NowTV - Anyone done it?

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Flightphoto

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Just out of curiosity guys, we just cancelled our SkyHD subscription as we realised we were paying £47.50 per month for repeat after repeat, the two channels that we most enjoyed were Sky One and Sky Atlantic so I decided to order the £24.99 box and see how we get on, I'm not too fussed about sub HD quality as the TV upscales pretty good in case I wish to be picky with it, I was tempted with a Jail broken Apple TV but get mixed responses about what channels were able to be received etc!
 
Waste of money.....I subscribed for my free month for movies.... total rubbish it is lying in a box now
 
Well, been getting used to it for the afternoon, it's not as bad as I thought it would be, I wish they gave advanced options on the buffering options though as it can be totally fine and stream at a good FPS with good quality then all of a sudden it will go a bit dire, it's definately not our line as I've been watching the speed stats so I'm making a guess that Sky can get a bit funny about their output and the demand on the service from other users. Still, it's cheaper than a Sky subscription and we can still see our favourite channels - could have gone down the illegal streaming route but thought it was better to be safe than sorry :)
 
I bought one late last year with a subscription to the Sky movies pack, it has saved me LOTS of money compared to the bills I was getting with MrsG watching films on our Virgin box :)


(never had buffering etc, nice and smooooooth all the time)
 
Have trialled the Now Box for films and in general its not a bad bit of kit - its a stripped down ROKU box. Output os it's 720p output and wireless only connection.

I have recently been given a ROKU 3 Box which is similar to the Now Box but woth 1080p output, etherneet and wifi connectivity, USB input and a feature rich remote which includes a headphone socket to stream TV sound wirelessly so late night viewing is not shared when people are trying to sleep.

Supposedly it can deliver over 1000 channels.

Connection through my wired network is flawless

It has Netflix as well as NOW services and many more - IPlayer, 4OD, Demand 5 etc.

I have moved my NOW box and WD TV Live to.my man cave and will decide this week whether to cancel my full SKY package (£67.50 a month??)

Will convert my Sky HD box to a Sky Freesat box (£25 one time payment card) and keep the BT Sport chamnel if it stays free next EPL season). I believe, subject to choices I will more than halve my subscription services charges.

The Now servoce is good on the Now Box but much better resolution on the ROKU 3. Sounds better through the home cinema system.

Worth a look at www.roku.co.uk

They have 4 media streamers with the 3 as their top model.

There are other choices but unless you jailbreak an Apple TV , the Roku does just as well.

Steve
 
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See I was tempted with the Roku as I knew it was a dirt cheap Roku box, I've heard that it stutters a bit with full 720p content so I'm not sure whether it was actually doing that when watching a film yesterday. Luckily we have plenty of options :) If I get a bit bored of then I'll probably do the upgrade at some point. Years ago I used to use a small home server as an XBMC machine with the various mods to receive Sky etc but the channels kept changing over and the stream was always rubbish! Would do it again but I see that the Roku does it with an upgraded firmware etc :)
 
Flightphoto said:
See I was tempted with the Roku as I knew it was a dirt cheap Roku box, I've heard that it stutters a bit with full 720p content so I'm not sure whether it was actually doing that when watching a film yesterday. Luckily we have plenty of options :) If I get a bit bored of then I'll probably do the upgrade at some point. Years ago I used to use a small home server as an XBMC machine with the various mods to receive Sky etc but the channels kept changing over and the stream was always rubbish! Would do it again but I see that the Roku does it with an upgraded firmware etc :)
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Agree

Side by side though there is a big difference on screen but as you say the upgrade is there.

I spoke to my eldest son, who gave me the Roku 3.

He was in Currys a couple of weeks back and they wete doing the 3 for £79.99 instsad of £99.99 (which is the rrp). So he thought I woll get dad ome too.

Anyway the Mow box is not HD whereas the 3 is and you can see the difference on mh Samsung TV panel

I still like my WD Live box which I will probably put into my set up as it streams absolutely everything I thfow at it off my NAS units.

Now if I could find time to actuslly watch TV
.... especially when the sun is shining...... the batteries on my DSLR are 100%......

:-)
 
antihero said:
Nowtv is built into my smart TV and imho blows the pants off Netflix for content.
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Depends what you want

Now has all the latest Sky conent wherea Netflix has a larger range of older films and TV series (I am enjoying Breaking Bad, Lie to me and the US version of House of Cards with Kevin Spacey).

For me I am trialling both Netflix and Sky through Now as a joint replacement for my Sky satellite service.

