Sky Glass has FIVE advantages over Sky Q but there is a price to pay

There’s a new way of watching Sky TV with the firm revealing its latest and greatest product called Sky Glass. This all-in-one gadget not only includes a pin-sharp screen but everything you need to tune in and watch movies, entertainment and sport.

It will arrive in homes starting next week and here’s why it has five advantages – a few disadvantages – over the award-winning Sky Q set-top box.

DITCH THE DISH

One of the biggest advantages of Sky Glass is that you don’t need an ugly dish stuck to the outside of your home. This makes it perfect for anyone who can’t or simply doesn’t want this signal receiver screwed onto their property.

So, without a dish how does Sky Glass work? Well, instead of TV coming to your living room via a satellite, it’s all beamed to the screen through the web with Sky promising that anyone with speeds over 25Mbps will get a pin-sharp full UHD viewing experience.

IT’S A TV AS WELL

Unlike Sky Q, which plugs into your current TV, Sky Glass actually becomes your television with it featuring a QLED 4K display. There are three sizes to choose from including 43-inch, 55-inch, and 65-inch sizes plus it comes in a number of colours, such as Ocean Blue, Ceramic White, Racing Green, Dusky Pink, or Anthracite Black, to suit your taste.

Sky says that because everything is built into the television, it will use less energy than a standalone Sky Q set-top box and soundbar connected via HDMI to your telly – with up to 50 percent less power consumed than the traditional set-top.

YOU GET A SOUNDBAR

As well as getting a screen, Sky has also packed a soundbar into this telly which sits neatly under the display. The firm is promising Dolby Atmos-certified audio from this speaker which should be enough to fill a room with sound without investing in extra tech.

MORE SEAMLESS EXPERIENCE

Because the whole Sky Glass experience is powered by the web users will find things much more seamless when watching Sky’s channels and other services such as Disney+, Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Sky Q can be pretty slow to load these apps but Express.co.uk has seen Sky Glass in action with the whole process appearing much slicker and stutter-free.

POWERED BY ONE CABLE

If you hate the mess of cables behind your current TV system the Glass could be the way to go. One cable plugs into the case and powers everything so you don’t have wires from a set-top box or soundbar making a terrible mess of your living room.

This also makes things incredibly easy to set-up with Sky promising customers a very simple way to unbox the telly and get watching in minutes.

BUT BEWARE…

There are a few things to note about Sky Glass including the fact that there’s no hard drive with all recordings beamed to the screen via the web. That means if the broadband goes down you’ll be stuck with just the standard channels that come through your aerial and nothing else.

Then there’s the price as despite Sky’s claims of its Glass costing just £13 per month things aren’t really that cheap.

Yes, you can buy Glass for that price but that doesn’t come with any channels. Start adding entertainment and things quickly jump to £39 per month.

That’s over £13 more than a standard Sky Q subscription. Just like standard Sky, the more you add the more expensive things get.

Add Cinema (£11), Sports (£25) and the HDR pack (£5) and you’ll be looking at a bill of around £80 per month. Prices get even higher if you want a Sky Stream Puck with this way of watching telly in other rooms costing £10 per month for Multiroom and £50 per Puck.

All of this could leave you with a bill of over £100 per month and that doesn’t include the fast broadband connection you’ll need in order to be able to watch any of these amazing 4K television you’re paying for.