Catch-up if you can.

[eepee]

I have recently inherited a TV set and am amazed at the lack of Internet content that it offers compared to my previous Samsung.

It is SONY KDL-48R553C, great picture, good sound.

It has a wonderful association to some lot called Vewd.com who offer lots of apps but none relevant to the UK free-to-view channels. Amazing that they sell Tvs in this country without a simple mechanism for catch-up tv.

But enough of the rant!

On reading, there is a suggestion on one of the forums that getting a 'Now BOX' for about £15 will give one the apps for UK catch-up channels such as ITV Hub, All 4 and the like.

Presumably for 'Now Box' one can read 'NOWtv' stick?
Can one use it straight out of the box without subscribing to anything?
Does one have to register somewhere before use?
Are the box, rather than stick types, sold more cheaply on eBay just as functional?

As you gather I know nothing about these Internet sticks - I just have Freesat for live viewing and used to have the Tv in-built facilities for catch-up.

Many thanks in advance.

Regards,
ep

[James]

If your telly has a HDMI port, just buy a Chromecast device, plug it in, and cast everything you want from your computer or Android phone/tablet.
I have a non-internet TV but Chromecast lets me play anything I can get online or through apps [BBC, Yahoo, All4, BFI, Netflix, NowTV etc] and I don't have to worry about what services the TV may or may not have built in.
They cost around £25 and will give you access to far more than a Now box, and you can still get Now programming as well.

[Urbandreamer]

The Now TV box is simply a android box that plugs into the HDMI port.

Sure, you can Chromecast, but why funnel everything through your phone.

I have a *droid internet box connected to the TV in the kitchen. I don't watch much TV, but the son can watch youtube on it while I listen to an ebook on my phone.

My main reason to have one connected to the TV in the kitchen is to look up recipies.
I also intended keeping the shopping list on it that would be shared over the internet. That way I wouldn't get home to find a new list just after I had done the shop. NO CHANCE! That entails getting other people to change their habits.

I've only half sucseeded in having a family calander on google. The wife still puts things in a paper diary and then wonders why I double booked!

[JonE]

Amazing that they sell Tvs in this country without a simple mechanism for catch-up tv.

Some may find it amazing that non-core facilities in a TV receiver are so popular given that manufacturers don't provide much in the way of longer-term support to keep such facilities updated and available. I also know a few people (currently entitled to a free TV licence) who don't have broadband and/or have no need for catch-up and wouldn't want any added complexity in a TV receiver or remote-controller.

I'm one of those who would rather use my own choice of mechanisms for providing extra functionality even though the marginal cost of the various strap-ins might be relatively low. I was even the tiniest bit miffed at having a built-in FreeView tuner forced upon me given that my local relay (when it eventually arrived) was so abysmal that I used only satellite broadcast plus a FoxSat with custom firmware to extend functionality. I don't now use satellite or the FoxSat but have swapped-in other elements to meet my current needs - without having to buy a different TV to meet my objectives.

I guess there are parallels with the old hi-fi option of buying either an all-in-one box of tricks or integrating individual components with each selected for price/performance according to an individual's needs and being independently replaceable/upgradable.

Cheers!

[midnightcatprowl]

I recently purchased a NOW TV stick. I'd been without TV for a few weeks after cancelling my Virgin Media broadband/TV/landline and getting Vodaphone broadband instead. The fact that it took a few weeks before I actually got around to replacing the TV service will probably warn you that though I like to have the option of watching TV, it isn't a big thing as far as I am concerned.

I chose the NOW TV stick because it was a cheap option. I don't have an aerial or a satellite dish - one of those things I've never got around to I do have fast fibre broadband and, in a single person household, there is no competition for the Wi-Fi

Once you've paid for the stick (it came very quickly), you can either take up one of their two week free trials of 'Entertainment', or ' Sky Sports' or 'Sky Cinema' or 'Kids' or you can purchase - on a monthly rolling basis - one or more of those options but you can cancel at any time, there is no contract. You've got to take up a free trial or pay for at least a month of one of the options in order to get up and running in the first place. After that you can cancel your paid for option(s) or not take up a paid option at the end of the free trial and my understanding is that your NOW TV stick will still work for the 'free' things like BBC i-Player. When I signed up there was a special offer on of two months for the price of one (£7.99) for one of the options (did I get that through MoneySavingExpert? Perhaps, can't remember) so I went for that on an 'Entertainment' pass so as to have a couple of months to assess if I'll make enough use of the 'paid for' bits to make it worth continuing to pay. I may perhaps cancel and then just pay for a pass at certain times of the year. Not decided yet.

