Sky On Demand

[Simon]

Quick question for a friend - does the On Demand service with Sky consume internet bandwidth, or are things downloaded via Sky itself?  They are with IDNet for internet.

[Gary]

Quick question for a friend - does the On Demand service with Sky consume internet bandwidth, or are things downloaded via Sky itself?  They are with IDNet for internet.

It depends, if they have their box connected to the internet via wifi or Ethernet  it will. If not no. If you have your box connected to the net you no longer need a phone line either.

[Simon]

Apparently they were asked for their wifi password when it was set up, so that would seem to indicate it's using the internet.  They've just had a projected excessive bandwidth warning, 8 days into the month, estimating a charge of £169! 

[Simon]

So, can they still use SkyOD without it being connected to the internet?

[Clive]

I ran Sky for over a decade without a phone line connected.  Nor was it connected to the internet.  The only thing was that whenever I upgraded the box (from Sky to Sky+ then HD) the engineer had to connect a temporary phone line for a few minutes to get it up and running.  I've now abandoned Sky for a Panasonic PVR box and haven't looked back.   

[Clive]

I suspect they are trying to encourage your imaginary friend to switch to Sky Unlimited Broadband.  DON'T DO IT SIMON!   

[Steve]

The On Demand service primarily relies on an Internet connection to the Sky box and of course consumes your personal internet bandwidth .

Of course some of the available series are in HD so it soon adds up.

[Simon]

I think this is a bit different, Clive.  It seems they used the Sky On Demand service to download two entire series of Game of Thrones (which, it would seem, explains the excessive bandwidth), without realising they were using their internet connection to do so. 

[Clive]

Phew!  Always Game of Thrones.     What am I missing out on?   

[pctech]

Yep, uses the Internet.

I managed to clock up 163 GB bandwidth use last month watching stuff on NowTV though I did a couple of  hefty downloads too.

This is the danger with these services and not having a hard cap implemented, you can easily run a bill which is why I personally couldn't use IDNet for internet access.

[pctech]

Phew!  Always Game of Thrones.     What am I missing out on?   

Seems the public have a taste for extreme horror combined with adult material.

I watched a bit as I quite like Lord Of The Rings, Merlin and other sword and sorcery type stuff  but it didn't hold my interest that much but I was rather tired at the time.

[Simon]

There's certainly a lot of tits in it (and everything else!) but extreme horror?  I don't think so.  Sure, some of the battle scenes have some gore, otherwise they wouldn't be realistic, but it's more about power struggles and political intrigue than anything else.  George R R Martin, the author of the books, has said it's loosely based on inspiration from The War of The Roses, but it's far more expansive than that, and has many different strands to it.

[Simon]

Anyway, so back to the Sky On Demand thing, can it not be used at all without using the internet connection?  Why can't it be used with their Sky service OTA?

[Technical Ben]

Seems the public have a taste for extreme horror combined with adult material.

I watched a bit as I quite like Lord Of The Rings, Merlin and other sword and sorcery type stuff  but it didn't hold my interest that much but I was rather tired at the time.

Not watched it, but it seems the only "hook" is the usual garbage... sex and violence...

Are you asking if the box can download via the sky dish? I'd assume only if it they set it up to record during a broadcast to play later. I'd assume not though, as they'd need to cue far too much stuff, and how would they know what to record? This would be different than say the on demand movies, as they can just stagger them to half an hour over 3 or more Sky channels. Which would look like "on-demand". Where as the latest offers seem to be real downloads, and real "on-demand" streaming.

A sky broadcast could never cope with everyone asking for individual movie streams... never enough satellites.

[pctech]

The satellite communication is one way so there is no return path for the appropriate stream to be requested.

For communication to be two way the existing LNB would need to be replaced with an iLNB and while SES Astra do provide a data service on the 28.2E satellites Sky have not made use of it so the boxes can only communicate back to Sky via a network connection or dial-up modem (I think this has been dropped in the newer boxes)

[Simon]

Right, so it's because On Demand isn't actually being broadcast at the time, but is streamed on request, yes?  I think I get it. 

[pctech]

Correct Simon.

Just like Netflix or Youtube.

[kinmel]

Without a configured internet connection to the Sky box then most of the "new" On-demand, Box Sets and film rental services simply don't appear in the menu, so they do not arrive via the satellite link.

You do really need an unlimited, fast connection to fully benefit from these latest services and of course with Sky Fibre you get the item instantly available at no extra cost.

The Game of Thrones' HD box set download of thirty episodes was a whopping 340GB !   

Catch up, Box sets,  etc and smart TVs have completely changed home entertainment in this house. I can't remember the last time I watched a programme live and if 4 or more programmes we want to watch are  on together it is no problem at all.   

