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Easily the most common question I’ve had about Sky TV’s new Sky Pod, is “Can it play TVNZ’s channels?”
And the most common piece of feedback that people have shared with me on social media is that it’s sluggish and temperamental.
Before we get to those issues, and my own experiences, some quick scene-setting.
The Sky Pod costs $100. It plugs into an HDMI port on your TV (same sort of jack used by the current Sky decoder). It connects to your internet via wi-fi, or an ethernet cable (supplied) that connects to your broadband router. Again, that’s the same way Sky’s current decoder grabs your internet.
It’s an option to look at if you’ve got a “dumb TV” (one that can’t play Netflix and other apps) or have a more modern set-up but want the convenience of Sky content and apps in one interface.
Like the more fully-featured, $200 Sky Box (reviewed in-depth here), it can deliver both Sky TV’s regular channels, Sky on-demand content, plus apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, TikTok, Spotify and YouTube (in fact, any TV-compatible app on Google’s app store; the Sky Pod runs on Google’s Android software).
Like the Sky Box, the Sky Pod features a home screen where apps like Netflix, TVNZ+ and Spotify rub shoulders with regular Sky channels. Photo / Chris Keall
A lot of the process feels a lot like setting up a new smartphone as you wade through a lot of Google livery and select apps. If you own an Android phone, like a Samsung, then you can scan a code for a quick install. Even if you’re in the iPhone camp, logging on with your Google ID will mean you’re already automatically logged in to many apps, which is a nice touch.
If you use the Sky Go app when away from your decoder, nothing changes. You can still use Go to watch Sky content on your phone or your PC at work.
The initial market for the Sky Pod is former users of Vodafone TV (RIP) after the telco and pay-TV provider wound up a wholesale deal. But it will then be made available more widely.
As with the Sky Box, a multi-year run of bad regulating, bad boardroom decisions and plain bad luck saw it both delayed for years, and pressured near the finish line as Sky racked up $7 million in bills keeping the lights on at Vodafone TV as the partner service saw several end-of-life deadlines extended.
But now here it is and here’s what you need to know.
1. Does it need a Sky dish?
Nope. One of the biggest differences with today’s decoder (or the new Sky Box) is that the Sky Pod gets not just on-demand content over the internet (like today’s Sky decoder) but all of its content over the internet.
The good news is that no satellite dish is required.
The bad - or, at least, the qualifier - is that you’ll need a broadband plan with unlimited data. These days, Sky will sell you Sky Broadband too for a one-stop shop. (Sky Broadband is provisioned behind the scenes by 2degrees.) At a pinch, some could get away with a fixed-wireless broadband account, but if you’re a bit of a couch potato, or live in a home where more than one person will be doing intensive stuff on the internet at once, it calls for UFB fibre (which is not available in all areas, unlike Sky’s satellite, but will never be hit by rain fade).
Basics: Sky NZ channels via broadband, so no dish required No local recording (all catch-up viewing is streaming via a three-day reverse TV day) Runs on Android, supports any TV-compatible app in Google's app store (Netflix, Disney+. Spotify, TikTok TVNZ+etc) 4K and HDR Voice…
Installation is DIY. The instruction card that comes in the box is simple and clear, and even if you’re non-technical, it will only take you a few minutes if nothing goes wrong. You will need to have three passwords on hand: Your Sky log-on, your Google log-on (what you use for a Gmail account or other Google services; it’s optional but necessary for individual profiles and other features on the Sky Pod, which runs on Google’s Android software) and - if you’re using an ethernet cable to link to your broadband router - your wi-fi password).
Sky recently laid off 170 local staff as it offshored helpdesk and other roles to India and the Philippines. At first blush, the rollout of the broadcaster’s first major hardware upgrade in a decade seems the worst time to make cuts, but Sky says it’s increased the size of its support operation overall with the restructure, and kept 100 staff in New Zealand to handle gnarlier queries.
2. Can it record stuff?
Nope. There’s no hard drive (the second key point of difference with the Sky Box). Instead of recording content, if you’ve missed a show you browse backward through the onscreen TV Guide to find the show you want, then you click on it and it streams on-demand. The catch is that this trick only works for the past three days of listings.
Most content can be streamed via the reverse TV Guide. The main exception seems to be Three content, though that can be accessed through the Three Now app (and the same goes for recent TVNZ content, via TVNZ+; see more on TVNZ’s absence from the TV Guide below).
What happens when you hit the "R" button on the Sky Pod's remote. Photo / Chris Keall
The Sky Pod has exactly the same remote as the Sky Box - including an “R” button for record - although when you press it, you get a messaging saying: “Keen to record your favourite shows? Check out our new Sky Box online at Sky.co.nz”.
3. Can you watch TVNZ channels?
Sky TV and TVNZ could not reach an agreement over the inclusion of the state-owned broadcaster’s channels (TVNZ 1, TVNZ 2 and Duke).
