1709.07 Q

Pay attention 007. I have the latest gadget for you. We all love gadgets don't we? 

Seven years ago I upgraded my satellite receiver box to a Sky+HD box and it revolutionised the way we enjoyed television. It was our first DVR (digital video recorder) and it was amazing. 

Of course now it's a bit old hat. Programme clashes and space on the hard drive were regular issues. Only being able to watch recordings on the big telly was also problematic, after all nobody else in the house wants to watch the cycling! These were just some of the issues we had learned to live with. 

Over the last few months the box had started to come up with viewing card errors which meant that viewing was interrupted or worse still scheduled recordings were missed. I reported the fault and was initially sent a new card to insert. This worked for a sort time but the errors started to creep back. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, Sky had started a loyalty scheme for long standing subscribers and as such I was entitled it a free installation of their latest system... SKY Q.

It was installed 2 days ago, the process went well. The guy put up a new dish since mine had become rusty. The new box was ready to use in a jiffy and after a quick run through of the features I was up and running. 

So what's better about this new fangled system then? Well, in a nutshell it can record more at once, potentially 6 at once whilst watching a 7th. I can watch the recordings in the bedroom via the Sky Q mini box and also on my tablet or phone. I can even download the recordings to watch elsewhere. The mini box also acts as a WiFi extender utilising the power sockets as a network carrier. 

So as revolutionary as the Sky+ was, this ups the game and frees up viewing to any room in the house. It's also boosted my WiFi and removed the couple of black spots we had. So on the whole I'm happy with it so far. There are a couple of niggles (like you can't bookmark your favourite channels) but the benefits outweigh the negatives.

The new remote

I love quality TV, I also love watching the cycling. Anything that makes the experience more pleasant gets the thumbs up from me.