Verdict
Consider Sky Glass for what it is than what it ’s not . The interface is greatly accessible , the Vivid mode improves the HDR carrying out , and it sounds decent too . Sky Glass fulfils a more of its potency to just about garner a recommendation but its showing its old age against newer 4 K TVs .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Sky Glass was a boob tube that smoothen out the rougher bound of the TV buying experience by lead care of picture , levelheaded , and content without the motivation foradditional soundbars , Seth - top boxesorstreaming sticks .
When it first launched , receipt to the TV was mixed . For all its hope itsHDR performance was lackluster . Considering the riches of depicted object on the Sky chopine , there ’s not much point in time in watching if it look bang average .
Since then Sky has roll out the improvements , with over 500 updates since Glass launched . All in all it was a in effect experience towards the end of its life than it was at the commencement , but now there ’s a new sheriff in tow with Sky supplant it with theGlass Gen 2 good example .
Price
Sky Glass was available either from Sky orfrom Currys in the UK . Sizes came in 43- , 55- and 65 - inches . The TV sold for £ 699 / £ 949 / £ 1199 ) ; or in monthly 24- and 48 - month installation .
It ’s now been replaced by Sky Glass Gen 2 , which means that the original manikin is no longer uncommitted to buy . The Gen 2 model cost around the same as the original and you get good performance for the money .
Design
Viewed head - on and I ’d report Sky Glass as elegant : its slight bezel trim , anodised coating , and acoustic speaker mesh grille give it an unpretentious but classy appearance .
But Glass is also a hefty whole with a depth of 477 millimeter . The 55 - inch fashion model weighs 28 kg so it ’s a relief that installation is perform by the courier military service . Just putting it on the stand take two people in our testing elbow room . If you want to paries - mount , give Sky a call and they ’ll do it for you .
The followup sample is pitch-black Anthracite , but Sky Glass brings colour to a room with a choice of blue , white , green and pink to match your décor . The speaker grille can be customise with magnetize attachments , which are available from Amazon seller Concino Limited ( £ 39.99 to £ 59.99depending on the size ) .
On the right - hand side are two buttons , one for disabling the television ’s far - arena mike and another for power . The top of the screen features a perforated acoustic lattice ( alike to aSamsung 8 K TV ) that allows audio to be dispersed from the upfiring speakers .
User Experience
amusement OS conglomeration all Sky has to offer alongside message from other services . It utilise the same rail pilotage system asSky Q , with the top rail offer immediate admission to recently used apps , inputs and spotlighted capacity in Top plectrum .
The rail below is divided into TV show , Movies , Sport , Kids , Audio and Music , News , Fitness and International . Each section sustain the same flavor with content listed in words and television guides specific to each one . The genre rails below are personalised based on your viewing account . deed pages have been given a spruce up with more information at hired hand such as fan reviews ratings and a Rotten Tomatoe grievance .
Most Sky Q apps make their way to Glass but the overall number is fewer than the likes of Samsung ’s Tizen , LG ’s webOS orGoogle TV . Since Sky Glass found its addedApple TV+,Peacock , HayU , U , My5 , andParamount+ .
Flicking through the rails with the remote is fleet and meanwhile is n’t usually an subject ( but there are times where the ‘ please hold back ’ icon hovers for a while ) . The remote control is a nifty affair with a grippy hold and backlit buttons for use when the lights are down . It attracts fingerprint and smudges , but they ’re easily wiped off .
If you do n’t desire to use your digits , there ’s build up - in voice control initiated by the run-in ‘ Hello Sky ’ . Voice support has been added to the likes of YouTube , Netflix , Amazon Musicand ROXi .
representative command via the remote control ’s near - field of force mic do n’t require the ‘ Hello Sky ’ prompt , and in general , voice control more or less gets you where you want or to what you ’re after . At a red ink for what to see ? Say “ What should I watch ? ” and you ’re served dustup of recommended title . desire to rewind or fast - forward with your spokesperson ? That Sky Q feature of speech has made its room to Glass .
Sky concern to its Playlist feature as cloud DVR but you ca n’t phonograph record depicted object . What is does is collate the content you ’re watching and plan to watch . It ’s a neat way to keep track of show and films . There are no item-by-item profile but there are individualize Playlists for unlike kinfolk member ( up to five ) .
However , for those who prefer to keep their titles for good , or at least for several months , that ’s not possible due to rights issues . Once a programme has exit Netflix , it will disappear from your Playlist . Sky ’s counterargument is that nothing truly disappears but packs up its bag and motion to another service ; but that means having a subscription for each service , which is inconvenient .
You also ca n’t add together content to Playlist directly from apps . If you come across something of interest outside of an app , weightlift the ‘ + ’ clit to add it to your Playlist . It ’s a courteous and aboveboard action .
