Ahhhh, I'm sure it was a month when I signed up a couple of years ago
Anon
2 Jun 17#10
It was then, but they reduced the offer to 14 days.
northwales
2 Jun 17#11
if it's sky, it will always be for new customers.
bringbring
4 Jun 17#12
Yeah I decided I'll try the 14 day free pass. I'm glad I didn't waste my 1 pound.
Don't plan on getting their service working unless you use their box. Have a look at their help forums. Absolute amateur hour! They respond to every few queries, and then claim that it is out of their control: 'you need to have your pc attached via ethernet cable' or 'if your laptop refresh rate isn't divisible by 25hz it won't work'.
HUH???
For me, using laptop with HDMI connection to a 4K TV was about 180p quality, laggy, with out of sync audio (not even live streaming, but box sets)
Pootled to bringbring
4 Jun 17#13
Why are you thinking you would get full HD.
It states it's 720p.
Try full Sky. Still not 4k if you have a 4k tv?
bringbring
4 Jun 171#14
I don't think you bothered to read my post. The quality was atrocious - my estimation of 180p was being generous, it looks worse than the 144p option in youtube.
Pootled
4 Jun 17#15
I did read your post.
The quality would only drop if your bandwidth is poor. Would it not have more to do with your Internet connection?
My mother uses the now TV box and uses sky broadband (not fibre)and gets both HD and excellent streaming, live and box sets,so some people must be doing something wrong!!!
unclecuddles
4 Jun 17#18
If you have existing subscriptions, cancel before it renews and they will offer you a discounted rate. I usually get offered cinema for 3 months for £3.99, but have just been offered 2 months for £1.99. I selected "can't afford" it as the reason for leaving, and selected Netflix and Amazon Prime as the services I will get my movies from.
Nighthawk
4 Jun 17#19
Can you cancel straight away but still watch for the month?
amour3k to Nighthawk
5 Jun 171#22
Yes, and yes you can. :-)
bringbring
5 Jun 17#20
:smile: OK let me stress again, the boxes apparently work fine for the most part. I am talking about getting it to work on a PC. If you don't believe me, check out the shambles of the NOW TV support forum.
I am also completely aware that the boxes are normally given out with subscriptions, and are very cheap to purchase on ebay. None the less, I'm surprised that a company this large can't get their act together and provide a reasonable platform for windows streaming. I've never had issues with streaming like this (incl. netflix & amazon and multiple free services on this laptop)
FYI I get >5mb/s sufficient for 720p (Sky), but it shouldn't matter with non-live streams anyway. I would expect to be able to choose quality/buffer it. Also, in-browser streaming is only supported on IE with silverlight (which itself is being phased out) and the 'now tv windows app' which they list on there website is no longer available (yet they still link to it). I am trying to use my only option of their NOW TV player.
Nighthawk
5 Jun 17#23
Amazing deal for both entertainment and movies. Thanks OP :smile:
freedms_stain
5 Jun 17#24
I got 3 months free Now TV movies with my PS4 Pro at the start of the year mostly used my Surface Pro 3 to watch using the Now TV app from the Windows 10 Store and I never once had a problem with streaming. Constant 720p, no buffering. We have Virgin fibre. Also worked fine via Google Cast to my 4K Sony TV. Picture very watchable despite the upscaling.
hobsgrg
5 Jun 17#25
Netflix and Amazon don't let you choose higher quality and buffer before starting playback, they use adaptive bitrate and stream at what they decide is the best quality that allows you to watch without any buffering. NowTV works the same way so I don't know why you expect them to offer something their rivals don't.
Netflix have only just started an offline download facility for some shows.
If you have a Sky box then you can choose to download content in HD and then start watching when enough of the show has downloaded to watch the entire show without it needing to buffer before the end. It sounds like that is what you want NowTV to provide, but that is only available to Sky customers who are paying a lot more.
AlKhwarizmi820
5 Jun 171#26
tl;dr got the windows app working fairly well on a crappy little PC stick with atom CPU over WiFi! I've never tried a box.
