NEWS: NOW TV Boost adds Full HD and 5.1 audio

Like many others, I've dipped in and out of NowTV over the past few years to watch GoT and a few other exclusive series but as a general streaming provider this new service is simply not competitive when you compare the monthly prices for 1080P/5.1 audio (which I consider the minimum acceptable quality).

Amazon Prime Video £7.99 (or £79 p.a. = £6.58 per month)
Netflix £8.99
NowTV Movies Pass £14.99
NowTV Entertainment Pass £11.99
NowTV Movies+Entertainment Pass £23.98

While I've never had to pay more than £5 for a discounted monthly Entertainment Pass, the "Boost" would still put this service at £8 a month and you don't even get any movies.

It's a shame really because their movie selection is more current and extensive than other providers but it only costs £12.98 a month to get unlimited Blu-Rays at Cinema Paradiso with more choice, newer releases, better picture quality and 7.1 HD audio.

I suspect the NowTV prices will fall once they realise that customers don't switch in the numbers they must be hoping for.

I'm also surprised there isn't a discounted Movies/TV combo pass to go up against the Netflix and Amazon directly. If such a Pass (in 1080P/5.1 audio) was under a tenner I'd probably alternate between them and Netflix/Amazon.
 
Ive tried the boost and as stated the difference in PQ is very noticeable

The LG TV app actually defaults to stereo. To get 5.1 you have to scroll to the bottom of the app, select My Account and you'll see a Settings option on the Boost pass. This has to be changed to Surround Sound.
 
Yes, that caught me out. I was expecting it to change. I only found that out when I was on a NowTV forum thread about it.

Clem
 
Well, my thoughts on the Now TV Boost.. If I 'autodetect' on the settings, things can look jaggy.
Set it to 1080p, things look smooth.. The Walking Dead looks smoother on 1080p (but it's pcm)... The grain and clarity is still appalling though. ...
Watchmen looks great on 1080p and in DD.....
 
Thanks for this, didn’t think of that, I‘ve previously only used my PS4 for games.

So it seems the app for both PlayStation and Apple TV haven’t been updated in years.

To be honest I’ll likely just drop NowTV entirely, thankfully I’ve only used it lightly for the last year, but it has been absolute tripe from start to finish, terrible quality, terrible apps.
There is an update due very soon for the NowTV app on Apple TV 4K. Once this comes it will fully support the boost perks.
 
Well, my thoughts on the Now TV Boost.. If I 'autodetect' on the settings, things can look jaggy.
Set it to 1080p, things look smooth.. The Walking Dead looks smoother on 1080p (but it's pcm)... The grain and clarity is still appalling though. ...
Watchmen looks great on 1080p and in DD.....
When you refer to auto detect do you mean explicitly in the NowTV device video and audio settings?
 
My Now TV Black Box/TV auto detects the video.
The sound was just to say what is played through my amp and not related to auto detect......
 
My Now TV Black Box/TV auto detects the video.
The sound was just to say what is played through my amp and not related to auto detect......

I agree with you on some older devices HDMI edid may not have been implemented well. Best to hardset the box to 1080p and the audio output settings manually to whatever you know your TV is best capable of. :)
 
I agree with you on some older devices HDMI edid may not have been implemented well. Best to hardset the box to 1080p and the audio output settings manually to whatever you know your TV is best capable of. :)
I have an Atmos set up, but annoyed that TWD not in DD... My system can display 2.2 4k HDR 60Hz, but yeah, setting the Now TV box to 1080p seems to produce the most stable picture...
 
Using the boost on Britannia 2 on the LG app, no complaints about the picture but like before it looks like they work hard to find as a low a bit-rate as they can get away with - no macro-blocking but not much headroom. Sound-wise the volume level seems low on DD+ over ARC - Ive had to put the receiver vol up far above normal TV prog level.

As the rumours have been around for a while and the app hasn't been updated lately this service must have been in beta for ages. So how do these companies choose their testers ?? - like so many new services its easy to draw up a list of probs in the first 5 mins
 
50FPS is an absolute must for me for sports streaming which is fast moving content by definition.

I found the 720p 25fps Now TV Sports streams to be unpleasant viewing experiences on a large TV and nowhere near the quality of an HD TV broadcast or worthy of a premium price tag.

It's a shame that the Boost service is limited to two sports channels and currently excludes Sky Sports Football. Sadly, this means that Championship Football and Scottish Football will in most instances still be limited to a 25fps 720p stream.
 
Amazon Prime Video £7.99 (or £79 p.a. = £6.58 per month)
Netflix £8.99
NowTV Movies Pass £14.99
NowTV Entertainment Pass £11.99
NowTV Movies+Entertainment Pass £23.98

I suspect the NowTV prices will fall once they realise that customers don't switch in the numbers they must be hoping for.

I actually wonder if they're doing this (along with annual increases) to get people to think "oh I may as well get proper Sky". For every 1 person that does, they can lose maybe 3 (assuming non-boosters at £9).

The way streaming services are going I really can't see "aggregators" (Sky/Virgin) being around much longer. We'll certainly not as they exist today.
 
I don’t see VM or Sky going anywhere at present. VM is busy expanding its broadband network and Sky is striking a deal to use it. However, if Messers Corbyn and McDonnell get the keys to No10 next month and launch their free broadband idea (really?) then things would certainly hit VM, and to a lesser extent, Sky. With streaming now the norm and 4K fairly commonplace, network providers are well placed to clean-up. As for the distribution of linear TV via the platforms, then I agree, things do look less certain in the long term.

