Using Sky Stream with Samsung Smart remote

[twuk]

Wondering if anyone has been able to set up the Sky Stream puck as a device with their Samsung TV (in my case the QN900B) and control the Sky Stream box using the Samsung smart remote?

[JAMES4578]

Hi @twuk  I still have Skyq . However looking at the Sky forums it appears there are issues with it a being a different system  with someone " in the know" thinking it will be challenging.  Therefore   the same process may well not yield the expected result.

As a matter of interest  how are you finding the service, is this the puck only service without Sky Glass?

[twuk]

Yes, it's essentially the 'software' portion of Sky Glass (ie. less the TV), so far so good.  It has some quirks but the general feeling is that Sky will eventually sort them out.

Suspect the challenge with the remote is that the remote itself is bluetooth, and I'm not even sure if the Stream puck has IR.  I *assume* that the Samsung remote controls the existing Q box using IR, but I don't know that as a fact.

[JAMES4578]

Yes a number of customers including myself have got the Samsung Remote to work with the Q Box fine.
I recall there was a fair bit of criticism with Sky Glass initially however there usually are teething problems with new products. Suppose the main issue is if your internet speed is reliable enough , though some prefer recordings rather than being predominantly directed to Apps.

[twuk]

Gigabit fibre here so internet is definitely not a problem.

Have also learned since yesterday that the Stream puck *does* accept infrared, unfortunately given the way the learning works with the Samsung smart remote, the only way I can see that helping would either be:

1. Samsung add the device (Sky Stream) as an available device in their database
2. Someone works out what device infrared control set works on the Stream puck so that that device can be selected during the smart remote configuration.

Neither of these is likely to happen quickly.

[JAMES4578]

Great, would still seem problematic with the Smart Remote. Thanks for confirming about the Imfrared anyway.

[Mr_Ed]

I'm glad this question has been asked because I assume it's for Samsung to update rather than sky - for example when I connected my Stream puck the TV recognised it as a sky device but you only have Q and SD boxes in the list of supported devices. 

[twuk]

Agreed, I think Samsung will need to add support. I hate having a third remote (TV, Apple TV,  now Stream)... Admittedly the Apple TV remote isn't strictly necessary, but it does some things better than the smart remote so we still use it.

[EternusCT · Accepted solution]

So I will just share my findings, as I think I have this fairly stable. 

Personally, and just putting it out there, I get frustrated with the Sky hardware - it always seems to be 'not quite right' and doesn't play nice with other systems - however...

So, the first thing I did was to turn off the overnight standby on the puck. I think there is a mismatch between the puck and the Samsung TV, so when you turn the TV on, and it should wake the Puck up, the delay for the Puck to stand up is too great and it, therefore, shows the 'No device signal' message. I've found that setting to Puck to no-standby makes the experience more reliable. 

For setting the Universal Remote, I go through adding a new device as normal: Add device, Set-top box, Direct attached, Location, BUT, when it gets to ask you which system you are using, choose the 'Sky SD' option, and not Sky Q. 

Choose the HDMI channel, and when you get to the 'move up', 'move down' checks, persevere until you reach 'Try 16' - or on newer TVs, I think you can search for device 'IP061-ef' and it will bring up the right unit.

It doesn't end there - when all is working, go back into your Universal Remote and select the Sky unit again. You will see there is an option for 'Channel Speed' (wording might be different, but it'll be obvious...) Change from 'Normal' to 'Fast' selection - this seems to make the movement around the Sky Puck menu system more responsive...

This seems to be working reliably for me...

Oh, and while I think about it, the standard definition on the Puck is 1080 - make sure you go in and change this in the Sky Settings menu to 2160...

Hope this helps!!

[Mr_Ed]

To be clear, you've got the Samsung remote to control the sky stream puck?