Device Management with Chromecast

[Anonymous User]

Hi,

I was wondering why the chromecast option takes up a device management slot, as we need a registered device to cast from...? This means to watch nowtv via chromecast, I need to use 2 of the 4 available slots.
Are there any plans to increase the device number limit or remove the registered device requirement for the chromecast?

[Anonymous User]

Dear Now TV,

So the Chromecast i bought & tried to use apparantly takes me over my Max Devices. Why?

Ok, i thought, that seems highly illogical but i'll just remove one of my existing (in fact deceased) devices. Great i can remove that. Lets try again..Whats that? The Now TV box i added earlier counts as the only device i can add this calendar month? WTF?

let me see, hmm, you can have 4 devices, and you can remove them as you see fit, but you can't add more than 1 device per calendar month. Right? Utterly stupid arbitratry rule. Whats so special about the start/end of a calendar month? How about December, when a huge number of people are getting and trying out new tech after Balck Friday & Cyber Monday etc? Whats the diference between removing a device on Nov 30th at 23:59 and Dec 3rd, i'd suggest the answer is actually 'none' (apart from the pointless frustration your mindlessly impractical restrictive rule causes)

So I've made the contemptuous mistake of actually getting two new bits of kit prior to Christmas in order to keep visiting families happy, providing more viewing options for kids and parents alike. One of them isn't even a 'device', its a Chromecast, you know that thing that doesnt have a screen 🙂 What an idiot i am, of course i can't do that, numpty, not on 4th of the month, never mind, only 27 days to go before everyone who visits can actually makes use of that wonderful Now TV box/chromecast/subscription.

If you're going to have dumb rules like this then please please please put a great big eye catching seasonal sticker, alongside the one that entices you in with introductory offers, that screams "Be very aware that this device may well be utterly useless until the beginning of next year!!!!!"

Please then explain to numpties like me who pay for something why they can't use it, i really can't think of a good reason. By all means having a max number of devices is perfectly understandable but

1)not allowing me to use my max number of devices when I (the bill payer, tech buyer, parent) see fit is a nonsense

2)Counting the Chromecast as a 'device' is a nonsense. I got the Chromecast for the flexibilty of my kids being able to hook up to their tablets, my wife to her tablet if she needs to or me to my phone when i need to. Lets see, ah i get it, Now TV is part of a long term program to prevent couples having more than 1 kid 😉 The modern post-nuclear family, 2Parents+1Child+1Chromecast and a Now TV Movie pass, bliss, ooh so long as they don't go get another bit of tech, then they'll be as irritated as me.

Please wake up a software guy and get this utter piece of ill-thought-out garbage removed from your code. 

Thanks

gadama 

[Anonymous User]

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@Anonymous User wrote:

1)not allowing me to use my max number of devices when I (the bill payer, tech buyer, parent) see fit is a nonsense

2)Counting the Chromecast as a 'device' is a nonsense. I got the Chromecast for the flexibilty of my kids being able to hook up to their tablets, my wife to her tablet if she needs to or me to my phone when i need to. Lets see, ah i get it, Now TV is part of a long term program to prevent couples having more than 1 kid 😉 

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1) NowTV have a responsibility to the rights owners, this includes limiting the number of available devices which can watch their content. If you could add and remove at will you could "lease" your account to friends and family.

2) Your Chromecast is one device, and if you want you don't need the kids tablets, your wifes table or you phone as a device, you can cast from any of these by ensuring the cast button is pressed before you start playback.

[Anonymous User]

Not before January 1st 2015 i can't!

[Anonymous User]

Re the answers (see below)

1)Ok i can see your point, and understand the issue, but only to a certain extent. Firstly the limits NowTV have chosen seem mighty inflexible and arbitrary. At the very minimum it should be a rolling window from the last change, not the beginning of the next calendar month? Even better you could look at an accounts device management and decide whether you suspect them of 'leasing'. If you looked at mine you'd see that i have done nothing that constitutes that, therefore NowTV's logic is blatantly too crude, and NowTV are in danger of losing customers because of that. In the same 'breath' you could also check to see if an account is about to fall into the trap of adding a device that will render any further new device utterly pointless for a month (which in case readers  haven't seen is what happened to me), and then gently prompt the user to check on their allocated devices so that they can manage them effectively rather than just blocking them.

2)I still don't see why the chromecast is a device. Explain please. Secondly on this, the idea of casting before i play would be great if i had something to cast with, but i dont, not until January 2015 for some reason.

regards.

1) NowTV have a responsibility to the rights owners, this includes limiting the number of available devices which can watch their content. If you could add and remove at will you could "lease" your account to friends and family.

2) Your Chromecast is one device, and if you want you don't need the kids tablets, your wifes table or you phone as a device, you can cast from any of these by ensuring the cast button is pressed before you start playback.

[Anonymous User]

Hi @Anonymous User 

Thanks for your feedback regarding NOW TV and Chromecast.

We're very sorry to hear about the inconvenience it has caused and we're sorry to hear that the four device slots have not been sufficient. 

We've provided you with a device reset which means you're now free to add four devices to your NOW TV account.

Please note that a device will be added as soon as you begin viewing NOW TV on that device.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Steve

NOW TV Team 

[Anonymous User]

Hi,

that's excellent and very much appreciated. I'm impressed that you have been able to respond to a community page so please continue this great approach, very often individual issues like this are irrelevent to big companies but it makes huge difference to us as a family 🙂

Thanks!

gadama

[Anonymous User]

Can I add another vote for at least increasing the number of devices beyond 4.  We have 4 TVs in the house, before counting IOS devices, and it would be great to be able to watch NowTV on any one of them.   It is a pain to swap, particularly when you then cannot switch back until the following month.

[Anonymous User]

I had an account that was dormant for a few months and have since bought a chromecast that came with a 90 day free trial as well. However, I've since changed pretty much every device I had registered from back then so I was only able to add one new device, my chromecast.

That chromecast developed a fault so I had to get a replacement, and I'm not even able to register it as I can't add any more devices to the list!

Can any mods provide me with a reset as well so I can add my new chromecast and new devices please?

[Anonymous User]

Never mind, its been sorted

[Anonymous User]

Sky/NowTV are bunch of bureaucrats.

I have two chromecasts which obviously take space, I have a Tablet, a phone and a laptop. I use each and every single one of them... Well not anymore. Did I mention that I also purchased NowTV box.... And yes it also takes a slot.

Also ban on rooted devices is just stupid. I someone knows how to root he or she will have enough knowledge how to use torrents or something simple as PT (torrent movie app). Why would I bother to go through all that hassle just to have a "copy" of a film downloaded from NowTv as a root user on my phone (because thats what it's all about really).

Now TV doesnt even offer latest films and on top of that its one of the more expensive services. 

I'm leaving NowTV and going to PT. At least I can use chromecast there with no limits