Comments based on about 10 days of use:

It is ultra easy to set up in the first place;

It works fine (but please note above comments about broadband speed and lack of competition for the Wi-Fi);

Apparently you can take the stick with you when away from home and use it in a compatible TV - I won't but for some people this could be very useful;

Bearing in mind that this is my only source of TV, not just of free and catch up, there are a few programmes I could get via my Virgin Media Tivo Box that I can't get via the NOW TV stick which I rather miss but don't miss enough to pay for a more expensive means of TV reception;

You can get 'catch up' via the stick but you can't record. On Virgin Media with a Tivo box I could record a lot of material but rarely watched more than a small proportion of it. I'd start off feeling a programme or series was very interesting/entertaining but then find my interest declining;

The NOW TV stick offers umpteen Box Sets (if you pay for the 'Entertainment' pass) that you can't get on the 'free' channels. I've tried a few but mostly don't find them enjoyable enough to keep watching but that's just me. I suspect many/most people would be delighted with the choice on offer.

[eepee]

Hi James, I think the Chromecast is not a solution I would want. I do not have a tablet and would not want to tie up the laptop during viewing times.

Urbandreamer I don't quite understand your 'droid internet box'. At first I thought it might be that the sticks offer more facilities than I had thought of. But re-reading your 'intended keeping the shopping list on it' I gathered that what you have is some sort of computer device such as a tablet or phone.

midnightcatprowl thank you for your very comprehensive reply. It would appear that it does run straight out of the box, although there are some registration hoops to jump through and a reminder to cancel subscriptions before they are due.

It does make me wonder whether the boxes sold on eBay cheaply are very much like the sticks but by not being new, have already been through the various activation routines.

Regards to all,
ep

[superFoolish]

Hi James, I think the Chromecast is not a solution I would want. I do not have a tablet and would not want to tie up the laptop during viewing times.

Sure, you can Chromecast, but why funnel everything through your phone.

With regards to the above comments, when using Chromecast, the device that you cast from (e.g. laptop, tablet, phone) is not tied up, and is not used for 'funnelling' the video.

When you 'cast' from a device, it hands-over the streaming to the Chromecast box (i.e. the video is playing on the Chromecast box, directly from the Internet), and the original casting device is no longer needed; you can close the app / browser and power the device off if you wish.

We have been successfully using Chromecast for about two years, and it works very smoothly. We use it for casting NetFlix, YouTube, TV broadcasters' dedicated apps, and (primarily) Plex, and it works flawlessly. Once you have started playing video (e.g. a NetFlix movie) from a device (e.g. phone), it takes 3-4 seconds to appear on the TV (to which the Chromecast box is connected) and you can carry on using your device for whatever you want, or even power it off.

We don't cast from a PC, but I have just tested it, and once the video is playing on the Chromecast, you can shut the browser and / or turn the PC off if you wish; the video keeps playing on the TV. The only disadvantage I can see with this set up, is that you would need to use the laptop to pause, etc. However, even the cheapest Android phones should be able to work with Chromecast, so unless you only have 'feature-phones' in your household, you should be just fine.

Although we (i.e. family) all have smartphones, I purchased a cheap Android tablet for about (equivalent of) GBP25, and that is used for Netflix and Plex, but also for Skyping and Air Conditioning control.

Even my parents use it when they come to visit, and they are, shall we say, 'technically challenged'.

[Urbandreamer]

Urbandreamer I don't quite understand your 'droid internet box'. At first I thought it might be that the sticks offer more facilities than I had thought of. But re-reading your 'intended keeping the shopping list on it' I gathered that what you have is some sort of computer device such as a tablet or phone.

It's a perception thing. The Now TV box and the sticks you mention ARE computer devices. Just like your phone is. My phone runs android. The Now TV box runs android. My '*droid internet box" runs android, it's even possible that your internet TV runs android.

You can't make normal phonecalls on the TV box that I use, but in all other ways it's just like a smartphone with a TV size display.

Just as you can subscribe to entertainment chanels or catch-up TV on an internet TV or Now TV box. You can also do so on an android phone (with it's small screen or chromecast to a sensible screen). You've probably seen the Sky adverts on TV of someone watching Sky on his phone in a taxi.

