Our Sky Glass evaluate has all the things it’s worthwhile to learn about this new 4K TV from Sky (Picture: SKY • EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS)
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Sky Glass Evaluation: The Verdict
Sky Glass is a superb – albeit shaky – begin. Though we have solely awarded this custom-designed telly 3 stars for now, gogglebox producers like Sony, Samsung and LG ought to maintain off popping open the champagne. That is as a result of, whereas Sky Glass is not anyplace near excellent, it is ridiculously easy to put in and gives entry to among the greatest TV channels, on-demand boxsets, and the entire streaming providers you may ever need. And it does all of it with a single energy cable – and that is it.
That is going to be an ideal answer for quite a bit of individuals.
Sky Glass evaluate – at a look
What We Liked
- Straightforward to arrange
- No want for a satellite tv for pc dish
- Streaming your whole telly works properly
- New menu seems to be wonderful
- Seamless search and viewing with all of your streaming apps
What We Did not Love
- High quality of the QLED show might be higher
- No bodily arduous drive to file your favorite reveals, films and sports activities
- Sky Glass bundles can get very costly
In our full Sky Glass evaluate beneath, you may discover a lot of points that we encountered in our time with the all-new 4K TV, together with the Playlist function that populates with tons of of episodes – making navigation troublesome, recorded reveals vanishing with out warning, and the truth that telly homeowners will quickly be confronted with a £5 a month cost to fast-forward via adverts. These issues have to be ironed out earlier than we are able to wholeheartedly advocate Sky Glass to everybody.
Nevertheless, regardless of all of those niggles, Sky Glass is the primary telly we have ever used the place all of our favorite streaming platforms work seamlessly collectively and discovering new reveals, documentaries and films is straightforward and (dare we are saying) pleasant. Glass actually does handle to chop out the stress of being overloaded with new boxsets from Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Apple TV+ whereas attempting to maintain observe of what’s occurring within the TV information.
Certain, the image high quality is not going to blow you away, however if you happen to can choose up this telly-and-soundbar mixture for a very good deal, it gives a stable viewing expertise. So it is likely to be price keeping track of one of the best Sky TV offers. After all, if you happen to’ve splashed out on an OLED telly within the final couple of years, Sky Glass shall be a big downgrade. Nevertheless, Sky Glass reveals an enormous quantity of promise for a primary try.
Let’s not overlook that when Sky Q launched again in 2016, it had its fair proportion of bugs too. However within the years since its launch, Sky has refined the expertise on that set-top field – and it has since managed to win each award in its area. It is a disgrace that Sky Glass has arrived in the same state, however in our testing, we have seen some wonderful potential with this custom-designed telly.
We’re not going to jot down off Sky Glass fairly but. Belief us, this might be the way forward for tv.
Sky Glass evaluate
Sky Glass was introduced with large fanfare on the finish of 2021 – the primary satellite tv for pc dish-less product from Sky TV, it promised to deliver collectively reside tv channels and unique boxsets with Sky Retailer leases and streaming platforms in a single custom-designed telly with a Dolby Atmos-certified soundbar bundled too. If that sounds bold, that is as a result of it truly is. There is not any doubt that Sky Glass represents a seismic transfer from the satellite tv for pc firm. And it is fully completely different to what we have seen from rivals like Virgin Media, which not too long ago launched a brand new set-top field that has extra in widespread with an reasonably priced Hearth TV or Roku dongle than what Sky is attempting to attain with its newest product.
So, is it time to ditch your trusty Samsung or Sony tv in favour of a brand new QLED TV designed by the group at Sky? Is Sky right that we must always abandon spinning arduous drives (just like the one discovered inside Sky Q, which continues to be on sale) in favour of limitless cloud storage for all of our favorite reveals and films? Specific.co.uk has had this cutting-edge new tv plugged in for a few months, right here is our in-depth evaluate of Sky Glass…
Sky Glass evaluate: One cable to rule all of them, simply plug the tv into energy – and that is it (Picture: SKY)
The Set-Up
One of many greatest hurdles when organising Sky Q for the primary time is the nightmare of getting a satellite tv for pc dish drilled to the surface of your house. First off, there may be the inconvenience of organising an appointment with the engineers, ready in for them on the day, the drilling and noise, the checklist goes on …and that is if you happen to’re one of many fortunate ones!