[zappaDPJ]

Something worth mentioning is that most Sky boxes have 'Enable On Demand Downloads' set to off by default. If you don't switch it on you won't get very much at all out of On Demand.

Game of Thrones has to be the best TV entertainment I've seen this century. Sure there's a bit of sex and violence, plus the odd dwarf, but that's certainly not the main attraction. In fact it's rarely mentioned by anyone who watches it.

[Simon]

I agree, Zap, although, I will be glad when season 4 picks up the pace a little.  The last two episodes have been largely transitional, so hopefully things will start moving along now. 

There's another series I've seen a trailer for, which looks pretty good, and that's Black Sails. 

With regards my friends, they have been almost up to their allowance for the last three months, and they are a big family of 6 users, so they may have to consider their options soon.  Unfortunately, Fibre is not one of them as they are in rather an isolated location. 

[Technical Ben]

The satellite communication is one way so there is no return path for the appropriate stream to be requested.

For communication to be two way the existing LNB would need to be replaced with an iLNB and while SES Astra do provide a data service on the 28.2E satellites Sky have not made use of it so the boxes can only communicate back to Sky via a network connection or dial-up modem (I think this has been dropped in the newer boxes)

Yeah, I know satellite "internet" is usually (unless very expensive equipment and contracts) download via dish and upload via landline. But that totally left my mind with this conversation as it was generally comparing internet services and some almost "on demand" services that are really just scheduled repeats.

[Lona]

Phew!  Always Game of Thrones.     What am I missing out on?   

If you're anything like me Clive, Don't get hooked on it.  It jumps from one group to another. I have to save each episode and play it back as I lose track of them all. It's a good series but not for the folk with bad memories lol. I just miss Sean Bean. He got killed off in the first series.

[Simon]

Well, that's ruined the first series for anyone who hasn't seen it!   

[Gary]

Anyway, so back to the Sky On Demand thing, can it not be used at all without using the internet connection?  Why can't it be used with their Sky service OTA?

Dont download huge box sets without unlimited plans, common sense really. On demand has thousands of films and box sets and so on, its a great library. HD stuff takes up a fair few GB's of data. Also it shows you it tells you its downloading over the internet, and you can check how much is downloaded at any time and cancel it too, its all quite transparent.

[Simon]

'Common sense' is a significant issue here.    But, to be fair, they've had Sky for years, and have oniy recently got OD, so I think it's understandable not to automatically assume that the internet connection is being used for downloads, especially when one isn't technically minded. 

[Gary]

'Common sense' is a significant issue here.    But, to be fair, they've had Sky for years, and have oniy recently got OD, so I think it's understandable not to automatically assume that the internet connection is being used for downloads, especially when one isn't technically minded. 

Again I can imagine but when a pop up is telling your its being downloaded, and since you cant download from a satellite via sky like that it should be obvious, but my Mother wouldn't get it so I know what you mean...some people need a license to be on the internet.  I want to watch the box sets of mad Men (I'm up to date with Game Of Thrones and dame fine it is to) but 6 series is a lot to download so I just download a few each month, even with unlimited BB I would never have the time to watch it all plus my regular stuff.

[Simon]

Mad Men passed me by.  Might check it out as there's bugger all to watch on UK TV. 

[Gary]

Mad Men passed me by.  Might check it out as there's bugger all to watch on UK TV. 

I really like it, and its written by a woman so the perspective is interesting, its scary how woman were objectified and treated then, the program shows the change from the 60's to 70's and how the '50's Man' Marketing execs became dinosaurs of their time if they didn't more with it. Great show.

[Clive]

If you're anything like me Clive, Don't get hooked on it.  It jumps from one group to another. I have to save each episode and play it back as I lose track of them all. It's a good series but not for the folk with bad memories lol. I just miss Sean Bean. He got killed off in the first series.

Mrs Clive would have to explain it all to me Lona.  That's pretty normal in our house.   

[peasblossom]

Apropos of that, kind of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Krz-dyD-UQ

It made me laugh and I've never watched GoT.

[zappaDPJ]

Apropos of that, kind of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Krz-dyD-UQ

It made me laugh and I've never watched GoT.

That was funny!

[Lona]

I love the midgets voice. I think he's the best in the whole show.

[Simon]

Apropos of that, kind of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Krz-dyD-UQ

It made me laugh and I've never watched GoT.

Very clever, and very funny!   

[Glenn]

Do you have to pay for the box sets you down load/view?

[Simon]

No idea! 

[Steve]

Not usually unless of course they're not part of your subscription package i.e. films.