*** Sky Q Thread ***

Associate
Joined
5 Apr 2013
Posts
128
Location
Nr Portsmouth
Whatever content is being shown and viewed with your Sky+ HD STB will be available to watch on the Sky Q TV boxes and vice versa.

It is only once Sky launches their 4K UHD service that additional content will become available.

What is not known is whether or not it will be a single channel, as was the cas with Sky 3D, or additional channels, as with what we have with HD.

Perhaps initially it will be a single channel, with additional channels being added at a later date.

As I keep saying, the existing range of Sky+ HD STBs will continue to be supported. The development team have a plan for various new features that will keep them busy for several more years.

Recently they have been rolling out 3-4 new versions each year. It is anticipated that this will continue.

Having seen some of the features for R014 recently, I think that it is safe to say things will continue to improve. There are also quite a few other lovely things being developed for 2016/17.

So sure, it would be great to have the latest Sky Q boxes in your home. I'm not kidding when I say that the new EPG style looks really good and the features announced will be hugely popular.

Don't for a moment think that your existing Sky+ HD or SkyHD box will be forgotten.
 
Associate
Joined
11 Aug 2014
Posts
1,095
Location
Wiltshire
So I just spoke to the cancellations department as my 12 month contract is up in January and my bill for the full package, HD and multi room would rise from £65 to £87 an now have agreed to the same package but for £69 a month.

I was going to add broadband and phone line for the cost of line rental (£17.40) and cancel Virgin but Sky haven't rolled out fibre in my area yet. When I spoke to the girl on the phone she confirmed that the Sky Q would require and only run through Sky broadband which sucks quite a bit if you don't have a Sky/BT line as the speed in my area from then would be 2.5-6.2mb.
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Jan 2010
Posts
8,529
Location
Cumbria
I spoke to the girl on the phone she confirmed that the Sky Q would require and only run through Sky broadband which sucks quite a bit if you don't have a Sky/BT line as the speed in my area from then would be 2.5-6.2mb.

Surly not that's cutting their own throats, Bye bye sky then if that is the case.
 
Associate
Joined
5 Apr 2013
Posts
128
Location
Nr Portsmouth
Strange, Sky Q most definitely does not need you to have Sky Broadband.

I was in London at the Press launch and again last week where I spent the day with the Community managers. We also had quite a few others from different departments there.

The only feature mentioned at the launch where Sky Broadband, more specifically the Sky Q Hub, would be required, was the WiFi Hotspot.

If you have the name of the person in the Call Centre please send me a PM with it so that I can pass this information on. Not so that she gets into trouble but so that she is corrected with the information she has and stops giving out bad information.
 
Associate
Joined
11 Aug 2014
Posts
1,095
Location
Wiltshire
Strange, Sky Q most definitely does not need you to have Sky Broadband.

I was in London at the Press launch and again last week where I spent the day with the Community managers. We also had quite a few others from different departments there.

The only feature mentioned at the launch where Sky Broadband, more specifically the Sky Q Hub, would be required, was the WiFi Hotspot.

If you have the name of the person in the Call Centre please send me a PM with it so that I can pass this information on. Not so that she gets into trouble but so that she is corrected with the information she has and stops giving out bad information.

Just a nice Scottish girl, don't recall her name. I'm sure it was probably a slip of the tongue and maybe she meant you need broadband but said sky broadband. Clearly she's been indoctrinated by Sky.

Edit: And when I say slip of the tongue I mean she automatically without thinking probably says Sky Broadband whenever she says broadband
 
Associate
Joined
5 Apr 2013
Posts
128
Location
Nr Portsmouth
That's fine @davisdavid.

Hopefully this kind of misleading information can be snipped in the bud.

Certainly there are a huge number of features that will benefit from having an Internet connection. Please take a look at the write up I've posted to get a taster of the ones announced.

I'm still not 100% certain how the Sky Q Mini works with streaming the content from the Sky Q or Sky Q Silver box. I know at the press launch that they were all connected via an Ethernet cable. It is possible that they will also connect to each other via WiFi and the Powerline AV1.1 function.

All these can work without an Internet connection.
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Jul 2010
Posts
25,792
That's fine @davisdavid.

Hopefully this kind of misleading information can be snipped in the bud.

