Sky POD details on UI

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OldGeek

876 posts

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#304303 22-Apr-2023 10:59

The new Sky POD (not the sat box) is likely a solution to the delivery of Sky programming that I have.

Currently I have a Pace decoder with MYSKY enabled. I almost never watch anything live - but I do sometimes watch near-live. As an example, I usually watch the nightly news starting around 6:20pm, using fast-forward through the ad breaks. Watching sport is the same - start late so I can fast-forward through the pre-game, and halftime breaks. There are other times when I watch recorded content entirely after it has played. The problem is relatively frequent rain-fade issues. In Wellington I do not recall ever getting this. In Kerikeri it happens occasionally with heavy rain. With current weather patterns heavy rain is happening more frequently. The decoder I have came with me from Wellington.

I have fibre internet.

It is worth noting that the decoder has the wireless box that allows it to be connected to my WIFI network, but this connection is never maintained and therefore I don't use Sky's On Demand services.

With the advent of Spark Sport I came to the world of streaming over the internet using their app on my TV. It was interesting to see events offered in quite a different way to fixed channels on a narrowcast platform that is Sky. I am not a movies fan.

The Sky POD seems to be an attractive option to move away from a satellite-based Sky service. However this is a permanent move - there is no 'free trial' involved so I cannot evaluate the POD user experience and send it back if I decide to stick with my current set-up by reverting. My key concerns are:

Does fast-forwarding on the POD show video frames in a similar way to the MYSKY box? This means that I can see the end of ad breaks while fast-forwarding. With the Spark Sport app, there was just a timer shown - no video content so I had to stop fast-forward and play content to see if I had got to the end of skipped content - unusable for ad breaks and nearly unusable for half-time breaks etc.
Is it possible to watch Sky's content later that the 72-hour delay advertised?

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OldGeek.

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drseuss25

72 posts

Master Geek

#3067616 24-Apr-2023 13:11

Having had my Sky Pod for a month or so ill give my input

Does fast-forwarding on the POD show video frames in a similar way to the MYSKY box? This means that I can see the end of ad breaks while fast-forwarding. With the Spark Sport app, there was just a timer shown - no video content so I had to stop fast-forward and play content to see if I had got to the end of skipped content - unusable for ad breaks and nearly unusable for half-time breaks etc.
1. There are Frames shown yes but they are quite delayed so combined with the slow response of the remote it becomes quite an art to time it well to get to where you want. But you will get used to it after a few goes. (Its def not as good as the Vodafone TV box was)
Is it possible to watch Sky's content later that the 72-hour delay advertised?
1. I have not managed to, No. Also even finding many programmes that wont allow you to go back and watch either. Im assuming this is based on certain programmes or channels content rules but is highly annoying.

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OldGeek

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#3067635 24-Apr-2023 14:03

Many thanks. I would also be happy to hear from anyone who has moved from a MYSKY box to a POD.

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invisibleman18

1356 posts

Uber Geek

#3067656 24-Apr-2023 15:22

I’m also using the pod now after VTV and happy with it so far.

On question 2, if what you want to watch is from a Sky channel it should be kept on demand – you can search for this and will often find the whole season and maybe previous seasons are there which goes beyond the 72 hour catchup from the guide. I prefer this way as the on demand versions are available without the ads to fast forward too. And if you then save it to your watchlist it will be there in the ‘my hub’ page so won't have to search for it again and when there's a new episode (generally after it's aired on the channel) you'll get the 'continue watching' option like you do with the streaming apps.

OldGeek

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#3075478 12-May-2023 14:52

I am looking to move from the MYSKY to a POD. The major reason is because when I moved here (Kerikeri) 3 years ago I began to experience rain fade errors far more frequently than in Welly. With the whether bombs so prevalent now, rain fade occurs multiple times with every one. Sky via fibre seems a better option and it would seem a 300/100 service is all that is needed (we have just the one TV).

Unfortunately MYSKY customers are not yet permitted to upgrade to a POD. That's OK I can wait, hopefully they will be free by then.

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prevaljo

175 posts

Master Geek

#3076122 14-May-2023 18:11

I've had a Pod for a while now and as I have commented on a parallel thread :

The UI is very slow and I have found sometimes unresponsive.
The voice and video often get out of sync, a restart of the controller resets this.
Recently the Amazon Prime app is timing out and buffering. Nothing I have found seems to resolve this problem. Normally when wanting to watch anything on Amazon Prime I resort to the smart TV which plays the program/video without fault. But as you can guess this is becoming a problem for us. None of the other apps seem to have this problem.
I haven't been able to work out how to "personalise" the home page yet.

Overall I think the VTV box was a better product than the current version of the Sky Pod.