Ultimate Setup: Sky Q
Pair your shiny new box up with this lot, and you'll be in telly heaven
There’s no doubt about it – Sky Q is pricey, but it’s also the pinnacle of couch surfing nirvana, offering an unmatched haven for telly addicts.
If you’re planning to dive into Sky’s time-sucking world, then you’re going to want to do it justice – that janky old 720p telly with its built-in tinny speakers are definitely not going to serve you well.
Kit your living room out with this lot though, and you’ll be well on your way to never leaving your home again. Apologies in advance:
The screen: Samsung UE48JS8500
Sky Q arrives ‘UHD-ready’ but without any channels ready to actually show it. Still, that means having a TV that’s equally eager to show 4K should be top of your wishlist.
Samsung has plenty to choose from but we like the curved UE48JS8500 (and we love the 55in version even more), which is part of its SUHDrange, meaning colours are a little more colourful thanks to a thin layer of crystals that emit light. And it works: all-round picture quality is up there with the best, whether it’s from TV, Blu-ray or one of the built-in streaming apps, such as Netflix or Amazon Prime.
It’ll also support HDR (after a firmware update) so you can make the most of the built-in Amazon and Netflix apps.
Importantly, though, this telly also performs really well with less-than-4K sources, so even the few remaining standard-def channels won’t look like an expressionist painting viewed through a Vaseline-smeared window. Perhaps there’s life in that old DVD collection yet.
Pro zapper
A standard remote wouldn’t really do for a TV of this talent, so it comes with a fancy one. An on-screen pointer activates when your thumb is rested on the right button, while holding down the ‘Extra’ key brins up the EPG. Fancy stuff.
Related › Samsung UE55JS8500 review
The sound: Philips Fidelio B5
Sky’s multiroom approach to TV deserves a suitably flexible sound system – and Philips’ Fidelio B5 gives you just that.
What looks (and works) like a standard soundbar can be turned into a 4.1 surround sound system by detaching the two ends and repositioning them as separate wireless speakers – handy if you want to go from old episodes of Blockbusters to a Hollywood blockbuster and the sound needs a bit of a boost.
On top of that, each end can be used as an individual Bluetooth speaker, so if you’re kicked out of the lounge and need to take your tablet into another room to watch the end of the football, you can pimp its sound by taking a bit of the B5 with you, while someone else continues to use the main bar attached to the telly. Genius, eh?
You can also switch it to Music mode in order to make the most of Sky Q’s AirPlay compatibility or built-in Vevo app, if you fancy.
Grab and go
The two ends of the Fidelio B5’s soundbar automatically switch to wireless mode when detached, so there’s no need to fiddle around with confusing menus, and you can switch to surround sound in moments.
Related › Philips Fidelio B5 soundbar review
The Show: Super Sunday
You don’t structure your life around the days of the week – you use the football fixtures. Sundays are Super; Monday nights are for MNF, not University Challenge, and every day between is filled with whatever obscure leauge you can find on the EPG (although you’ll probably stick on a movie if the only option is Scottish Leaue Two).
And when the season’s over? There’s cricket, kabaddi, F1, you name it. If it’s not competitive, you’ll make it so.
While BT Sport might’ve stolen the Champions Leauge, Sky still holds the lion’s share of Premier League games, not to mention the Championship, La Liga and, for the football hipsters, the Eredivisie.
Super Sunday is its crown jewel, showing up to three top-flight games back to back, to watch before, during, and after you eat your roast.
Now add this: Apple iPad Air 2
Sky Q’s got 12 tuners and you can use two of them to stream to tablets elsewhere in the house. Neat.
If you’re going to do that, you can’t go far wrong with the Apple iPad Air 2, which offers all of Apple’s superior iOS tablet apps at a more manageable price than its iPad Pro 9.7 brother.
Naturally, being an Apple product, it’s thin and light, so your wrists won’t ache from holding it for a whole episode of Premier League Years. Oh for the days of those baggy ’90s shirts…
Appy days
The old Sky+ app still works with Sky Q. If you’ve set up remote record, it should switch over to your new viewing card by itself when you have Sky Q installed.
Related › Apple iPad Air 2 review
Esat Dedezade
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