Now TV vs. Netflix (on Apple TV)

Col_Decker

Currently running Netflix via Apple TV for all our non-freeview tv needs, but last night I noticed a new icon 'Now TV'. Its from Sky TV so is chock full of decent & new films (unlike Netflix) and it has an entertainment channel package too for TV Box sets, ie walking dead. I can see the pros for the content and I can see the cons for the cost, as Netflix costs us £8 pm, where as Now TV is £10pm for movies plus £7pm for the entertainment pack.

 

Anybody out there using Now TV? What's it like?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guide this poor sinner

boogieman

We've got the entertainment package with a Now tv box. It's great in principle, Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Blacklist, Hannibal etc for £7 a month. No brainer compared to having a Sky package. It was even better when it was £5 a month, (they put it up recently with a couple of weeks notice. Won't be the last time I reckon).
The downside is we find it stutters and buffers at random times and the picture quality can vary from YouTube style grainy to pin sharp. Really friggin annoying. We are on Virgin though and from reading on t'web this can happen as it doesn't play nicely with Virgin's broadband. Sky also only broadcast Now at 720 so don't expect full HD quality.

strumjoughlamps

yeah we use NOW TV on various devices, you can have 4 devices registered and use 2 at the same time.. I pay less then usual though (7 & 5) as I wrangled a good offer when I went to cancel once..  its a good cheaper alternative to Sky but obviously its all about how good and stable your BBand is..

I use the sports day passes too but I get the codes of eBay around £4ish each

EricTheWeary

NOW user here. Similar problem that it doesn't like Virgin broadband and there are extra stages to setting it up. Occaisional buffering or grainy issues. I think I've now watched most of the stuff I'm interested in ( there are box set and catch up options) so when current Walking Dead season finishes I might cancel it. The box should still work for iPlayer, 4player,etc, without the subscription so it's a handy little thing.

boogieman

The standalone box works over wifi. If they'd been a bit less tight and put an Ethernet socket on it as well, it would work so much better.
@EricTheWeary. We've got our box literally right next to the router now, that seems to solve some of the buffering issues that were plaguing it, tried that?

EricTheWeary

They are in different rooms so probably can't. Problems have been quite rare and only really a) at peak broadband usage times like Sunday tea time or b) the picture has drifted into fuzziness in a long programme but a quick reboot will fix that.
The picture isn't HD but it's probably better than some of the non HD Freeview channels.
Setting up was a PIA as the instructions didn't work with our Virgin super hub but there were extra ones on the NOW site.
It's been good to get access to Sky Arts again and some series have been great - Elementary and True Detective. Like Netflix lot of filler on there as well ( no matter how many times it comes up I'm still not watching the box set of Goodnight Sweetheart).

Col_Decker

Cool ta. We're in the middle of Breaking Bad atm on Netflix so we won't be switching till that's finished. We get our BB from Sky so hopefully we won't issues with the buffering like on Virgin. Hopefully.

wibble

Now tv have a free large Papa Johns pizza (usually £16.99) offer on at the moment...

buy a months entertainment pass (£6.99) and apply the voucher code NOWTVGOTPIZZA by midday tomorrow (Fri 6th) and the pizza voucher gets emailed to you same day.

holnrew

I find it's pretty good. I'm planning to sign up again soon. I had 3 months free of some virgin TV package, but I keep forgetting to cancel it and have paid for two months now. As soon as I've done that I'll be signing up.

Monkeybone

Has anyone tried Now TV through PS3? If so, any good?

RedRabbit

Monkeybone;553013" said:

Has anyone tried Now TV through PS3? If so, any good?

I used it for Game of Thrones last year. Awful experience so I went back to torrents. Buffering on on demand stuff is one thing but when tou get five minutes buffering for live shows it jist skips ahead so it's still live. Shame really as I was trying to be good.

I'll try it again this year as the app has been updated and apparently the back end has been sorted out as well but I don't have high hopes.