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Your experiences using Sky Go Extra
phillees
Posts: 114 Forum Member
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Guys,
I started using this at the beginning of the week, thinking it would be handy for weekends away with the caravan.
It started off really well, being able to download stuff in an evening and watching it the following day at work. This is on an android phone where the content downloads in the background allowing me to use the phone in other ways with no issues.
Last night I set up the daughters ipad. She chose a few films only to discover half the ones she wanted were unavailable to download. (1st gripe) I set them to download and closed the ipad thinking it would carry on downloading, opened it up to find nothing had happened. Reading the instructions it turns out you have to leave the app open and set the locked screen to never. (gripe 2)
Now to me, this seems a little date. The ipad is now un usable whilst downloading, and the screen fully lit up whilst doing so. Surely It could do all this in the background like the android.
Finally, what's with programs only being able to be viewed within 48hrs once viewing has started. You can keep it on the device for 30 days in some cases, so why not be able to view it as many times as you like within that period ! (gripe 3)
Will I be keeping it after the free trial period, not sure just yet.
I started using this at the beginning of the week, thinking it would be handy for weekends away with the caravan.
It started off really well, being able to download stuff in an evening and watching it the following day at work. This is on an android phone where the content downloads in the background allowing me to use the phone in other ways with no issues.
Last night I set up the daughters ipad. She chose a few films only to discover half the ones she wanted were unavailable to download. (1st gripe) I set them to download and closed the ipad thinking it would carry on downloading, opened it up to find nothing had happened. Reading the instructions it turns out you have to leave the app open and set the locked screen to never. (gripe 2)
Now to me, this seems a little date. The ipad is now un usable whilst downloading, and the screen fully lit up whilst doing so. Surely It could do all this in the background like the android.
Finally, what's with programs only being able to be viewed within 48hrs once viewing has started. You can keep it on the device for 30 days in some cases, so why not be able to view it as many times as you like within that period ! (gripe 3)
Will I be keeping it after the free trial period, not sure just yet.
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Comments
Nobody forced you to buy a tablet or buy Sky Go Extra.
It's DRM restricted so you don't abuse it.
Why can't you finish watching something within 48 hours if you WANT to watch it?
A month is quite generous to START watching it.
You can always buy the DVD/Blu-Ray if you want to watch something over and over, you don't have to wait long. Or possibly download it via another service that allows unrestricted playback.
It is a catch-up service or offline content caching service, not a cheap way of getting repeated watches out of something that exists in other formats for the purposes you want.
Wow, calm it down a little mate please.
Your wright about no one forcing me to buy anything, just commenting on it's restrictions and where it falls down.
As for your comment about how long it stays on your device, I'm guessing you've not got kids yet that like to watch films over and over again. I could just buy the dvds but chose to pay sky instead and use their copy. I never expected to have a permanent copy on my device, just not have it only for 48hrs.
its a model from paying per film rental. There it makes sense to limit how many times you can watch it. When you can just download the same film again, as many times as you like, its a bit silly.
It'll be a contractual restriction and not something imposed by Sky. Movie studios seem to be quite strict on letting tv broadcasters allow people to download their stuff. BBC gets away with such a long download time because they are the rights holder as well as the broadcaster.
I wasn't aware that on android you can close the app whilst downloading. I've been experiencing the same thing on my ipad. I think I will start downloading stuff to watch on my galaxy note instead as its frustrating.
Sorry if it sounds aggressive.
BIB - It's not what the service is designed for, but to be fair, Sky do an awful lot of repeats on their movie channels.
And before anyone jumps on my back about it, ITV and Film4 also repeat films heavily.
But, I will say this, feedback your comments to Sky about the (cr)app - see what they say or moreover, do.
Anyone can write apps these days it seems, but can they write a well thought through one? Where is the incentive?
Fantastic rouse, just like Multiroom and HD. Keep paying for the same content.
Got to love Sky!
Yes mate, Spartacus is downloading as I type this using opera. Theirs a down load arrow working away in the notifications bar. :-)
My original post mentioned using it when I go away with the caravan. Now I could take the sky box away with me as many do, but I was hoping this service would be good enough to do away with doing that. Site wifi isn't all that great from my experience so downloading extra content won't be easy either. :-(
This isn't Sky's restriction, it's Apple's.
Firstly, iOS doesn't allow more than one process to run at a time so when you exit an app and use another one, Sky Go can't download because it will be terminated. It's because iOS doesn't have true multitasking.
Android on the over hand does have true multitasking so you can download films, shows etc. in the background without the App being terminated
Hope this helps.
I don't know about Multiroom as am on a communal dish & only have 1 feed coming to my flat, so cannot even have the full functionality of Sky+. The only way I can watch a different channel in another room is via Sky go on a laptop / desktop connected to TV screen / Xbox 360. But yes I do see what you mean about paying for extra content.
I don't mind tho as it is Sky's lost, if I am in another room or away from home & want to watch the football, then I will just use the streaming sites to watch the match on a tablet.
Not extra content, the same content.
Want it in HD that'll be ten quid please, watch it in bed, that'll be another tenner thank you very much and hey, want to download the movie to your iPad well that will be another 5 notes my good man.
Well if that's the case, how come you can download updates to apps or music in the background on an iOS device?
How can you leave a satnav app running in the background whilst switching to another app? There are background processes on iOS. It's more likely Sky have done a poor job on programming their app!