Sky Q

Loughc

Loughc wrote: »

Complete Non-Techy here, but what's the benefits of getting a Hybrid LNB installed?

It lets you use existing receivers, such as a FTA box, in tandem with Sky Q.

RoryMurphyJnr

Checked it out and won't be getting it.
I'm with Sky for TV and with Virgin for broadband and home phone (which isn't used)

It was working out about €15 dearer a month to go with Sky Q for the whole lot, we've the basic package.
And the broadband speeds available from Sky are no where near good enough to pay the extra.

Recording 4 channels at the same time would be great but with a bit of fiddling you can get around (+1 etc)

MarkAnthony

RoryMurphyJnr wrote: »

Checked it out and won't be getting it.
I'm with Sky for TV and with Virgin for broadband and home phone (which isn't used)

It was working out about €15 dearer a month to go with Sky Q for the whole lot, we've the basic package.
And the broadband speeds available from Sky are no where near good enough to pay the extra.

Recording 4 channels at the same time would be great but with a bit of fiddling you can get around (+1 etc)

It's not designed as a cheap solution to be fair. It's designed to capture the 'apple end' of the market. Sky were at a massive disadvantage on multiple rooms in comparison to VM and even Eir which they've now addressed.

12Phase

It's a very good product, still missing a few refinements though - like I can't find slow motion and it's impossible to setup a series of programmes to play out one after the other (very useful for kids short cartoons for example)

Slippin Jimmy

12Phase wrote:

It's a very good product, still missing a few refinements though - like I can't find slow motion and it's impossible to setup a series of programmes to play out one after the other (very useful for kids short cartoons for example)

There are a few things that are missing. My hope is that they will be added over time through software updates. I'm really happy with my Sky Q boxes.

peking97

Harcrid wrote: »

Sky Q getting installed at the moment. After giving the installer a mug of coffee and my best biscuits I asked him about the possibility of getting a Hybrid LNB installed and he duly obliged. He has one in the van. :pac:

Just out of interest, what would you have done had he not had one in the van?
Is there no official way of obtaining a hybrid LNB?

Harcrid

peking97 wrote: »

Just out of interest, what would you have done had he not had one in the van?
Is there no official way of obtaining a hybrid LNB?

It would not have been that big a deal. Sky Q adds pretty much all of the functionality I need but it's nice to still have the option of connecting a freesat system at any time if I wish to.

ArthurG

Is this available to non-Sky broadband customers yet?.

irishgirl19

ArthurG wrote:

Is this available to non-Sky broadband customers yet?.

Yes

peteeeed

ArthurG wrote: »

Is this available to non-Sky broadband customers yet?.

yes i got it installed yesterday and i'm with virgin media

ArthurG

peteeeed wrote: »

yes i got it installed yesterday and i'm with virgin media

How are you finding it?

Harcrid

I had it installed yesterday (Non - Sky BB) and so fsr it has worked well with no glitches to any of the two mini boxes. I had a slight issue with connecting to my Android tablet yesterday evening but a reboot of the tablet resolved that. Happy with it all so far.

peteeeed

ArthurG wrote: »

How are you finding it?

really good , i have an wired connection to my main box . no problems so far

RoryMurphyJnr

What sort of download speeds are you getting?

nicelives

Harcrid wrote: »

I had it installed yesterday (Non - Sky BB) and so fsr it has worked well with no glitches to any of the two mini boxes. I had a slight issue with connecting to my Android tablet yesterday evening but a reboot of the tablet resolved that. Happy with it all so far.

With two mini boxes do you pay an extra charge for the package per month or is just the extra 99 at install?

I'm taking if for granted that a mini box can be watching or streaming something different than the main box at the same time (as in multiroom)?

I find their ad a bit cryptic that it's all about pausing and continuing watching the same programme on a different extension rather than traditional multiroom with different people watching different things.

MarkAnthony

nicelives wrote: »

With two mini boxes do you pay an extra charge for the package per month or is just the extra 99 at install?

I'm taking if for granted that a mini box can be watching or streaming something different than the main box at the same time (as in multiroom)?

I find their ad a bit cryptic that it's all about pausing and continuing watching the same programme on a different extension rather than traditional multiroom with different people watching different things.

While there is a bit of deviation on this there are two packs:

SkyQ - one room (can do two but let's leave that aside)
SkyQ Silver - better box and you get a mini box as well. €67 per month €99 features fee + €50 install if you're an existing customer.

You can then add mini boxes on at €99 'features fee'. If you do that at point of sale (i.e. at the same time) then there is no more install fee. The Sky Q silver box and supply 2 mini boxes at once and usually not more than 4 are installed.

So take my setup:

Main box in the 'Den' where the fancy TV is. Mini box in the Livingroom on that TV, one in the Kitchen and one in the master bedroom. €67 per month and €347 set up. €99 + €50 + 2 x €99. There is no additional cost per month for the mini boxes. In addition to having the main box and TWO and only TWO of the mini boxes going I can have two tablets on the go.

