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00:00Cheers Tom, it is finally here, SkyGlass, the first TV built by Sky with everything
00:18built in.
00:19Beautiful noise.
00:20I have the large one here, the 65 inch, and I cannot wait to get this set up and see what
00:25it is like to use at home in the studio.
00:28So hopefully this doesn't just completely smash the TV, but I should be able to do the
00:36big reveal.
00:37James, I might need your hand with this.
00:38So the very first thing you'll notice when you unbox SkyGlass is, well, the packaging.
00:43It's fully recyclable, so there's no chunky polystyrene or plastic wraps, and together
00:48with carbon offsetting, this is actually a certified carbon neutral TV.
00:52So hats off to Sky for that, and also a big thank you to Sky for sending this TV over
00:56for me to have a bit of a play with, and also sponsoring this video, although as always,
01:01all opinions are my own.
01:02Now you can wall mount this if you prefer, and the design means it'll be fully flush
01:06to the wall with the ports facing down so they're still accessible, and the instructions
01:10are included as well, but I'm going to attach the stand, which comes in a separate box,
01:14and then plonk it on my fancy new TV stand.
01:17All in, I think it took me about 20 minutes to put this together, and also I had a few
01:21distractions.
01:26So then once you mount the stand to the back of the TV, all you need is that power cable
01:30that can thread through the back of the stand, and that is it, you're good to go.
01:34And to be honest, that's the most magical thing about this.
01:36No more satellite dish needed on the side of your house, if you can even get one installed,
01:41no more SkyBox taking up space and adding a bunch of cables to your setup, everything
01:45is streamed, and it really is how it should be in this day and age.
01:49Hello Sky.
01:55So Sky really is shaking things up here in the UK, because not only is the hardware new,
02:00well the TV itself, but the software, the Sky UI that you're using and you spend, well,
02:05all your life in if you watch as much TV as I do, then this is completely revamped for
02:09Sky Glass, and there's a whole lot more going on.
02:12And so unlike other smart TVs, there's no separate menu you pop up for your apps or
02:17anything, this is it.
02:18Sky is the smart TV hub, with your TV guide, you've got your streaming apps, and also these
02:23new playlists that you can add to.
02:25It's a familiar Sky feel, but with a whole lot more content up front.
02:29And to be honest, it can get a bit overwhelming at first, although in my experience, after
02:33a couple of hours of using it and playing around, you do get used to where everything
02:37is.
02:38Now one small issue of me trying to make this video for you guys is that if I play any movies
02:43or TV shows, the copyright police will probably barge in and take this away from me.
02:48So I'll do my best, but this is, as I say, the 65 inch, the large, it also comes in a
02:53small and medium, 43 or 55, and also five colours.
02:57I've got the anthracite one here, which is a very dark grey, almost black, and of course
03:02the new Sky Remote matches the colour of your TV as well, which is very snazzy.
03:06The anodised aluminium metal frame is perforated for the speakers, as is that pretty chunky
03:11chin at the bottom, but all this has a purpose, and otherwise the bezels are nice and thin,
03:16there's no obvious logos getting in the way, and Sky will also sell customisable front
03:20panels that can magnetically attach to that bottom front speaker.
03:24Also the metal stand is both sturdy and as you can see, not too wide, so it will easily
03:28fit on any TV stand.
03:30Round the back, there's a good selection of ports, including a coax if you want to use
03:34a traditional TV input, we've got a USB-C port, a Cat5 Ethernet LAN port, and power.
03:40Now I'll come back to this in a second, but while these are HDMI 2.1 ports, they are missing
03:45a few features.
03:46Although we do also have Wi-Fi 6 built in, and so if you have a Wi-Fi 6 router as well,
03:51you'll get a faster and more stable connection.
03:54So that's new, but so is this.
03:56We have a brand new refreshed remote control, which is a little bit smaller and a bit sleeker
04:01than the old Sky Q1 that I've been using.
04:03Also the buttons are a bit rejigged, so it took me a minute to figure out where everything
04:06was.
04:07Surprisingly, unlike a lot of TV remote controls, we don't have any shortcuts to streaming apps,
04:12but then you can actually use your voice, whether through the remote or actually the
04:15TV.
04:16Oh, and also again, unlike the Sky Q remote, this little dial thingy is not touch sensitive
04:21anymore, so you can't just swipe left or right to fast forward or rewind, you have to actually
04:25press it.
04:26But it's still lovely to use, and I do like this more grippy texture.
04:30Now in terms of picture quality, I don't go into as much detail as the guys over at artings.com
04:34or Vincent at HDTVTest, but at a high level, we're getting a 4K HDR Quantum Dot LED TV.
04:42But I have done my research, and actually the panel that Sky is using here is from a
04:46company called TV Vision, based in Amsterdam, and actually they're the supplier for Philips
04:51TVs as well.
04:52Although beyond that, everything else has been designed and built by Sky.
04:57And so on the whole, picture quality is good for a 4K LED LCD.
05:01It does lack a little bit of pop, especially in HDR, as brightness peaks at a fairly meagre
05:06570 nits, which is okay, but not great, and also not ideal if you have a super bright
05:12living room.
05:13But it does seem to have a slight anti-reflective coating to it, so you can see the reflections
05:17are a little bit smudgy and more diffuse than you get with most TVs, which then makes them
05:21less distracting when you're watching something.
05:23Now we do get HLG, HDR10, and Dolby Vision HDR formats, which is great, and that's along
05:29with 360 Dolby Atmos surround sound support.
05:32Let's talk about audio, because Sky reckon the six built-in speakers, and the fact that
05:46they're optimised for this design, and firing upwards, sideways, and at you, are actually
05:50good enough that you don't need to then go and buy a separate soundbar or speaker system.
