Sky Glass - All You Need To Know

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Its seems like forever ago, that we first heard about Sky TV without a satellite dish. I even wrote an article about it back in July, 2018 about it. Well, It’s finally here! In this article we discuss what exactly is Sky Glass? How does it work? How much does it cost? Together with the pro's and con's with a whole bunch more. Let’s begin.

What Is Sky Glass?

Sky Glass is a full Sky TV service without a Sky dish which it doesn’t require a separate Sky box like previous Sky versions. To be honest, I’m sure why they have never done this before with all the equipment required built directly into the TV. The TV connects to your WIFI or Local Area Network (LAN) and streams your all of your live TV and catch up TV services through the internet, meaning that no satellite dish is required.

Sky Glass TV Sizes & Resolution

At present, the TV for the service is available in 43”, 55”,and 65” screen sizes. If you unsure what the measurement relates to, it is the distance corner to corner of the TV screen. The TV is 4K ultra-HD resolution with a 60hz refresh rate.

What Connections Are On The Sky Glass TV?

The TV itself has 3x HDMI 2.1 ports with an eARC and CEC compatible meaning you can connect other things like games consoles, Bluray players, even another Sky box if you so desired, a conventional TV aerial RF input that allows you to access Freeview or other digital TV services, 1x USB-C input, Ethernet RJ45 port for a hardwired internet connection and 230V AC power connection (figure 8 lead), so the TV itself can be used as a conventional non-Sky TV if required. If you have any AV devices that are not HDMI compatible, you will need to install some form of adapter or modulator to connect these to the TV. The TV is WIFI 6 compatible.

What is The Cost Of Sky Glass?

At the time of writing this, there are a couple of ways that you can purchase the service. You have the choice of purchasing the TV outright which you own, or a hire purchase agreement over 48 months. Pricing currently is

TV Size                  Outright Purchase           Hire Purchase (48months)

43”                         £649                                 £13pm

55”                         £849                                  £17pm

65”                         £1049                                £21pm

You obviously then need to pay for your monthly subscription. This depends on what package you desire, for example if you want sports, movies etc. I advise contacting Sky direct for up to date pricing. For multi-room, the Sky Puck is £50 and an additional £10 per month per Puck.

How Does Sky Glass Multi-screen/ Multi-room Work?

If you’re thinking about signing up to Glass, and are wondering how the multi-room is going to work. It’s very similar as Sky Q. Sky services are provided to additional TV screens in with Sky Pucks, similar to the Sky Q mini-box. The pucks connect wireless to the main Sky Glass TV, but can also be hardwired via an Ethernet cable for properties where the wireless signal struggles to reach across between TV positions. At present, you can have up to 6 pucks plus you main Sky Glass TV.

Sky Distribution Systems With Glass

One thing to consider and one potential creveat of the system is, what do you do if you have some sort of Sky distribution system in place. How does this work? Back in the day when we are fitting Sky+ or Sky+HD an RF2 output could be used to feed the Sky channel to other TV’s and integrate into TV aerial systems, albeit in a grainy analogue picture. Things got more difficult with Sky Q where there was only a HDMI output but this was still possible with a HDMI distribution system over Cat5/6 or with a HD modulator which would create a digital TV channel that could be tuned into your digital TV. Well, as there is no Audio Visual (AV) output on the Sky Glass TV there is nothing that can be distributed around a TV system. The only was this could be achieved would be to add a Sky Stream Puck and adopt the Sky Q method mentioned above. This of course would push your monthly subscription payment up slightly.

What Broadband Speed Do I Need?

There is nothing than buffering when trying to stream content online, and as the Glass service TV service is streamed entirely it’s important to take measures/ precautions to make sure that your Sky Glass service is going to work. It’s still early days but Sky say that they believe that a speed of 10Mbps will be fine for service and 25Mbps for 4K content. If you’re broadband download is slower or around this speed it’s likely that the service will struggle, especially when you consider that there will be other devices on the network all fighting for the same bandwidth, devices like Smartphones, tablets, computers, laptops etc. It is advised that where possible, that you upgrade to fibre broadband or upgrade your service so that you are receiving the best possible speed. If the WIFI is weak in the room where you are installing the TV, you may want to consider connecting the TV with an Ethernet cable rather than wireless to maximise the internet connection speed.

Can The TV Be Wall Mounted?

The TV can be wall mounted like any other TV’s. The TV’s are VESA compatible which allows any generic TV wall bracket to be fixed to the TV, a specialist bracket is not necessary. The four fixing holes are on the rear of the TV where you would expect to find them. Bracket manufacturers I recommend for this task include Sanus, B-Tech, Peerless, Vogels, but there are numerous other suitable types. You may also need to purchase a longer power cable for the TV to be installed on the wall, or make other arrangements like have an electrical socket or fused spur installed behind the TV. Read our blog on TV power options.

What Do I Do With The Old Sky Dish?

If you have upgraded your service to Glass, and you wondering what you’re going to do with your existing satellite dish. You have a few options, you could remove it. This might be a good idea if it’s old and rusty, or you’re fed up looking at it. If you can access the dish, it’s usually easy to remove with a 13mm spanner or socket. It may be a better idea to keep it however, if you ever wish to revert back to Sky Q or cancel Sky and install Freesat the dish will come in handy. The dish could also be used to feed additional TV points in your home with the installation of additional coax cabling.

Tuning Sky Glass Remote

I have put this in here, as the first time I did the installation through force of habit went to tune the TV remote in. This of course is completely unnecessary with the service as the remote is the TV remote, no more messing about trying to find a correct TV code.

Sky Glass Questions – In Blog Comments Only Please

If you have any comments, feedback, suggestions, or questions to do with this article or Sky Glass in general, please do feel free to post them with the Blog Comments Section below and I will endeavour to respond to these personally as soon as possible. A few ground rules first.

1-     We do not offer a free over the phone technical advice/ support service. Please do not call with your questions. Our phonelines are intended for customers only seeking installations and quotes.

2-     We do not answer questions privately over e-mail. It’s too time consuming. Please do not privately e-mail your questions or fill out our website contact forms, you will do not receive a response.

3-     Due to the level or spammy comments, all comments posted need to go through a vetting process first. Please do not post links to pages that you’re associated with or post inappropriate content, you will be banned permanently immediately.

4-     Please be patient for a response, I may not be able to answer as quick as you may like.

All that being said, I will help where I can.

Until next time,

Tom

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