Sky Q - the new 'fluid viewing' system
What is Sky Q?
Sky Q is a new hardware system - available from 9th Feb 2016 - that will allow you greater flexibility in how you view your Sky content, whether it is between different rooms in the house, or whether you are mobile.
The main features:
- Record up to 4 programs at once
- Stream recordings thoughout your house
- Start watching a program in one room, pause, then resume watching in another
- The Sky Q boxes act as wi-fi hotspots, extending your homes wireless network.
- 2TB of storage (Sky Q silver)
- Ultra-hi-def ready
- Stream photos from another device
The Hardware
Viewing Equipment
| Device | Storage | Record | Stream | Wifi hotspot? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sky Q silver | 2 TB (1.7 for personal use) ~350 hours HD tv) | 4 and watch a 5th live | 2 tablets and TVs via Sky Q mini | Yes |
| Sky Q | 1 TB (700MB for personal use) ~150 hours HD tv | 3 and watch a 4th live | 1 tablet and TVs via Sky Q mini | Yes |
The new boxes will feature toslink / spdif (optical) audio output but will no longer have coax, phono or scart sockert. Meaning that it if you wish to watch Sky in another room you'll need the Sky Q mini box, or a wireless HDMI streamer. The boxes also include 'powerlink' technology which will stream data over your houses electrical wiring, which means that the Sky Q mini should still pick up the streamed media, even if it's out of wifi range.
Sky Q bluetooth touch remote
The new remote features a touchpad for navigation, dedicated search button and 'find my remote'. The latter is initiated by pressing 'Q' on the Sky box, which causes the remote to beep. We all know it will be down the back of the sofa or under a cushion anyway.
Sky Q mini
These are the remote boxes that you can place around your home, to receive the streamed programs from the main Sky Q box, these act as a wifi hotspot too. A Q mini is included with the Sky Q silver package. The mini is the new version of the multiroom box and doesn't have any recording capability.
Other Information
New EPG
This has been totally re-vamped and will feature a My Q section where you can resume previously paused records, amongst other things. Take a look at the video below for more details.
Sky Q App
One of the best features of Sky Q (in my opinion) is the ability to download recorded content from the Sky Q box on to your device (e.g. tablet) and watch it on the go. Sky have developed a mobile app to facilitate this. Alternatively you can stream programs from your Sky Q box to your mobile device. Initially only tablets will be supported but this will be extended to mobile phones at a later date.
Pricing
Prices start at £42 per month for the Sky Q box and £54 per month for the Sky Q silver.
Future
Rumours are that the new bluetooth Sky remote will get voice commands, like search, and that UHD content will appear on Sky in 2017.
