread diverged]

 

[easyrider]

I have some sympathy for them
.. if you did not give them a heads-up that they needed to access existing dish with a horizontal jog, across first storey roof, what kind of ladder config do you need for that ?
[the original purpose of this thread diverged]

I did, All this was done on the phone. I even asked about connecting the minis via Cat 6 and they said it was fine.

 

[V F]

Lets be clear Sky don't have Engineers installing equipment, I wouldn't even call them technicians.
They are tool jockeys trained in one way of working and that is to follow the script.

If it ain't on the script it doesn't get done, like plugging a damn Cat6 cable in, that is not in the script, Sky say WiFi and thats it. It would require the possibility of independent thought and reasoning for such a task to be completed which some if these installers seem incapable of. I was shocked how the last guy that visited my house was able to even drive the van to my premise, let alone commence the drilling of holes in my wall which I eventually banned him from doing.

The fact that Sky have the audacity to call these guys engineers when most of them wouldn't know a degree even if it was in Celcius tells me everything, its a too loosely used term that should be corrected.

Usually if they don't follow the script there will be dire consequences or fired. As they're always taking photos of it with their iPhones when it's completed. That was what one of them told me which was maybe 5 years ago. Even their vans were being fitted with GPS and how hard they brake/accelerate.

Two week course for them, is it not?

 

[TheVoice]

Usually if they don't follow the script there will be dire consequences or fired. As they're always taking photos of it with their iPhones when it's completed. That was what one of them told me which was maybe 5 years ago. Even their vans were being fitted with GPS and how hard they brake/accelerate.

Two week course for them, is it not?

Makes sense, if the customer service teams are to offer any support after installation they need to know that everything has been installed in broadly the same way, using the same cables etc. If the customer wants to change things after the fact so be it, at least the installer is in the clear.

 

[GazzaGarratt]

Shame the installation hasn't gone so well for the OP nd hopefully all sorted soon but just back to thread for a moment...

Whilst there's so many ways to get your TV channels far cheaper, the Sky Q features and UI is just really good for the simpleton families like mine. I usually work my arse off getting all my expenditure good value for money but with TV and broadband I make that one exception. My wife enjoys the Sky TV UI and how its easy to navigate coupled with Sky Q means literally no more wires through house walls. I enjoy my broadband through Virgin because I need fast, uncapped internet for gaming and electronic devices.

 

[easyrider]

Makes sense, if the customer service teams are to offer any support after installation they need to know that everything has been installed in broadly the same way, using the same cables etc. If the customer wants to change things after the fact so be it, at least the installer is in the clear.

It’s also common sense...why put up another dish ? Why drill another hole...it’s ridiculous.

 

[TheVoice]

It’s also common sense...why put up another dish ? Why drill another hole...it’s ridiculous.

Oh definitely, it sounds like they should be asking more questions about what kit is already installed before sending someone out to then refuse to do any work and wasting everyone's time, it's pretty poor.

 

[thebandit]

So I recently had Sky Q installed, coincidentally on the very same day my neighbour had a booking to install Sky Q. My neighbours install was before mine. The installer was really late getting to me and was apologetic. He got my Sky Q installed in about 15 minutes including the mini box. The guy seemed quite switched on, got the remotes all controlling the TVs properly and even setup up the main Q box with my playbar (audio output to DD5.1 etc). I got chatting with him why he was late and the conversation went on to describe the general issues they have with installs. Sky had a couple of installer deaths a while back, since then they have gone ultra cautious. The installers have very strict rules imposed on them and they are regularly spot checked on their work. A common gripe from customers is the mandated anchor point for ladder use, they must drill a hole in the wall to attached a ladder anchor, failure to do so even for ground floor installs is instant disciplinary, they are also encouraged to grass on one another if they spot something on a call out. He also mentioned the GPS in the vans and Sky do use it to monitor the installers movements. Whilst I do think they have gone a bit too far, Sky would argue they are just being a conscientious employer and as my installer said, why should he risk his life just so someone can watch TV?. I got the impression that he has to walk away from about 1 in 10 installs for various reasons.
As for Sky Q itself, I did the negotiation on price with retention's and got about 50% off, but still felt a little aggrieved at paying extra for 4K. The 2Tb box is pretty decent though I think, good 4K picture etc and pretty nice interface. The Mini box upstairs does the same but only in HD which is fine. Obviously there is a bucket load of SD content still out there, which looks nasty on my 58" 4K TV, but it is what it is. I would never pay full price for Sky, but I think what I pay now for what I get is pretty fair.

 

[easyrider]

Right I got the experts invloved

I don’t need a sky Q lnb, I don’t need a new dish ,I don’t need to ditch my multiswitch, I don’t need to run new cables

I just add one of these for £65

http://www.triax.uk/images/Brochures/dSCR_VISUAL.PDF

This connnects to my installed multiswitch and allows Q in muiltiple rooms...none of the faceplates in the lounges are affected and freeview and dab are maintained...the DSCR switch allows any legacy sat boxes to be connected as well...

All the “engineer” has to do is connect the Q box to the lounge faceplate....I’m hoping he could manage this simple task.

 

[wellibob]

Last sky engineer I had out was scared for his life He refused to use anything but new hdmi cables and wouldn't use, my home network for sky mini boxes. He wanted everything on wifi but I demanded he used the home cat5e cables to the SkyQ box and then he showed me how to hard wire the mini boxes as he left them on wifi because that was "best" for everyone.