05:55And the truth is, they're right.
05:57The sound on this is incredible.
05:59It's a 215 watt speaker system, and I've used pretty much every flagship TV you can
06:04buy right now, from the likes of Sony, LG, Samsung, and to my ears at least, this is
06:09hands down the best sounding TV you can buy.
06:14A wide soundstage, genuinely punchy bass, and clear vocals really make this a selling
06:19point of Sky Glass.
06:22And it also automatically adjusts the sound based on what you're watching, or you can
06:26pick it yourself.
06:27Plus, in the settings, you can tweak the audio a little bit if you want to boost the bass
06:30or prioritise speech.
06:32So quite honestly, you don't need to have a separate sound system with this, which not
06:35only saves you money, assuming you don't already have one, you don't have to go out and buy
06:38a soundbar, but also saves a bit of energy, because you're not powering a different device,
06:43you haven't got to plug something else in, which also cleans up your cables, it just
06:46sort of adds to that all-in-one kind of iMac for TVs kind of vibe that Sky Glass gives.
06:53Although we do get eARC support with the HDMI if you do fancy plugging in a more recent
06:57high-end speaker system.
06:59But let's talk about games.
07:01What's it like to play on Sky Glass?
07:03Well, it's pretty good, considering the price, and I've been having a great time playing
07:06on it, but it won't win any awards for being the best gaming TV on the market.
07:11There's no variable refresh rate, as it's a 60Hz panel, there's no adaptive sync, like
07:16FreeSync or G-Sync, and while the HDMI ports are claimed to be 2.1, and I tested all three
07:22with a high-speed cable that I know does work with 2.1 on PS5, it limited me to a lower-quality
07:27non-RGB colour at 4K60, and it also doesn't support any auto low-latency modes.
07:33On Xbox, you can see that we do get lots of nice ticks next to most resolutions and options,
07:38except for 120Hz, and also there is a specific game picture mode you can use, which should
07:43give you the best response time.
07:45So there's no fancy gaming bells and whistles that you might hope for, although not necessarily
07:49expect at this price point.
07:52But front and centre of Skyglass is this new UI.
07:57There is also motion detection.
07:58If you walk past the TV, it'll bring up a kind of screensaver of show recommendations,
08:03but you can turn this off.
08:04Although a very cool new feature is the built-in far-field microphone, so you can waltz in,
08:09say hey Sky, and it'll turn on.
08:11Hello Sky.
08:13And then you can give commands for it to switch channels, inputs, open apps, change volume.
08:18There's a couple of second delay, but it does work quite well.
08:21Hello Sky.
08:23Volume 40.
08:24Yeah, okay.
08:27Although you can still use the mic built into the remote if you prefer, and if you actually
08:31want to turn off that built-in mic to the TV if you have any privacy concerns.
08:36But it does feel quite futuristic, and it means anyone who's watching can interact with it.
08:41Playlists are also brand new to Skyglass.
08:43You just press the little plus button on the remote while you're hovering over a show.
08:47Whether it's in the TV guide, a recommendation, or even in an app.
08:50And then in the playlist menu, it'll find episodes of that show available through all
08:54the channels and apps that you're logged into.
08:57It searches and collates it all for you, which is actually really handy, so you don't have
09:01to go searching in every platform yourself.
09:03Speaking of which, we do get the usual suspects, like Netflix, Amazon Prime, iPlayer, 4OD,
09:09Disney Plus, Discovery Plus.
09:11So that is all very cool.
09:13But one downside of not having a physical set-top box with a hard drive in it is that
09:21you can't download shows.
09:23So if you get taken off one of the streaming apps, or Sky no longer show it, then you can't
09:28keep it forever.
09:29So you are always reliant on streaming content.
09:32You can't store anything locally.
09:34But also bear in mind, this has just come out, so we'll likely see software updates,
09:38new features and apps added over time.
09:42All right, so how much?
09:43Well, this is where things get really interesting.
09:46In the UK, it's £649, £849 and £1049 for the three sizes respectively, if you want
09:51to buy it outright.
09:52Or, like your phone, you can buy it on a contract at £13, £17 and £21 per month for each size.
10:00And then you have the Sky subscription on top, starting from £26 a month, I believe.
10:04So what you could do is get a 55-inch Sky Glass and also the Sky Ultimate package, and
10:10put them together, that'll cost you £43 a month.
10:13That is actually a very accessible way to not only get Sky, but also a pretty good 4K
10:18HDR TV.
10:19And you don't have to pay for any extra sound system because the speakers in this are so
10:22bloody good.
10:25Also Sky do say that this is just the start for Glass and over time they'll introduce
10:28new hardware.
10:30So again, like your phone, chances are in a couple of years, you might be able to upgrade
10:33to a new TV model.
10:35Plus all Sky Glasses, is that the plural?
10:37I guess it is.
10:38All Sky Glasses come with a two-year warranty.
10:40And if you do cancel your Sky subscription, but you have bought the TV, then you can continue
10:45to use it.
10:46It doesn't just brick the TV because you've cancelled Sky, but then of course you won't
10:49have access to their content.
10:50So for a reasonably priced, great sounding, good looking, all-round 4K HDR TV, this is
10:56actually a really interesting proposition.
10:59And crucially, the ability to have Sky TV without a dish or a box, for most people that's
11:04reason enough to give this a go, and I will leave a link in the description if you want
11:07to check this out.
11:08But if you do have any questions, then let me know in the comments below, and also let
11:12me know what you make of Sky Glass, would you be tempted to buy one, and also if you
11:15did get one, would you buy it outright or on a subscription?
11:19Let me know what you think.
11:20Thank you so much for watching guys, don't forget to hit that little subscribe button
11:23if you enjoyed the video, and I'll catch you next time, right here, on the Tech Chap.