Just two months after launching its Sky Glass TVs, Sky has announced a key update for the hardware that it says will improve a couple of key features. 

Sky launched its Glass TVs in October. The TVs boast many premium features, with 4K QLED displays, full-array local dimming (FALD), Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support. They’re pitched by Sky as an alternative way to access Sky TV without the need to install a set-top box or satellite dish, fulfilling its long-held promise to move away from satellite to broadband. 

The Sky Glass TVs are available in a choice of 43-inch, 55-inch and 65-inch sizes, and there are five colours to choose from - blue, green, pink, white and black. 

The TVs were generally well received by reviewers, and now Sky is hoping to improve the experience with its first firmware update, as reported by Pocket-Lint this week. The first improvement comes to the Playlist feature on Sky Glass, which is where users can save all of their favourite content from different services and channels in one handy place. Simply head to the Playlist rail on the Homepage, and playback will now begin automatically, meaning users can start watching more quickly. 

Another neat feature being added is the Restart function for live TV shows. So if users start watching a show when it’s already 20 minutes in, they can hit the restart button as it pops up and immediately jump back to the beginning of the show, so they won’t miss anything. Aiding this is the addition of a new progress bar that appears at the bottom of the screen, so viewers can see how far through the show they are. There’s also a play icon on the picture tile that lets users pick up where they left off. 

The Restart function can also be used from within the TV Guide with the addition of a new rail at the top of each category. So for each show that has already begun broadcasting, viewers can click restart and watch it from the beginning without needing to start the live broadcast first. 

BBC content can also now be restarted by pressing the red button when on a BBC channel and hitting Restart when it appears in the right-hand menu.

In a second change to the Playlist, Sky said new content from shows that have been saved there will only show up until they have been broadcast. After that, they’ll be demoted to appear as the first item in the Play Now rail. That means that if someone adds a live broadcast to their Playlist, it will automatically move to the Play Now section so they can watch it right away. 

The Playlist also gains a new “View All” option that allows people to quickly see all of the titles they have saved there. They can also filter that content by categories such as TV shows, movies, sport and so on. Sky said it will make it easier for users to remove content from their Playlist in a future update. 

This week’s update is actually the second for Sky Glass, though it’s the first to add new functionality. Prior to this one, Sky pushed out a software update designed to fix some early teething problems with the Sky Glass TVs, including blinking or flickering screens and problems with the Playlist feature not working as advertised. 

Sky Glass owners can also implement the recommendations in this video to get the best possible picture from their TVs: