Sky Q Vs VM?

OU812

Currently have Virgin Media. Now have the option to cancel contract without penalty & was thinking of getting sky Q but I don't know anyone who has it to see what it's like.

Our UPC is SD only (didn't want a horizon box) & the girl on the phone from Sky told me that their SD on Q is almost the same as VM's HD offering. A pretty big claim...

Anyone have any experience of both?

wytch

I had upc a few yeas ago. I had sky lined up the day upc contract ran out. Never looked back. I have sky q since July. It is a superb product. I cannot wait unit it is refined. It still feels like a bit of a beta offering in some respects, however it is class. No regrets.

OU812

In what way beta wytch?

Johnboy1951

OU812 wrote: »

Currently have Virgin Media. Now have the option to cancel contract without penalty & was thinking of getting sky Q but I don't know anyone who has it to see what it's like.

Our UPC is SD only (didn't want a horizon box) & the girl on the phone from Sky told me that their SD on Q is almost the same as VM's HD offering. A pretty big claim...

Anyone have any experience of both?

Is there some service that is only offered by Sky that you want and are prepared to pay for?

Would the Free To Air TV channels be sufficient for your needs?
There is no subscription required to receive such channels.

OU812

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Is there some service that is only offered by Sky that you want and are prepared to pay for?

Would the Free To Air TV channels be sufficient for your needs?
There is no subscription required to receive such channels.

Not a specific service or channel Johnboy. Personally I don't watch terrestrial TV, I do all my viewing on a different schedule so have it on my phone etc. Kids in the house so the cartoon channels & herself likes dramas so the stuff that RTE/UTV/Channel4 pump out

Johnboy1951

OU812 wrote: »

Not a specific service or channel Johnboy. Personally I don't watch terrestrial TV, I do all my viewing on a different schedule so have it on my phone etc. Kids in the house so the cartoon channels & herself likes dramas so the stuff that RTE/UTV/Channel4 pump out

Seems you have no need for a Sky account so, and the costs that entails.

ted1

You'll get virgin for half price for six months. Horizon is good now as bugs have being fixed, sky is dearer especially if you want multi room and hd.

Sky can't compete with virgins broadband, now matter what they claim

OU812

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Seems you have no need for a Sky account so, and the costs that entails.

is the quality of sky Q not better? I wont have a horizon box (or want one)

Johnboy1951

OU812 wrote: »

is the quality of sky Q not better? I wont have a horizon box (or want one)

horizon? you mean the VM STB (set top box)?

The Free to Air channels are the same quality on a FTA STB, a Sky box or a Sky Q set up.

beauf

ted1 wrote: »

You'll get virgin for half price for six months. Horizon is good now as bugs have being fixed, sky is dearer especially if you want multi room and hd.

Sky can't compete with virgins broadband, now matter what they claim

While the BB is better. Getting VM to stop messing with it is a problem.

Also the Horizon box is still very buggy. They've only fixed about 50% of the major problems with it. I wouldn't call it good. Its usable but very annoying.

OU812

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

horizon? you mean the VM STB (set top box)?

The Free to Air channels are the same quality on a FTA STB, a Sky box or a Sky Q set up.

Yeah. I have the old style box (SD only) because of all the problems the newer "Horizon" one had. Although the interface is nicer, I believe the Sky one is faster & simpler

Johnboy1951

OU812 wrote: »

Yeah. I have the old style box (SD only) because of all the problems the newer "Horizon" one had. Although the interface is nicer, I believe the Sky one is faster & simpler

For FTA use there are many boxes out there that are much better than the Sky box.

You might get some info from this thread

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057626233

wytch

Beta as in if you try to turn the mini box on at 3am to watch something it can't connect to the network, you have turn off all boxes and the dedicated sky router for sky q, then power them all back up and wait a few more minutes for them to start up.

You cannot watch "other channels" on the sky mini box. Other channels are ones you have to manually add that are not part of normal sky offering but are free to air and viewable only on the main sky box.

You cannot bookmark recorded shows like the old box. Handy for the kids shows to get straight to the start of a cartoon episode.

Worst is the sky q app on the android play store, rating is crap, it wont work on my devices as it doesn't support Marshmallow. Marshmallow is out since Oct 2015, granted it is only on 10% of android devices worldwide. However if your are a subscriber to sky's premium product chances are you have a premium end device.

In saying all that I love Sky Q and won't be swapping it out.

ted1

beauf wrote: »

While the BB is better. Getting VM to stop messing with it is a problem.

Also the Horizon box is still very buggy. They've only fixed about 50% of the major problems with it. I wouldn't call it good. Its usable but very annoying.

I haven't had a issue with it in the last 6 months

MarkR

I have Sky for TV at home, and Virgin Media for telephone and broadband. I had heard before that the user interface for Virgin TV was a bit slow and buggy. Are there any reviews showing the interface online?

beauf

ted1 wrote: »

I haven't had a issue with it in the last 6 months

Did you switch to sky 6 months ago?

OU812

Decided to stick with VM.

pippip

I used to have the Horizon box and have been with SKY (not Q) for the last year and a half.

Simply put, I will never go back to VM while they have the Horizon box. It is really that bad.

Kensington

wytch wrote: »

Beta as in if you try to turn the mini box on at 3am to watch something it can't connect to the network, you have turn off all boxes and the dedicated sky router for sky q, then power them all back up and wait a few more minutes for them to start up.

You cannot watch "other channels" on the sky mini box. Other channels are ones you have to manually add that are not part of normal sky offering but are free to air and viewable only on the main sky box.

You cannot bookmark recorded shows like the old box. Handy for the kids shows to get straight to the start of a cartoon episode.

Worst is the sky q app on the android play store, rating is crap, it wont work on my devices as it doesn't support Marshmallow. Marshmallow is out since Oct 2015, granted it is only on 10% of android devices worldwide. However if your are a subscriber to sky's premium product chances are you have a premium end device.

In saying all that I love Sky Q and won't be swapping it out.

Switch Eco standby mode off on all boxes (set it to "Active" or "None").

Eco mode shuts down all of the boxes between 2AM and 6AM, so if you turn on a Mini between that time it isn't going to be able to find the main box as that will be asleep.

Rattlehead_ie

wytch wrote: »

Beta as in if you try to turn the mini box on at 3am to watch something it can't connect to the network, you have turn off all boxes and the dedicated sky router for sky q, then power them all back up and wait a few more minutes for them to start up.

Interesting. Thought it was specifically only a few randoms that had that issue. You're the 5th person now to say that. Its a bit annoying alright but can live with it for now.
@OP I would fully agree with Wytch comments the Sky Q service is brilliant and I certainly wouldn't look at VM ever again when Sky is an option.

bk

Kensington wrote: »

Switch Eco standby mode off on all boxes (set it to "Active" or "None").

Eco mode shuts down all of the boxes between 2AM and 6AM, so if you turn on a Mini between that time it isn't going to be able to find the main box as that will be asleep.

Uggghhh, have they never heard of wake on lan!

wytch

Thanks Kensington, have updated my settings, your explanation makes sense. It's a pity nowadays appliances don't come with a paper manual, I don't even know if there is a pdf one for my boxes.