Certainly there are a huge number of features that will benefit from having an Internet connection. Please take a look at the write up I've posted to get a taster of the ones announced.

I'm still not 100% certain how the Sky Q Mini works with streaming the content from the Sky Q or Sky Q Silver box. I know at the press launch that they were all connected via an Ethernet cable. It is possible that they will also connect to each other via WiFi and the Powerline AV1.1 function.

All these can work without an Internet connection.

As you've said, they will work via Powerline, 5Ghz Wireless ac or Ethernet from what I've read.

I was also told that SkyQ won't be installed unless your Broadband is active for some reason so no quick installs for TV then a wait for Broadband & Talk.
 
Associate
Joined
5 Apr 2013
Posts
128
Location
Nr Portsmouth
All the Sky Q boxes support both 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi. Whilst a little more congested, the 2.4GHz would penetrate any walls better than the 5GHz band. It may well be that they can be set up to use any of the connection methods which IMHO would give you a great deal more flexibility than relying on one sole method.

I shall raise the issue about needing broadband to be activated and come back once I have an answer. As I've already stated, there is a lot of functionality that would benefit from having a broadband connection but I can't see that being something to block them from working.

One question I've seen is in relation to someone wanting to place their Sky Q box in a caravan. That would make things a little difficult unless they have a MiFi or something similar.

Normally I won't hear back now until Monday at the earliest, but with Sky Q a lot of the information is still being passed through channels so it might be a little longer.
 
Associate
Joined
5 Apr 2013
Posts
128
Location
Nr Portsmouth
Just a quick update on the topic of having broadband enabled before installation.

This does appear to be the current instructions for the Sky TV installers but it won't be dependant on Sky's broadband, any will do.

I am trying to get clarification as to whether you must always have a broadband connection or if you can have Sky Q without any broadband, but this may take a little longer.

It is worth pointing out again that there are quite a few features that do benefit from having access to the Internet, such as the artwork for films and the search facility.
 
Associate
Joined
5 Apr 2013
Posts
128
Location
Nr Portsmouth
Sky's CUTV & OD services only require a connection speed of around 2mb. This is because they don't stream the content live, they download it to your STB. Once the download gets to a suitable point you can start watching it.

Typically with HD content the wait might be as long as 30 seconds.

I would expect that Sky will have a similar approach to any CUTV or OD content that is in 4K.

It looks like their live content will most definitely be aired via the Satellites. Whereas BT's 4K content is sent via the Internet.
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Jul 2010
Posts
4,078
Location
Worcestershire
Anyone else get an email from sky recently about this? Not really much more info though. Just waiting for pricing, though I'm not sure I'll go for it yet. Seems much more beneficial to places with multiple TVs
 
Associate
Joined
5 Apr 2013
Posts
128
Location
Nr Portsmouth
If you've signed up to their marketing/contact then you should have received a few emails on Sky Q.

Someone's posted that there'll be some big announcement for staff in February, but Sky have often made some big announcements in late January.

There are several significant things that Sky could announce in January (IPv6 being one of them).

For now though no one has published any price and package details regarding Sky Q.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
29 Jun 2004
Posts
21,553
Location
Oxfordshire
Anyone else get an email from sky recently about this? Not really much more info though. Just waiting for pricing, though I'm not sure I'll go for it yet. Seems much more beneficial to places with multiple TVs

Yeah I was interested but it does seem like you only really see the benefit if you're often moving between rooms
 
Soldato
Joined
15 Nov 2003
Posts
14,342
Location
Marlow
Anyone else get an email from sky recently about this? Not really much more info though. Just waiting for pricing, though I'm not sure I'll go for it yet. Seems much more beneficial to places with multiple TVs

I'm interested in how well it works if you're already using homeplugs around the house!
 
Associate
Joined
5 Apr 2013
Posts
128
Location
Nr Portsmouth
Sky are due to announce their half-year results on 29th January. They normally make various important announcements in the few days leading up to the financial results being announced. My guess is it'll be then.

There are also rumours that some staff have been advised that Sky Q will start to become available in mid-February.

Perhaps both are true.

It may take a couple of weeks for the installation engineers to be arranged for, so taking an order at the end of January could result in the kit being installed in mid-February.

Of course this is all speculation at this time. I don't have concrete knowledge of this.
 
Back
Top Bottom