Add a video series to Playlist and it ’ll thread together all the seasons , regardless of the apps it ’s fan out over and if it ’s not available elsewhere the Sky Store fill up the gap .
you may add an histrion though its implementation confuses me – it does n’t summate the intact actor ’s oeuvre . Say , for model , you ’re on the Game of Thrones ’ rubric Sir Frederick Handley Page and you ‘ add ’ Emilia Clarke to the Playlist and what you ’ll actually be adding is Game of Thrones or even move out it if you ’ve previously added it . At other times , seek to add an worker comes up with “ Sorry , we ca n’t add this to the Playlist ” message .
Sky says there ’s a ‘ People you stick to ’ railing within Playlist , but if it ’s there , I ca n’t see it .
Where handiness is come to , Sky has incorporated the gamey Contrast port , Audio description and highlighting of content in the TV Guide for well-situated recognition .
Features
Glass substantiate gaming through its built - in portal and Sky Live , but it ’s made a thrust at being abetter play TVforPS5andXbox Series Xgamers through a unexampled Auto Game Mode via the accession ofALLMto the TV .
That vocalize like good news but I ca n’t manually activate the game mode , and latency has gone up from 66ms to 82ms . Glass still lacks premium feature such as 4K/120Hz orVRRto make it appeal as a play monitor lizard .
During first - up you ’re given a choice of Default or Enhanced experiences . Enhanced activate voice ascendence and the clamant wake up - up features , so the TV can be flex on via voice or by walking past tense , though I ’ve not found it to be the most consistent in its behaviour .
Sky Sports Main Event witness can opt in to watch mutation in Low Latency , reduce the broadcast delay by 22 mo . It was made available to other Sky Sports transmission channel at the end of 2024 .
Connectivity
The three HDMI input support theHDMI 2.1spec , with HDMI 2 theeARCport for pass - through of higher lineament audio to an external sound system . Other connections let in USB - C , Ethernet , and a DTT DVB - T / T2 aerial . The aerial offers introductory Freeview and acts as a stand-in if the Internet goes down .
There’sBluetooth 5.0(for the remote , and associate other devices ) andWi - Fi 6 . Sky Glass requires a minimum speed of 10Mb / s ( 25Mb / s for 4 kilobyte Ultra HD ) .
Sky Live
Sky Glass supports aninteractive smart cameracalled Sky Live . It can be purchased in a megabucks with the Glass , and while it ’s an accoutrement , it ’s been designed to take advantage of what Glass can offer .
There ’s a magnetic connection on top of the CRT screen where the tv camera attaches to . It occupies oneHDMI portof the three included plus a USB - C connection . That ’s inconvenient if you ’re already using these stimulation .
Like Glass itself , Sky Live ’s purpose is multi - faceted . The camera can be used for rapid growth schmooze , or Watch Together parties . It can track physical exertion with the Mvmnt fitness app dog your movements with game . you’re able to even see other instrumentalist online with the likes of Monopoly .
It ’s a hopeful gadget , but I would n’t say that it ’s a must buy . It ’s geared towards families and in that esteem it work well . The photographic camera is very good at keeping raceway of where you are ; The games are fun and exhausting ( Cone Knockout is a true workout ) , although the trailing can be iffy , either not show your input or too eager to do so .
moving-picture show quality on a Zoom call is grainy and noisy on a full screen despite the camera ’s 4 K resolution ; and voice capture is better closer to the camera than from afar . While I sympathise the use case , a TV call on a smartphone is more commodious .
Watch Together is a upstanding experience but the symmetricalness between phonation pick - up and what you ’re watching on cover could be care better . It ’s deadening to say that Sky Live is a twist with potential , but it is exactly that .
It is technically proficient , but outside of young families , I ca n’t see a rationality for anyone purchasing Sky Live . And as Sky Live does n’t crop without Glass , to get the tv camera is to purchase the boob tube as well .
Picture Quality
At launching Sky Glass ’s picture quality was no catastrophe , but it certainly was not as good as it could have been .
The biggest progeny was its HDR functioning , which miss brightness and colours that looked washed out . The crack between it and more late television receiver has only worsened in the years since its launching .
I measured luminousness with a 5 % HDR window on the 55 - inch model at 430 nits . liken Glass to more recent QLED TVs such as theSamsung Q80Dand that model easily come to 1000 nit . There are times when HDR contentedness looks like it is n’t in HDR with Glass . The picture miss punch , intensity , and contrast .
Sky has since added a Vivid that ups the level of peak HDR brightness by slay 566 nits on 5 % window and 670 nits on a 10 % window . It ’s still not up to the spirit level of the Q80D , orMini lead TVsuch as theQN90D , which hits 2000 nit , but it does bring melioration to the characterization .
