Sky Q

The Cush

CAI summary of Sky Q

Sky Q – what we know so far

Written on 19 January 2016.

The perpetuating euphoria surrounding Sky’s marketing of ‘Sky Q’ continues to cause reams and reams of media speculation. Here’s what the CAI has found published when it comes to the ‘unofficial biography’ of Sky Q. As yet the CAI has not received any official statement from the Sky Chief Executive or anyone assigned to the marketing of Sky TV regarding how Sky Q is to be sold or installed - or more importantly how anyone on a shared dish system would be able to raise their level of subscription to take Sky Q. All we know is that one day it will launch in the UK as a Sky TV extra option. This month’s ‘Home Cinema’ featured 3 pages of ‘what you need to know’ about Sky Q. A summary of what was in that article.

First of all – you will have a choice from a new product line of 3 boxes. Sky Q Silver will have a dozen tuners and 2TB of hard drive. The standard Sky Q has 8 tuners and 1TB of hard drive. The Sky Mini is simply a multi-room device without tuners or hard drive but works in tandem with the other two boxes via an Ethernet link.

Next – Sky Q is 4K ready – but details are not forthcoming. Sky Q Silver will have a 4K capable HDMI output. One problem here that could hold up uptake will be 4K content – but think in terms of Premier League Football, Hollywood movies and big budget dramas. Sky needs to give BT Sport a fight over Ultra HD.

Thirdly – A product with all those tuners solves recording clashes. You will have to beware of filling up the hard-drive – but it does start to rival Virgin’s 3 tuners, Freeview Play and EE TV.

Fourthly – All these tuners have spawned the phrase ‘Fluid Viewing’. Current multi-room using Sky+HD requires multi-LNB feeds. The Sky Q arrangements using Q Silver or Standard Q allows the additional tuners to feed a Sky Q Mini – or even team up with another Mini. Using WiFi or powerline networking multi-room gets a bit simpler than traditional wiring up of TVs around the home. The other aspect is that Fluid Viewing allows streaming to other devices like tablets.

Finally – You can download recordings onto devices for viewing elsewhere – supposedly the number one request from viewers polled on the subject. Rights issues will hamper this one – but it’s a cool bragging point.

For the technical amongst us all – this product sees a lot of installations starting from ground zero. The old Sky+ has to go. In a DTH system a new LNB is needed to feed the multi-tuner kit. No big deal for a single room viewer but in multi-room homes all the boxes need swapping. Sky Q does not mix with secondary Sky+ boxes.

The new hardware does support Dolby Digital 5.1 via HDMI but any Dolby Atmos for future 4K movies and the next generation audio appears to be on shelf somewhere. Also a new remote control emerges that marks the end of updates to old Sky+ user interfaces. New ways to access all this content had to be considered so updating the old EPG and controllers has not been the chosen path. The old zapper is to be gone. Some will bemoan the day the old remote has to be ditched. It became somewhat of industry standard leader.

What all this means for those in blocks of flats is going to be a longer story than you’ve already read about. As stated at the beginning – we await a Sky statement on how owners of tenanted blocks are going to deal with any demand for Sky Q. This brings us to the final part of the story.

Sky Q is not replacing Sky+HD as we know it. (Just yet…) There will be a subscription premium price tag. As yet no-one knows what that is. But it won’t be simple (we already know the way pay TV operators bundle programming is inherently complex) so expect a considerable increase in your direct debit if you’re desperate for it. Doubtless the home cinemas owners will go for this where money is not a problem.

http://cai.org.uk/information/cai-news/892-sky-q-what-we-know-so-far

The Cush

The CAI now have a copy of Sky’s New Build MDU IRS specification but is only downloadable for members - http://tinyurl.com/h2pf4ou.

The specification isn't available for download yet from https://communaltv.sky.com/property-managers/

snaps

All very interesting.

2 big points for me would be:
1) Having to start from scratch as the new system is not compatible with the old (current) system.

2) Obviously the price!

Also if recorded programmes can be downloaded onto devices, what format will they be in? A 2hr HD programme in Ts format or whatever sky use to record in would be a lot of data (many gbs)?

Or would the recordings be compressed into a more familiar codec, like an mpeg4, which would take up far less data/space?

Interesting times.

The Cush

https://recombu.com/digital/article/sky-q-hands-on

During our time with the Sky Q boxes we also quizzed Olsen about those 12 tuners present in the Sky Q Silver.

We were told that the first tuner is dedicated to the live TV experience at all times while the second supplies feeds for picture-in-picture services.

Two others are partitioned for streaming to tablets while another two are set aside for streaming to the Q Mini set-top boxes. A further four are used for recordings - meaning you can record up to four shows at once - and the eleventh tuner is used for receiving UI data. As for the twelfth?

We received a cryptic response about ‘future services’ and immediately asked about 4K, only to be told nothing

icdg

The price is the killer for me. Recording clashes are the number one annoyance for me with Sky (through not annoying enough for me to want to switch to Virgin) but this kit would want to be not significantly more expensive than Sky+HD for me to want to switch.

ftakeith

icdg wrote: »

The price is the killer for me. Recording clashes are the number one annoyance for me with Sky (through not annoying enough for me to want to switch to Virgin) but this kit would want to be not significantly more expensive than Sky+HD for me to want to switch.

I agree about the price but maybe on friday all will be revealed

I have no clashes for recordings as I only use sky HD+ to record Irish TV, use Sky catch up, and the odd film on other sky channels

MarkAnthony

Some of that CAI info is a tad inaccurate.

