NOW TV - Comparison

[lost in london]

Interesting comments above - I suffered from buffering and the sound not matching with the picture on the screen. Netflix and NowTV normally work fine, I wonder if there was an issue last night?

 

[Fungus]

No, it's not available through a Sky Box. If you want a 'box' to go through then you would have to purchase a NOW TV box.

Having said that, it would be rather pointless as you obviously have the app on your Smart TV!

The poor picture quality you refer to would be your Smart TV (1080p?) upscaling a 720p stream.

Yeah, we have a 1080p smart TV, but my point was that the quality issue would therefore apply to an awful lot of people, given the advance of modern TVs. NowTV lags behind at 720p, and most content is only SD.

The trouble with the app on my LG TV is that it forgets my login details. Same for Netflix. It's a known bug.

My smart blu-ray player remembers my Netflix login, but doesn't have the NowTV app.

Given that my Sky box works fine, and Now TV "is" Sky, I thought there might be a better way.

 

[Fungus]

It is Sky by another name. It's fine on LG tv's, they say it works directly on Samsung, only 2015 and later, which they don't tell you till your in. It's the Silverlight problem again. OK on the laptop though, still better definition and less buffering and tearing than a dodgy stream.

Yes, it works directly on my Samsung smart TV app, and it "worked" on my larger LG TV on which I actually watched the game, subject to the buffering issues.

Installing Silverlight on my PC was one of the issues I had with activating the pass (why?), but I didn't try watching it on my PC.

And yes, it was better than the dodgy streams I've tried before! But still not up with the competition.

 

[Pevenseagull]

Last year I got given a 50" Pioneer Kuro plasma TV (lucky boy), the remote was missing so I got a NOW TV box for £15 with three months entertainment package free (6.99 a month), I have the movies for a month from time to time then have a break from it until there's plenty of new content. For sport I've paid the odd one off fee for an Albion match or paid for a week door a test match.
On average, including TV licence, I pay about 30 quid a month and have more than enough to watch.

 

[clippedgull]

Yeah, we have a 1080p smart TV, but my point was that the quality issue would therefore apply to an awful lot of people, given the advance of modern TVs.

.

For sure. I believe SKY don't allow 1080p streaming via Now TV in fear of butchering their full priced subscriptions, and yes it does make for poor quality transmissions on a big screen. I stream mine through Playstation 4 app as my Samsung Smart TV doesn't have the Now TV app and the picture quality is the same as what you are experiencing but I have had no buffering/out of sync audio issues. Just for the record I have Virgin fibre.

edit: if those of you who are experiencing 'buffer issues' are streaming wirelessly it would possibly be solved if it's practical to put an Ethernet cable straight from your router to the Smart TV.

 

[Fungus]

For sure. I believe SKY don't allow 1080p streaming via Now TV in fear of butchering their full priced subscriptions, and yes it does make for poor quality transmissions on a big screen. I stream mine through Playstation 4 app as my Samsung Smart TV doesn't have the Now TV app and the picture quality is the same as what you are experiencing but I have had no buffering/out of sync audio issues. Just for the record I have Virgin fibre.

edit: if those of you who are experiencing 'buffer issues' are streaming wirelessly it would possibly be solved if it's practical to put an Ethernet cable straight from your router to the Smart TV.

Understandable for subscriptions, but odd that Sky/Now don't do 1080p pay-per-match on the Sky box. They do boxing, don't they? And movies, obviously.

I was streaming wirelessly, but it works fine for Netflix and Amazon, and I don't want my kitten chewing my Cat 5 cable!

 

[clippedgull]

Understandable for subscriptions, but odd that Sky/Now don't do 1080p pay-per-match on the Sky box. They do boxing, don't they? And movies, obviously.

I was streaming wirelessly, but it works fine for Netflix and Amazon, and I don't want my kitten chewing my Cat 5 cable!

I'm guessing a rights issue is in play. There is no way SKY would pass up any money making scheme! Understandable about the cat!

 

[BensGrandad]

If it was that bad you should have rebooted your laptop to get it back in sync.

My experience was faultless, I have had quite a few passes now and have never experienced any problems with Now TV. Probably jinxed it now though.

I didnt know that rebooting the laptop would solve the problem. Had I done so I would have rebooted it during halftime thus not missing any of the game. I considered buying a roku device but do not have a usb port on the tv to insert it in. Is it possible to buy one with the same connection as an HDMI lead or siumilar conversion to USB,.

 

[Fungus]

I didnt know that rebooting the laptop would solve the problem. Had I done so I would have rebooted it during halftime thus not missing any of the game. I considered buying a roku device but do not have a usb port on the tv to insert it in. Is it possible to buy one with the same connection as an HDMI lead or siumilar conversion to USB,.

Rebooting is usually the first thing to try with most laptop problems.

 

[JakyBF]

I don't want my kitten chewing my Cat 5 cable!

There's a joke in there, surely?

 

[Jameson]

I tried for the first time last night and was disappointed. It won't allow you to use Chrome as the browser so had to download Firefox and then Silverlight to make it work. I connected it to my Sony TV and the picture was average and not full HD. To cap it all my laptop mysteriously lost internet connection despite all my other devices working fine; I had to reboot it and lost about 15 minutes coverage due to needing to log back in and go though a long process to select the programme.

Probably works better with a box but I shan't bother again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mr sheen]

I watch using now TV on my smart TV. I end up getting text messages from people watching directly on Sky before I see the incident they are texting about! I now leave my phone out the room.

 

[clippedgull]

I didnt know that rebooting the laptop would solve the problem. Had I done so I would have rebooted it during halftime thus not missing any of the game. I considered buying a roku device but do not have a usb port on the tv to insert it in. Is it possible to buy one with the same connection as an HDMI lead or siumilar conversion to USB,.

There is no guarantee that rebooting would resolve the issue but may have helped. As for Roku I will have to defer to someone else as I have never used one of those.

 

[BensGrandad]

No comments about fitting a Roku to my Panasonic TV which doesy have USB connections!!

 

[melias shoes]

I pay £33 for all sky sports channels. The beauty is no contract so cancel when you like. Works for me.

 

[BensGrandad]

I have just ordered a Roku streaming stick on E bay so another job for son or daughter in law setting it up . It does say it connects to HDMI port on tv.

 

[BensGrandad]

On the way home this evening talking of the upcoming games on sky Ben said if I buy an amazon stick cost £20, he can download the software to show all sky and BT programs including sports. Having just bought a Roku stick is it worth buying an Amazon stick?

What upcoming games are set for Sky?

 

[BensGrandad]

None of those in the know passed comment as to whether that can be done with an amazon stick.and is a viable option.

 

[mylesfdo]

None of those in the know passed comment as to whether that can be done with an amazon stick.and is a viable option.

If Im not mistaken a Roku stick is very sililar to a NowTV bow as Roku basically make the NowTV boxes but they are just rebranded to NowTV in the UK! He is probably talking about downloading Kodi which yeah will probably get all TV channels including sport bu then maybe not work 100% of the time.

A better way to do it is get an IPTV line via an App on the stick(not sure if can be downloaded onto Roku but definitely can on Amazon Firestick), which will be much smoother than Kodi and also much more stable in that it doesnt buffer as much and a lot more working streams plus it is easier to navigate for someone who is not 100% on how it all works!! Its not free but much cheaper than any subscription!! PM me if you are after more info as I can hook u up with a line.

 

[BensGrandad]

As Ben told me if I buy an Amazon Stick he can download the software and it will work to show all Sky and BT channels including sport which makes it interesting.