Alternatively I can download any app that makes sense from the google play app store to the TV box. There are apps there that do everything from shopping lists, predict the tide, or tracking how much booze you consume. Obviously I could also download the Sky app as well and just watch TV or Netflix.

Try this link for a description of android TV boxes.
https://www.wirelesshack.org/what-is-a- ... -work.html
I recently bought one for £30.

Ps I also have a chromecast dongle, but while it obviously suits superFoolish it didn't suit me.

[BobbyD]

The Now TV box runs android

As cripped Roku boxes do they not run a custom Linux?

[tea42]

+1 for the Chomecast. I have a Smart TV but prefer the Chromecast. Mine is plugged into a spare Hdmi port on my 5 channel surround sound amplifier so its great for playing Spotify through too. I cast video clips and photos from Instagram through it. Anything on your tablet and phone can be cast onto the TV too. And… it uses your internet connection not phone charges. We watch Netflix, Amazon Prime and Google Play films and TV series too. A Chomecast gives you anything found on a tablet, all the TV iPlayers, Youtube, something you cant get with the limited features of Smart TVs or Now TV type boxes. Chromecast is much more versatile.

[Urbandreamer]

As cripped Roku boxes do they not run a custom Linux?

I don't own a Now TV box, but judging by what I find on the internet they run a custom Android. You could "side-load" apps etc however a recent update locked that feature off.
The Kindle fire is symilarly locked down, which is why I bought nether to connect to my TV.
I bought one of these.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from ... e&_sacat=0

BTW Android itself is a fork of the Linux kernal without the Gnu stuff, Gnome, KDE etc.

However we are getting a bit technical here. The point I was trying to make is that you can cheaply get a box that runs a common smartphone OS and acts both as a multimeadia center and also can handle applications appropriate to the TV location.

Being effectivly a smartphone it can of course run the apps that you would run to chromecast from a phone or tablet. I'm not sure why tea42 thinks it can't (unless they are limiting their comment to a specific box such as the Now TV one). As I said, mine regularly gets used for Youtube and web searches for recipies.

Mine is in the kitchen so internet recipies and shopping lists make sense.
In the living room you might want to use an app to control your central heating or play movies or music that you store on a hard disk somewhere else on your network in addtion to watching catch-up TV.

[BobbyD]

As cripped Roku boxes do they not run a custom Linux?

I don't own a Now TV box, but judging by what I find on the internet they run a custom Android.

Roku boxes run Roku OS. Now TV boxes are restricted Roku boxes.

[eepee]

Going past a Currys, decided to go in.

They are selling NOWtv boxes for £9.99. Bought one.

It comes with 2 months worth of the Entertainment Pass. Maybe I am not reading it right but if I am (Catch-up), it is amazing just how they are giving me all those 'wonderful' programmes - on the list I never spotted anything that might be remotely of interest!

Again maybe I am reading it wrong but on My Apps there are about 14 apps that seem to cover the free-to-view channel catch-ups. Apparently one can also download extra free ones from the Sky Store but I won't do that till I kill the Entertainment Pass and see what is left.

Now what film should I watch with my free £5.49 voucher??????

Thanks to all.

Regards,
ep

[BobbyD]

Going past a Currys, decided to go in.

They are selling NOWtv boxes for £9.99. Bought one.

It comes with 2 months worth of the Entertainment Pass. Maybe I am not reading it right but if I am (Catch-up), it is amazing just how they are giving me all those 'wonderful' programmes - on the list I never spotted anything that might be remotely of interest!

Again maybe I am reading it wrong but on My Apps there are about 14 apps that seem to cover the free-to-view channel catch-ups. Apparently one can also download extra free ones from the Sky Store but I won't do that till I kill the Entertainment Pass and see what is left.

Now what film should I watch with my free £5.49 voucher??????

Thanks to all.

Regards,
ep

Yup, and the freeview continues even after you cancel the Ents.

[gilesweb]

It is amazingly generous

Also once you set up an account you can register up to 4 devices and watch on two simultaneously.

We got a box for our holiday let, but can now also watch at home "for free" - the subscriptions are a business expense. Also great to be able to switch off the ones we don't want when no one is renting in the winter.

[sono99]

What you people think about this 2018 Model GooBang Doo ABOX is it really good

[StepOne]

We got a box for our holiday let, but can now also watch at home "for free" - the subscriptions are a business expense.

Um, don't the expenses have to be 'wholly and exclusively' for business use to qualify as an expense?

StepOne