Clem
 
50FPS is an absolute must for me for sports streaming which is fast moving content by definition.

I found the 720p 25fps Now TV Sports streams to be unpleasant viewing experiences on a large TV and nowhere near the quality of an HD TV broadcast or worthy of a premium price tag.

It's a shame that the Boost service is limited to two sports channels and currently excludes Sky Sports Football. Sadly, this means that Championship Football and Scottish Football will in most instances still be limited to a 25fps 720p stream.
All of the sky sports channels are 1080p with boost pass, but as you say only Main Event & Premier League get 50fps. There'll still be a decent amount of Champs footy on Main Event going forward though.
 
I only see 25fs on my LG TV, but it's good enough for 1080p and DD5.1 audio for Entertainment Pass stuff. I'd like to think that at some point the NowTV app. on the LG will get an update to fix this, but the LG hardware may be the limiting factor.

Clem
 
I only see 25fs on my LG TV, but it's good enough for 1080p and DD5.1 audio for Entertainment Pass stuff. I'd like to think that at some point the NowTV app. on the LG will get an update to fix this, but the LG hardware may be the limiting factor.

Clem
If you're desperate for the 50fps sports channels (I think its a big upgrade and worth the hassle) then you can get the NowTV Smart Stick for £15, or if you want a better and more multipurpose device, the Roku Streaming Stick + for £30. :)
 
If anyone is interested, NowTV have got their Black Friday offer on again of 12 months Entertainment and Cinema Pass for £99.
 
I have so many films to watch on BR, DVD, Amazon and Netflix that I just cannot add another film service to the mix at present. It doesn't sound a bad deal though.

Clem
 
If anyone is interested, NowTV have got their Black Friday offer on again of 12 months Entertainment and Cinema Pass for £99.
Damn, still only showing me the Sky Sports pass deal as a current subscriber. I'd take the Movies and Entertainment again for £99...
 
Just trying this out on LG smart TV and it’s not great, football is very blurry in motion, I know the LG app doesn’t support 50fps so maybe that’s it, anyone else seeing this?
 
Just trying this out on LG smart TV and it’s not great, football is very blurry in motion, I know the LG app doesn’t support 50fps so maybe that’s it, anyone else seeing this?

What you are describing is consistent with 25fps sports streams and is most apparant when viewing on large tvs . If you are wanting the best quality then your best option is to invest in a Now TV Smart Stick which have good offers until Monday at Currys/Argos/Ebay. You can currently pick up a Now TV Smart Stick preloaded with a one month sports pack for £20.00 which will cover the multitude of football which will be shown in December. This will unlock the ability to use the Boost service to view the 50fps stream on your LG smart TV using the Smart Stick which will be a much more pleasant viewing experience than the built in LG App. Alternatively, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus is on offer at the moment with 3 free movies from Rakuten provided which offers some additional functionality compared to the Now TV sticks which are more limited.

It is somewhat annoying that in order to get the best out of these streaming services that you need to have a multitude of different streaming services. For example, Apple TV doesn't support the 50 fps streams despite the power of its processor being able to handle them with ease.
 
......, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus is on offer at the moment with 3 free movies from Rakuten provided which offers some additional functionality compared to the Now TV sticks which are more limited.

It is somewhat annoying that in order to get the best out of these streaming services that you need to have a multitude of different streaming services. For example, Apple TV doesn't support the 50 fps streams despite the power of its processor being able to handle them with ease.

Do you know if the Roku Premiere 4k 'puck' supports NowTV @50. I prefer that option as it has IR control option for my Harmony anf the flexibility of a Roku over a NowTV stick .
 
What you are describing is consistent with 25fps sports streams and is most apparant when viewing on large tvs . If you are wanting the best quality then your best option is to invest in a Now TV Smart Stick which have good offers until Monday at Currys/Argos/Ebay. You can currently pick up a Now TV Smart Stick preloaded with a one month sports pack for £20.00 which will cover the multitude of football which will be shown in December. This will unlock the ability to use the Boost service to view the 50fps stream on your LG smart TV using the Smart Stick which will be a much more pleasant viewing experience than the built in LG App. Alternatively, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus is on offer at the moment with 3 free movies from Rakuten provided which offers some additional functionality compared to the Now TV sticks which are more limited.

It is somewhat annoying that in order to get the best out of these streaming services that you need to have a multitude of different streaming services. For example, Apple TV doesn't support the 50 fps streams despite the power of its processor being able to handle them with ease.
The reason the Apple TV 4K app doesn't support boost yet is due to the app not having been updated for a long time. However I have it on good authority that there is an update coming very soon which will bring the UI up to date with all other NowTV apps and bring boost pass compatibility.
 
Is F1 recorded and broadcast at 50Hz on main event?

bearing in mind the entertainment option is a bunch of sky stuff and effectively HBO too which is a separate sub in the US, the price seems ok
 
Is F1 recorded and broadcast at 50Hz on main event?

bearing in mind the entertainment option is a bunch of sky stuff and effectively HBO too which is a separate sub in the US, the price seems ok

You mean 50 frames per second (50fps) and yes. Prior to the boost pass the nowtv devices already refreshed at 50hz but this simply meant each frame of the 25fps streams was displayed twice.

Yes F1 will be shown in 50fps on Main Event 😁
 

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