Your Sky TV box has an awesome hidden feature, here's how it works

Sky Q ships with a swathe of smart features – from the in-built apps, Vimeo on-demand video, and wireless Fluid Viewing multi-room – there's plenty to be getting on with.
Sky has also confirmed that it is working on a blockbuster new update that'll bring new functionality to Sky Q customers.
Voice search, a redesigned homepage, and the ability to record six shows while watching a seventh live or on-demand will be added in the new software update.
The latter will only work for those running the 2TB Sky Q hardware which was previously able to record five shows and watch a sixth.
But chances are, your Sky Q box already has an awesome feature you didn't know about.

 

Sky Q customers can use their next-generation satellite set-top box as a Google ChromeCast.
For those who don't know, Google's hugely-successful ChromeCasts plug into the HDMI port of your HD TV and let you beam video content from your smartphone, tablet or computer web browser to the big screen.
During the launch event, Sky were keen to promote the AirPlay functionality built-into the Sky Q hardware (which lets you wireless play music from your iPhone, iPad or desktop iTunes app around the house) but the ChromeCast ability was barely mentioned.
However, opening the official YouTube app on our iOS device, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we were able to take-over the Sky Q set-top box and play videos on the HD TV.

Exactly like a Google ChromeCast, Sky TV subscribers can queue-up videos in a playlist within the YouTube app and watch them play through on TV.
It's a great trick.
The ability to queue videos is invaluable, especially if you're DJ'ing with music videos to the room.
And searching for your next YouTube video is much faster on your smartphone than using the keypad on the Sky Q remote.
Unfortunately, Sky Q users do not get all of the functionality that you would get with a standalone Google ChromeCast.

 

You can queue-up videos within the YouTube app, but cannot Cast content from Netflix

For example, the Netflix app – which can beam video to a ChromeCast – is not able to Cast to the Sky Q box.
So, don't throw away your Google ChromeCast just yet. But regardless, this nifty trick could save you some time the next time you want to show someone a video clip on your phone.
Express.co.uk approached Sky when we discovered the ChromeCast functionality.
A spokesperson for Sky told Express.co.uk, "Sky Q customers have the flexibility to play, browse or search videos on YouTube via their phone or tablet, and then play it via their Sky Q box or Mini so they can watch the video on their TV.
"This functionality is currently available with the YouTube app."