So when you scroll through the channel change buttons on the Sky Pod’s remote, or look in its onscreen TV Guide, TVNZ’s channels just aren’t there.
There is a workaround. You can open the TVNZ+ app, which along with on-demand content features live streams of TVNZ 1, TVNZ 2 and Duke, then select your desired channel from there - but it’s several more clicks, and you have to wait for the TVNZ+ to load, then select a profile. On social media, a number of people have told me it’s a dealbreaker. It’s certainly annoying.
The Sky Box does directly support TVNZ’s channels (no negotiations were needed there, because a Sky dish can just pluck them out of air).
When I asked if TVNZ channels could still be added to the Pod, Sky said it was hopeful that negotiations would ultimately bear fruit, but TVNZ was non-committal (although it’s notable it will have a new CEO from June).
With TVNZ's channels absent from the TV Guide, you see Sky TV's Prime's +1 channel first up when you hit your channel change button, followed by "featured provider" Netflix in the slot usually occupied by TVNZ 2. The real-time version of Prime occupies the fourth slot. Photo / Chris Keall
For the time being, you’ve got to wonder if, despite its enthusiasm to promote TVNZ+, our state-owned broadcaster is cutting off its nose to spite its face. TVNZ 1 is all-conquering. Nielsen’s ratings for April 9 - 15 show TVNZ 1 with 19 of the 20 most-viewed shows. Part of that is its heritage, and part is simply that it’s the first option on our remotes. When you look at the Sky Pod’s remote, the “1″ slot is occupied by Sky’s own Prime, and “2″ by “featured provider” Netflix.
4. Is it slow and temperamental?
I unboxed my Sky Pod with some trepidation, given whenever I’d posted about it on social media, I inevitably got angry responses from people who say they used to use a Vodafone TV unit, and find the Pod a lot slower (the lack of TVNZ channels, which did feature on Vodafone TV, has been another sore point). And two other journalists in NZME’s stable told me they were at their wit’s end. One had constant wi-fi drop-outs, the other said he had to reset his Pod nearly every day.
My experience with the Pod has been more positive. It hasn’t dropped my internet connection or restarted itself once over the first week or so. Possibly this is because one of the first screens that appeared during installation was a “system update” message that said close to 1 gigabyte of “general improvements and bug fixes” were being downloaded and installed (Sky says both the Sky Box and the Pod should see their performance improved by ongoing software upgrades).
Still, for some tasks, the Sky Pod is sluggish. When I reviewed its older sibling, the Sky Box, I found it took 57 seconds to change between the first nine channels, or nearly twice as slow as my old Sky decoder on 29 seconds - which itself was no great shakes.
On the Pod, it also took just under a minute to switch between the first nine channels, if you wait for a picture to actually appear. See the video below. While all the Pod’s channels are streamed, my internet connection wasn’t an issue. I’m on eight-gigabit-per-second UFB fibre, or the fastest type of internet connection you can get.
And listings on the reverse TV guide (which, remember, you use to access on-demand content in lieu of recording) sometimes took so long to populate that I thought some content was not available on-demand.
With voice commands, it’s the same story as the Sky Box. Google’s voice command technology - which you enable by clicking a button on the remote - has been around for years. It’s mature and reliable. The irritation is that it’s hard to second-guess which Pod features it supports, or not.
You can do cool stuff like asking the Pod to open Netflix then play a specific show, but not several basic functions including searching the TV guide. And I could never get the voice assistant to recognise “TVNZ+” - which could have been a time-saver given the lack of TVNZ channels in the TV guide. Mostly I got an error message, although one time it generated a TVNZ+ icon, even if it didn’t open it.
My critique of the remote is the same as my Sky Box review, given its identical hardware. You can fast-forward or rewind at up to twice the speed of the old decoder, but it’s also easy to overshoot because it’s harder to fine control - and even more so with the streaming-only Pod (I’ve found fast forwarding and rewinding a weak point of all streaming hardware).
The remote control for Sky TV's new Sky Pod (right), alongside the remote for the decoder it replaces.
Sure, the chunky remote with Sky’s old decoder looks like it belongs in Motat. But with its rubbery buttons, it’s just easier for forwarding or rewinding. You do get the option to watch any show from the beginning, which is handy.
5. Do I need to buy it?
Like the Sky Box, the Sky Pod is “4K” ready, meaning it supports content in 4K Ultra High Definition. But although most of the global streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, offer a lot of 4K content, Sky has no plans to offer any of its broadcast channels or on-demand content in 4K.
If Sky did move to support 4K, and the Pod was the only way to get Sky content in 4K, that would be a compelling reason to buy it (and the same goes for the Sky Box).
But for now, it’s not.
If you want apps, 4K and Sky content, then other options might hold more appeal, including using a Google Chromecast widget ($69 to $109) with Sky’s Neon and Sky Sport Now apps installed, or simply sticking with Sky’s old decoder paired with a smart TV.