For these in rented properties or high-rise residences with out a communal dish, it was not doable to have a satellite tv for pc dish affixed to the property. Till the arrival of Sky Glas, that meant you needed to wave goodbye to the thought of a Sky Q field beneath your telly.
However that is all modified.
Sky Glass brings an improved Sky Q-like expertise to anybody with a Wi-Fi sign. It additionally ditches the necessity for an intrusive and noisy set up. As an alternative, the 4K TV arrives in a field and clients solely must plug in a single cable (the facility twine) to get began. Sky even preloads your account on Sky Glass earlier than it arrives in your doorstep. So, you will not want to fret about slowly typing out a password on the redesigned distant earlier than you can begin watching.
As an alternative, all it’s worthwhile to do is hook up with your Wi-Fi connection (or plug-in an ethernet cable) and cool down for a night of leisure, sports activities, or blockbuster films. Significantly, it actually is that straightforward. The set-up for Sky Glass makes Sky Q, which continues to be that can be purchased from Sky, appear like a relic from one other period.
The one minor annoyance we got here throughout with Sky Glass is constructing the stand that the TV sits on. Sky consists of some fairly fundamental directions, which left us becoming one piece the unsuitable means round on our first try. Thankfully, in case your DIY abilities aren’t as much as scratch (like ours!), Sky has promised that its Glass supply drivers will arrange the stand for you. That ought to make issues extremely hassle-free.
We actually cannot fault Sky in the case of set up and we’re assured that even the largest technophobe may have no issues plugging in and watching TV in a matter of minutes.
Sky Glass could be positioned anyplace in your house, so long as there’s a good Wi-Fi sign (Picture: SKY)
Your Broadband
Since there isn’t any satellite tv for pc dish, you may want some speedy broadband to observe reside tv, on-demand boxsets, sports activities, and films …particularly if you wish to watch in 4K Extremely HD, which is the best image high quality supported by Sky Glass. In case your present residence broadband connection is slower than a snail via treacle, you need to actually assume twice earlier than shopping for Sky Glass as with out a good web sign, you may be left gazing your individual reflection within the QLED show. And that is it.
We’re fortunate sufficient to have 200Mbps full-fibre broadband from Virgin Media accessible in our property, which is greater than sufficient to take care of Sky Glass. Throughout our time with the telly, we have had no points tuning into our favorite boxsets, like Succession and Mare Of Easttown, reside sports activities in 4K Extremely HD, or streaming sequence from Netflix and Disney+.
In case your road hasn’t been upgraded to superfast fibre but – do not panic. Sky says that Glass must be fantastic with a minimal obtain pace of 10Mbps for normal definition. Begin viewing in superb 4K Extremely HD and you will want round 25Mbps to make sure issues do not start to buffer. And do not forget that you will want extra if you happen to’ve acquired a busy family with different relations streaming video, making video calls, or backing up their telephones in different rooms of the home when you’re attempting to observe Sky Glass.
It is also price ensuring your Wi-Fi connection is robust sufficient to succeed in the spot that you simply’re eyeing up to your Sky Glass. In any case, a weakened Wi-Fi sign may make watching telly as robust as sluggish obtain speeds.
There’s an ethernet cable for many who desire a hardwired connection and you may join an aerial cable into the again of Sky Glass – in order that, ought to the more severe occur and also you lose broadband one night time, you may nonetheless be capable to tune-in to Freeview. However one of many greatest attracts of Sky Glass is the no-clutter, one cable set-up… so it isn’t one thing we opted to do. After all, that does imply that when our broadband has a wobble (which occurs a number of occasions a yr) we had been left unable to observe any reside tv, recordings, streaming providers.
Sky Glass is fairly chunky because it homes a Dolby Atmos soundbar and all the things wanted to stream telly (Picture: SKY)
Design
When you’re all linked to the web, it is time to begin these boxset binges!
