Verdict
An first-class premium streamer from Sky that put message at the centre of its offering . That content is pricey , but no other broadcaster offers a broad a church as Sky does with its entertainment options .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
First it was all about thebox beneath your TV screen , then itbecame an literal TVand now it ’s completed another transmutation into a puck , with the Sky Stream presented as astandalone banner .
Initially , the Stream hockey puck was only available as an accessory to the Sky Glass TV , but it ’s since been liberated , purchasable on its own and it ’s arguably one of the wise relocation Sky has made .
Sky Glass has been a success among more casual TV TV audience , but it ’s not pure . With the Stream , it allows client who do n’t need a novel TV a ‘ just - add ’ gimmick , bringing the same substance you ’d find on Sky Q and Glass in a more accessible and commodious form . It comes with a premium price tag , but if you’re able to open all the trimmings , this is a great tract into the world of entertainment Sky offers .
Availability
Offers for Sky Stream change throughout the year . Often , it ’s a pick of 18 - month contract with Leontyne Price loom between £ 24- and £ 26 / month . That advancement entitle you to the puck , Sky TV andNetflix Basicas standard .
Another choice is the ‘ flexible ’ 31 - day pealing contract that can be invalidate at any clock time . Prices for that incline be high at £ 29 / month .
As of November 2023 , there ’s a deal that guarantees a 1 - calendar month free trial on both contract terms , and thereafter it bump up to the common prices for £ 26 / month on the 18 - calendar month and £ 29 / month for the rolling contracts .
you’re able to choose from several bundles on a fix base or rolling contract and further modify it with add - on packs and services . For instance , the UHD / Dolby Atmos pack it is a rolling £ 6 / month , TNT Sports is currently £ 28 / month , and Sky Sports is currently £ 20 / month on a 18 - month contract .
For the Whole Home pack , it ’s an spare £ 12 / month that allows access to five extra Stream machine ( the 2d hockey puck is free ) . Some sheaf have no coiffure - up costs , others receive a £ 20 lot - up fee on an 18 - calendar month contract bridge .
Design
The Sky Stream puck ’s black finish and square shape with rounded nook is both a discerning and space save innovation . Even more helpful is that it does n’t need demarcation - of - sight so you could happily localize it behind a TV and still operated it .
It looks not unlike theMi Box SandStrong Leap - S1 in form and size but has few connection options than either . Around the back is anHDMI 2.1input ( a cable is box ) , an Ethernet port wine and an aery tuner , the only real use for the latter is as backup for a television sign if the cyberspace goes down .
Sky is a closed system and does n’t extend the connectivity options that Android and ( some ) Fire idiot box streamers do . There ’s no ability to hook flat to a sound system , connect a severe drive or plug a pair of wire phone if you so choose . HDMI CECsupport means control of mass on a soundbar / TV , and that can be done in the initial put - up process or later in the Stream ’s carte du jour .
Interface and apps
Sky calls the interface for both its Stream and Glass devices ‘ amusement o ’ . It aggregates all of Sky ’s content alongside that from other providers such as BBC iPlayer , NetflixandDisney+ . I notice it a much more democratic interface than Amazon ’s Fire TV as it does n’t outright favour Sky over others .
At the top of the screen are Top Picks , followed by a rail divide into section ( Playlist , TV Shows , Movies , Sport , Kids , Audio and Music , News , Fitness and International ) . plunge into each section and you ’ll chance contentedness heel in row and video guides specific to each one .
Playlist is ordered by ‘ most recent ’ , so new and current sequence / shows show up first . I ’d choose the Continue Watching rail to be the next one down from Top option and the cognitive content surgical incision rails rather than have to scroll down for it , but otherwise the user interface is all coherently laid out and easy to grasp with straightforward navigation .
check something and return to the home sieve and subject keeps play in a pop - up video in the Top Pick rail , so you may give to it without pausing . If you have multiple pucks , content is synchronized so you’re able to jump from your animation room to your sleeping accommodation , and resume where you go forth off .
