Jordan O'BrienAV integration company Majik House weights in on Sky’s latest offering; Sky Q – a brand new dedicated multi-room service from Sky, whose primary function is to allow ‘fluid viewing’ through its effortlessly stylish new box.
The company claims to have achieved the ‘most advanced TV experience ever’! A very bold claim to make in such a saturated market. But, Sky had to come forward with something big; the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime have been leading the way for advancements in home viewing. Sky needed to spectacularly reinvent their offerings before they got left in the crowd.
So, the facts. The new Sky Q Box can store up to 350 hours of programming, while recording four shows at once while you watch the fifth. You can store programmes on your phone or tablet for when you’re on the go, plus you can pause in one room while it carries on in another. The consumer interface is truly state-of-the-art and incredibly user friendly.
It sounds too good to be true, so is it?
If you listen to the reviews they are overwhelmingly positive; people are impressed by the wireless ability and the brand new interface which has been launched alongside the Sky Q Silver box. The newly designed remote contains a touchpad that allows you to scroll effortlessly through the menus; a far cry from the bulky remote we have all become so used to.
What We Say
“It’s very early days in our view, even Sky’s VIP installation team don’t seem to have all the answers,” says Tim Burrow, Majik House MD. “At this point there are limitations with the larger systems. So at this point our preference is to carry on with Sky’s classic package; there is still a long way to go, but watch this space!”
“Sky’s new system allows you to record up to four programmes at once which is a huge improvement from their classic box,” adds Jit Mistry, sales director, Majik House.
“The capabilities to transmit 4K programming later in the year should set the box aside from its competition. There have been teething problems with the wireless system, however to counteract this Sky are now offering a wired version.
“Integrating the new Sky Q box with other home automation systems isn’t proving easy at the moment, however they have made huge strides in recent months at fixing these initial bugs.”
On reflection our advice to anybody thinking about purchasing Sky Q would be ‘Let’s see what happens’. Every new product has to go through a teething stage, and our advice to you would be ‘don’t let yourself be a Guinea pig’. When Apple releases a new IOS update, a .2 version is available moments after; the reason being manufactures can test their products for months in advance but until it is released to the general public, this is when the real problems occur. So yes, the concept is fantastic and is certainly a step towards the future of home viewing, but let’s just wait and see.
This article was written by Majik House.