Hot on the heels of its Irish launch of Sky Glass – the 4K TV which uses broadband rather than a satellite dish or set top box – comes a batch of huge updates.
The biggest change is an overhaul to the Playlist feature that makes things even more intuitive to use.
Because Sky Glass doesn't have a physical hard disk tucked inside, Sky uses the Playlist function to store shows and movies on the virtual cloud (and uses catch-up players).
READ MORE: Sky Glass review: Convenient new home entertainment system is slick
Improved UI
Sky’s new Playlist menu will feature a most recent rail which will be ordered by anything you've recently been watching.
And all your Playlist rails will now be ordered by most recent so you can get to content and episodes quickly.
One benefit would be when you are part of the way through something on Disney+, there will now be no need to open the app to resume playing.
You can now quickly see how far you are into an episode or film, straight from Sky Glass UI.
This is because a blue progress bar will be at the bottom of the image tile, so you can resume playback from exactly where you left off.
Another new rail will be on the home page. Continue Watching makes it even easier to jump to what you were last watching whether it’s the latest thriller or the last episode of your favourite soap.
You’ll now see the most recent episode first.
The next change will be welcomed by anyone with a busy household as the firm has introduced Personalised lists.
When you switch on Sky Glass, you'll be able to choose your profile and make it your own with dedicated recommendations then being shown on the screen.
It basically means that parents won't be bombarded by cartoons when they settle down for an evening's viewing and kids won't be shown anything that might be inappropriate.
You can also now enjoy tailored recommendations based on your recently watched TV shows and movies, with the new Because You Watched rail.
You’ll soon see an Actors rail in the home pages, so you can have more choice of picking what to watch.
Better visuals
There is more good news with Sky boosting the visuals by adding a new Vivid Mode in the Options menu.
This makes content appear punchier and more colour rich.
The company is also rolling out an update to local dimming on the display to provide higher contrast and brightness.
And it says that these picture quality updates will benefit the complete viewing experience on Sky Glass across live TV, on demand and all third-party streaming apps.
Other new features
Bluetooth connectivity is being added so you’ll be able to listen to Sky Glass with a set of headphones. This is a move I’m thrilled with as it means you can enjoy content late at night without disturbing others.
Two more useful upgrades are being able to find the remote by simply saying ‘Hello Sky, where’s my remote’ and saying ‘Play’ plus the title of your favourite show to automatically begin either the first episode or to continue where you left off.
All of these upgrades should arrive before Christmas so watch this space.
New streaming app
In the meantime, all Sky Glass and Sky Q customers can now access the international premium streaming service from STARZ called Lionsgate+.
Customers in Ireland can subscribe for €4.99 a month to access a library of exclusive premium content that includes political thriller Gaslit, the time travel saga Outlander along with period dramas such as Becoming Elizabeth and The Serpent Queen.
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