The mini box can watch another channel, be downloading (to the main box) something, it can be set to record stuff etc. everything is viewable on all the boxes.

€67 is basically Variety+HD+Boxsets. I don't have movies or Sports, they are available on what ever deal is going.

irishgirl19

You don't pay an extra charge per month you'll pay upfront for your second mini box though

nicelives

@MarkAnthony and @irishgirl19 thanks a mill for that and Mark, very useful reply

Galway

MarkAnthony wrote: »

VM's network (bar netflix :pac:) is a brilliant network, copper-co ax is way better than what Eir have. It's not even much worse than having fibre directly into the home. However it doesn't alter the fact that you're still paying a 'line rental' even on VM. That line, doesn't carry a phone signal by design like the Eir network, but that's no reason to dismiss the Eir network if it meets your bandwidth needs.

Fibre to the home (FTTH) will be faster than VM coax system

MarkAnthony

Galway wrote: »

Fibre to the home (FTTH) will be faster than VM coax system

It will but it's going to be years before we see it in Dublin.

bk

Galway wrote: »

Fibre to the home (FTTH) will be faster than VM coax system

Strictly speaking you aren't wrong, but VM Coax is easily capable of going up to 1Gb/s and likely far more people will actually get 1Gb/s speeds far sooner from VM, then the many years it will take to get FTTH to most people.

VM could do 1Gb/s to most of it's customers tomorrow if it wanted to, while it will take years to rollout FTTH.

Even when FTTH rolls out, it is likely that VM will be able to continue to match the download speeds of FTTH (upload is harder), while being able to undercut the cost of FTTH.

Johnny_Fontane

getting this installed next month. I currently have 360mb upc/virgin broadband.

The back of the house suffers with poor broadband coverage, can I ask sky, on install, to put a booster in there for where i will have the mini box?

irishgirl19

Johnny_Fontane wrote:

The back of the house suffers with poor broadband coverage, can I ask sky, on install, to put a booster in there for where i will have the mini box?

The boosters are only available for sky broadband customers.

Dave..M

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

getting this installed next month. I currently have 360mb upc/virgin broadband.

The back of the house suffers with poor broadband coverage, can I ask sky, on install, to put a booster in there for where i will have the mini box?

Just get a powerline, they're peanuts compared to what you are going to spend on SKY Q sub (30 quid in Argos or powercity for non plug through set, 60 odd for a wireless one)

afatbollix

How does it work if you have a communal installation? I only have 1 cable from the box outside. Will Sky Q work in my building or is it a none goer?

The Cush

afatbollix wrote: »

How does it work if you have a communal installation? I only have 1 cable from the box outside. Will Sky Q work in my building or is it a none goer?

They install a dSCR multiswitch which can feed 16 tuners down a single cable. The multiswitch can continue to feed the old signal down to other units that don't use SkyQ via the other outputs.

winston_1

Dave..M wrote: »

Just get a powerline, they're peanuts compared to what you are going to spend on SKY Q sub (30 quid in Argos or powercity for non plug through set, 60 odd for a wireless one)

Not recommended. Powerline causes interference to other users of the radio spectrum, i.e your neighbours.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/13/bbc_plt/

Johnboy1951

winston_1 wrote: »

Not recommended. Powerline causes interference to other users of the radio spectrum, i.e your neighbours.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/13/bbc_plt/

According to the article .....
... in 2011 or earlier a couple of engineers did some tests in two houses and found problems in one of them.
Both were supposedly 'typical'.

I did not read their PDF, but if they had proved their point and complained to Ofcom what has Ofcom to say about it since? Has Ofcom instigated legal proceedings against the manufacturers?

....... do you have the rest of the story?

winston_1

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

According to the article .....
... in 2011 or earlier a couple of engineers did some tests in two houses and found problems in one of them.
Both were supposedly 'typical'.

I did not read their PDF, but if they had proved their point and complained to Ofcom what has Ofcom to say about it since? Has Ofcom instigated legal proceedings against the manufacturers?

....... do you have the rest of the story?

Problems in one out of two amounts to 50%.

Why didn't you read the PDF?

Don't know what Ofcom have done in this case, probably very little, they are pretty hopeless. But they have had hundreds of complaints about Homeplugs. Plenty of information on the net if you would care to search.

Causing interference is illegal. Buying and possessing Homeplugs is legal but using them as intended causes interference which is illegal.

Johnboy1951

I read sufficient of the PDF to know that the two 'typical' houses got completely different results.
That some other cause, such as faulty wiring was not eliminated.
That there was no known interference outside of the house in which they were used.
That for some reason there seemed to be a bias towards Wifi without mentioning how that can be interfered with by other household appliances.

A study of two, regardless the results, is not in any way sufficiently wide to draw any conclusions from.

It might well be that all, or some, of these devices should be taken off the market, but this 'study' does not provide any compelling evidence either way.