In terms of apps , there is n’t as big a selection as on Android / Google , Roku , orFire tv set , but the argument could be made about quality over measure . Nevertheless , small apps like Mubi and Curzon are n’t present but all the master UK apprehension - up apps are present .
you could count on most of the with child , pop apps to be there , as well as ITVX , All4 , YouTube , and bulked up by Lionsgate+,Apple TV+ , Spotify , Peloton and more . Paramount+,Peacockand Discovery+ are admit for those with Sky Cinema and TV subscription .
If there ’s an obvious area where Sky is lack apps , it ’s sports – no person TNT Sport , UFC , WWE , NFL , or Eurosport apps , though either a Sky Sports or TNT Sports sub would extend these . The other is music , with no Tidal , Deezeror Apple Music .
Unlike Fire TV andGoogle telecasting , Sky has opted not to include item-by-item visibility . Instead , up to five ‘ personal ’ playlist can be created , represent as ‘ profiles ’ for family members .
Features
As with Sky Glass , Playlist is the rug that nit Entertainment OS together . Sky refers to Playlist as cloud DVR , but you ca n’t memorialise content only ‘ save ’ titles to the swarm by pressing the ‘ + ’ push button on the remote .
Despite that , I like how Playlist functions . It work better if you have multiple subscriptions and keeping track of titles you want to watch is square , separated into ‘ Most recent ’ , ‘ Movies ’ ‘ Sports ’ and ‘ TV serial publication ’ .
You ca n’t supply content to Playlist from within an app , so to add to it you ’ll have to explore for programmes . Add a telly serial and all season are collected , and if season are missing the Sky Store can foot up the slack . I was watch Spider - Man : No style house on Sky and it does n’t appear to be available anymore , so it switched to No Way Home on Netflix instead
What methodological analysis Sky use to present outcome on championship available across multiple services is unclear . For instance , This Is Us is onPrime Videoand Disney+ , but search for it and it ’ll initially occur up as a Prime Video deed . Scroll down and under each episode is a button where you may watch it on other services ( in this case Disney+ ) . Perhaps that ’s an surface area to tweak to make it clear in casing viewers do n’t have a subscription for one service but do for other .
Voice supporting is useable for general search and has also been added to YouTube and Netflix ( Sky has said interpreter search will be coming to more apps down the line ) .
The remote control is the same as Sky Glass , although it appear it ’s only useable in a black culture for the Stream . Backlit buttons aid in darker rooms and ergonomically it ’s fine – the D - pad tender decent reactivity and it ’s not too crowded with buttons .
Some on-line assembly have cite issues with itsBluetooth connectedness , but the only issue I ’ve had is when the batteries die and the remote went out of sync , although the Stream ’s erroneous belief messages were n’t too helpful in figuring out the issue .
Performance
As ever withstreaming devices , it ’s getting unmanageable to recite much of a difference in photo quality terms . They all hit a similar level of performance , and picture show quality across HD and 4 K resolutions with the Sky Stream is first-class – but the caution here is that like all streamers , the carrying into action depends on how good your TV is .
The Sky Stream supports HDR10 , HLG andDolby Visionbut leaves HDR10 + on the side - product line . Prime Video is the biggest app that supportsHDR10 + , but it does also abide Dolby Vision with several title .
That intend for those with compatiblePanasonic , Philips andSamsung TVs , you ’ll be miss out on the spare purification and tailoring to a display that HDR10 + can offer if the puck supported it .
In any typeface the Stream ’s pictorial matter timbre impressment . There are high level of item and sharpness where require , plus satisfying clarity and firm colours watching the likes of Girls ( HD ) , Formula 1 , House of the Dragon , and Ambulance ( 4 K HDR ) , though that ’s pendant on your TV ’s carrying into action .
