New SKY streaming devices

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342 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#3054957 26-Mar-2023 18:26

MJF145: Recently got my SkyPod. Is there a work around to get the sky go app on Apple TV or is it just not possible? I know you are able to mirror it off your iPhone but was just wondering if there was a work around to get the app on Apple TV ?

😄that would fix all our problems if Sky GO worked on the Apple TV

clayton

342 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#3054961 26-Mar-2023 18:39

clayton:

MJF145: Recently got my SkyPod. Is there a work around to get the sky go app on Apple TV or is it just not possible? I know you are able to mirror it off your iPhone but was just wondering if there was a work around to get the app on Apple TV ?

😄that would fix all our problems if Sky GO worked on the Apple TV

tdgeek

29750 posts

Uber Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#3054963 26-Mar-2023 18:47

clayton:

MJF145: Recently got my SkyPod. Is there a work around to get the sky go app on Apple TV or is it just not possible? I know you are able to mirror it off your iPhone but was just wondering if there was a work around to get the app on Apple TV ?

😄that would fix all our problems if Sky GO worked on the Apple TV

Why?

If you have Sky (paid) SkyGo is very handy if you are not in front of your TV (paid) Or do you mean grab a login off a mate for free?

mclean

581 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#3055192 27-Mar-2023 10:48

IvanPiacun:....6. Have the fast forward and rewind buttons in Sky viewing show small preview windows so that it is easier to fast forward or rewind to the point you want, like Vodafone TV does.

My pod previews in FF/RW just fine. (But not in the tvnz+ app.)

Rushmere

354 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3055207 27-Mar-2023 11:15

clayton:

MJF145: Recently got my SkyPod. Is there a work around to get the sky go app on Apple TV or is it just not possible? I know you are able to mirror it off your iPhone but was just wondering if there was a work around to get the app on Apple TV ?

😄that would fix all our problems if Sky GO worked on the Apple TV

Yes - I probably wouldn't have cancelled Sky this week if it worked on Apple TV.

I wonder why Sky Go works on iPhone and iPad, but not on Apple TV? Perhaps they don't want to risk the comparison with Apple TV and potentially losing customers to such an obviously better platform?

JonoNZ

274 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3055215 27-Mar-2023 11:31

Couldn't agree more, I think we would have stayed if there was simply a slick Apple TV app with Sky Go like content and features. Do not use the same developers who created the Sky Sport Now monstrosity on tvOS though. It's quite an achievement to introduce that level of lag into their Apple TV app, the likes of I have never seen before on any other app on the platform.

clayton

342 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#3055294 27-Mar-2023 13:27

I think it actually the app developers that causes the lag ff and rewind issues, then add that app to the Sky Pod and it gets worse

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IvanPiacun

378 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3055404 27-Mar-2023 14:26

mclean:

IvanPiacun:....6. Have the fast forward and rewind buttons in Sky viewing show small preview windows so that it is easier to fast forward or rewind to the point you want, like Vodafone TV does.

My pod previews in FF/RW just fine. (But not in the tvnz+ app.)

Mine previews fine as well but I was concerned with the amount of traffic this would be generating at up to 11MB/Sec as against a maximum of 0.8 MB/Sec using the Vodafone TV Method hence requiring conderably more network bandwidth at the servers to cope with peak loads thus increasing the costs for Sky which would be passed on to the consumer.

Ivan Piacun CITPNZ

Rushmere

354 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3055977 28-Mar-2023 21:59

An interesting insight into why TVNZ is not currently available on the Sky Pod EPG:

https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/28-03-2023/the-high-stakes-of-an-obscure-but-very-tense-battle-between-tvnz-and-sky

clayton

342 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#3055982 28-Mar-2023 22:09

Rushmere:

An interesting insight into why TVNZ is not currently available on the Sky Pod EPG:

https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/28-03-2023/the-high-stakes-of-an-obscure-but-very-tense-battle-between-tvnz-and-sky

By the rate Sky is going with the History channel etc. there will be nothing left for them to broadcast other than repeats of The Beverly Hillbillies !!

After 25 years I've emailed Sky last night to cancel my subscription

tdgeek

29750 posts

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#3055996 29-Mar-2023 07:13

clayton:

By the rate Sky is going with the History channel etc. there will be nothing left for them to broadcast other than repeats of The Beverly Hillbillies !!

After 25 years I've emailed Sky last night to cancel my subscription

Is History going? I thought Discovery was going

Rushmere

354 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3056035 29-Mar-2023 09:28

tdgeek:

clayton:

By the rate Sky is going with the History channel etc. there will be nothing left for them to broadcast other than repeats of The Beverly Hillbillies !!