The Vivid mode adds more coloring and chroma to icon . It ’s there to see in the strike possibility quotation of Elvis – reds are bold in their appearance and the golds really look golden .
With Cinderella , black spirit level have more depth , complexions are amped up too ( they seem more instinctive ) . Colours are better be over the rather slow look of the Movie and Entertainment modes . I ’d describe the Movie preset as the most accurate and the Vivid manner as the most entertaining .
There ’s less blossom noticeable in Vivid mode too , though the job has n’t completely gone out . There are still traces of it in the porta scene of House of the Dragon ’s first episode that persist in into the citation , and the profile of the blooming depends on where you ’re sitting ( at wide angles it ’s more obtrusive ) .
But there ’s only so much the Vivid mode can improve on what ’s a below par QLED panel and backlight .
Black levels are inconsistent . Black uniformness is fine in Doctor Sleep , forefend a washed - out appearance and boasting a decent spirit level of deepness but dark scenes from Dune , House of the Dragon , and The Penguin have a green tint to them . Move slightly off axis and the picture look really short . Black levels recede and colours fade . The only way of life to watch this TV is from head teacher - on .
A strength of LCD TV is dark item and Sky Glass handles that aspect well enough , though this is more apparent with brighter range of a function . And from head - on Glass does boast colourful and clear 4 K images . More detail and keenness would be nice , but like many QLED TVs , there ’s a weightlessness and variety show to shades that ’s not too shabby when viewing Civil War on the TV .
However , with every second of congratulations there ’s a caveat .
With Blade Runner 2049 there ’s banding ( stripes of colour ) , dingy screen effect ( DSE ) and discolouration obtrusive . The screen does n’t carry on well with reflections and glare , especially with dark scenes . Motion manipulation is n’t the most adept either , with a slight blurriness noticeable when hoi polloi turn their heads .
HD streaming / upscaling is decent , at times sharp and well-defined enough to cull out fine particular but other times it ’s soft with a distracting lustre to edges . reduce keenness helps but finding a middle ground is tricky . Sky Glass ’ biggest job is its inconsistency . Sometimes it looks fine , other time it is feeble . look out it a few years on from its release and the picture is very much show its age .
Sound Quality
Sky Glass ’ 215WDolby Atmossystem features six speakers : three that flame audio forwards , two upfiring and a woofer for the low frequencies . It ’s a spacious and flashy presentation .
Vocals are main priority , though not quite always distinguish course . Pump up the volume and voices ( especially manful unity ) become more or less hard in spirit but avoid sibilance . The effect of the Enhance Speech Quality mount is most evident on Sky subject matter , with voices more prominent but the naturalness of the speech smother .
gamy frequencies have lucidity ( if not acuteness ) , and basso is punchy though miss real low - end authorization in a picture such as Civil War , with impact sounds ( gunfire ) lacking some depth and power . There ’s a decent naturalism about how it sounds , along with a decent sense of dynamism too .
I would still say that an Atmos soundbar is a better result but Glass ’ build - in good organisation is a better effort than most TVs around its price .
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Should you buy it?
Sky Glass make it easy for those who find buy a TV a complicated cognitive operation . The sound organisation is decent and there ’s all the content available from Sky and its cooperator
The image remains Glass ’ most disappointing aspect . The Vivid mode brings improvements but consider slant are imperfect , black horizontal surface inconsistent and it lacks brightness with HDR content
Final Thoughts
Sky Glass gets a few things right . The interface is excellent , the sound system is quite comme il faut too ; and its picture show is ok – as long as you do n’t move your head about too much .
Arguably where it falters the most is with the most of import view of a TV : picture quality . It lacks luminousness for HDR content , and it is n’t as colorful as likewise price television such as theSamsung Q80DorHisense U7N. The Vivid mode is an advance , enough that Sky Glass grow a recommendation but there are more capableHDR TVs .
Sky Live is interesting but best tailored to families . And it ’s not as if Sky ’s idiot box packages are inexpensive either . sum everything up and the invoice pile up . A chintzy option would be to addSky Streamto an exist TV . I can see what Sky was direct for with Glass but its movie public presentation is showing its age a few long time on from launching .
Here ’s hop that if there ’s a Glass 2 , Sky ups the ante with its picture carrying into action . Then we could really be spill the beans about one of thebest TVs .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every goggle box we review thoroughly over an lengthened period of time . We practice industriousness stock mental testing to liken feature of speech properly . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to survey a product .
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FAQs
Sky says a minimum of 10Mb / s is required for the Glass TV . minimal download speed for UHD is 25Mb / s.
Yes , without a Sky Ultimate TV subscription , your Sky Glass video will work like a normal TV . you could hook the TV up to other devices like game consoles or DVD actor via HDMI . you may even connect it to an transmitting aerial for Freeview TV .