Just been through this myself very recently... currently have an old i3 laptop and a Z3735F PC Stick running the nowTV Player in 720p over wifi with no big issues; the streams do have a bit of judder/jerkiness as though the refresh rates are slightly out - I have tried changing refresh rates but haven't yet bothered playing with the TV's post processing.
My stable broadband connection is just slightly slower/less than yours.
The first time you try and watch nowTV on a new device it should ask you if you have already downloaded the player... at this point answer so that nowTV will download a player for you. If - like me - you tried to be clever and downloaded the player in advance from the windows store and skipped this download then you will have to clear your cookies or use a different browser before nowTV will offer the download again.
I couldn't get nowTV to utilise the player that I downloaded from the windows store - but I didn't try very hard.
My PC stick struggles to load the nowTV web pages - I haven't looked at this yet, I just accept that it will be very slow on that device. When the TV app runs on that device the fan is always on... this does not happen with HD streams from other software - so I guess the app and streams (and web pages!) are not as optimised as they could be.
On the stick the stream takes a couple seconds longer to buffer up enough data to show in 720p (I suspect the sticks poorer wifi/CPU as the main culprits here)... in the meantime it shows a very low res blocky image. Obviously, the longer it takes to buffer up some data the longer you will be watching this blocky image - could try pausing??.
I agree, it is disappointing that there does not seem to be any sort of settings in the player. But it works and has full screen so I guess they think that's good enough?
I have only briefly checked the forums (to see what refresh rates I should use) so I don't know what they suggest but if I were having problems I would check:
- wifi bandwidth... is the connection good enough for sustained throughput
- CPU utilisation... the app seems to tax my little Atom... check what else is going on (Anti Virus maybe? Updates?)
- broadband connection... this is a tougher one. People can be quite happy with their broadband and not even notice just how unstable it really is. [rant] If I knew nothing about computers my router would happily connect to my ISP at 10+ Megabits per second and it would be up and down like a wh0res knickers... it does finally get managed down and settle at a lower rate but still with more errors than I am happy with getting bursts of errors that interrupt comms for a good few seconds (long enough to miss your bet if you're playing poker!). All these errors could upset the video stream. These errors wouldn't really be noticeable when just browsing. If you can force (or get your ISP to force) slower communications (increased SNR Margins) or increase the depth of interleaving (improved error handling) on your line it may become more stable (though interleaving will increase latency which may upset any online gamers). I set my own SNR targets when I sync which lowers my bandwidth to around 5Mbps and makes my connection rock solid even through the long periods of interference. This is all stuff I feel should be done for Consumers long before they decide to stream content into their homes - we really shouldn't need to know so much in order to get a stable broadband connection in the 21st century!! [/rant]
Any shortcomings on your end will get exposed/exaggerated by more demanding activities... nowTV seems to be way more demanding than some other streaming services (DRM maybe?) - though, tbf, I have not tried any other premium services on the Atom.
Anyway, I've gone on too long already... if the price is right then with a little perseverance you can probably get acceptable results (assuming your hardware is up to it).
bringbring
5 Jun 17#27
Thanks for the suggestions!
I'll have a closer look into it, it was just very frustrating at how poorly managed their windows service was. Off hand I can't identify any problems - running on i5, regularly speedcheck at >= 6mb/s (looks stable), nothing else running.
I might try IE with silverlight.
john_c_
6 Jun 17#28
FYI I recently got this and am seriously disappointed with the quality of the stream. I have a 50Mbit/s connection through BT and am getting quality that looks like a half-decent pirated DVD, despite excellent full HD on every other streaming service I've used.
Dunno if you are still following this?
After a bit of messing about I appear to get better results on my PC Stick when I restrict the number of CPU's/threads that the Cisco DRM and nowTV player processes can use - not entirely sure why, and the improvement could just be coincidental. You can do this manually through Task Manager using the "affinity..." property, but it needs to be done every time you change the stream.
