So Sky’s new TV system is available to buy for all now, see our Sky Q hands on review for all the details. Amazingly, Sky Q is the biggest pay-TV service released since the Virgin Media TiVo box just over 5 years ago. In a world where TV in the last five years has changed radically with the likes of Netflix and 4K, it’s amazing that most set top boxes are so set in their ways (sorry). Now it’s entirely possible that Virgin Media has its own next-gen box in development but if you’re signing up for a new TV deal today, your choice is between Sky Q and Virgin Media TiVo.
Resolution
The new Sky Q box supports Ultra HD (also known as 4K) resolution: 3,840x2,160, while the TiVo box obviously only support Full HD (1,920x1,080). However, you will of course need a fancy new 4K TV in order to appreciate all those extra pixels. In addition content is a tad thin on the ground at present, yes there’s Netflix and Amazon but neither of those services are currently provided by Sky Q, and you most likely have them on other devices or your TV already if you subscribe.
Sky itself is promising to provide its own 4K content, although the only date mentioned is ‘later in 2016’. The company has promised to provide: ‘Not only sports, but movies, entertainment and more.’ Which sounds very hopeful but we’ll have to wait to see what actually emerges. Sky isn't leading the pack here either, with Ultra HD sport already available from BT Sport.
What is 4K and Ultra HD and what can I watch?
Tuners
There are two different Sky Q boxes at present. The Sky Q silver box can record four shows at once, while allowing you to watch a fifth live. The regular Sky Q box records three shows and lets you watch a fourth show live. Both of these are a huge improvement over the two tuners in the current Sky+ HD box, and a step up from the 3 tuners in the TiVo box - which allow you to record three shows or record two and watch one.
Storage
Again the Sky Q Silver box has the top spec with 2TB of storage, while the standard box has 1TB of storage. That’s roughly 350 or 150 hours of HD TV respectively according to Sky, as presumably parts of the disc are reserved for caching live tv and other purposes. The TiVo box comes in both 1TB and 500GB, though you’ll have to subscribe to the top package to get the bigger box.
Remotes and interface
Sky has a fancy new remote for its Sky Q box. The good news is that it uses Bluetooth, so you no longer have to point the remote at the box, or even have the box within sight, in order to control it. You can tuck it neatly away in a cupboard and forget it’s there, brilliant stuff. The bad news is that it has a new touchpad control and we didn’t get on it with it particularly.
Thankfully the Sky Q Mini boxes (more on those below) have a more traditional remote, which will work with the Sky Q box as well. Of course the TiVo box uses a traditional IR remote that has to be pointed at the box, although you can control it from a tablet or smartphone via a rather clever app.
The new Sky Q interface is very slick, very responsive and rather clever. It provides easy access to recently recorded shows and even predicts which shows you want to watch - based on the time of day and where you’re watching (again, more below). The TiVo interface is comparatively basic, but it’s simple to use and easy to understand; the key problem is that despite improvements it’s sluggish to react to inputs and paralytic when opening apps.
Apps and additional displays
The TiVo box, as noted above, has a clever app that acts as a remote control for the box. That app can also let you watch a selection of TV channels live from the box - but these are limited to those that Virgin Media has done deals with. You can’t watch recordings from the box on your tablet. You can add multiscreen via a second box, either a basic V HD box for watching live TV and any on demand content, or a second TiVo box to allow you to share recordings between rooms.
Sky Q makes big steps forward in this area over its predecessor. There’s an app that lets you watch any content you want from your box, be that live tv via a tuner, or recordings. You can even download some content to the app to watch on the go, though this is limited based on deals done by Sky with the various channels. You can also stream content from the box to additional Sky Q Mini boxes attached to TVs around the home. These in turn act as Wi-Fi hotspots, spreading your Wi-Fi signal further. It’s a thoroughly modern system. The regular box can stream to one extra device at a time, while the Silver box can stream to two.
The only downside at present is that Sky Q doesn’t integrate popular streaming apps such as Netflix into its service. Virgin Media does have Netflix on its boxes, along with iPlayer if you want to browse BBC content via that interface rather than using the timeline to find things.
Conclusion
It's clear that the Sky Q box is a far more advanced system, especially for watching around the home and even away from it. However, for single TV viewing it doesn't provide a huge amount of additional features except for a slicker and nicer-looking interface. 4K is a big draw for those with the right TV but we'd wait for an announcement on content before jumping in for that alone - after all Ultra HD BT Sport is already available from BT if you're really keen.
If you're thinking of switching from cable to satellite and regularly watch away from your living room then Sky Q is perfect, though if your sofa and your TV are always enjoyed together, we might be tempted to see if Virgin Media repsonds with its own new box before, installing a dish on your house.
