04-01-2019 17:46
I have seen a few posts wanting to know when the Now TV output will be upgraded from 720P to 1080P, so I contacted Now TV support today to get an update.
They confirmed that this is definitely being 'worked on' but they could not confirm when or if it will be available. They also could not confirm that it will arrive in 2019.
It sounds like it is not a quick & easy thing to do, otherwise we would have it already.
My personal view is that we will get it eventually as there will be a strong commercial reason for it, because competitors are commonly providing 1080P or even 4K output now.
Hope that helps some of you.
25-11-2019 14:46
Thinking again about your price observations, it occurs to me that you were actually comparing the pre-HD pricing of NowTV versus those other services.
So you could argue that NowTV were already “taking the proverbial”; by which token, only charging as much extra as Netflix for the quality boost seems quite restrained 😛
04-12-2019 9:49
@RoyB @Anonymous User
Hey guys, do either of you have the Enterainment pass?
Have noticed that MTV (Catfish) and Comedy Central (South Park) don't have the HD tag on my Samsung TV. Although the 2 channels should be part of the HD "lineup".
Are you able to have a look for me and let me know if you see the HD tag on the 2 channels?
Having had a painful discussion on Live Chat, they finally confirmed that South Park isn't on HD. And they are apparently still uploading HD content. So they must have tackled the high priority channels first.
04-12-2019 23:51
@gavs82008 @Anonymous User
Yes, I have the Entertainment pass and the Boost. I’ll check those two programmes tomorrow for you and report back,
06-12-2019 24:12
Confirmed that both aren’t HD, and aren’t 5.1 either, looking on my NowTV Stick.
The test I use is to Pause the programme, and then if HD and 5.1 are available, little icons for these will come up on the screen, in the bottom left quadrant.
Neither of the programmes quoted have these.
Though note that if they show up, it means that these are available, not that you are necessarily getting them; even on an HD Ready stereo TV, they will still show up.
06-12-2019 10:40 - edited 06-12-2019 10:41
Exactly what I was doing too. Plus I noticed that if the show was available in HD and 5.1 then the tags would appear.
After my painful Live chat the other day the agent confirmed that shows are still being uploaded in HD, and a massive raft of MTV shows appear to be in that category. They also confirmed that South Park is not available in HD (perhaps much like MTV awaiting shows to be uploaded?). Not that it would matter with that type of show, although still would be preferred.
Thanks for taking some time to test this for me.
04-12-2019 10:11
Sorry @gavs82008 but as I'm using an Apple TV 4K I cannot avail of the HD Boost ☹️
25-11-2019 10:16
Now TV is Sky owned after all
With Sky TV to get the Entertainment channels in HD, you also have to pay an additional £5 fee on top of the Entertainment package.
So its not surprising at all to see a charge for HD.
24-11-2019 23:05
Put like that, yes you are quite right. But then quality comes into it also; Netflix have some awful straight-to-video movies, something NowTV avoids by not having very many - about a 1,000, while there are about 20,000 films out there they could choose from. Or have more of, in their library.
And while Amazon have some good Prime offerings, most of the things I’d like to watch on there seem to be chargeable extras. But then neither Netflix nor NowTV deliver parcels.....
OTOH, nobody need pay the advertised prices for NowTV passes, not with a Curry’s just down the road flogging Entertainment passes for £5 a month, and Cinema ones similarly discounted.
What I’ve found with any of them, though, is that trawling for good stuff is a pretty forlorn hope, and can waste evenings; if we haven’t heard of it, we really shouldn’t watch it.
So now we go on recommendations, and a wants list taken from film and TV reviews. Curiously, perhaps, we find ourselves choosing TV programmes pretty evenly across all three, but see a strong bias to NowTV cinema, despite knowing objectively, how much less there is to choose from there. All chocolate creams, few toffees 😛
25-11-2019 10:39
I'll agree that it can take a lot of time searching for anything worth watching on any of the platforms. Every week I have a movie night with a mate and my goodness we've watched some right stinkers, even modern blockbusters have left me totally baffled to their success ; Bohemian Rhapsody, Black Panther, Venom, Aquaman, Mortal Engines and Rampage to name a few.
25-11-2019 14:38
Out of all of those I've only seen Venom. Saw it in the cinema, a VueXteme 2D showing. I really enjoyed it. 🙂