Sky Glass gen 2 review: 7 reasons to buy this superior-sounding TV

The Sky Glass gen 2 TV might just be the most convenient — and best sounding — telly that’s ever been built.

Sky is taking what it learnt with the first iteration of Sky Glass — the company’s first jump from set-top box maker to full blown TV manufacturer, released in 2022 — and with Sky Glass gen 2 makes significant improvements over its predecessor, a sophomore effort that boosts screen picture quality while also rolling in a few years’ worth of incremental software upgrades.

It ends up with a television that’s got everything that the average binge-watching telly addict could need in one single device — enough to keep you happily glued to your sofa for years to come.

We’ve had the 55-inch Sky Glass gen 2 at the centre of our movie nights for a few months now. Read on for 7 reasons why it should take pride of place in your living room.

Sky Glass gen 2: The core specs and features

• An upgraded display: UHD Quantum Dot LCD, 4K resolution, support for Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG
• Style and colour: Three sizes available (48-, 55- or 65-inches), in three colours (silver, grey or blue)
• Superior audio: Dolby Atmos capable sound bar and up-firing speakers built in, with seven speakers in total for 250W output.
  High-end HDMI: 3x HDMI 2.1 ports, with eARC and CEC support (plus USB-C and USB-A ports)
• Speedy connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 LE and Classic, plus AirPlay 2 support
• Smart power and voice features: Motion detection power-up, plus an ambient light sensor and speak-to-wake microphones for hands-free voice control
• An intuitive app-integrated viewing experience: Mix content from Sky TV and apps including Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+ and Amazon into one playlist interface
• Spread-the-load pricing: 48-month interest free payment plans offered

1. No satellite? No problem

Before we get started, you might be thinking “Sky? Don’t I need a satellite for that?” Nope! With the first Sky Glass, Sky moved away from needing a satellite dish installation to beam shows and movies to your home, and continues in that tradition with Sky Glass gen 2. Instead, all you need is a half decent Wi-Fi connection, and it doesn’t have to be provided by Sky, either. From there, all content — including live shows and sports — stream over the web. It makes it way easier to get up and running with Sky Glass — especially for people living in properties where getting a satellite installed isn’t possible.

2. Simplicity at its core, from set-up to interface

If there’s one core principle of the Sky Glass gen 2 experience, it’s in its simplicity. And that’s right from the moment you open up the box — there’s no fiddly screws to connect the TV to its stand, as the two pieces simply slot together.

It extends to the interface too. Sky offers loads of ways to browse its TV-viewing wares, from a traditional chronological TV guide to ‘rails’ of recommendations on its homescreen, to individual user playlists and the native streaming app experiences themselves. That may sound overwhelming, but in practice it’s incredibly easy to navigate.

The trump card here is that all the content is aggregated into one place — your last-watched Netflix show sits next to the Sky documentary you’re half way through, and alongside the Disney+ movie you’ve saved for later.

There’s no jumping between sources (though you can dial into individual apps if you like), and even searching for stuff is made simple thanks to mics built not only into the remote, but the TV itself. You can ask Sky to ‘show me Pedro Pascal films’, and it’ll pull up everything he’s in on all your available services — you can even then save him as a favourite actor for quick access later on.

Those voice commands extend to TV controls too, whether that’s switching the thing off and on, or jumping to a specific channel, or changing the volume. Everything can of course be handled by the remote control— and it’s a very comfy, easily navigated one at that. But even should you lose the remote control down the back of the sofa, you can ask the TV to locate it, causing the remote to beep.

As everything is streamed from the internet, recordings on Sky Glass gen 2 aren’t strictly recordings — there’s no hard drive storage accessible here. Instead, think of things you save more like bookmarks, with Sky making a quick shortcut to the content you’re looking to view.

Local recordings definitely have benefits Glass can’t match — say, just recording a snippet of an hours-long show — but the Glass approach has its plus points, too. For starters, there are no storage limitations, so your watchlist can stretch as long as you’d like and, thanks to Sky’s smart content tagging system behind the scenes, your saves will update and automatically change service, should they get pulled from one streaming service and placed on another.