Steve
 
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Hugh Jarse said:
Depends what you want

Mow has all the latest Sly conent wherea Netflix has a larger range of older films and TV series (I am enjoying Breaking Bad, Lie to me and the US version of House of Cards with Kevin Spacey).

For me I am trialling both Netflix and Sky through Now as a joint replacement for my Sky satellite service.

Steve
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If it wasn't for the the daughter (kids stuff) I could happily replace my Sky service with Netflix and NowTV.
Netflix gets even better you use a VPN to open up US content.
 
archangel said:
VPN?
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By using a VPN or DNS service you foil the Netflix system into thinking you are located in the US and get whatever is on there served up.
There are various ways but using a service such UnblockUS is the easiest, it's not free but is cheap and they offer a free trial.
 
mancubus said:
If it wasn't for the the daughter (kids stuff) I could happily replace my Sky service with Netflix and NowTV.
Netflix gets even better you use a VPN to open up US content.
Click to expand...

Yes

I use the Netflix US Servers too

Less limited TV series (UK servers may omly show series 1-3 whereas US server will have full run of series)

Steve
 
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I'm watching this with interest, i've been constantly tempted to stop sky, my bill is expensive but that is alot of internet charge because of my rural location, but sky does seem to be getting ridiculously expensive and everything is extra this and extra that. my main concern is kids channels, but i do quite like the sound of the nowtv or ROKU 3, i barely watch tv as i'm more of a reader and my teenage daughter spends most of her evenings in her room twittering or netflix, so it seems silly paying for a service we barely use except kids rubbish
 
I have just been recommended an browser extension called "hola" comes add an app also and allows access to all the
U.S.content plus lots of other sites
 
archangel said:
I have just been recommended an browser extension called "hola" comes add an app also and allows access to all the
U.S.content plus lots of other sites
Click to expand...

Yep that's one way of doing it and a good if you are using a PC based browser to watch your stuff.
On Roku boxes it's more difficult because the DNS settings aren't editable so the process is more complicated but Apple TV's, WDTV's, LG Smart TV and PS3's (not sure about Xbox) the settings are editable and is really simple to do.
 
mancubus said:
Yep that's one way of doing it and a good if you are using a PC based browser to watch your stuff.
On Roku boxes it's more difficult because the DNS settings aren't editable so the process is more complicated but Apple TV's, WDTV's, LG Smart TV and PS3's (not sure about Xbox) the settings are editable and is really simple to do.
Click to expand...

It can be done on the Roku but as said fiddly

I get the US Netflix on my WD TV Live. The WD is a brilliant streamer and plays every format film on my NAS drives. Not sure how up to date the menus are on mine.
 
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Hugh Jarse said:
Depends what you want

Now has all the latest Sky conent wherea Netflix has a larger range of older films and TV series (I am enjoying Breaking Bad, Lie to me and the US version of House of Cards with Kevin Spacey).

For me I am trialling both Netflix and Sky through Now as a joint replacement for my Sky satellite service.

Steve
Click to expand...
It sure does, and I must admit Netflix was great for obscure documentaries but for the kids and films we found it rather lacking. Hemlock grove was a great series but I usually go elsewhere for my TV needs.
 
If someone has the time or the inclination(:D) to help me with how to set up american netflix that would be ace, i have hola but want to get it on the ps3, my daughter and i are getting seriously frustrated with it.... we went on to unblock us and clicked ps3 we think we followed settings but nothing worked, so i'm guessing we missed something somewhere??

I hope nobody minds the slight hijack, i can start a new thread if prefered though
 
Cg_Girl said:
If someone has the time or the inclination:)D) to help me with how to set up american netflix that would be ace, i have hola but want to get it on the ps3, my daughter and i are getting seriously frustrated with it.... we went on to unblock us and clicked ps3 we think we followed settings but nothing worked, so i'm guessing we missed something somewhere??

I hope nobody minds the slight hijack, i can start a new thread if prefered though
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Easy peasy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annota...re=iv&src_vid=8mVexW6wJFE&v=nE3hvEjhA6w#t=41s
 
Should be the same i think, i have netflix but only use the UK content but my son uses the US stuff on his laptop and Playstation

there are dozens of websites out there which will give you loads of DNS settings
 
Gary Coyle said:
Should be the same i think, i have netflix but only use the UK content but my son uses the US stuff on his laptop and Playstation

there are dozens of websites out there which will give you loads of DNS settings
Click to expand...

Same dns settings yes, i need to do them for the router so it completed unblock us then re do them on the ps3. it's working now. thank you muchly :D(y)
 
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