Alternatives to Sky

ads20101

My sky sub this year is coming to an end in November and am looking at alternatives.

We are predominantly a streaming family (netflix / prime / disney / discovery) and this has only increased since getting FTTH installed. The one really good thing with sky is that it is intuitive and easy to use, so whatever we move to I would want something with a straightforward interface (ruling out android boxes -- perhaps) so I am looking at:

Chrome with Google TV

or

Amazon Firestick

I am veering towards Google as this appears to be better for using Irish streaming services and media apps are more easily available.

babelfish1990

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058260855/alternatives-to-sky

You say that you are "predominantly a streaming family". Most people are using mainly streaming services at the moment. However, if you require even a small amount of live TV services, then you won't be able to do these easily with either Google TV or Amazon Firestick. (For example BBC I-Player is not officially available in Ireland, so if you want to watch any live BBC TV, you can't play it back on a streaming app.) You also are looking for a solution that is intuitive and easy to use, so you probably want to avoid switching boxes between live services and streaming services. Apple TV 4K+ box allows you to run all the streaming apps on the same box as live TV, and has a very intuitive interface. Eir TV offers the live channels on an app which runs on Apple TV boxes, for €9.99 per month. If you buy additional Apple TV boxes yourself, you can even do Multi-room for the same total monthly fee of €9.99 (Eir don't advertise this, as you can also pay them a monthly fee to rent additional boxes). Recordings are in the cloud, so you can access them from any devices. You don't need to use any other Apple devices to do this - I am an Android user - and only use Apple for TV. It's probably the best TV platform on the market, and certainly the most economic.

NewClareman

I agree with the above suggestion. The eir TV service is pretty ok and the AppleTV is included as part of the service. We use it with Now Tv for sports with Netflix and Amazon Prime for general entertainment. We also use YouTube (free version) mainly for the grandchildren. All for far less than the cost of Sky. Wifey uses all the apps without any problem, despite being used to Sky.

Its not perfect and a 'combo' satellite box is one possible alternative, for zero subscription costs. (There is lots of info on the satellite forum.) I used one for a number of years and it was a good alternative to sky, with lots of channels. If you don't have Sky Q, you can reuse your existing dish and just need an aerial for the Irish channels.

galtee boy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119536242#Comment_119536242

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but don't you have to also take eir broadband or they won't give you eir tv , so the cost is much greater than €9.99 per month ? And is there still an issue with recording the Irish channels and BBC channels ?

babelfish1990

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119576859#Comment_119576859

Yes - €9.99pm is the additional cost of adding TV to an Eir Broadband bundle. The basic bundle is €34.99pm without TV or mobile, so €44.98pm with TV. It is also €9.99 for each SIM-only mobile you add to the bundle.

There is no longer any issue recording BBC, but the Irish channels still seem to have a problem with allowing recordings. However, with the Irish channels you have their player apps for playback - these run on the Apple box - which is a good workaround. Recording for BBC is the most important, because the BBC i-Player is not officially available here. There are also much improved "Catch-up" options available on the Eir TV programme guide, which allow you to replay most native productions directly from the guide, without needing to record. The other TV platforms are starting to experience the same limitations in recording, as they upgrade to cloud based platforms similar to Eir TV. Eventually the Irish channels will probably relent and allow recording. That is what happened the BBC.

Delta2113

'The other TV platforms are starting to experience the same limitations in recording" - any channel that you subscribe to on Virgin Media Ireland is recordable' - let's get that straight.

babelfish1990

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119577636#Comment_119577636

VM haven't migrated to a cloud-based TV platform yet. They still have a mechanical disk drive in their boxes - like the old Eir Vision boxes. This has the advantage that you can still record all channels, but means that VM are stuck using legacy boxes without the advantages of cloud platforms. Aside from the customer experience, all the TV providers are going to migrate to cloud-based platforms, because it gives them much more control over the advertising revenue, and reduces the opportunity for viewers to skip ads. When they do this migration, they will face the same copyright issues from the content providers.

Delta2113

Virgin 360 boxes have playback and On Demand which uses the cloud. You could argue they have the best off both worlds. RTE won't let them skip ads using playback off course so you can record to get around that.

I avoid everything that forces me to watch ads so I would never use RTE Player, VM Player etc.

namloc1980

Got rid of Sky Q a few years ago as couldn't justify the cost. Got a hybrid LNB installed to replace the Sky Q one (cost about €100 including install) and installed a cheap Saorview aerial in the attic myself. So now I have all the Saorview and UK free channels at no cost (TV license aside) and also have a couple of Chromecasts with Google TV for the streaming services.

Wouldn't go back to Sky now.

babelfish1990

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119578097#Comment_119578097

I held onto the Eir Vision box as long as I could for similar reasons. Eventually I migrated to the Apple TV box, and in my view the advantages of the cloud based platform outweigh the advantages of the legacy boxes. VM's parent Liberty Global(UPC) has already migrated to similar cloud based platforms in other UPC markets, and has probably been held back in Ireland because of the linkage with VM UK.

seannash

Just to mention you can buy a VPN subscription that will allow you to access BBC Iplayer. I dont believe its illegal to have a VPN.

namloc1980

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119578235#Comment_119578235

Having a VPN in and of itself is fine. Using it to access geoblocked content is where it gets a bit grey.

seannash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119578248#Comment_119578248

I believe its not illegal to access the content Via a VPN but it may be against BBC's terms and conditions.

icdg

You can believe what you like, it is most definitely against the BBC’s terms of service to access the iPlayer using a VPN. Additionally it is against the charter of this forum to discuss circumventing regional restrictions.

this is now an on thread warning, and any further discussion will mean straight 48 hour bans with no additional warnings given.

Just on the VM cloud situation, I understand the VM360 platform (Horizon 4)has the ability to do cloud recording but this isn’t used here precisely because of the rights issues it throws up. Eir have had to deal with this and Sky are now going through it with Sky Glass/Stream. In the latter case they’ve actually negotiated access to BBC catch-up for 30 days for affected customers, which is a novel solution and the first time I believe the BBC have allowed access to catch up outside the U.K. Sky are probably years away from any transition to Sky Stream as their only platform (they need to get it working stand-alone in the first instance!) and I don’t see it happening tomorrow or next week.

galtee boy

According to a review of Sky Glass in the Irish Independant, the video on demand service which the BBC are allowing for Ireland, will not include Match of the Day, so I'm guessing there will be an issue with sports rights for cloud catch up. Only having access to programmes for 30 days is another pain in the butt, we often record and pile up series, films etc on SkyQ and it could be months later before we'd get around to watching them. To me, players and cloud are only of use if I forgot to record something and being forced to watch adverts is a complete deal breaker.

NewClareman

The rights issue is my big gripe with eirTV. Best case you only have access to recordings for 6 months. It's a shame because the cloud offers many advantages. Not least, that recordings can be picked up anywhere and boxes can be fully switched off, when not in use.

I have niche tastes and have kept some BBC recordings for years. I expect that I will implement some FTA satellite solution over the winter, purely for recording purposes.