Sky Glass and Sky Stream, the two streaming-based devices from Sky TV, are finally getting a long-requested feature this week – personalised profiles – along with a few additional new features.
The Profiles feature, which has long been a staple of other streaming services (such as Netflix and Disney+), was sorely absent from Sky’s devices over the years – and still isn’t available on Sky Q.
Its implementation on Sky Glass and Sky Stream is a bit different than profiles on other services, which is why Sky is calling it “Personalised Playlists” instead (see full details on how it works below).
This week’s update, which will be free for all Sky Glass and Sky Stream owners, will also include a new direct “Play” voice command, a new Cast and Crew rail that lets you find more content with actors you love, and more.
Sky Glass (see my review), which was released in 2021, is a 4K TV set that features a QLED HDR display and a built-in Dolby Atmos soundbar with six speakers.
Sky Stream (see our review), which launched in late 2022, is a standalone streaming set-top box that works with any broadband provider.
Unlike Sky’s other devices in the UK, Sky Glass and Sky Stream don’t use a satellite dish – instead, they rely on broadband, and stream all the content to the TV, much like other streaming devices like the Amazon Fire TV and Roku – or streaming services like Sky’s own NOW (see our Sky Glass VS Now comparison).
Sky periodically rolls out software upgrades and new features for both Glass and Stream – a couple of months ago, Sky even upgraded the picture quality on Sky Glass, via a software update.
Sky Glass / Sky Stream: What’s New?
Sky now calls the operating system on Glass and Stream “Entertainment OS”, and the new update’s version is Entertainment OS 1.1.
The update should be available to all customers by February 4, and should reach your device automatically.
However, sometimes a reset is needed, so you might have to unplug the Glass TV or the Stream puck, wait 20 seconds, and plug it back in.
Here’s what’s coming with this new update:
Personalised Playlists
Almost every streaming service (and some streaming devices, such as Amazon’s Fire TV) supports user profiles these days – and Sky’s services and devices were left behind (even Sky’s other streaming service, NOW, doesn’t support profiles) – until now.
This week, Glass and Stream are finally getting a unique version of the Profiles feature, called Personalised Playlists (I got to see and tell you about an early version of it a few months ago).
The Playlist on Glass and Stream is the main “Watchlist” (as it’s called on other services), where you can create a list of everything you want to watch from the TV guide, on-demand and apps, simply by pressing the ”+” button on your remote.
Until now, the whole family had to share a single playlist – so it was cluttered with shows and films Dad watches, along with kids’ content and maybe even stuff your housesitter saved to the list.
According to Sky, they didn’t want to create separate Profiles that would change the whole experience for every user.
So instead of making you choose a profile when you turn on the TV – you will get a “Shared” interface for the entire family, but specific programmes can then be added to personal playlists – so there’s a separate playlist for Mom, a playlist for the 5-year-old, etc., and also a shared Playlist for things the family watches together.
You can create up to five unique playlists – so for families, you can keep all the episodes of Paw Patrol to the kids’ lists, fill yours with The Last of Us and Gangs of London, and let your housemate – if you have one – save their favourite sports documentaries in their own Playlist instead of adding it the household’s shared list.
New ‘Play’ Voice Command
Until now, jumping to a show via Sky Glass and Sky Stream’s voice commands meant having to go through the show/film’s dedicated page before you could actually watch it.
Now, getting directly to what you want to watch is easier – Simply say “Play Love Island“ and pick up exactly where you left off (it simply starts playing) so you don’t have to go via a Show Page or search results.
‘Play’ works in several ways to get you to content quicker:
- Highlight a show or movie with your remote and say ‘Play’ to watch it right away when you’re in the Continue Watching rail, Now and Next rail or in the TV Guide or Show Page.
- Haven’t started the show or movie yet? Your device will play from the start of the movie, the beginning of the series, or the latest episode of a soap.
- For franchises and collections, or shows with generic titles, you’ll still be taken to the search results page to pick which one you want to watch.
- If you’re partway through something, saying “Play The Last of Us” will continue the episode or movie from where you were up to
Cast And Crew Rail
Just watched a movie with an actor or director you like and want to see more of their work? With the new Cast and Crew rail on Show Pages, you can watch their entire back catalogue (as long as it’s available on Sky or one of the supported streaming services).
Simply select someone from the rail, and see everything they’ve been a part of that is available on the platform.
Improved Bluetooth Support (Glass Only)
A previous update added Bluetooth headphones support to Sky Glass – so you were finally able to connect Bluetooth headphones to Glass, and watch everything without disturbing others late at night.
With this week’s new update, you can now listen via your Bluetooth headphones at the same time as Sky Glass’ speakers are playing.
It means customers who are hard of hearing can listen with their headphones, while watching with the rest of their household.
When the update was sent out at the end of last week, users glass/streams would only work with voice control. This was sorted in about 24 hours where sky appeared to roll back the software. The profiles feature has not been implemented yet and sky have amended the press release.