Sky Q review: Still the best way to watch Sky TV, but a better deal than ever before

Sky Q review: The Verdict

Short on time? Here it is: Sky Q is an incredibly powerful set-top box with access to the best live television, sports fixtures, blockbusters, and must-binge boxsets from Netflix – all accessible from a single menu. Coupled with the latest round of discounts (especially compared with the newer and pricier Sky Glass), Sky Q is the best Sky TV deal you’ll find. In other words, if you’re looking for the ultimate upgrade for your television – this is it.

When Sky Q launched in early 2016, it was missing a number of core features. For example, while the R&D teams had included a microphone on the remote, the software that enabled voice search wouldn’t be ready for another year after launch. Sky Q also shipped without a Netflix app and no word on whether it would ever be supported on the box. It eventually arrived in November 2018, unlocking hundreds more boxsets and movies.

There are dozens more examples of nitpicks that Sky has carefully ironed out with a regular stream of software updates for Sky Q. And it hasn’t stopped there, the satellite company has added a number of features that were never mentioned during the glitzy launch event in late 2015. For example, Sky has increased the number of recordings possible at the same time – allowing viewers to record up to six shows while still watching a seventh channel live.

In other words, the Sky Q experience available today is very different.

It’s more open, endlessly fine-honed and streamlined, and as a result, infinitely better. If you tried Sky Q during the first year and weren’t impressed, it’s well worth a second look.

Sky Q review: Design And Q Mini

With Sky Q, it’s clear the R&D teams were given a completely blank slate. Out of the box, Sky Q makes its predecessor, Sky+HD, look laughably outdated.

Sky Q is a modern set-top box with an attractive backlit logo emblazoned on the front, that shares more in common with streaming dongles like Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV 4K than the VHS stylings of Sky+HD.

Sky has packed an almost-excessive 12 TV tuners into the box so you can record five channels while watching a sixth. An option in the settings allows you to record six channels, while watching a seventh live …although, between the myriad catch-up and on-demand platforms that feed directly into Sky Q, we’ve never actually recorded that many shows simultaneously.

Still, should the problem arise, it’s nice to know you’ll never miss a show.

When you’re not recording half a dozen shows in the same time slot, these tuners can be used for picture-in-picture, so you can see a live preview of what’s on-air in the lower third of your screen as you cycle through channels (incredibly useful if you want to channel-hop between commercial breaks).

When it launched, there were four variations on the Sky Q box all with different hard drive capacities, capabilities, and subtitles like “Sky Q Silver”. Thankfully, Sky has replaced all of the confusion with a one-size-fits-all option with Ultra HD picture quality, Dolby Atmos support, and 1TB of storage.

That’s enough to record 150 hours in High Definition. Of course, you’ll be able to store more on the box if you record in standard definition, and you’ll struggle to get into triple figures if everything is in 4K Ultra HD. Busy households might need to carefully juggle the number of boxsets and movies stored on the hard-drive, but unlike Sky Glass, Sky Q viewers will be able to permanently hold onto a show, clip, sports fixture or movie for as long as they keep the set-top box – even if the show leaves the BBC iPlayer catalogue, or a change in broadcasting rights means it’s no longer included with Sky Cinema.

Unlike multi-room set-ups for Sky+HD customers, where each room records shows and movies to its own dedicated set-top box, the Sky Q hooked-up to the satellite dish handles the entire household’s recordings. Everything is recorded onto the 1TB hard drive, then beamed around the house over an ethernet connection or Wi-Fi network to the Sky Q Mini boxes.

And since the Sky Q Mini boxes work wirelessly, there’s no need for an engineer to start drilling holes and running cables around your home. You can watch live television channels, stream from Netflix, Disney+, and other supported streaming platforms, schedule recordings, and more. The only problem with the Q Mini boxes is the lack of support for 4K Ultra HD. As such, you might come across movies or shows in your recordings that you’re unable to watch in another room without re-downloading in a lower quality.

Since everything is played back from the primary Sky Q box, you can start watching in one room, pause the action, and pick-up from the exact spot from another box. It’s been a few years since Sky Q debuted, but this feature still feels like magic. Starting a movie in the living room, but finishing the final 20 minutes with a cuppa in bed remains a phenomenal luxury.

Even if you don’t add any Sky Q Mini boxes to your package, you’ll be able to use the Sky Go app to resume recordings with an iPhone, iPad, Android phone or tablet, or laptop from anywhere. You can even download recordings onto the app for the morning commute or a long-haul flight.

Since the Q Mini boxes rely on a solid internet connection to beam live channels, recorded shows and movies to other rooms in the house – you’ll need to make sure you have a strong Wi-Fi connection in every room. We tested Sky Q with a mesh network, and that works a treat. However, those with a single Wi-Fi router from their internet provider – especially in an older house with internal brick walls – might struggle to watch in every room.

