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RoyB
Legend

I know Thomas Hardy is dead; but why have you buried him?

There was a recent programme about Thomas Hardy on Sky Arts, which I recorded on my YouView box. And I’m glad I did, because finding it and watching it on Now is almost impossible.

 

We have quite an investment in Thomas Hardy, because after we came down to visit his cottage, we found the area so lovely that we moved here, and now live just a few miles from the town that Hardy called Casterbridge. So naturally, we were interested in the programme.

 

I don’t know if anyone else will ever chance upon it, though, unless Now fix this mess 😢

 

On Now on my LG TV:-

 

Put Hardy in the Search; nothing.
Put Thomas in the Search; get Thomas the naffing Tank Engine.

 

But the programme is there, and here’s how you find it from the Home Page:-

5 clicks down to Entertainment ( You have to know Sky Arts is under Entertainment, though that is a reasonable guess)

1 click to get in

15 clicks down to Channels

1 click to get in (don’t scroll across looking for the channel, as you will only come to another View All)

12 clicks down to Sky Arts (again don’t scroll across, as you will only get to another View All)

1 click to get in

325 clicks to get to the Hardy programme, 649 of 680. Though you can at least just hold on to the Down Arrow key here, it still has to unnecessarily show you the hero screen for every programme you pass over on the way, so it’s a leisurely journey 😢

 

(It’s slightly easier on the iPad, as you get the programmes in most recent order, and this is the most recent one, but I’m not going to cast it just for that).

 

But it’s no different from the LG TV on my Roku Express 4K, except that that does at least say that the third (why third?) icon on the first row on the Home Screen is the TV Guide, something the LG version of the app hides from you.

 

And it’s not just the Hardy programme that isn’t in the Search; it’s most, but not all, Sky Arts programmes.

 

Why?

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
17 REPLIES 17
schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @RoyB 

 

This is one of the reasons i have been harping onto NOW to bring back their more sophisticated search which you can find only on the NOW branded devices by clicking the back button from the home screen to get the older search option that also incorporates search for Director, Actor or NOW content.

 

This screen shot was taken from my NOW 4K Smart box under the older style search tab which i would like NOW to reinstate on all their playback devices if possible.

 

Once i click on Thomas Hardy after saying on the next page that pops up you need a NOW subscription, it then takes me directly to the Sky Arts folder in question to watch.

 

I am assuming this is the TV programme you are talking about ?

 

IMG_20210919_112736.jpg

 

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @RoyB 

 

Here's some more screen shots of the more sophisticated search only found on the NOW branded devices by pressing the back button from the home screen page and navigating to the old style tab on the left hand side.

 

I am sure this more sophisticated search was present on other NOW playback devices until NOW changed the Home Screen UI a while back 😠.

 

IMG_20210919_114419.jpg

 

IMG_20210919_114306.jpg

 

IMG_20210919_114516.jpg

 

IMG_20210919_114544.jpg

 

Saint1976
Elite 3

@RoyB @schnapps there are annoying variances in the search function and organisational format across all platforms. Using search on the Android app finds the aforementioned programme first time but no luck on Roku.

 

Search has always been a mess, particularly when the same show has seasons or specials split into multiple folders. It may find some folders but not all.

 

Roy, you mention that on iPad shows are organised under the Sky Arts tab by last broadcast, but on Android they're organised in alphabetical order, so like LG and Roku, you'd have to scroll right to the bottom to find Thomas Hardy.

 

Screenshot_20210919-114435.jpg

 

Screenshot_20210919-114929.jpg

 

It has always been my biggest bugbear with Now - the lack of consistency between platforms. It's almost like they have different departments designing and implementing for each that don't communicate with each other.

RoyB
Legend

@schnapps 

 

That is indeed the programme I am talking about.

 

@Saint1976 

 

The iPad actually gives you the choice of Recently Added, A-Z, or Release Year. Maybe you have this option on Android also?

 

And yes, it seems pretty crazy that Now has all this code knocking about, but can’t create a superset of it all to give a consistent approach across all platforms.

 

But what’s even crazier here is that most Sky Arts programmes aren’t even included in the searches I did on Title. I can see no reason why that can’t be fixed tout suite, even if restoring the more complex search (the one we used to take for granted!) will take a bit more time and effort.

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
RoyB
Legend

See the option top right, to select sort order on my iPad. Looks like it works across all channels.

 

64EE4ED8-D28A-42A2-BF73-50A4E9CE93E2.jpeg

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
RoyB
Legend

@schnapps @Saint1976 

 

Well duh, my bad, that was from the website on the browser (Safari in this case) where you get that choice, as schnapps said.

 

Going into the Now app on the iPad, it’s alphabetical order only. On the other hand, it does come up on a Search from the Home Page, first item up of two, the other Hardy being from Laurel and….

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
RoyB
Legend

And Hardy brought up nothing in a Search on the Now Home Page in the Safari browser.

 

But then I tried it in Chrome, and up it came; so I went back to Safari, and this time it was there.

 

How odd.

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
RoyB
Legend

Now my brain hurts so bad….

 

I start a brand new tab on Safari, and I get this screen:-

 

C8EDAA18-4CA7-4737-A8E3-BBD28390A3C2.jpeg

From which a Search for Hardy is successful.

 

But once I have pressed What’s On, I get the screen below, which calls itself the Home Screen, so the one above, only now accessible, seemingly, with the browser Back button, or by starting a whole new tab, must be some other, non-Home, screen:-

 

43FDAB64-616C-49D3-BB0E-7AE0FF3D663B.jpeg

 

From which a Search for Hardy is not successful,

 

So the Now website is not even self-consistent, having two separate Searches, one of which works for the Hardy programme, and one of which doesn’t.

 

And apart from having a pre-screen to the pre-screen, which I would probably get if I wasn’t signed in already on Safari, the website, on Chrome and DuckDuckGo both, behaves identically.

 

Who threw together this mess?

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Saint1976
Elite 3