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Thread: Sky + to Sky Q

  1. #1
    Craftsman
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    Sky + to Sky Q

    I'm moving from Sky+ to Sky Q next week, are there any words of wisdom from recent converts?

    I know that I have to clear my planner as this can't be transferred so I presume that I have to set up all new series links and favorites.
    I'm getting a multi room mini box for upstairs, does this need a cable connection or is it portable? I.E. I realise that you can only view on one TV at a time but can it just be taken into the room you wish to view from?
    Anything important I should know?

  2. #2
    Master
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    Mini box sits on WiFi network.
    What TV you got, Oled will come alive.

  3. #3
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    I have a mid range Panasonic LED which is 4K ready so i'll see how that looks before investing in something more upmarket.

  4. #4
    We're moving on the 9th of December and have the install done for the day after. Took advantage of their BF deals for the next 18 months which is essentially half of what I'm currently paying virgin.
    Although I need the 2nd box in the lads room could really do with a 3rd however the Skygo app has negated the need for that. So my youngest son downloads the skygo app on his xbox one and gets basically free TV without the neeed for a box

  5. #5
    They’ll need to update the dish so if that’s higher than normal or in a difficult spot they won’t be allowed to get to it. They’ll then contact their ‘heights’ team who come round a week or two later, take one look at it, shake their heads and then clear off so you’ll then go to an independent who’s not that bothered about health and safety who’ll do the job in about 10 mins. Your experience may vary of course!

    The mini box can now communicate with the main box over the power lines so it would be worth seeing if the engineer will set that up for you. It used to be in a hidden menu but I think it’s fully implemented now. Depending on how big / solid your house is it might be more reliable than WiFi.

    Otherwise, well worth the upgrade.

  6. #6
    One other thing, the ultra HD feed only comes from the main box, not the mini boxes so make sure it’s attached to the ‘best’ TV.

  7. #7
    Master smokey99's Avatar
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    Don't do it! Unless its a cheap upgrade.

    Remote Control is awful. Poorly placed buttons and touch control is a disaster.

    E.g. you can have it on pause and the accidentally cancel the pause and skip to the end of an sporting event quite easily.

    Especially if the remote slips down side of sofa! We switched off the touch control months ago.

    IMHO screen navigation is poorer and less intuitive than standard Sky.

    We got it because it was a good deal and it was a prompt to upgrade to a 4K TV.

    But I reckon I've watched a handful of 4K shows in the last 16 months since we got it.

    OLED is great and Dolby Vision on Netflix etc is great but that's the TV, not Sky.

    On the plus side, my wife likes the radio signal for the remote so we can close the TV cabinet door. And the box is much smaller so there's that.

    Otherwise day to day, I feel limited benefit from having it.

    Bah Humbug.

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  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by smokey99 View Post
    Don't do it! Unless its a cheap upgrade.

    Remote Control is awful. Poorly placed buttons and touch control is a disaster.

    E.g. you can have it on pause and the accidentally cancel the pause and skip to the end of an sporting event quite easily.

    Especially if the remote slips down side of sofa! We switched off the touch control months ago.

    IMHO screen navigation is poorer and less intuitive than standard Sky.

    We got it because it was a good deal and it was a prompt to upgrade to a 4K TV.

    But I reckon I've watched a handful of 4K shows in the last 16 months since we got it.

    OLED is great and Dolby Vision on Netflix etc is great but that's the TV, not Sky.

    On the plus side, my wife likes the radio signal for the remote so we can close the TV cabinet door. And the box is much smaller so there's that.

    Otherwise day to day, I feel limited benefit from having it.

    Bah Humbug.

    Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk
    Agree, although I don’t have a 4K tv (I don’t think so, 4 year old mid range Samsung, picture looks fine to me!) - the planner is an absolute pain, defies logic imho, the touch remote is awful - although you can switch off the silly touch thing in settings. Bah humbug indeed! (Although if you search online, there’s a lot of people saying the same)


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  9. #9
    Craftsman
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    It takes a little while to get used to the user interface changes when moving to Sky Q, but once familiar it’s easy to use.

    I’ve had the main Sky Q box for a couple of years but only recently added mini boxes, and therefore UHD. The UHD is 4K resolution only, there is no HDR yet, and it’s fairly compressed. The upshot is that UHD content looks slightly better than HD, but not a patch on 4K Blu-ray or even 4K Prime/Netflix with HDR.

  10. #10
    Agree with what has already been said, but one thing you mentioned was incorrect OP. You can watch independently on the main Q box and the mini box. The mini box connects to the Q box and therefore shares that same hard drive/planner etc.. but you can watch different things on each box at the same time.


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  11. #11
    And we too hated the rubbish touch control and use the normal non touch control with proper buttons. We received both with our Q box, but no idea if that’s still the case.


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  12. #12
    Master
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    Well I think it is great - takes no time at all to get used to layout and zero issues with remote.

    The wi-fi connection between the main box and mini boxes has been spot on. I have 3 mini boxes (you can only use 2 at the same time) and no issues for a while. Do not turn off the power saver mode. The key to the Q system is it using that mode to refresh the system overnight. Plenty of information online but if you switch it off then expect the min-boxes to drop the connection.