The biggest sea change has nothing to do with hardware and I can't wait to see all your reactions

MarkAnthony

Some of that CAI info is a tad inaccurate.

The biggest sea change has nothing to do with hardware and I can't wait to see all your reactions

The Ayatolla

The FTA/Freesat option in spare rooms is too valuable to lose unfortunately. That, along with Saorview and a Chromecast / Fire stick and you have an excellent source of free TV in the room.

I see Sky have updated their Sky Go website too.

The Cush

The Ayatolla wrote: »

The FTA/Freesat option in spare rooms is to valuable to lose unfortunately.

FTA sat TV abhors a vacuum so to speak so I've no doubt there'll be gadgets/gizmos/switches available to allow the new wideband LNBs to work with legacy receivers.

MarkAnthony

The Cush wrote: »

FTA sat TV abhors a vacuum so to speak so I've no doubt there'll be gadgets/gizmos/switches available to allow the new wideband LNBs to work with legacy receivers.

Or Sky might have a solution in mind with the mini-boxes.

The Cush

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Or Sky might have a solution in mind with the mini-boxes.

The mini-boxes have no connection for an lnb, networked to the main box.

MarkAnthony

The Cush wrote: »

The mini-boxes have no connection for an lnb, networked to the main box.

Correct. The solution and pricing structures might not be what one expects. There's been a distinct lack of thinking 'outside the box' (no pun intended) on this thread.

Yes SkyQ is likely to be expensive but think about it for a minute - Sky have the single box market absolutely sewn up. The top end/technophile/simply must have TV in every room market have simply had the single solution with various bolt ons. Perhaps someone thought it might be time to address that and offer a completely fluid (pun intended) experience.

murpho999

I reckon this going to intially cost about €300 for a box and an extra €25 on top of the sub instead of the €15 they charge for HD currently.

Then after time passes the box will get cheaper and the sub will remain.

Hope I am wrong though.

Loughc

murpho999 wrote: »

Hope I am wrong though.

So do I, but i think a €10 premium on top of the €15 HD subscription sounds right.

galtee boy

The Cush wrote: »

FTA sat TV abhors a vacuum so to speak so I've no doubt there'll be gadgets/gizmos/switches available to allow the new wideband LNBs to work with legacy receivers.

Is there some kind of attachment that you can put onto the "arm" of the dish, allowing the new SkyQ lnb and the existing lnb to both work off the one dish ?

The Cush

galtee boy wrote: »

Is there some kind of attachment that you can put onto the "arm" of the dish, allowing the new SkyQ lnb and the existing lnb to both work off the one dish ?

The LNB has to be placed at the focal point of the dish, easier to add a some sort of multiswitch to feed wideband and legacy tuners. I assume Sky will have a manufacturing agreement for dedicated Sky full band capture LNBs but can see other manufacturers coming out with combi LNBs for standard dishes.

peteeeed

prices released but in sterling

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/136585-sky-q-price-details-and-release-date-revealed-from-42-a-month-and-99-one-off-fee

peteeeed

prices released but in sterling , launching feb 9th

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/136585-sky-q-price-details-and-release-date-revealed-from-42-a-month-and-99-one-off-fee

ftakeith

peteeeed wrote: »

prices released but in sterling , launching feb 9th

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/136585-sky-q-price-details-and-release-date-revealed-from-42-a-month-and-99-one-off-fee

rip off prices from sky

helimachoptor

ftakeith wrote: »

rip off prices from sky

No ones forcing you to buy it

murpho999

helimachoptor wrote: »

No ones forcing you to buy it

How does that help. Can we not discuss it?

Anyhow,£12 extra on top of HD plus £99 set fee, £50 for existing customers.

Sky though use crazy exchange rates to Euro so I really wonder what the Irish prices will be.

Don't think I'll be using Sky Q anytime soon.

helimachoptor

murpho999 wrote: »

How does that help. Can we not discuss it.


Anyhow,£12 extra on top of HD plus £99 set fee, £50 for existing customers.

Sky though use crazy exchange rates to Euro so I really wonder what the Irish prices will be.

Don't think I'll be using Sky Q anytime soon.

"Rip of prices from Sky" is hardly going to start a discussion.

I would expect irish prices to be released imminently

Unearthly

I don't think that's bad?

Considering people were talking about 400-500 for the box earlier.

Easily affordable upgrade for me anyway

lertsnim

I see it's an 18 month contract and Sky retain ownership of the box.

Avada

lertsnim wrote: »

I see it's an 18 month contract and Sky retain ownership of the box.

That's actually a good thing imo. No more service call charges after your first year.

Also, by the looks of it, it won't be much extra if you have multiroom already.

lertsnim

I won't comment on Irish pricing until they announce it considering the Sky exchange rate

stesaurus

Would the multiroom sub be gone by taking this out or is that still to be paid? I have 3 extra boxes so at currently €15 a pop (before discounts) this could be cheaper if it was one set fee.

helimachoptor

s.welstead wrote: »

Would the multiroom sub be gone by taking this out or is that still to be paid? I have 3 extra boxes so at currently €15 a pop (before discounts) this could be cheaper if it was one set fee.

MR sub will be gone

ForstalDave

s.welstead wrote: »

Would the multiroom sub be gone by taking this out or is that still to be paid? I have 3 extra boxes so at currently €15 a pop (before discounts) this could be cheaper if it was one set fee.

Looks like its free but you would need to buy the two extra box's at €99 a piece you can pause on one and watch on another though