Sky Q review: New Voice Remote

During its lifespan, Sky Q has cycled through a number of different remote control designs. The first generation arrived with a touchpad instead of the traditional directional arrows. Swipes and taps inside the concave touchpad replaced button presses and the results were …mixed.

The touchpad felt modern and was quieter than the stream of clicks that usually accompany navigating around the menu. However, it was a little too sensitive – if the remote slid between the cushions on your sofa, you’d often discover everyone on-screen sprinting Benny Hill-style due to an accidental touch sending the show into fast-forward.

If you sign up for Sky Q today, you won’t take delivery of this remote. The latest generation swaps the voice search button from the side of the remote to a prominent position above the Record button – showing how important the feature has become to Sky Q viewers. There is no touchpad to be found, instead, you’ll need to click directional buttons to move around the menus.

The current Sky Q remote will feel familiar to Sky+ HD viewers, but without being stuck in the past. While Sky Glass’ remote has a more minimalist appearance, for our money, the Sky Q remote remains a better design. With dedicated fast-forward buttons, a pleasing concave shape that’s comfortable in the hand, and the ability to emit a chime to make it easier to find when it’s misplaced down the back of the sofa …this is a brilliant remote.

And unlike Sky+ HD, the Sky Q remote connects to the box over Bluetooth, you can hide your Sky Q set-top box in a cabinet or tuck it behind the television without any connectivity problems.

However, the Sky Q remote isn’t perfect. Although it supports voice search – allowing you to avoid the hassle of typing out show titles and actors’ names using the alphanumeric keypad – this is fairly limited. Sky has coded a few classic movie quotes, so you can say “show me the money!” to load the listing for Jerry Maguire, which is fun. And you can navigate to channels by saying the names, however, it would be great to see this taken further.

It would be brilliant if Sky Q viewers could ask “What time does Inside No. 9 start this week?” only to get the answer – as well as a prompt to set a reminder for the latest episode. The remote control still runs on AA batteries, which is another minor disappointment.

Competitors, like the Apple TV, use a rechargeable remote that can be topped up with a USB charging cable while Samsung ships a few remote controls that never need to be recharged. One of these relies on solar power and another uses your Wi-Fi network to keep the battery topped up. It would be great to see either of these replace the age-old AA batteries in the Sky Q remote.

Sky Q review: What’s On Screen

Sky Q didn’t only introduce new hardware, but it also completely revamped the software experience too. Aside from the trademark blue colour, there’s very little in common between Sky Q and the older Sky+ HD software.

Taking inspiration from Fire TV and Netflix, the teams at Sky have created a slick, modern user interface with high-resolution artwork for your favourite shows and films everywhere. If there’s an event that everyone is talking about – like the Euros 2020 final, or Platinum Jubillee – Sky will take over the main menu with bespoke imagery as well as shortcuts to live coverage and supplementary content, including documentaries, boxsets from streaming services, and viral videos from the internet. If nothing noteworthy is taking place, Sky Q will suggest live and on-demand shows based on your tastes. These include recommendations from Disney+, Apple TV+ and Netflix, so you won’t have to open up individual apps to seek out new shows and movies exclusive to these streaming platforms.

Between the hundreds of channels included with Sky, the 500 or so on-demand boxsets in its catalogue, the regular sports fixtures, new film releases, and must-binge series on streaming services …it’s easy to spend more time looking for something to put on than watching telly. Sky Q does a stellar job at addressing the paralysis of choice.

This is something that some of the richest technology companies on the planet are trying to solve too. Boxes like the Apple TV, Fire TV and Chromecast with Google TV all make recommendations based on your viewing habits and bring together shows from siloed streaming platforms. But Sky Q has one incredible advantage – its ability to blend live television into the mix too.

The TV Guide is still a crucial part of the redesigned Sky Q menu, so you can browse the schedule to set reminders or record shows. If there are two events that you want to watch live – Sky Q lets you split the screen to watch two sports fixtures simultaneously.

Sky Q also ships with a series of apps, which can be loaded side-by-side as you watch television too. However, these are much less successful than the ability to juggle between two football matches. For starters, the apps are incredibly slow to load, leaving you staring at a loading icon long after you could’ve pulled your smartphone out of your pocket to ask the question, or hopped over a news channel to check the headlines. There’s no third-party support either, so you won’t be able to scroll through a Twitter timeline on-screen.

Sky Q review: Price and Availability

Sky Q is available right now, with prices starting from just £26 a month. Sky also offers bundles without its exclusive channels, like Sky Atlantic, for those who want to use the Sky Q hardware to upgrade their Freeview experience. We’ve rounded up the latest deals and discounts below…