    Mini-boxes are fully portable. It might take a little fettling when you un-plug and then move to a different location but it takes only a few minutes to get it working again. I would never go back to Sky Plus.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Mappa View Post
    And we too hated the rubbish touch control and use the normal non touch control with proper buttons. We received both with our Q box, but no idea if that’s still the case.


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    You can go into settings and turn the touch element off - makes the ‘touch’ control easy to use. I can’t imagine who prefers it in touch mode, it’s so over sensitive!


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  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by thegreatdogwood View Post
    Well I think it is great - takes no time at all to get used to layout and zero issues with remote.

    The wi-fi connection between the main box and mini boxes has been spot on. I have 3 mini boxes (you can only use 2 at the same time) and no issues for a while. Do not turn off the power saver mode. The key to the Q system is it using that mode to refresh the system overnight. Plenty of information online but if you switch it off then expect the min-boxes to drop the connection.

    Mini-boxes are fully portable. It might take a little fettling when you un-plug and then move to a different location but it takes only a few minutes to get it working again. I would never go back to Sky Plus.
    Never knew this about the power save mode. Where is it in the menus ? I’ll check I haven’t turned it off
    Andy

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by RobDad View Post
    You can go into settings and turn the touch element off - makes the ‘touch’ control easy to use. I can’t imagine who prefers it in touch mode, it’s so over sensitive!


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    Thanks I’ll give that a try, the rubber buttons are losing their markings a little.


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  16. #16
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    We have had sky q for a couple of weeks now , the layout is totally different to sky +, Which everyone seems to have adjusted to ok. I was unaware about the sensitivity on the remote will look into that , otherwise it’s sky + on steriods.

  17. #17
    Master
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    I think it’s great; we’ve had it for about a year. LNB on the dish needs swapped but cabling etc is the same. Mini boxes can be taken from room to room

  18. #18
    Master
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    Is one of the main problems not the price...do you not rent the Sky Q box for xxx per month.???

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by mjc1216 View Post
    Is one of the main problems not the price...do you not rent the Sky Q box for xxx per month.???
    You do yes, the boxes are not technically yours. It does however mean that if your box develops an issue, or breaks, they will be fixed or replaced by sky. There might be a call out charge but you won’t have to buy a new box.


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  20. #20
    Grand Master learningtofly's Avatar
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    Am I right in saying that the mini-boxes overcome the issue of Sky Q not working with the old magic eyes? That's the only thing that's stopped my converting in the past.

  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by learningtofly View Post
    Am I right in saying that the mini-boxes overcome the issue of Sky Q not working with the old magic eyes? That's the only thing that's stopped my converting in the past.
    I guess so yes. There’s no need for magic eye as your mini box connects to the main Q box. Each mini box gets its own remote too and can be be controlled independently of the main Q box.


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  22. #22
    Grand Master learningtofly's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mappa View Post
    I guess so yes. There’s no need for magic eye as your mini box connects to the main Q box. Each mini box gets its own remote too and can be be controlled independently of the main Q box.


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    That's what I thought, thank you. The boosting of the wifi signal looks like a welcome bonus for upstairs, too!

  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by learningtofly View Post
    That's what I thought, thank you. The boosting of the wifi signal looks like a welcome bonus for upstairs, too!
    I believe the boosting only works if you have sky broadband. I understand the mini boxes act as Wi-fi extenders too to create a mesh.


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  24. #24
    Grand Master learningtofly's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mappa View Post
    I believe the boosting only works if you have sky broadband. I understand the mini boxes act as Wi-fi extenders too to create a mesh.


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    Yes, we're with Sky so it would work for us. Will go and do the numbers :)

  25. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by learningtofly View Post
    Yes, we're with Sky so it would work for us. Will go and do the numbers :)
    Cool, just remember that UHD/4K only works on the main Q box, the mini boxes can only output HD 1080p.


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  26. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by Mappa View Post
    Cool, just remember that UHD/4K only works on the main Q box, the mini boxes can only output HD 1080p.


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    And if you want to use an amp or hdmi switcher in your setup, they must be HDCP 2.2 compliant in order for it to display/pass through UHD/4K.


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  27. #27
    Master smokey99's Avatar
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    I really miss being able to press 'Play' and it would bring up the last recording you were watching. Nice and simple and intuitive.

    Now, unless someone tells me different, you have to access the main menu and then scroll through your latest recordings or 'continue watching' options.

    It's a 1st world problem but seems like a case of making it more complex than it needed to be.

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  28. #28
    Craftsman
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    Big negative for me compared to sky+ is the recordings with multi room.
    The kids had a sky+ box in their room that kept their recordings on it.
    With skyQ all recordings are kept on the main box, so I have to wade through all their crap to get to what I want to watch.
    Why they can't have individual folders like Netflix do is beyond me.

  29. #29
    I really like Sky Q apart from how it handles the back arrow button on the remote. Whenever I’m browsing through recordings I press the back arrow thinking it will take me back one step. Instead it throws you out of the menus and back to full screen TV.

  30. #30
    Master smokey99's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phil Lee View Post
    I really like Sky Q apart from how it handles the back arrow button on the remote. Whenever I’m browsing through recordings I press the back arrow thinking it will take me back one step. Instead it throws you out of the menus and back to full screen TV.
    Yes! This. Quite annoying.

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