OK, as the subject of SkyPlayer on XBL sort of took over the last thread and today is launch day, I thought a new thread was in order! http://www.xbox.com/skyplayer I've had a look through it all and can now confirm that it is £15/€18 per month (there is a 3 for 2 offer if you go through the link above) OR there is a PAYG option (£0.98/€1.27 per programme) I'm just creating a Sky iD at the moment because when I tried to browse it on the 360 earlier it said there was a network problem. Just want to make sure I can get to it before I pay any money out. [edit]Well I still can't get on the thing, had a look around and apparently it's broken for most people. Nice launch [/edit]
Indeed, I expect to be making good use of it. Streaming is meant to be really good too It seems the network problems are the Sky end as the Sky Player pages on sky.com are down too Don't they know we want to poke around with it!
A little off topic, but I don't suppose anyone knows when the Sky Player will be released on Windows 7? All it says in WMC is 'coming soon'. Apparently it's supposed to be free for Sky TV customers
No idea I'm afraid, but from what I'm reading about Sky Player so far, even if you're a current Sky Subscriber not all of it is free. It also looks like not everything is £0.98 either. Hmmm... Sky have totally cocked up this launch anyway. The mobile/PC versions of Sky Player have been up and down like a whore's drawers this morning. Not managed to get the 360 version working at all yet
Could work out expensive though, if a series is 24 episodes long would it not be better to wait and get the DVD's rather than paying (close to) the same for just streaming it? example Season 2 of Chuck 22 episodes *98p = £21.56 DVD's are around £26.
To be honest I wouldn't buy those sort of programmes. I think I'd be more inclined to buy one offs, documentaries something like that. For drama/comedy series there are other ways to watch... ...and skyplayer still isn't working.
My plans exactly, the odd Champions League or Premiership match should be pretty decent value. Will have to wait and see what's available though...
OK found out some more info. The whole "it's free if you're already a Sky subscriber" is misleading. Apparently some programmes are free if you're already a Sky subscriber. However, it's not all free unless you have MultiRoom or Broadband Unlimited. A little cheeky to make out it's all free.
Show off! Official bit-tech thread on this story is here: http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2009/10/27/microsoft-launches-xbox-360-sky-player/
Not sure how relevant this is, but I have the full Sky TV package and broadband, have been using Sky player for ages now from my PC. I get to watch whatever I want on it, whenever I want, so long as I have that channel on the TV. As I have them all, they are all free except the Box office type of programmes. It's pretty good. Not as good as the BBC iPlayer, but it does the job.
this is a little bit of a silly question and i think its kinda answered above but wanna ask any way do you have to pay by credit card if you wanted to watch a single program or will it take MS points?
Yeah, I think Sky are trying to fix it so it's been removed from the 'What's New' bit now. It was showing just after the Zune Marketplace as well this morning but disappeared from there pretty sharpish. You can still get to it by going into QuickLaunch and selecting the most recent downloads. It still doesn't work though. No idea on how to pay yet as I don't know anyone who's got it to work!
True... however for those who don't use other ways to watch I think buying/renting the DVD's are the better value just takes longer before you get to watch them.
Agreed. I use the mystical other ways but I am also a member of LOVEFiLM and I buy boxset DVDs as soon as they become reasonable prices.
It's back now... ish. Apparently the issue has been with the Sky servers. It says 'Coming later today' now and if you choose it you get a silly little clip from Sky Sports News. Oooh, using the previously downloaded dashboard app I can see what's there now although it still gave me a message that it couldn't connect to the service. OK, more playing around and I can confirm that you don't use MS points to buy content. You have to set up an online Payment Account. I can probably answer most questions on this now as I can get into the little FAQ area on the app. If you're a Sky customer, but you don't have Multiroom or Broadband Unlimited you have to pay £9.75/€14.75 per month for the live streaming in the xbox. It should also be noted that you can only use Sky Player on one console per account. It's linked to the actual machine not your xbox account. I believe you can change this on the webpage for your sky account if you need to (new console/replaced console, etc.) but I think that's limited to one change per month. Watching the sample channel now (Sky News) and even on High Quality I have to say it looks horrible Certainly nowhere near as crisp as Freeview. Current voucher codes One month free Sky Player Multiroom for Sky TV customers: XBOX1MONTHFREE Three months Sky Player TV for the price of 2 for non-Sky TV customers: XBOX3FOR2 As above but from the Sky site: SKY3FOR2
