Ozva AdminIt’s been a whole year since Sky launched its long-awaited non-satellite TV offering, crystal skyin the UK, and now the company is bringing Glass’s streaming-based benefits to those who’d rather not pay for an entirely new TV.
Sky Stream, which was first announced in April, it’s essentially Sky Glass condensed into a transmission puck the size of a coaster. By connecting one of these devices to your current home screen via HDMI, you’ll gain access to all the channels, shows and apps currently offered by Sky, including Sky Atlantic and Netflix, over Wi-Fi only, eliminating the need for an external device. dish.
You will be able to stream content in up to 4K HDR and dolby atmos audio (should your existing TV is capable of it), and because Sky Stream uses the same software as Sky Glass, you’ll gain access to Sky Glass’s playlist and recommendation features, as well as its streaming functionality. voice control (except for Glass’ voice control option without remote control).
Sky Stream launches on October 18, 2022 for a minimum of £26 per month. At that price, you’ll get Sky Ultimate TV, Netflix Basic and a discounted installation fee (£20), but you’ll be tied to an 18-month contract. If you’d rather go for a rolling 30-day contract, Sky Stream will set you back £29 per month for the same services, but you’ll have to spend £39.95 on set-up.
Naturally, add-ons like Sky Cinema, Sky Sports, BT Sport and non-Netflix streaming services will drive up the monthly price even further, and you’ll have to spend an extra £12 per month to get up to five extra Sky Streams. discs (for five additional televisions) in your home.
So yes, Sky Stream is expensive. For a full streaming package – say Sky Atlantic, Netflix, Disney Plus and Sky Sports – you’re still looking to pay big bucks compared to other entertainment aggregators like Virgin Media (whose own comparable transmission device allows you to mix and match subscriptions every 30 days).
But the key point here is that, with Sky Stream, you get almost all the benefits of Sky Glass: 4K UHD streaming, Dolby Atmos audio, and Sky’s stunning “walled garden” user experience (according to our review). crystal sky review) – for less than the cost of Sky Glass itself.
Sky Stream is, according to Sky, the cheapest way to get entertainment from Sky, and it works for anyone, with any TV over any broadband with a minimum speed of 10Mbps. Sure, that’s “affordable” according to Sky itself. definition of Sky, but the fact of its lower price compared to other Sky products remains.
And make no mistake, Sky Stream is Sky at its finest. At the device’s launch event, the company unveiled some of the user-friendly updates coming to Sky Glass (and, by extension, Sky Stream) in the coming months, and it’s hard to find fault with the new hardware beyond its high price. .
Updates Galore
The biggest improvements are coming to Glass’s playlist feature. Given Sky’s focus on the shared viewing experience, the brand has been reluctant to implement dedicated user profiles of the kind seen on streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney Plus. But soon, Glass customers will be able to create multiple profile-like playlists for different users: pressing the ‘+’ button on the Sky remote will bring up a list of curated playlists to choose from.
This may sound like a trivial improvement, but in practice, having the option to create multiple playlists keeps the Sky Glass/Stream interface more focused on what you personally want to watch in a multi-viewer household (read: family homes). Most importantly, though, you won’t be asked to identify yourself when watching live TV.
The way playlists appear is also changing. For starters, they’ll be moved to the front of the icon list, ahead of movies, TV shows, and buttons that take you to libraries of dedicated streaming services. The most recent episodes are also being moved to the front of series-specific pages, there is no longer a need to navigate through 30 Gogglebox episodes, and the “Because You Watched” slide is replaced with a “Continue Watching” slide.
On a more exciting note, those who already own Sky Glass proper are in line for a considerable improvement in picture quality. Sky is preparing to roll out a firmware update that will re-adjust backlight dimming on your TV, improving black levels and contrast ratio, as well as adding better black bar detection during movies. We were made aware of a side-by-side demo of Sky Glass in its current state versus what’s to come in the near future, and these image quality improvements are more than remarkable.
Sky says that updates to voice commands, playlists and picture quality (on Sky Glass) will roll out in stages between October 17 and Christmas 2022.
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Ozva Admin
