When Sky first unveiled the Sky Glass TV, it was with the aim of making it easier to get its pay TV service.
It did away with the set-top box, integrating it directly into the TV alongside the various streaming apps, and instead of a satellite service, it used your home’s internet connection to deliver TV. No box, no dish, no fuss, and all your content was in the same place, accessible through Sky’s Entertainment OS (renamed Sky OS).
Now the second generation of the TV is here, offering more of the same, but with some key differences.
Although the sizes remain the same at 43 inches, 55 inches and 63 inches, Sky has dropped the green and pink versions from the original line-up and stuck with grey, silver and blue. The version reviewed here is the 65-inch display in Atlantic Blue. It’s a big cinematic slab of a screen, and possibly as close to a home cinema that our livingroom can take.
If you were hoping for a drastic overhaul of Sky Glass, this isn’t it. The second-gen Glass makes some changes – some more important than others – that make it overall a better TV, but it largely looks the same as its predecessor.
The 65-inch version is still a bit chunky compared with other screens of this size
It starts with the screen. The Glass Generation 2 has a 4K Ultra HD Quantum Dot display with local dimming, which turns off individual areas of the screen so blacks can stay darker and whites are brighter. The original Glass lacked local dimming, and with only one light source it suffered at times from patchiness in darker scenes. But the new generation TV noticeably improves on that.
There are various picture modes, from modes made specifically for entertainment, sports and movies to music and more vivid settings. An auto mode will switch between the modes as needed, while the screen will also adjust the brightness as needed depending on the ambient light in the room.
Sky has made some other changes. The integrated soundbar, which supports Dolby Atmos, gets an extra subwoofer to beef up sound even further. There are other settings you can tweak. There is a bass boost mode that takes advantage of that additional subwoofer, a vocal booster to enhance dialogue and a night mode, which will decrease the volume and bass for the late-night sessions.
Sky has ditched the magnetic speaker covers to colour match the soundbar to the rest of the TV, which makes the overall package look a lot sleeker.
The 65-inch version is still a bit chunky compared with other screens of this size. But Sky has tweaked a few other things. The TV stand, which was awkward and clunky in the original version, has also changed. On the first generation, it had to be screwed in to the back of the TV; the second gen simplifies it down to a two-pronged design that you simply lift the TV on to.
Will Sky Glass threaten the higher-spec TVs from the likes of Sony? Unlikely
The wall mount, no longer included in the box, has been changed to a telescopic one that sits more neatly against the wall.
It is not all good news. Gamers will be disappointed about the lack of 120Hz refresh rate, with the Glass topping out at 60Hz. But for general viewers, the TV’s display will be more than enough to handle entertainment and sports.
There are no additional HDMI ports either, with Sky sticking at three, plus the USB A and C ports that will support the inclusion of extras such as the Sky Live camera.
And if you decide you no longer want to be a Sky customer, the TV will still work with your choice of set-top box for content, but extras such as voice commands will no longer work for you.
Will Sky Glass threaten the higher-spec TVs from the likes of Sony? Unlikely. But if you want to get Sky TV in a simple, convenient way, and you are on the hunt for a new TV, Sky Glass Gen 2 could fit the bill.
Good
There is a noticeable improvement in picture quality, particularly when it comes to reproducing blacks. Colours are more vivid, too, even out of the box.
Sound is better, too, with the additional firepower that Sky has added helping to deliver richer sound overall.
It also has all the extras – motion sensing so the TV turns on and off when people leave the room for any length of time, voice control and so on.
Bad
Sky Glass isn’t cheap. The 65-inch version is coming in at €1,379, while the 43-inch display starts at just under €800. That makes it a little harder to take that the wall mount is now an optional extra, at €120.
Everything else
You can pay for the TV outright, or over a period of 24 or 48 months; even with the once-off payment, it actually works out cheaper to pay off the TV on a monthly basis.
Sky hasn’t just improved the display and changed the colours; the 65-inch version is about 5kg lighter than its predecessor, which is a fair bit of bulk to cut from a TV that needs to sit securely on your wall.
The packaging is all fully recyclable and plastic free, even down to the tape used on the box.
Verdict
The second generation of Sky Glass makes some well thought-out changes that improve the overall package.