Also, at the risk of labouring a point... headline bandwidth figures like 50Mbit/s only tell a very small (and insignificant) part of the story. They are used to help ISP's boost sales but they tell you nothing about the stable/consistent error-free throughput. You may find that running your line at a lower rate will improve your streaming (though it will also slow your download speed).
Let me use Roads (that you drive on) as a metaphor for Broadband. The number of lanes on the road extend the metaphor and represent Broadband Max Bandwidth; if the motorways with multiple lanes are full of accidents (Broadband errors) blocking/slowing your progress the number of lanes (the bandwidth) really don't matter/help... It's sometimes quicker to take the much smaller "A" roads... unless you get stuck behind a tractor - but this complicates the metaphor!
Unfortunately, accidents on roads (bursts of errors on Broadband caused by interference) are very difficult to predict so you can never be sure that you are going to take the quickest route... I prefer to drive safely and improve my chances of arriving at my destination in one piece (I run my ADSL with large SNR margins/targets - downloads are slower but I get very few errors)!
Hmmm... maybe that's an analogy not a metaphor?
Language is hard.
P.S. I'm not trying to push this service I just want to see people get what they have already paid for (ie stable broadband and 720p resolution).
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
![[Xbox One] Q. u. b. e: Director's Cut on Deals with Gold](/images/topics/208716_1.jpg)
Opening post
All comments (29)
It has 2 days ago 400+ degrees
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/1-month-sky-cinema-entertainment-pass-for-1-00-now-tv-new-customers-2705500
Don't plan on getting their service working unless you use their box. Have a look at their help forums. Absolute amateur hour! They respond to every few queries, and then claim that it is out of their control: 'you need to have your pc attached via ethernet cable' or 'if your laptop refresh rate isn't divisible by 25hz it won't work'.
HUH???
For me, using laptop with HDMI connection to a 4K TV was about 180p quality, laggy, with out of sync audio (not even live streaming, but box sets)
It states it's 720p.
Try full Sky. Still not 4k if you have a 4k tv?
The quality would only drop if your bandwidth is poor. Would it not have more to do with your Internet connection?
https://help.nowtv.com/article/what-is-highest-streaming-quality-for-my-device
I am also completely aware that the boxes are normally given out with subscriptions, and are very cheap to purchase on ebay. None the less, I'm surprised that a company this large can't get their act together and provide a reasonable platform for windows streaming. I've never had issues with streaming like this (incl. netflix & amazon and multiple free services on this laptop)
FYI I get >5mb/s sufficient for 720p (Sky), but it shouldn't matter with non-live streams anyway. I would expect to be able to choose quality/buffer it. Also, in-browser streaming is only supported on IE with silverlight (which itself is being phased out) and the 'now tv windows app' which they list on there website is no longer available (yet they still link to it). I am trying to use my only option of their NOW TV player.
Netflix have only just started an offline download facility for some shows.
If you have a Sky box then you can choose to download content in HD and then start watching when enough of the show has downloaded to watch the entire show without it needing to buffer before the end. It sounds like that is what you want NowTV to provide, but that is only available to Sky customers who are paying a lot more.
Just been through this myself very recently... currently have an old i3 laptop and a Z3735F PC Stick running the nowTV Player in 720p over wifi with no big issues; the streams do have a bit of judder/jerkiness as though the refresh rates are slightly out - I have tried changing refresh rates but haven't yet bothered playing with the TV's post processing.
My stable broadband connection is just slightly slower/less than yours.
The first time you try and watch nowTV on a new device it should ask you if you have already downloaded the player... at this point answer so that nowTV will download a player for you. If - like me - you tried to be clever and downloaded the player in advance from the windows store and skipped this download then you will have to clear your cookies or use a different browser before nowTV will offer the download again.
I couldn't get nowTV to utilise the player that I downloaded from the windows store - but I didn't try very hard.
My PC stick struggles to load the nowTV web pages - I haven't looked at this yet, I just accept that it will be very slow on that device. When the TV app runs on that device the fan is always on... this does not happen with HD streams from other software - so I guess the app and streams (and web pages!) are not as optimised as they could be.
