Review of Sky Player on Xbox 360

[kesterwww]

Recently I saw an offer in an Argos leaflet, offering a Xbox 360 universal remote for £15 which was half its normal price, and came with a free one month of Sky Player for the 360 which offers the Entertainment pack and all 4 Sky Sports channels plus ESPN classic.
Now, that alone is worth £15, but you also get 3 months of Xbox Live thrown in for good measure.
So, Saturday just gone I decided to take the plunge and purchase it. Registering on Sky.com to activate the code was easy enough, but here is where the slight catch comes in, you have to give them a payment option for you to continue taking the service when your month is up. You are not obligated, and can cancel at any time, which at the moment I plan to do just before my free month is up.
So with that done, I went on to my Xbox 360 (connected to the internet) and downloaded the Sky Player and put in my user name and password which I had just set up (I am not already a Sky customer.)
The remote control which was the original purchase works really well with Sky Player, and wasn't confusing or complicated to work out, no need to sync up the controller to the console, just press the big “X� button on the remote control and it immediately controls the console.
As for the channels available, I will list them;

Sky 1,
G.O.L.D
Sky Real Lives
Sky Arts 1
MTV
Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 & 4
Sky Sports News
EuroSport UK 1 & 2
ESPN Classic
Sky News
Nat Geo
Nat Geo Wild
History
Eden
Crime
Cartoon Network
Boomerang
Nickelodian
Disney XD
Disney Channel
Nick Jnr

Now, while this list is quite impressive, purticularly for me who doesn't have access to Virgin Media, I would say the main selling points are the Sports channels. (ESPN seems to be available as an extra subscription, but I have it on BT Vision which I only had to pay a one off payment for the viewing card). There is some things to note however, I was quite looking forward to watching newer episodes of the Simpsons on Sky 1, but it informed me “This programme isn't available on Sky Player� so far it is the only time this has come up, but I wouldn't be too surprised to see it on more American shows. A bit unfair in my opinion as I thought I was subscribing to watch the Sky channels same as people who have forked out for a dish and a stb but obviously not. I did how ever watch some footie matches and am now able to watch the 2nd legs of the Champions League Quarter finals this week (WB 5th April '10).
Also to note is there is no HD channels and no kind of recording features.
There is also a lot of channels on demand, but you only have access to them if you have paid to watch the Channel in the first place. I have not explored it too much, but looking at some of the things available on Sky 1 and Sky Sports, there is a pretty good selection.
Now, I have only had this for a matter of two and a bit days, but I can imagine I will be tempted to continue receiving Sky Player channels when my month is up. But for now the fact it will cost £34.95 a month will hopefully put me off.
For more money, the Sky Movie channels are available, but as I receive Picture Box on BT Vision and they also offer a good range of movies on demand, as does the Xbox 360 through their partnership with Zune that is something else I wouldn't pay for on this service.
If I do end my use off Sky Player, the remote control will be useful for watching DVD's on the 360.
Before finishing, I should mention that there is a cool feature on some of the football matches where you can invite your friends avatar to watch a game with you (more than one, up to 5 or 6 I believe) and you can all chat using the headphones. This is however providing your friends have subscribed to the same channels as you.
In summery, I think the offer is great, even if there is a massive hook which will cost you £35 a month. Not sure how long the offer is on, but it has to be used by September 2010, worth it in my opinion.
Hope this review was of some help to you.
Regards, Chris

[kesterwww]

Wow, the folk here on CF really don't like discussing anything which isn't VM related. I can understand that.
I've just had an account activated with Digital Spy, and posted this review there, hope it gets more response than it did here.
Sorry for wasting everyones time on here...

[Hom3r]

Its not wasted, its just that more people have VM than sky, so won't pay out for sky on the xbox.

I myself and waiting for TVCatchup.com to release a plugin that will enable you to watch freeview TV on the xbox 360, currently it's only available for the original xbox and PS3

[Charlie_Bubble]

Originally Posted by kesterwww

Wow, the folk here on CF really don't like discussing anything which isn't VM related. I can understand that.
I've just had an account activated with Digital Spy, and posted this review there, hope it gets more response than it did here.
Sorry for wasting everyones time on here...

I have some of the xbox sky functionality via my parents having Sky and me having registered my xbox on their account. The movie on-demand function is quite good. They have a lot more choice than MS has on it's Zune player.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by kesterwww

Wow, the folk here on CF really don't like discussing anything which isn't VM related. I can understand that.
I've just had an account activated with Digital Spy, and posted this review there, hope it gets more response than it did here.
Sorry for wasting everyones time on here...

You've not wasted anyone's time.

It's just that people here are more likely to have VM than Sky, given that this is primarily a Cable Forum, which grew from being an unofficial ntl cable support forum. Although we have OT sections, & Other Provider sections, the site is still primarily aimed at cable customers.

Having said that, I have Sky rather than VM. And an Xbox 360.

I've tried the Sky Player a few times (it was handy when our Sky+HD box suffered a PSU failure late last year), but it doesn't tend to get used much simply because the Sky box & the 360 are both connected to the same TV in the lounge. If Mrs D or I want to watch Sky, we use the Sky box.

[Niles Crane]

I had Sky+HD installed recently, so i received a free month of Sky Player when i signed up. I used it on my 360 and personally, i don't think it's worth £35 a month. As you've mentioned, there's no HD, recording, reminders etc and a number of films aren't available, or any of the Europa League or Italian football (even highlights) on ESPN - all of which i'm particularly interested in.

[Hiroki]

If anyone wants a code for a free month of sky player on the 360 then just pm me as I have a card here gathering dust.

[ashnkai]

ill have the 1 months code