NOW TV News

[Karl-F]

Today we announced our NOW TV Stick! 

For more information on this and what else we have planned for the year, check out our press release.

Feel free to let us know what you think below! 

[4268]

Price point of this is very good. Having trialled it, my opinion is it's far better than the other Now branded devices. It's tidier, it has extra functions, the picture quality is good. Only downside is that you will need a separate device for freeview/ premium channels not on Now.

[schnapps]

Hi @Karl-F

Should have added in my above post, that I know the Roku Express is not actually a stick device like the NowTV smart stick or the Amazon Fire TV stick, but in most TV setups due to it's small compact size and weight you can tape it to the frame bezel on most TV sets (unless of course you want to hide it out of the way where a proper stick device would then be the appropriate choice).

Sorry to go off topic a little bit  

[4268]

@schnapps having both the Now stick and the Roku express I would not say they have a lot in common other than they are both Roku devices. 

[DarylM]

@Karl-F  Being able to pause live Sky channels will be great.  But do you know if there will be the ability to rewind live channels as well?  The 'buffer' on the smart box is a great feature for when I've missed a bit on live TV and want to rewind to catch it again.

I think not having a 'Now TV' button would take me a while to get used to.  I guess it's effectively been replaced by the 'My TV' button.

[schnapps]

Hi @4268

With you having first hand experience with both the Roku Express and Trial tested the NowTV smart stick, then I appreciate your input about they are different type of products with little in common apart from their main function is to stream content 

Out of curisoity what's the WiFi reception like on the NowTV smart stick from your testing ?

[Miketurn]

I was looking at the remote for a while trying to sus out where the volume up/down control was, but I'm guessing it's that raised bit on the right hand edge that does it.

Can someone confirm this is still dual band wi-fi?

[Anonymous User]

@Miketurn yeah the volume buttons are along the right hand side of the remote.

[schnapps]

Hi @Miketurn

Yeah, the volume controls is a rocker switch on the right hand side of the remote, I have the Roku Stick Plus and the TV volume and on/off control are extremely useful features to have (when watching nowtv I don't have to pick up or use my TV remote control) 

[Andy]

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@Miketurn wrote:

Can someone confirm this is still dual band wi-fi?

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@Miketurn Yes, it's dual-band.

[Miketurn]

Presumably this box never really turns off (same as the old puck ones) so will be almost instantly available to use?

The Smart box used to annoy me a bit, due to having to wait a few extra seconds for it to restart (oh woe is me! ), and I only really used it for the live pause! 

Seems like the new stick is a winner.

[Andy]

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@Miketurn wrote:

Presumably this box never really turns off (same as the old puck ones) so will be almost instantly available to use?

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@Miketurn Depends if you power it via a USB port on your TV (in which case it will turn on and off with the TV and take a few seconds to boot and connect to wifi). Connecting via power adapter will be always on like the standard black box. 

[Miketurn]

@Andy  Is there a power adapter supplied or just a usb cable?

If no supplied power adapter, can it be powered using any of the other adapters that are supplied with the puck and Smart boxes?

[Andy]

@Miketurn You couldn't use the adapters from other NOW TV kit as it's a USB connection on the stick, it needs a USB power adapter. Not 100% sure if it comes with power adapter yet, will need to await confirmation from NOW TV, sorry.

[schnapps]

Can somebody confirm if the new NowTV smart stick uses a quad core processor rather than a dual core processor used on the standard nowtv black boxes ?

Hopefully it's a quad core 

[Andy]

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@schnapps wrote:

Can somebody confirm if the new NowTV smart stick uses a quad core processor rather than a dual core processor used on the standard nowtv black boxes ?

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@schnapps Nope! 😄 (as in 'can't confirm' rather than 'I'm not telling you!)

The Roku streaming stick that's it's based on is quad-core though so I suspect it will be.

[Karl-F]

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@Miketurn wrote:

@Andy  Is there a power adapter supplied or just a usb cable?

If no supplied power adapter, can it be powered using any of the other adapters that are supplied with the puck and Smart boxes?

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Hi @Miketurn, 

A power supply will come with the box, so if your TV doesn't have a USB slot you'll still be able to use the NOW TV Stick.  🙂 

Thanks, 

Karl

[schnapps]

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@Karl-F wrote:

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@Miketurn wrote:

@Andy  Is there a power adapter supplied or just a usb cable?

If no supplied power adapter, can it be powered using any of the other adapters that are supplied with the puck and Smart boxes?

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Hi @Miketurn, 

A power supply will come with the box, so if your TV doesn't have a USB slot you'll still be able to use the NOW TV Stick.  🙂 

Thanks, 

Karl

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Hi @Karl-F

Your website page doesn't say that there is an USB power adapter that comes in the box (might be worth amending your web page to reflect this that the power adapter is included) or am i being too particular with my post 

[4268]

@schnapps the Now stick can see and connect to 5ghz. The Roku only 2ghz.

[schnapps]

Hi @4268

Thanks for that what is the WiFi reception range like on the smart stick did you notice any WiFi dropouts or was it pretty stable ?

[4268]

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@schnapps wrote:

Hi @4268

Thanks for that what is the WiFi reception range like on the smart stick did you notice any WiFi dropouts or was it pretty stable ?

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@schnapps it's been fine for me.  Can't recall it dropping out. Then again I have fast WiFi.

[Anonymous User]

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@4268 wrote:

@schnapps the Now stick can see and connect to 5ghz. The Roku only 2ghz.

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Both Roku Streaming Sticks which have been sold in the UK are dual-band... the only difference is that the original purple one (Model 3500EU) only offered a/b/g/n wireless LAN standards, while the current black one (Model 3810EU) adds the 'ac' wireless LAN standard - enabling simultaneous connection support for both 5GHz and 2.4GHz frequencies - and the only other Roku Streaming Stick to offer the 'ac' wireless LAN standard is the (US-only) recent update to their budget-priced stick (Model 3800R) so I'm curious to know what the model number of the new NOW TV Smart Stick is... since you (@4268) have the device already, would you be able to confirm this by taking a look at the 'Settings' menu?

Many thanks