Sky Q has finally unveiled its much-anticipated voice search features for navigating, film, TV and sports content.
Long are the days when homeowners with Sky Q pressed numerous buttons to find their favourite TV show or film, as integrated voice search means viewers will soon be able to simply press and hold a the voice button (located on the side of a touch remote) and say what they would like to watch into a microphone located just below the Sky button.
Voice search means simple utterances can be used to quickly access particular films or TV show (“Westworld”) or sports coverage (e.g. “Newcastle game”). Users can also search more broadly by genre or time of showing with commands such as “comedy movies” or “live football on this weekend,” or even navigate with commands such as “Ryan Gosling movies rated five stars” or “movies directed by Christopher Nolan.”
Perhaps the feature that will be most fun to play with is the system’s ability to take viewers to content via a mere movie quote – although it has to be the iconic ones, and quotes need to be “word-perfect.” Sky lists “Say hello to my little friend,” “May the force be with you” and “my precious” among the hidden quotes the system is programmed to recognise.
Sky will also be rolling out more personalised features including the replacement of the ‘My Q’ section with the Sky Q homepage, where users can see recommendations on recommendations based on household viewing and new series available across Sky Q. Other features include a Continue Watching section and integration with Facebook video.
Sky state that the latest software update will be rolled out to homes in phases, and the company expect all customers to have access to voice search “by the end of spring.” Voice control and and Dolby Atmos support are expected to follow this year.
Sky has also recently announced that customers will be able to watch its widest range of UHD programming yet this season (only available with a Sky Q 2TB box).