Sky Glass comes fitted with a 4K Extremely HD Quantum Dot (QLED) show. You should purchase it in 43-, 55-, and 65-inch display screen sizes and every of those is offered in quite a few color choices together with Ocean Blue, Racing Inexperienced, Dusky Pink, Ceramic White, and Anthracite Black to suit your décor.
For our evaluate, we took supply of the 55-inch model in Anthracite Black, which might be the least dynamic of the bunch however a protected guess if you happen to’re not attempting to make an inside design assertion.
From the entrance, Sky Glass has an expansive display screen that pushes proper to the very fringe of the case, other than the underside of the design that is taken up with a hefty “chin” to deal with the Dolby Atmos-compatible soundbar that sits beneath the panel. Sadly, squeezing a soundbar right into a telly means you may lose the “flat” a part of the flatscreen with this system trying fairly chunky. All of the intelligent know-how inside makes Sky Glass extremely thick – round two inches – which could not swimsuit everybody’s tastes, particularly these wanting who wish to mount the display screen to their lounge partitions. That is not a flatscreen and it’ll protrude from the wall like a medieval portray.
So, that is the way it seems to be on the surface however what concerning the all-important visuals?
Swap on Sky Glass and you will get an honest picture with content material trying crisp and sharp which – it is a 4K display screen in any case. Nevertheless, since Sky Glass depends on a QLED panel, do not anticipate something like the colourful colour-packed visuals discovered on extra premium OLED TVs as this all-in-one 4K TV would not come near matching these visuals.
Even in comparison with different QLED TVs throughout the similar worth vary, we might say that the majority issues watched on Sky Glass look a bit boring …regardless of how a lot we tweaked the settings. It virtually feels as if a refined gray wash is being smeared over each picture on-screen. That is one thing that is likely to be solved with a software program replace (even in our brief time with Sky Glass, we have already seen a significant replace to spice up visuals and iron out some bugs) however there isn’t any assure that issues are going to get higher on that entrance.
Sadly, Sky Glass simply would not supply eye-popping visuals and if that is vital to you, we might correctly advocate saving your cash and shopping for a QLED or, even higher, OLED from the likes of Samsung, Sony, or Panasonic within the Black Friday gross sales. And if you have already got an expensive telly in your lounge, you actually do not wish to swap it out for Sky Glass as that is in all probability going to appear like a downgrade in your subsequent film night time.
As we have talked about, Sky Glass arrives with a soundbar built-in and it actually makes the audio from this TV much better than the rest you may get from a contemporary flatscreen telly out-of-the-box. Dialogue cuts via clearly and there is sufficient rumble from explosions to make motion films really feel a bit extra epic, and ominous rattles in horror movies ship a shiver down your backbone. After all, it would not examine to standalone merchandise from the likes Sony or Sonos, however these alone value virtually as a lot because the Sky Glass, in order that’s no shock.
Sky Glass is mainly each good and unhealthy. We love the all-in-one design, skinny borders across the show, to not point out the fruity color choices and the very fact there’s only one cable that can finish the same old spaghetti of leads that normally find yourself behind the display screen.
Nevertheless, the very fact it is so thick and the visuals lack the punch of different TVs in the marketplace means it is troublesome to offer Sky Glass the total thumbs up.
Sky Glass depends on the brand new Playlist function as an alternative of recording to a tough drive like Sky Q (Picture: SKY)
Playlists
To this point, we have spoken concerning the simplicity of Sky Glass, however here is the place issues begin to get sophisticated. In contrast to Sky Q, there isn’t any arduous disk tucked inside Glass. Which means you’ll be able to’t bodily file your favorite reveals or films to observe everytime you fancy.
Sky is switching issues up on Glass, which ditches the much-loved recordings function for one thing referred to as Playlists. Do not panic – you’ll be able to nonetheless view your favorite programmes after they’ve aired on reside TV (more often than not), however you may want to alter your habits. Exhibits added to your Playlist are seen by way of catch-up providers like BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, and All4, to call a number of. These stream the reveals and films by way of the cloud, as an alternative of storing them domestically in your Sky Q, for instance.
