If you’re a Sky Glass or Sky Stream user, there’s some great news for you. Unfortunately, it’s not that your monthly bill is coming down, or that you can now delete content from the ‘Continue Watching’ rail, but it is that you are about to get an improved experience without you having to lift a finger.
Sky has updated its Entertainment OS – the interface you see when you turn your Glass or Stream on – with several new features, and the best bit? There’s more coming in a couple of months, one of which is particularly good news for sports fans.
I went to Sky’s HQ in Osterley to check out the new features, so here’s a rundown of what you can try now, and what is still to come to your Sky Glass and Sky Stream in 2024.
Five upgraded Sky Glass and Sky Stream features to try now…
Sky has split its Entertainment OS update into a couple of releases. The first, which is now available on Sky Stream and Sky Glass is called Entertainment OS 1.2 and it adds five features to the existing 500 features that have appeared on the operating system since its launch.
Personalised movie and TV genre rails
First up is personalised rails for movie and TV genres. In case you’re wondering, the ‘rails’ are the bars that run across your Sky Glass and Sky Stream screen which serve up the various content to watch. The personalised rails sit above the ‘Continue Watching’ rail and they have been designed to pull from more than 30 different genres across Sky’s offering, and the various apps and services that work with Sky.
If you’ve been watching ‘Ferrari’ or ‘Mary & George’ for example, the personalised recommendation rail will present biographical and historical dramas for you to try next. The recommendations will be ordered from most popular to most niche, and they will also throw in a wild card every now and then too, enticing you to expand your tastes. The movie recommendations are available to try already, while TV shows will appear soon.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
Hello Sky, rewind
Borrowing from Sky Q, with Entertainment OS 1.2, it’s now possible to use your voice to rewind and fast forward content. You’ve been able to search, play and pause content but using your voice to rewind and fast forward makes things nice and simple. You can also specify the speed at which you want to rewind or fast forward, such as “Hello Sky, rewind x30”.
Binge your favourite actors and actresses
Every show on Sky Glass and Sky Stream has its own page, and within that page there is now a Cast and Crew rail showing the actors and actresses within the show you’re watching. Click on any of the people and you’ll see everything they’ve ever been in and new suggestions to watch.
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The recommendations will be ordered from most popular to most niche, and they will also throw in a wild card every now and then too, enticing you to expand your tastes.
Find music quicker
Sky added support for Amazon Music and ROXi with previous updates to Entertainment OS, but the latest update now adds the ability to use your voice to find your favourite artists or tracks on those platforms. No need to open either app, instead you just have to say “Hello Sky, Ed Sheeran on Amazon Music” and the Amazon Music app will launch with Ed Sheeran’s page, featuring singles and albums.
Avatars on Playlist
Playlist is a helpful section of the Entertainment OS, enabling you to add content you want to watch when you find it and keep it in one place. You can already have separate Playlists for different members of the family so you can separate your kid’s content from the adults in the house. With the update, you can now add avatars to the separate Playlist profiles, and while currently it’s only children’s characters like Peppa Pig, sports personalities and artists are coming.
Six Sky Glass and Sky Stream features still to come…
The second update is called Entertainment OS 1.3 and it will begin rolling out from May this year. Not all of the six features below will be available in May, but they will appear before the end of the year so Christmas literally comes early for Sky Stream and Sky Glass.
Low Latency for sports
The biggest feature coming in the second update is Low Latency for Sky Sports Main Event, meaning a reduction in time between the action happening in real time and it appearing on your Sky Glass or Sky Stream screen. Sky has reduced the latency by 22 seconds, which should allow you to watch sport happening on the Main Event channel faster than other streaming services. Low Latency will be rolled out to other Sky Sports channels this year, so when you’re watching F1 for example, you will only have to wait a few seconds after the driver crosses the finish line rather than nearly 30 seconds, which in F1, is quite a long time.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
Auto Game Mode
While we’re on the subject of latency, an Auto Game Mode is launching on Sky Glass, which uses Auto Low Latency (ALLM) to offer a more responsive gaming experience. All you’ll have to do is plug your console into Glass and the Auto Game Mode will kick in.
Add actors to Playlist
A ‘People you follow’ section is being added to Playlist before the end of the year, allowing you to select actors and actresses you’d like to add to it. Once a person is added, you will be able to find movies and TV shows they have been in so you can watch Tom Cruise whenever you feel like it, and not just in Top Gun. This feature will also expand to the ability to follow sports teams too, making it easy to see games and matches in one place.
Use your voice to add to Playlist
Sticking with Playlist for a second, the Entertainment OS 1.3 update will bring the ability to use your voice to add movies and TV shows to Playlist. It means you’ll be able to say “Hello Sky, add to playlist” to save things you want to watch later.
Rotten Tomatoes
You might not know this but Comcast owns Rotten Tomatoes and also owns Sky. If you did know that, you might not be too surprised that Rotten Tomatoes review ratings are going to be shown on Show Pages so there won’t be any need to Google the rating before you decide if you want to binge a show or watch a movie.
An upgrade for subtitles
Subtitles are already available on HD content, but Sky is expanding this to Ultra HD on demand content, including Sky Nature shows and blockbuster films. Audio Description, which is currently available on Sky’s TV Channels, is also coming to video on demand content.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
How to get the new Sky Glass and Sky Stream features
Your Sky Glass TV and Sky Stream box should update automatically. To check you are running the latest Entertainment OS, which is currently Entertainment OS 1.2, scroll down to ‘Settings’ at the bottom of the screen and tap on ‘System management’. You’ll see ‘Entertainment OS’ at the top with a number next to it.
