Sky this week announced a new version of its 1TB Sky Q TV Box that offers 4K UHD capabilities. The new box has the ability to record up to six programmes at the same time, and provides access to more than 3,500 of Sky’s UHD content from various services, including movies and live sports content.
The new device is an upgrade to Sky’s existing 1TB Sky Q box, which doesn’t support 4K and is missing quite a few functions available on the bigger 2TB box it also sells. The new model achieves parity with the 2TB version in terms of features, giving users the ability to use voice search for example, and view content on two Sky Q mini-boxes at the same time. The only real difference between it and the 2TB box is the built-in storage space – 1TB equals around 500 hours of content, compared to the 1,000 hours the larger box offers.
So it might be smaller, but 500 hours is still quite significant, Sky insisted. It’s enough to easily accommodate all 86 episodes of The Sopranos, for instance, or 420 episodes of Peppa Pig.
As well as supporting UHD content, the box also supports the Dolby Atmos surround sound format, which is often utilised by Sky on select sports events it covers, as well as many of its movies and TV shows.
What’s also good is the deep integration with Netflix, which is quite unique for a Pay TV service. Sky Q showcases Netflix on its homepage alongside its own content, and gives users the option of a single bill payment that includes the popular streaming service. The box also comes with built-in apps for Spotify, YouTube and XITE.
Sky said its Sky Q 1TB box is available to subscribers starting at £25 per month, which is a big saving on the £50 starting price of the 2TB version. Of course you’ll need to add on to that cost of whatever Sky Q package you sign up for, with the basic Sky Q Experience priced at £13 per month.