Playlist has its personal menu, with reveals showing each time they’re accessible to observe over your broadband connection. These reveals and movies can be accessed from the principle Sky Glass homepage too. It’s also possible to discover reveals, movies or sports activities fixtures that you’ve got missed with a voice search. On Sky Glass, this may be finished hands-free by utilizing the wake phrase “Hey Sky” (similar to an Alexa-powered Echo) or with the distant management. It’s also possible to add one thing to your Playlist by urgent the purple + button on the distant – this additionally acts just like the Sequence Hyperlink function on older Sky Q bins.
Everytime you wish to watch one thing saved in Playlists, Sky Glass streams it straight to the display screen. Nothing is saved in your system.
For our cash, there are good and unhealthy elements of this radical shake-up, so let’s begin with what we like. Firstly, as a result of all the things you watch is saved on the cloud you are by no means going to expire of disk house regardless of what number of films and episodes of The Simpsons you add to the Playlist.
Because it’s drawing from on-demand providers, films and reveals can present up in your Playlist earlier than they’ve aired on telly. That is excellent for anybody who cannot anticipate the following episode. A great instance of this was after we added Mamma Mia to our Playlist after we noticed it coming to ITV.
Sky Glass immediately checked and added the movie straight to our Playlist because it’s at present accessible by way of Netflix, so we may watch hours sooner than initially deliberate – it is all intelligent stuff.
Similar to Sky Q, you’ll be able to whizz via recordings, pause, rewind and restart reveals with all this occurring with out a trace of stutter.
So, that is what we like however sadly, there are additionally some extremely annoying issues about not having these bodily recordings.
While you add a present – comparable to Gogglebox – to your Playlist, Sky Glass assumes you need each single episode it could probably discover. That makes issues massively sophisticated as you find yourself having to scroll via countless episodes, reasonably than simply the one you fancied viewing. To be truthful, the latest episode is normally proven first however we might nonetheless reasonably not be bombarded by content material that in some circumstances could be years outdated.
Then there’s the issue of episodes vanishing out of your Playlist earlier than you’ve got watched them each time Sky or another catch-up platform loses the rights to indicate them. Match of the Day might be one of the best instance of this nightmare because the BBC is barely allowed to function this present on catch up for a really restricted time.
If you happen to head on vacation for 2 weeks and have Sky Q you’d be capable to watch Match of the Day in your return by way of your recordings however attempt to do the identical factor on Glass and you will have no such luck. Grrrrrr.
We have additionally discovered situations of lacking episodes from a lot of sequence, which is not precisely Sky’s fault as it could solely stream what is offered from All4, ITV Hub, BBC iPlayer, and others. Nevertheless, that does not imply it is any much less annoying if you’re attempting to catch-up on a boxset or watch a programme that you simply missed final week.
And let’s be sincere, there was completely nothing stopping Sky from putting in a small 500GB arduous drive inside Sky Glass to behave as a back-up – solely for use when viewers requested to completely “Hold” a recording (a mainstay function from Sky Q that does not exist with the stream-only Sky Glass). That will resolve quite a bit of our issues with Playlists.
There is not any query that streaming actually is the longer term – it is extremely handy (more often than not) and means you may by no means want to fret about working out of storage, energy cuts or poor sign interrupting your recordings (one thing that may plague Sky Q homeowners). Sky Glass’ intelligent new software program options make it simpler to leap between reside telly, outdated episodes streamed from a catch-up service, and the newest set up that aired a number of hours in the past.
That mentioned, we simply miss these bodily recordings and assume Sky must iron out among the glitches earlier than we might be pleased to ditch our trusty Sky Q field and transfer all the things over to the cloud for good.
Sky Glass ships with a color matched distant with backlit buttons and voice search (Picture: SKY)
The All-New Distant
The final main distant management redesign from Sky was again in 2016, alongside the Sky Q field. And whereas the all-new distant that ships with Sky Glass would possibly look acquainted, there are some main adjustments in comparison with the earlier mannequin. First up, Sky has used a soft-touch plastic for its new channel-changer that feels actually good within the hand.
However one of the best improve is backlighting for the buttons, so you’ll be able to simply make out the quantity controls, numbers on the keypad and extra when the solar goes down (or the curtains are closed for an all-day film marathon). The distant that ships within the field with Sky Glass shall be colour-matched to the set. Nevertheless, if you happen to resolve that you really want a change at a later date, the whole vary, from Racing Inexperienced to Ceramic White, is offered to purchase from Amazon.
We haven’t any main quibbles with the new-look distant management – all the things is in the proper place and it is very easy to make use of. Nevertheless, it could’ve been good if Sky had included devoted fast-forward and rewind buttons. These controls can be found by way of the press wheel, which reduces the variety of buttons and makes the distant seem a bit extra fashionable, however fast-forwarding via adverts is one thing that you will be doing every single day so a separate button would’ve been good.
It is also a disgrace which you can’t recharge the battery by way of USB-C. As an alternative, Sky Glass’ distant makes use of good ol’ usual batteries that can have to be changed when issues run flat. On condition that among the greatest telly producers on the planet, like Samsung, have launched solar-powered distant controls (and even one mannequin that retains its battery topped up utilizing the Wi-Fi sign working all through your house), it is a disgrace to see that issues have not moved on because the launch of Sky Q in the case of battery know-how from Sky.
Sky Stream Pucks could be added all through your house to deliver the Sky Glass expertise to each room (Picture: SKY)
Extras
Maybe one of many best issues about Glass is the brand new menu and consumer interface, which makes Sky Q look extremely outdated. Superb high-resolution visuals from tv reveals are displayed on the display screen and scrolling via content material feels actually slick with shiny animations making really feel like a really premium product.
Sky has additionally included another bonus extras together with the power for the TV to show itself on if you stroll within the room. It is nothing we wished to make use of regularly, nevertheless it’s a pleasant celebration trick that some homeowners will little doubt love.
Lastly, there’s that easy entry to content material from different suppliers with Glass working way more effectively when launching Disney+, Netflix, Apple TV+ or Prime Video. Help for brand new streaming service Paramount+ can be coming this summer time, Sky has revealed.
When you have TVs in different rooms Sky will promote you a Stream Puck which is a tool that is solely accessible to Glass clients. This streaming field brings all of the options of Glass to non-Sky branded televisions. We have not examined the Puck so cannot provide you with our ideas nevertheless it appears like a neat means of getting Sky’s know-how on any televisions you already personal.
Sky Glass would possibly begin from £13 however can get costly fairly rapidly (Picture: SKY)
Value And Availability
Sky is being very intelligent with its pricing and providing Sky Glass similar to a pay month-to-month smartphone contract. Which means you’ll be able to take supply of the 43-inch mannequin for simply £13 monthly.
However earlier than you begin leaping for pleasure at considered such an affordable worth for a TV, there are a number of caveats. First off, that worth is over 4 years, which implies committing to Glass for a really lengthy time frame (though, it is possible for you to to improve to new fashions of Sky Glass in the course of the contract, like buying and selling in a smartphone mid-contract). After which, there are the entire extras you may virtually actually want so as to add to your contract. Add Sky’s Final TV bundle with a Netflix subscription (£26 a month) Sky Sports activities (£25 a month) and Sky Cinema channels (£11 a month) and issues can quickly begin rushing previous the £80 a month barrier. And that does not even embody the £7.99 for Disney+ or related subscription for Prime Video for many who wish to watch all the things that releases and would possibly come up on the watercooler within the workplace.
Then there are different extras together with the power to stream to different rooms in your house with Sky Stream Pucks (£10 a month, plus an upfront £50 price per Puck) and the power to observe in 4K (£5 a month). One closing factor to notice is that after the primary 12 months you may additionally must pay an additional £5 monthly to fast-forward via the adverts on any catch-up content material streamed to Sky Glass, which actually leaves an extremely bitter style within the mouth.
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