On the stick the stream takes a couple seconds longer to buffer up enough data to show in 720p (I suspect the sticks poorer wifi/CPU as the main culprits here)... in the meantime it shows a very low res blocky image. Obviously, the longer it takes to buffer up some data the longer you will be watching this blocky image - could try pausing??.
I agree, it is disappointing that there does not seem to be any sort of settings in the player. But it works and has full screen so I guess they think that's good enough?
I have only briefly checked the forums (to see what refresh rates I should use) so I don't know what they suggest but if I were having problems I would check:
- wifi bandwidth... is the connection good enough for sustained throughput
- CPU utilisation... the app seems to tax my little Atom... check what else is going on (Anti Virus maybe? Updates?)
- broadband connection... this is a tougher one. People can be quite happy with their broadband and not even notice just how unstable it really is. [rant] If I knew nothing about computers my router would happily connect to my ISP at 10+ Megabits per second and it would be up and down like a wh0res knickers... it does finally get managed down and settle at a lower rate but still with more errors than I am happy with getting bursts of errors that interrupt comms for a good few seconds (long enough to miss your bet if you're playing poker!). All these errors could upset the video stream. These errors wouldn't really be noticeable when just browsing. If you can force (or get your ISP to force) slower communications (increased SNR Margins) or increase the depth of interleaving (improved error handling) on your line it may become more stable (though interleaving will increase latency which may upset any online gamers). I set my own SNR targets when I sync which lowers my bandwidth to around 5Mbps and makes my connection rock solid even through the long periods of interference. This is all stuff I feel should be done for Consumers long before they decide to stream content into their homes - we really shouldn't need to know so much in order to get a stable broadband connection in the 21st century!! [/rant]
Any shortcomings on your end will get exposed/exaggerated by more demanding activities... nowTV seems to be way more demanding than some other streaming services (DRM maybe?) - though, tbf, I have not tried any other premium services on the Atom.
Anyway, I've gone on too long already... if the price is right then with a little perseverance you can probably get acceptable results (assuming your hardware is up to it).
I'll have a closer look into it, it was just very frustrating at how poorly managed their windows service was. Off hand I can't identify any problems - running on i5, regularly speedcheck at >= 6mb/s (looks stable), nothing else running.
I might try IE with silverlight.
Maximum resolution is 720p and you won't usually get that. It's also horrendous quality colour.
https://help.nowtv.com/article/what-is-highest-streaming-quality-for-my-device
After a bit of messing about I appear to get better results on my PC Stick when I restrict the number of CPU's/threads that the Cisco DRM and nowTV player processes can use - not entirely sure why, and the improvement could just be coincidental. You can do this manually through Task Manager using the "affinity..." property, but it needs to be done every time you change the stream.
Also, at the risk of labouring a point... headline bandwidth figures like 50Mbit/s only tell a very small (and insignificant) part of the story. They are used to help ISP's boost sales but they tell you nothing about the stable/consistent error-free throughput. You may find that running your line at a lower rate will improve your streaming (though it will also slow your download speed).
Let me use Roads (that you drive on) as a metaphor for Broadband. The number of lanes on the road extend the metaphor and represent Broadband Max Bandwidth; if the motorways with multiple lanes are full of accidents (Broadband errors) blocking/slowing your progress the number of lanes (the bandwidth) really don't matter/help... It's sometimes quicker to take the much smaller "A" roads... unless you get stuck behind a tractor - but this complicates the metaphor!
Unfortunately, accidents on roads (bursts of errors on Broadband caused by interference) are very difficult to predict so you can never be sure that you are going to take the quickest route... I prefer to drive safely and improve my chances of arriving at my destination in one piece (I run my ADSL with large SNR margins/targets - downloads are slower but I get very few errors)!
Hmmm... maybe that's an analogy not a metaphor?
Language is hard.
P.S. I'm not trying to push this service I just want to see people get what they have already paid for (ie stable broadband and 720p resolution).