Thread: VOD Netflix/Streaming Services
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Old 29-08-2016, 11:50   #2980
OLD BOY
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Wokingham
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Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
Quote:
Originally Posted by buckeye View Post
I bought one of the new Freeiview compatible boxes with a 5 month entertainment pass last week as Argos had them discounted to £39 and I really like it.

I can see why some people wont and my use case is probably different to many,
in my living room I have a not so good communal aerial with which I've never been able to pick up many Freeview channels so prior to this I had to use a HD Homerun device connected to an indoor aerial in the only place in my home which could pick up a decent Freeview signal then network it around the home.
Because of this I'm quite used to the limited now and next EPG that the HD Homerun Kodi addon uses but can fully understand why people don't like it,
more to the point though is this new smart box works really well, it has a very good tuner in it that picks up every Freeview channel I previously couldn't get through the living room aerial and the Now TV and catchup apps work extremely well.

I have a theory after using this device that Sky use different servers for different devices on their Now TV service, with the new box everything I've played from them starts of on the highest quality available which never changes to a different quality, I have experienced no buffering or errors including a day of watching Sky Sports yesterday which is something I could never say about the Windows app and it also outputs at 50 hz so there's no micro stuttering on panning scenes or as some people describe it a filmic effect on live sports.
The Sky Sports News and Sky News apps work equally as good and BBC Iplayer is fast and slick again always giving the highest bitrate.

I've tried the other apps like All4 and ITV Hub and they seem to work well too but to be honest there's not much on there I want to watch and can't stand the amount of unskippable ads they serve up so can't comment too much on them other than they looked good in a couple of brief tries.

If its any recommendation I went out and got another one with a movie pass this time for another room, I had to get this from Tesco's though as Argos had sold out everywhere.

I'm not overly bothered by the lack of a recording, I can't remember the last time I set something to record although I wouldn't be surprised if a future firmware update activates the USB port to do this if Sky get enough complaints about the lack of this feature.
The Now TV service is indeed very good and I am happy that it meets your needs so well.

However, for me, the Tivo has many features which I want to keep, such as the EPG showing programmes weeks ahead, the recording and wishlist functions, etc. So Now TV is a useful add-on for me, but not something I would ditch my XL subscription to VM for.

However, I have been toying with the idea of getting the Movies pass and ditching Sky Movies on Virgin, as VM are more expensive and I tend not to record films. The PQ on Now TV is very good although not quite HD.
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