3. Much improved picture quality

A key criticism of the first generation of Sky Glass was with its picture quality. It was by no means bad, but it was a little uninspiring compared to top-tier models from other manufacturers. Sky Glass gen 2 is a significant improvement over the first edition — though it’s still an LCD display as opposed to the class-leading OLED panels in the most desirable sets on the market, its 4K Quantum Dot display is much punchier than its predecessor.

The most obvious difference is in brightness levels, with gen 2 significantly brighter than the first model, making its HDR modes (Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG are all supported) and daylight viewing more pleasing. Its local dimming zones now also does a better job of dealing with blooming effects (that halo effect you see on some screens when light objects sit in front of dark backgrounds), and colour banding (where the gradients of colours seem block like instead of a smooth transition from one shade to the next).

One way Sky ensures the TV is looking its best (and adds another layer of convenience), is by automatically applying picture settings based on what you’re watching. Pop on a film and it’ll switch over to ‘Movie’ mode, with a warmer, cinematic colour palette and calmer contrast, while turn on the footy and ‘Sports’ is activated, dialling up a cooler colour profile, higher contrast and prioritising smooth motion.

You can override these auto settings with whichever preset you prefer at any time, or create a ‘Custom’ viewing mode giving you control over colour saturation, brightness and more. But for the ‘plug-in-and-forget-it’ masses, it means image quality should be tuned just as intended without any fiddling with the settings.

If you like a REALLY punchy picture, Sky’s also introduced ‘Vivid’ and ‘Extra Vivid’ viewing modes, which push colour saturation and brightness to their limits. I’d suggest using them in moderation, but they can add lots of pop to colourful animated kids films.

4. Sky’s-the-limit sound

Perhaps the most impressive element of the Sky Glass gen 2 package though is its audio. For our money this is the best sounding TV out there — especially in terms of value, with only a handful of very pricey soundbar-equipped TVs otherwise coming close.

As with the original Sky Glass, gen 2 comes equipped with both a forward-facing soundbar built in below the screen, and up-firing speakers for spatial audio modes like Dolby Atmos that aim to project and bounce sound off the walls for an encompassing surround sound feeling.

And it’s really got some heft behind it. Sky Glass gen 2 is notably thicker than the paper-thing screens we now see in store showrooms, but isn’t chubby. That extra inch is put to good use though, giving room for the speakers to push a powerful amount of air compared to its dieting rivals. As a result, you get loud, clear, cinematic sound without the need for external speakers. Its surround sound approach isn’t always convincing, and its bass doesn’t have the kick of a separate subwoofer — but this is leagues ahead of the average smart TV sound.

It’s again aided by smart audio presets that let you tune the processing based on what you’re viewing, from bombastic movies to neutral music modes. There are also handy options for boosting speech clarity, and a ‘Night Mode’ which dials down the dynamism of bombastic shows and movies so that explosions won’t rattle the windows of your neighbours. And again, it’s convenient — there’s no cabling up (or purchasing) extra speakers needed, and the fact it’s all built in means you don’t have to combat often-finnicky lip-sync problems.

5. Design with a splash of colour

It’s all packaged up into a rather lovely looking design, too.

As mentioned above, Sky Glass gen 2 is not the slimmest set ever built. The screen is just shy of 5cm thick (22cm if you include the stand), and the aluminum build weighs a hefty 21.9 kg with its stand attached. You’ll want two people to set up the screen, whatever the size, as even the 43-inch model weighs a fair amount. But that click-in stand set up is simple.

It’s worth noting that Sky doesn’t install Sky Glass in your home. The TV is sent by courier but the out-of-box instructions are incredibly easy to follow. If you were to wall mount your Sky Glass TV then Sky recommends you use a professional installer.

