The Sky TV isn’t the only one in town. BT introduced its latest BT TV Box Pro, the most advanced set-top box option for BT TV customers and a direct competitor to Sky Q, back in the summer . With the BT TV Box Pro, you can access 4K HDR content over Wi-Fi. Record up to three episodes at once while watching a fourth, and stream Dolby Atmos-supported shows and movies.
If you opt for the top-tier VIP package, which we’ve been enjoying for several months. BT combines its TV services, including the UHD BT Sport Ultimate channel, with a standard Netflix subscription and a subscription to NOW, which gives you 11 Sky Sports channels and 11 Sky Cinema channels, with a standard Netflix subscription and a subscription to NOW. When you add in an HD Freeview tuner and practically all of the other streaming apps you use, the BT TV Box Pro is a pretty complete package.
BT sells the BT TV Box Pro as part of a 24-month subscription. A £20 activation fee is required, as well as a £9.99 delivery fee. Aside from those payments, there is no upfront cost for the box, as the hardware is covered by the monthly expenses. They vary based on the scope of the package you choose, with an entrance package starting at £12 and a VIP package costing £65 per month and including access to premium sports and Sky TV:
The BT TV Box Pro comes into its own when you have access to the entire spectrum of its content options, so it’s a pricing tier that adapts nicely to your finances and viewing habits. It’s the VIP bundle that we’ve been putting the box through its paces with for comparison.
One of the issues with the former BT TV service was its reliance on the BT YouView+ Ultra HD box, which was rather unattractive and outdated. That box is no longer available, having been superseded by the BT TV Box Pro. It’s a sleeker, curved box (32 x 335 x 127mm) that looks significantly more modern than the old BT box, and has more in common with Sky Q than the original BT box.
Several flaws in the original have been ironed out. For starters, the box now has Wi-Fi, so you don’t have to connect it to your home network. The box should be kept within 5m of your router, with only one wall or ceiling between them, according to BT. Furthermore, the corporation is extremely clear about using your BT router. Owing to the streaming protocol used by BT TV (more on this later).
Next, the new model’s remote control has been upgraded to Bluetooth, so it no longer requires line-of-sight to operate. Technically, you can store the TV Box Pro in a cabinet. But the manufacturer says that doing so will disrupt Wi-Fi, so you should keep it out in the open.
The new remote is both simpler and easier to use than the old box’s clunky YouTube remote. Because there are fewer buttons overall, the ones that remain are larger and easier to press.
On the back, there’s a single HDMI 2.0 output that supports HDR (but not Dolby Vision) and Dolby Atmos via Dolby Digital Plus. There’s also Gigabit Ethernet and an optical S/PDIF audio output.
The new BT TV box has a 1TB hard disc, which is twice as large as the previous one. This translates to about 600 hours of SD recording, 250 hours of HD TV, and 60 hours of 4K recording.
The updated YouView user interface is simple to use. You can explore material while watching whatever is currently on by pressing the home button. Applications, recordings, and specialized parts for cinema, sport, and other categories are presented in horizontal rows, starting with what’s now being shown on live channels at the top and moving down to apps, recordings, and dedicated sections for film, sport, and other categories. You may also rent movies via the BT TV player app. The interface isn’t nearly as smooth as Sky Q’s, but it’s easy to use and more than adequate for day-to-day television viewing.
If you’re on the VIP tier, you’ll be able to browse every channel you have access to in one spot by pressing the Guide button. This includes Sky channels via NOW if you’re on the VIP tier. Unfortunately, BBC One and Two HD don’t surface until you’ve scrolled down roughly 70 channels, but you can use the round blue button to filter solely HD and UHD material, as well as entertainment, sports, and films. Even though NOW is a streaming-only platform, you can record anything right from the Guide, including anything provided by your NOW subscription.
You can also use the universal search function by hitting the button wedged between Home and Guide. To search for TV series and movies across all of your connected apps. For some reason, it refused to pull in Netflix content, but it was otherwise a valuable tool. Strangely, despite the presence of a microphone icon on the remote. There appears to be no native ability to search for programs using your voice like there is on Sky Q.