After 25 years I've emailed Sky last night to cancel my subscription

Is History going? I thought Discovery was going

It's National Geographic that's going (to Disney+). History and Discovery are still there.

Shadbolt

130 posts

Master Geek

#3056052 29-Mar-2023 10:00

Yeah, at this rate there'll soon be fewer than ninety TV channels to browse. 😉

clayton

342 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#3056192 29-Mar-2023 13:19

I see my offer from Sky for the new box has been removed, what are they up to now? it's only $50 savings but that's better than nothing

carlito1979

15 posts

Geek

#3056349 29-Mar-2023 21:12

Have used the Sky Pod for a week now, and here's my thoughts. Before we continue, it's worth pointing out that we have Sky channels, and that if we didn't then the Sky Pod wouldn't make sense at all. It's definitely not worth having if you only watch Freeview channels.

So with that in mind, the Sky Pod isn't great, but it's not terrible.

If anything, it kind of reminds me of the Vodafone TV box when we first got it way back in 2018. It took a while for the experience to become as solid as it was at the end. Hopefully Sky can continue to improve features and optimise speed over time.

Not having TVNZ in the TV guide is a minor nuisance but not a deal breaker. It's kind of annoying when we want to channel surf, but we never watch TV2 and it's not onerous to switch to the TVNZ app for the specific things we want to watch on TV1 like the morning and evening news. I wonder who will end up blinking first between Sky and TVNZ, but I can't imagine it's happening anytime soon.

There's weird inconsistencies in the GUI. The TV Guide shows the channels in ascending order, but when you bring up the EPG when watching channels it's the other way round. It's weird. Not being able to hide channels you're not subscribed to is also annoying, especially considering how slow/laggy the interface can be on occasion.

In addition to the above, the TV EPG has a really short auto-hide duration. Blink, or get momentarily distracted and it will vanish from the screen. But if it is displayed and you want to hide it you'll intuitively push the back button, only to find that this will take you to the left hand menu bar instead. It's not a great experience, and does make me wonder if they had any proper UX testing.

Actually, having not used Sky GO for years I fired it up the other day and it's really obvious that the Sky Pod interface is basically just the Sky GO interface. That would explain some of the obviously strange UX issues, as it's an interface that was designed/optimised for a different type of user interaction. At least it's not as horrific as the Sky Sport Now interface, and it's not like the Vodafone TV interface was world class either.

This whole UX issue becomes even more obvious when you go to use the built in search function. Despite having access to the google assistant, if you want to search for a specific show on the Sky channels you'll need to enter in your search term via an on screen keyboard. What's the point of the built in mic? Compare this to the search function within the YouTube app, which can use the microphone.

I've had to do a full power cycle only once so far, and that was after an update went through yesterday. Before the power cycle the device had become super unresponsive, with a good 10 seconds or more between pressing remote keys and the unit responding.

The smart apps (Netflix etc) are mostly inferior to the versions that my 2021 Panasonic OLED TV has. There is no Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos capability in any of the apps. Weirdly, the Sky Pod apps also take much longer to start showing video streams at full 4K resolution compared to the TV apps, despite us having full speed fibre. You end up with a good 30 seconds or more of blurry low res mess before the 4k stream starts. To be fair, I'd long ago stopped using the Vodafone TV apps for similar reasons, so you may not even notice any differences here.

More annoying is that you can't reorder the apps. Netflix is permanently set to the first spot. I'd rather move the TVNZ app to the first app spot but that's not possible. Netflix even gets its own spot in the EPG, but no other app gets this, which means Netflix probably paid handsomely for this level of integration. You can't even delete the Netflix app from the Sky Pod.

HDMI-CEC works well enough and is a major improvement over the Vodafone TV. I can use my TV remote to control most functions without having to use the Sky Pod remote and can turn both TV and Pod off with either remote. The input button not being functional and the volume/mute buttons controlling the pod volume but not the TV volume is weird/annoying. On both my Fire TV Stick 4K and Chromecast with Google TV using these buttons on their respective remotes will change the TV input and TV volume, which is a much better experience. This volume issue was also a problem with the Vodafone TV. It isn't fun when switching to another HDMI input to discover that the TV volume was set way too high because someone had put the Sky Pod/Vodafone TV box volume down too low.

Not that I need to install it, but the Apple TV app shows as available in the Google Play Store, but trying to install it ends with a "this is not available for you device" type of message.

So, like I said, it's not great, but it's not terrible, and for my household at least it's better than the alternatives (which isn't saying much about the alternatives).

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