*** Sky Q Thread ***

the-evaluator said:
I didn't notice a drop in picture quality.
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Seems folks generally drop the video output to 1080i to try and get the best they can out of it...

eg:- "For those wondering about the best resolution for Sky Q, there is a useful test. I came across this on another forum. 'Curb your enthusiasm' season 10 episode 4 at approx 17 mins when the characters leave the plane. One of the female characters is wearing a red and white striped top. The red and white colours start "jagging" and bleeding while she walks. This effect looks aweful in 1080p/2160p but if you switch to 1080i everything looks much smoother."
 
the-evaluator said:
Interesting, I'll give that a try in a week or so - we're having our lounge decorated so are watching everything on the Mini box at present.
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Anoyingly, I don't think those later seasons are on Sky at the moment... So can't compare...

But the number of people saying they noticed the Sky Q's HD picture was softer (inferior?) to their previous Sky HD+ box is concerning for me as regards doing that very upgrade. (Note: I will not being using UHD on the SKy Q, as least for the meantime)
 
It's been a long time since I moved from Sky HD+, I don't remember it looking softer. The picture has never been great, except for UHD which I'd say looks at least as good as I would expect 1080p to look.
 
I came from a Virgin TiVo box to Q. SD channels can look soft but that is to be expected. HD content and channels look great to me. That's on a 9 year old Samsung 46 inch 1080p LCD.
 
I wouldn't waste your time watching The Secret Garden - it's a turgid movie and the HDR is nothing to write home about. Very few moments of real punch. Far too many dull, dimly lit interior scenes and the odd colourful exterior scene to show the contrast but it's really not worth spending time with. By all means download it and fast forward through it but as a showcase of Sky's HLG HDR it's decidedly mediocre.
 
NeilF said:
Well, seems there's quite a few people who find the move to SkyQ from a SkyHD+ box a drop in HD picture quality. Some even seem to revert back because of it...

I'd hate to upgrade and realise I've got a reduction in my picture quality...
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I switched from a 2TB Sky+HD box to a 2TB SkyQ box a few weeks ago. The picture quality is definitely better on the Q, certainly comparing like for like (ie outputting 1080i from both) - the bandwidth on the HDMI output from the Q box just seems larger and the image looks less compressed on my TV at least. For example I was finding the amount of compression on some HBO shows on Sky Atlantic HD to be really unacceptable on Sky+HD - particularly low light scenes which would demonstrate terrible artefacting and turn blacks into blocky grey mush. The same show played on my new Q box looks much better. The blacks are blacker, compression artefacts are less noticeable and everything just looks punchier.

The Q box does have other issues though - I've already had to swap one box due to its noisy hard drive and constant fan noise and the UI is a pain compared to +HD. I'll sit out my contract with Sky, but unless they improve their hardware and software I'll probably ditch it when the contract is up as they really aren't competing with the current crop of streaming services.
 
DiscoFizz said:
I switched from a 2TB Sky+HD box to a 2TB SkyQ box a few weeks ago. The picture quality is definitely better on the Q, certainly comparing like for like (ie outputting 1080i from both) - the bandwidth on the HDMI output from the Q box just seems larger and the image looks less compressed on my TV at least. For example I was finding the amount of compression on some HBO shows on Sky Atlantic HD to be really unacceptable on Sky+HD - particularly low light scenes which would demonstrate terrible artefacting and turn blacks into blocky grey mush. The same show played on my new Q box looks much better. The blacks are blacker, compression artefacts are less noticeable and everything just looks punchier.

The Q box does have other issues though - I've already had to swap one box due to its noisy hard drive and constant fan noise and the UI is a pain compared to +HD. I'll sit out my contract with Sky, but unless they improve their hardware and software I'll probably ditch it when the contract is up as they really aren't competing with the current crop of streaming services.
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Interesting...

The kind of compression artifacts you mention I noticed (on my current Sky HD box) especially in some of the dark scene in Game Of thrones. Surprised a Sky Q box helps with this as I would have thought it was simply the compression in the stream itself.

As for the UI, yes, it seems a common complain that Sky Q's interface is less friendly than the Sky HD box's.
 
NeilF said:
Interesting...

The kind of compression artifacts you mention I noticed (on my current Sky HD box) especially in some of the dark scene in Game Of thrones. Surprised a Sky Q box helps with this as I would have thought it was simply the compression in the stream itself.

As for the UI, yes, it seems a common complain that Sky Q's interface is less friendly than the Sky HD box's.
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That's what I thought too, but the Q box decodes the stream better than my old HD box ever did. It's about the only thing it does better mind, but in terms of image quality it's certainly better on my TV. I had to stop watching the Watchmen TV series on Sky Atlantic as the compression artefacts were just too distracting on my old HD box. It's better on SkyQ, not perfect but better.
 
NeilF said:
Interesting...

The kind of compression artifacts you mention I noticed (on my current Sky HD box) especially in some of the dark scene in Game Of thrones. Surprised a Sky Q box helps with this as I would have thought it was simply the compression in the stream itself.

As for the UI, yes, it seems a common complain that Sky Q's interface is less friendly than the Sky HD box's.
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I wouldn’t go back to Sky+HD now. The UI is leagues ahead of HD.
 
MissChief said:
I wouldn’t go back to Sky+HD now. The UI is leagues ahead of HD.
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I beg to differ I'm afraid. Yes it looks much slicker and is a tad faster, but multiple key presses to do something simple like get to the TV guide is not exactly forward progress in my mind. The voice control does work well, but not much use when, like me, you use a Harmony remote to control everything in your AV setup.
If they stuck the picture processing chip of the Q box into the HD box I'd choose the HD box UI in a heartbeat.
 
After 19 years with putting up with appaling Sky broadcasts, I've quit. Literally 12th november is my last day with them and I'll be changing my viewing habits. Absolute nonsense and then they wouldn't cancel my request for 40 minutes on the phone until I threatened them... when I said the quality of HD pictures on cinema is appallling it was "MY" EYES" etc, they're disgraceful. Bye bye and good riddence

However, I will miss the stunning EPG which is by far and always has been the best in th industry.... by some way... I will miss that but channels on channels of +1, +2, _3 nonsense... nahhhh Sky Cinema HD is borderline SuperDVD quality, it's appalling.

However, even more pain, I thought well my TV has satalite inputs, I'll use the sky dish... NOPE because of the LNB they put on Sky dishes now... so picked up a £9.99 LNB that I'll replace this weekend allowing me to use the dish for freesat. Job done!
 
DiscoFizz said:
I beg to differ I'm afraid. Yes it looks much slicker and is a tad faster, but multiple key presses to do something simple like get to the TV guide is not exactly forward progress in my mind. The voice control does work well, but not much use when, like me, you use a Harmony remote to control everything in your AV setup.
If they stuck the picture processing chip of the Q box into the HD box I'd choose the HD box UI in a heartbeat.
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Agreed. The recent UI updates on the Q box have made using the thing somewhat frustrating.
 
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