What I think matter most is buffering , and the Sky Stream Robin Goodfellow is rich in term of stability over Wi - Fi . Stuttering was an offspring after break content for a few minute and resume , but that ’s been resolved . I have n’t encountered any unchanging image mentioned online , though there was some audio twisting view The Resort , NFL , and streaming music through my strait system . With another levelheaded organization ( and through the TV ) I have n’t had any other issues .
vocalism command is getting better at recognising what you ’re saying and get results . Stress quiz it with Andor ( which seems to be a unmanageable Christian Bible for voice living to agnize ) it come up with ‘ And or ’ ( in some cases ‘ Ando ’ ) , with all sort of final result , include , amusingly , Harry PotterandtheOrder of the Phoenix . say ‘ Star Wars Andor ’ finally sealed it .
Sometimes it wo n’t pick out what I ’m read . It seems to have trouble recognize how I pronounce Dragon , confusing it with ‘ twenty-four hour period ’ and in some weird cases ‘ Beau ’ .
In terms of speed , I ’d say Sky Glass is slightly quicker ; whether scrolling through the menus or loading apps . Compare it to theFire TV Cube ( 2022)and whether it ’s navigation or fetching resultant , Amazon ’s streamer is absolutely speedy .
Scrubbing through tv set episode and film lay out no government issue , you may see the resolution and raciness drop but it jumps back to normal when playback is resumed .
It should be noted that for the 4 K UHD and Dolby Atmos pack the minimum download fastness is 25Mbps . Minimum bandwidth require for a single puck is 10Mb / s , and for multiple pucks , you ’ll need more bandwidth available .
On the audio front there ’s documentation for Dolby Atmos and I ca n’t hear a difference between the puck and the Fire TV Cube ( 2022 ) watching The Tomorrow War on Prime Video . The scene where the conscripts derail into the future is present with powerful bass , elevated sound effect ( when the electricity field comes on ) , and tidy sum of activity in the surrounds . The operation on both streamers is middling much the same .
With euphony there ’s a difference . With The Preatures ’ Is This How You Feel ? Streaming from Spotify , the Stream puck gets stuck into the bass part more than the Fire TV Cube , as well as produce a slightly echoey look with vocals . The Stream puck sounds bolder and livelier , but to my ears the Fire TV Cube is clear , sharper at the top terminal of the frequency range and better balanced overall .
Latest deals
The Sky Stream is now available from £ 26 per calendar month at Sky
hold open money with Trusted Reviews vouchers
Fancy set about a major discount rate on some of the self-aggrandising Sky products presently available ? Then you ’ll be pleased to know that our team hassecured legion vouchers and promo codification from Sky , all in the name of saving you money .
Should you buy it?
The Entertainment OS curates content in an excellent manner , treating all content from whatever servicing fairly .
In this cost - of - living age , 4 honey oil , HDR and Dolby Atmos add - ons as well as adding more bundles like sports makes the Stream very expensive
Final Thoughts
With the Stream puck , Sky has presented an accessible and easily navigable interface . Content discovery is splendid , acquire a platform agnostical streamer in a similar mould to Roku . The more I use Playlist the more I like it .
It ’s an excellent banner for Sky customers who do n’t ask nor want theGlassTV , and it ’s a great entranceway - horizontal surface path into the Sky ecosystem . For all the bells and whistles , the cost single-foot up . For UHD , Atmos , Sky Cinema , Sky Sports , Netflix Premium , and advert skipping , it ’s £ 74 / month for , and that ’s before you add subscriptions to other streaming service .
buzz off the most out of Sky Stream require a significant investment , but there ’s plenty to sink your time into with the Stream . The content is the star of the show , and now you could secure it into whatever screen you prefer .
Trusted Score
How we test
We examine every video banner we survey good over an extended menstruation of time . We practice manufacture - stock tests to compare features right . We ’ll always assure you what we find . We never , ever , take money to critique a product .
Find out more about how we essay in ourethics policy
FAQs
The Stream is compatible with any broadband provider . All you ask to verify of is that you have a minimal speed of 10Mb / s. Add more pucks and you ’ll need more bandwidth .
