NOW TV Stick

[Bob Williams]

http://tinyurl.com/y9k6db8k

I am very interested and will be looking at this later this year, when Sky/NOWTV raise the quality to 1080P.

This is in connection with Sky’s plans to put all their services online only:     http://tinyurl.com/y7syytg5

Dishes for sale everywhere? Maybe I will be able to eventually get the brickwart and cables off my chimney and walls. Unless Virgin beat Sky to it, they have plans to start digging up the village later this year, almost finished ruining the street surfaces of Louth. Gotta love competition!

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[blacklion1725]

Having tried the Amazon Fire stick and box, the box wins hands down – I’d expect NowTV to be the same – and given that you can get NowTV on several other platforms I can’t see much point in buying a NowTV device since they disable the (e.g. Plex) developer channel.

An online only Sky Q solution might make a bit ofsense, though I still think they (Sky) are in a muddle. Sky Q…… in the catchup/on-demand age who needs to record 6 live things at once?

I’ve left Sky now but most that I know who have migrated to Q are less than impressed – mainly with the performance of the mini-boxes. The fact Sky are losing content to competitors left right and centre makes them even less attractive.

NowTV looks like their best bang/buck product to me – but I’d choose a newer Roku as the delivery platform over a NowTV device…..its neutral content-wise and better hardware.

[Bob Williams]

Thanks BL, just been looking at the Streaming Stick+ and it does look the business. Unfortunately I now feel sick, having recently set up Freesat on a Humax box.

Guess you also feel as sick as I do at the Cup results. We beat Hull at the KC stadium earlier in the season. Oh well, who needs a Cup run, when you are struggling in the League? ?

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[blacklion1725]

Was expecting it Bob – heard Moyes (justifying weak team) say Wigan would give the FA Cup they won back to stay in the Premier League – show s how out of touch he/they are…..I’d swap the struggle to stay up for a cup win and then the lower leagues in a heartbeat. What’s the point of just “existing” in the pemier league? And if you get to see match of the day our fullback (Massuaku) got (rightly) sent off for spitting at a Wigan player – hope he gets sacked but doubt it. Dirty ****er is a disgrace to our shirt.

Back on topic can’t see the attraction of “stick” versus “box” – still one HDMI port, still need power (even if USB) and just worse performance. For the Rokus, which support IR as well as woreless remote, havong a stick (non-IR) behnd the TV is another reason to go “box”.

 

[The Duke]

I’d get a roku box over the now tv stick/nox. They have the nowtv app, and quality wise the footy looks better than it ever did on sky hd.

If it’s not 1080p they are using some high bit rate stuff. Like what the bbc does when Wimbledon is on.

[blacklion1725]

The Roku will also allow access to Netflix, Amazon Prime and many other channels (official and unofficial) that NowTV doesn’t support, and has a much nicer UI (minly because it is not pushing one particular content provider. Roku supports Plex, NowTV no longer does. Neither supports Kodi btw which is where Amazon Fire has the upper hand, supports just about everything (including Kodi) but UI not as nice (gets better as it learns what you use though). I’d definitely go for the highest spec box (within budget) over a stick whichever platform you choose.

[PlaneMan]

Have to  agree with BL, spend out on as high spec as you can in the first place or you’ll just end up spending more in the long run.

I’ve set up various devices from Android TV box’s, Firesticks, Now TV devices and Fire TV and the Fire TV is the winner, much more responsive than anything else and is easy to sideload Apps to. (Not touched a Roku for years but they were the king).

[Bob Williams]

Thanks guys, now I am more confused! ???

I think that I will plod on with the current Freesat setup for a while. Sooner or later we will find the right flat/bungalow in Louth and that will mean a tremendous upheaval, as my Gert is totally resistant to change, even though she was the one to originally want to move. Have to get current health problems out of the way before considering anything else.

There seem to be Pro’s and Con’s for each of the devices mentioned. I will take a broader look later in the year. Moving into Louth will mean access to Virgin Media or BT. Louth is now fully cabled up: a friend on the outer edge of town is getting >50Mbps.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

You’re totally right bob, atm there isn’t one box to rule them all, every one has a compromise. Android tv on paper is the one with no compromise on paper, but it’s not there yet irl.

The new apple tv is meant to be real good, the remote is poor, and you get locked into apples echo system. So that’s only for those already invested in apple.

[PlaneMan]

If you have the spare £ the Shield TV is one to get. Really not cheap but you can game on it if you feel like it.

[blacklion1725]

yep Shield T V is a powerful bit of kit but pricey – It can run the plex server and client which is a bonus plus “proper Android TV”….neither is a killer feature for me as other ways to skin those cats.

If that is out of budget (pushing £200) I’d say to simplify the confusion if you need Kodi get an Amazon Fire TV box, if you don’t then get a Roku box….either flavour just get the best you can spec-wise.

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