Wondering if you can record on the Sky Glass? It’s a bit different from most services that you are used to. Here’s what you need to know.
You can’t record on Sky Glass because it is an online-only service and it does not have storage space. Sky Glass’s remote does not have a record button. There’s no way to record live TV on Sky Glass.
You can catch up on shows by using Sky Glass’ Playlist feature which playbacks from apps or cloud storage.
Let’s take a look at how it works.
What is Sky Glass Playlist?
Sky Glass Playlist is meant to replace recording shows. In fact, Sky claims their new playlist feature is even better than the recording functions of previous devices. Sky Glass Playlist supports all the channels and content that is included in a Sky TV subscription.
The idea of Sky Glass’s Playlist is to have one place where you can easily access movies and shows from various streaming services. It also works with Sky channels that support cloud-based catch-up, such as BBC iPlayer.
How do I make a Playlist on Sky Glass?
Making a Playlist on Sky Glass is very simple. Just navigate to a show you want to save and press the + button on your remote. A notice saying that the show has been added to your playlist should appear.
To access your Playlist, press the Home button and select Playlist from the drop-down menu. You can also use voice commands to search for TV shows and movies across the various online streaming services.
You can also add TV programmes from the TV guide to your playlist to watch later on.
When you select a show from your playlist, it will automatically open the app where the show is located, and continue from where you left off. It’s a nice way to synchronize your progress across multiple streaming apps.
how many programmes can you record on sky glass Playlist?
Sky Glass offers customers the ability to have stored up to 1000 hours of TV content. This content is automatically deleted after 12 months, though some of it may still be available On Demand. If a customer wants to remove something from their Sky Glass Playlist, they can do so by selecting “Remove” or “Remove series.” Keep in mind that removing a movie or show will delete all recordings associated with it – it’s not possible to delete individual episodes of a show. Individual episodes can only be removed if they are from BBC, ITV, or Channel 4, as these programmes are not included in the 1000-hour limit for recordings.
The Downsides
The catch is you need to have a subscription to each service and be logged in. For example, you can add shows from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and other apps. But you need to have an account for each of those services.
There have also been lots of reports of shows disappearing from the playlist due to copyright issues. Even worse, the entire playlist feature sometimes completely disappears, and you have to restart the TV to find it again.
In short, it seems like Sky Glass’ playlist feature is a bit buggy at the moment.
Can Sky Glass Playlist Work Offline?
No. Sky Glass is primarily an online streaming service it requires an active internet connection to stream shows.
Sky Glass does not save media to local storage, so there’s no way to watch playlists or media offline. However, you can still use the Sky Glass to watch Freeview without an internet connection.
Play External Media on Sky Glass
Sky Glass is great when you have a fast internet connection, but what happens when the internet goes down? Can you play media from an external hard drive on Sky Glass?
Unfortunately, it’s not easy to play media from an external hard drive on Sky Glass. It does not have any USB ports, besides a USB-C port that is only for power and not data.
The only way to watch external media on Sky Glass is to connect a device to your TV that supports USB playback.
For example, you can connect an Android TV box, streaming stick, Blu-ray player, or even an older Sky Box. And then connect the external hard drive to that device to access your media.
You can’t plug an external hard drive into the Sky Glass because it does not have any USB data ports.
I would personally choose an Android-based device. I like this little Android TV 9.0 box from HaiFen.
The Bottom Line
Sky Glass is an interesting TV but it’s not as flexible as you might expect. If you have a fast internet connection, and subscriptions to lots of streaming services, the Sky Glass playlist feature will work great.
However, if you want to access your files from your local home server, it’s another story. Unfortunately, there’s no way to record programs to local storage. Even playing media from external hard drives is not possible on the Sky Glass.
The only workaround is to buy a separate device that has the features you need and connect to one of the HDMI ports on the Sky Glass.
