Sky have just informed me of a 10% price increase when I’ve only been with them about nine months. This is just the kind of thing that annoys the hell out of me, enough to consider cancelling (which I think I can, given the price increase).
I want access to some live TV - mainly BBC tbh. I would rather not use the iPlayer apps as they’re somewhat clunky, but I appreciate this might be where I end up. I also want stuff like Netflix, Prime, Disney, Apple, NowTV, NFL Gamepass etc, and Plex and/or Jellyfin.
Has anyone used a Freely box? Are they any good?
Are recent Android boxes ok? I had one a few years ago and it was rather slow…
I think what I’m after is some kind of system that brings together the various live and non-live streamed services in a single reasonably coherent user interface. Now I’ve said it like that I realise there’s no chance of such a thing existing. But still, anyone got any ideas?
I’ve had it for about 7 yrs and has been fine and no issues with red push, but then I don’t think I download any dolby vision rips so probably haven’t seen it yet.
I’ve used an nvidia shield for 7 years at least. It’s great for all things tv. Some even put kodi on it with ads ons like fen, a debrid server and vpn and are able to watch the latest movies and tv from around the world for less than a months subscription to various streaming sites like Netflix and Sky.
Not me of course at that would be illegal m’lud.
If you have virgin you can get a tiny widget that plugs into your tv hdmi and your network and does all the free view stuff over t’internet.
Right, Sky is cancelled! I have voted with my feet against their egregious business practices
I bought an Apple TV and it was a fucking pain to set up. My email was linked to a really old Apple account, back when I had an iPhone 4, and I couldn’t recover it. Eventually I just used a different email address, but it was still a pain to set up without an Apple device.
But it’s such a nice UI. So simple, just what is needed. I might get some old ones for the other TVs, although tbh the kids are probably fine with the smart TV systems they have.
My cost will reduce from £90 to £25, but then I need to subscribe to Netflix, and probably Apple TV. We’ll see.
Already binging the Disney stuff. A few Marvel films in, and Shogun.
A most pleasant announcement. Obviously, you never use the sky hardware to access the platform as they present an app version that’s way behind. I’ve moved away from the Shield to the Apple TV for the above as it’s just nicer to use.
I do and don’t really have any problems with it, occasionally gets stuck with thinking the time is 03:00 for a minute or two but find the sky pucks work very well on the whole.
I have a Sky Q box.
The app versions (for Netflix etc.) are several iterations behind current, and none support Dolby Vision. Hugely throttled back on the interfaces.
Maybe it’s because the Q is no longer offered when you sign up? They want you on the glass or web systems.
Virgin are desperately trying to get us off the old TiVo-driven V6 box on to their objectively worse new 360 platform which is shite, but presumably costing them a heap less in licensing fees.
They are now including Sky Atlantic foc but you can only access it with the newer platform. There are ZERO technical reasons why this would be the case.
They’re all cunts. They are desperate for the whole service provision - broadband, TV, phone, mobile. The problem is that the hardware and software are both crap, and it’s really expensive.
I’m now signed up with Virgin for internet - over a gig for £34/m, including Netflix (with ads, sigh). I have the Apple TV box which is actually good (the Sky stream boxes are just annoyingly bad), and I might buy more if the family want them.
I’m saving £60/m, which I can spend on the subscription services anyone wants.
Here’s a short list of the enshittifications that have happened, off the top of my head:
Eurosport was lost by Virgin, and TNT was an extra £30/m because football. A snooker-only sub was never made available, for some reason.
Sky Cinema went to shit with adverts. The last time I went to play a film there were almost five minutes of unskippable ads beforehand. I know this is a cue to make a cup of tea, but fuck off.
The Sky Stream boxes regularly crashed, and became systems for administering adverts rather than media.
The less said about the routers the better.
The “recording” of programmes was shit and often didn’t work. This was a pain for sport, which I often watch time delayed.
The bundling of programmes into packages is totally arbitrary, and never for the benefit of the customer. I don’t watch football or F1, and the vast majority of the spending of the channels is on these sports, so it’s really bad value for me. Sky Atlantic makes it over to Virgin, and then Sky creates new content that Virgin users don’t get (Originals, I think?)
I just hate them all. I prefer the simplicity of just paying for the content I want. And if the user experience is terrible, I’ll sail the high seas.
Live football is what keeps me locked in. You have a ton more flexibility, as you’ve found, if you’re not wedded to that.
Having said all that my contract runs out in April and no I will not be reverting to £200+ a month once the ‘discounts’ expire. There is no competition here as VM are the only fibre provider and I am not going on to an ADSL fart box, that is my one non-negotiable so we currently stuck together.
If they don’t give me another discount, I’ll cut services to the bare bones for a few months to see if they relent.