With many of the devices you’d usually plug into a TV, such as speakers, streaming sticks and set-top boxes, already built into Sky Glass gen 2, there’s a good chance the only unsightly wire you’ll need to hide away is the power cable. It may be slightly monolithic in size, but it’s surprisingly minimalist in reality, too.

With extra bezel and the soundbar fabric cover on show, there’s an opportunity for a splash of colour with Sky Glass gen 2, so you’ve got a few options to choose from — black, blue or silver. Each slightly muted, it’s an attractive looking TV that should fit in amongst most home decors.

6. New tech, same price — but don’t forget the subscription

Despite the upgrades on offer here, Sky has done well to keep its Sky Glass gen 2 range at the same price as the first generation model. So that’s £699 for the 43-incher, £949 for the 55-inch version, and £1199 for the big boy 65-inch model.

Unlike most other TVs on the market though, this can be broken down into interest free payments over 24 and 48 months — something that’s perhaps more appealing than usual, given the average 7+ year lifespan of a modern TV. Spread the cost over 48-months, and you’re looking at £14 a month for the 43-inch model, £19 for 55-inches, and £24 for the 65-inch model, each with a one-off £20 upfront fee. Double those monthly costs for the two year payment plan.

That’s only half the story here though. As you’re getting a Sky-branded TV, you’re going to need to pick up an accompanying Sky content subscription too, if you’re going to get the full glass experience. Prices start at £15 a month, but that can soon add up once you’re throwing in sports and movies packages, so make sure you do all the maths before committing to a contract.

In the event you decide you no longer want to subscribe to a Sky TV package, but have paid off the hardware itself, it’ll work as a basic smart TV, with an aerial plugged in the back. However, you will lose access to Sky content, the Sky TV guide, voice search, and other Sky-related features.

Sky Glass gen 2 can be ordered directly from Sky, or at Currys stores.

7. Already got a TV but want the Glass UI? Enter the Sky Stream Puck

Chances are, you’ve got a perfectly good TV in your home already — or one that you’re looking to upgrade from and pop into a side-room. What if you want the Sky Glass experience there too, but don’t fancy having to buy another Sky Glass set to get it?

Sky’s got you covered with the Sky Stream Puck. It’s essentially a set-top box with the Sky Glass brains built in, which hooks up to any old TV over HDMI. It can do pretty much everything the Sky Glass can do (even voice control, thanks to the mic-laden remote), in a box that fits in the palm of your hand. It can be bought separately from the TV itself, at £15 a month with a Sky Essentials subscription package. But if you buy it alongside a Sky Glass or another Puck, it smartly will sync all your viewings and playlists across devices, so you can pick up where you left off whatever room you’re in.

Notes for next time

It’s a sizable improvement for Sky’s second generation TV, but there’s still some room for improvement. If we ever get to a gen 3 model, I’d love the option for more granular control over picture settings — there’s more freedom than initially was offered with Sky Glass through a ‘Custom’, tweakable viewing mode. But I’d like the option to have several custom options for different viewing scenarios, and the ability to copy Sky presets over to a Custom mode and tweak from that baseline. Also, the display specs — capped at 60Hz and lacking super-smooth variable refresh rate (VRR) options — put it behind the curve for gamers. Tick those boxes and it’ll make Sky Glass an easier sell for cinephiles and more demanding game players.

Sky Glass gen 2: Final verdict

If convenience is king in your household, then the Sky Glass gen 2 should be sat in front of your TV viewing throne of choice. The first-generation model was already class-leading when it came to sound, and now Sky Glass gen 2’s picture quality keeps up its side of the bargain, too.

More than presentation however, it’s the simplicity of its unified TV interface that makes Sky Glass gen 2 so appealing. By pulling all your favourite shows together in one place, and giving you plenty of options to home in on new things to watch, Sky Glass gen 2 is frictionless when it comes to enabling your binge-viewing sessions. Though gamers may want a TV more tuned to their needs, and Sky subscription prices can add up, it’s hard to argue against the plug-in-and-play quality of Sky Glass 2.

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