Download Monkey

Who's it from?

Sky Player is the umbrella brand for Sky's "pull" download to your PC service - the "push" download to your Sky+ box remains Sky Anytime.

Where can I find it?

www.sky.com/skyplayer

What does it offer?

A whole lot of the sports, movies and entertainment programming that you'll already have available via your TV - plus some that you won't - ready to pull down now to a Windows XP or Vista PC near you.

Another arm of the service (Sky Anytime) pushes down big name programmes to your Sky+ HD box via satellite in the wee small hours (if you've chosen to activate it through the Sky EPG). This doesn't affect anything you've chosen to record or watch.

So?

This is really is version 3 time for Sky (and my motto is "never buy anything until version 3..."). Version one was a bit of a dog (called Sky By Broadband) - it was a monolith of an application, a bugger to manage and was plagued by setup and login problems (and more about those later on). The second was Sky Anytime which improved things.

What we have now is a slicker, cleaner web based service running on the Kontiki peer to peer network also favoured by 4OD and the BBC iPlayer. This can have problems if you have a capped broadband service that limits your usage. The Kontiki system makes your PC just one node on a network and you can burn through bandwidth allowance just by having your computer online as it allows others download from you in the background. Be warned.

You don't have to be a Sky TV customer (or take Sky Broadband) to get this service, but I suspect that's the only way you'll get the most out of it (non customers can buy selected packages at £5 a month for Sky Player access). But obviously there is a huge amount of TV content here and just how much of it you can get for free depends specifically which Sky TV package you have.

There is also a lot of pay per view content, including a World Cinema service. We also noticed a couple of films that we don't think are available anywhere else - not even DVD - and all three previous seasons of Battlestar Galactica. So it looks like Sky are using their deals with the US studios and UK sports rights owners to make sure we don't need to go to Blockbuster again. Even if the dreaded DRM software restricts it to one PC and how long I can keep shows on my computer - but to be fair this is the same as 4oD and BBC.

To use it you need to register and at Sky.com and download a very small bit of software to your PC. Assuming this goes fine, all should be well. Too many people though are still having problems with accounts and validation at this stage. If you want to move your account to another computer, this can also cause headaches.

Sky Anytime on TV is now a separately branded service. It only works for people who have the latest Sky HD or Sky+ boxes. They use "hidden" capacity on the hard drive to store previews and key Sky programming which is downloaded in the background via satellite each night. This is not an internet service and can be turned off from the EPG services menu. Having said that, why would you? It does no harm, burns up no storage or bandwidth and often gives you previews to top shows (Lost, Battlestar, movies) before they are transmitted.

Speed and Quality

The one really major improvement is the ability to stream shows. And we are talking in really good quality - not your youtube or ITV.com stuff here. Sky Player offers superb quality streaming - and if you want it bigger and better you can stil download instead. Other than that, the service is pretty much the same, but don't underestimate just how good and how fast this new streaming service is. It's well worth a look. A two hour movie might still take an hour to download (or start streaming in about 15 seconds) but I've just watched an epsiode of Lost that took 20 minutes. Suffice to say that the picture quality on both is great - as good as or better than anything from 4oD and Five Download or BBC iPlayer

One huge bone of contention that gets Sky Player marked down though is the login problems. Too often I tried to download and the service would not log me in, despite my details being correct and moving your account between PCs is a nightmare that requires a call to Sky's call centre. This makes me think that the Sky team running Sky Player aren't the same people who run the Sky login - which sadly, remains an utter dog.

Anytime TV. Now this is where it gets interesting. You can't control what Sky push down to your box, but it lives on a part of your Sky+ hard drive that you can't access anyway. Lots of the content is HD and whoever is choosing what gets pushed down is picking some good shows - even though overall it's a balanced mix of movies, entertainment, kids etc. The picture quality in HD content is the best there is - just stunning.

Download Monkey's conclusion...

Despite the fact that the move to Sky Player has done nothing to improve the frustrating login and account movement problems, this is a service that any living, breathing Sky customer would now be even crazier not to make use of. Streaming of this quality is welcomed by the ADD driven "I want it now" crowd and enough to satisfy most of the "I want it to look great" crowd too. If not, they can always download. It's free if you already subscribe and have the right kit. My money is still firmly on Sky Player being among the last men standing alongside the BBC iPlayer well after your Tiscali's and ITVs have withered and died.

Sky Player and TV Review by ChunkyMonkey

May 2008