The BT TV Box Pro boasts 1TB of capacity, allowing you to record up to 600 hours of entertainment. Though this amount will drop dramatically if you load it up with HD and UHD content.
From the MyTV window, you can access your recordings as well as any programs you’ve tagged to watch.
While the former box is entirely branded with the YouView logo, the new box does not. Instead, BT has updated YouView as its foundation. This new box, like the previous one, is a smart TV platform that integrates Freeview TV with streamed channels.
Premium channels add on top, streaming via the internet while still being integrated into the main guide. That’s what BT does with their premium bundle. This includes extra channels like AMC and BT Sport, the latter of which is available in Ultra HD with the right subscription. You may also use NOW to add Sky content.
The fact that NOW enjoy in two ways is a significant difference. To begin, you can watch your subscription wherever you are using the NOW app, incorporates it into the box, and is also available on your phone, tablet, or streaming stick. This is the most common way to use NOW.
BT, on the other hand, feeds the channels to your box as if they were real. It means you can start recording content right now; BT is the only provider that allows you to do so.
BT offers a variety of subscription options, all of which include the set-top box mentioned above for a set-up charge of £29.99. Except for the Sports bundle, they all come with Netflix as standard.
Sport (£15 per month) includes BT Sport and BoxNation, as well as AMC, while Big Sport (£40 per month) has all 11 Sky Sports channels.
The Entertainment bundle (£12 per month) contains the NOW Entertainment pass, which includes Sky Atlantic and Sky One, as well as AMC and Sky’s boxsets. The Sky Cinema channels and on-demand movies include in Big Entertainment (£22 per month). Netflix Basic is one of these two subscriptions, and it doesn’t enable HD streams and only allows you to watch on one device at a time.
You only get live channels and NOW in standard definition with all of these bundles. You’ll need to pay £65 per month for the VIP subscription, which includes all Sports and Entertainment material, everything in HD – including NOW – and some additional BT content, like BT Sport in Ultra HD. VIP also includes Netflix Standard, which includes HD (not Ultra HD) streams and simultaneous streaming on up to two devices.
If you buy directly from NOW, you’ll save a little money. But you’ll miss out on several features, including the option to record, and there won’t be any BT Sport. The key advantage of BT’s bundles is that, although your lock into a two-year contract. You may modify your subscription at any time, downgrading to a lower package when there’s no football on, for example.
Broadcast TV in HD looks very good on the BT TV Box Pro, and we hope no one reading interesting in the SD options — it’s 2021, don’t even think about it.
If you’re coming from Sky Q, you disappoint to lose all of the 4K glory. But HD streaming on NOW looks fantastic.
When watching a 4K HDR video on a TV that supports Dolby Vision, streaming apps seem razor-sharp and wonderfully bright. But if your TV does support Dolby Vision. We’d almost always advocate finding a means to watch Dolby Vision movies in the higher HDR standard, which the BT TV Box Pro can’t do.
If you want to experience the box at its best, watch a football match in 4K on BT Sport Ultimate with Atmos, which looks incredible. The Europa Conference League rarely places first, which is surprising.
BT TV Box Pro with the VIP package isn’t inexpensive. But owing to the integrated NOW subscription and free Netflix, it does meet practically all of your entertainment demands. And, if you’re a sports fan, we’d argue that BT Sport in 4K is slightly better than Sky Sports in 4K. Because you get select (and usually worthwhile) Premier League events as well as the huge Champions League games in the highest resolution.
The UI is also excellent, making it simple to choose anything to watch. The fact that the remote is Bluetooth means that changing the station will never require awkward hand acrobatics.
There are a few key components that are missing: Both Disney+ and Dolby Vision stand out. But the BT TV Box Pro’s combination of live channels with the majority of streaming applications. BT Sport Ultimate and all of Sky’s goodies make it an easy selection.
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