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Anonymous User
Not applicable

HD Boost

Just wondered if anyone's tried this? Assume it's supposed to be at least 1080i?

 

I can't really see a difference to what I had which was maybe 720p? on the Sky channels tagged 'HD' after the boost was applied.

 

I've got 75M fibre downstream and have an ethernet cable run between my router and Now TV box.

 

4k and HDR work ok with Netflix.

20 REPLIES 20
schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @Anonymous User 

 

To me the picture difference between 720p bumped up to 1080p is only marginal when watching on a TV screen say up to 50 inches (depending on viewing distance).

 

where the increase in picture resolution is more noticeable (i.e. sharper looking picture with less artefacts when watching on a much larger television screen).

 

Where the Boost Pass comes into play in my opinion is 50fps playback on the Sky Sports Main Event & Sky Sports Premier League channels and glorious 5.1 surround sound.

 

From my testing on my home cinema projector and 5.1 system the sound quality of the Boost Pass is more impressive than the picture quality.

 

Just hope that NowTV can get the 50fps playback implemented on the rest of the Sky Sports channels.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Is there any way to find out what the box is outputting?  I can't tell from my TV as the box is up scaling everything to 4k.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I would set your NowTV Box to 1080p. It is highly likely that your TV will be better at upscaling sub4k content to 4K than the cheap now tv box hardware.

 

If you want to access 4k netflix/prime/youtube I would advocate using the native apps on the tv.

RoyB
Legend

@Anonymous User 

 

Info on the box? 

But if you pause the programme, you should be able to see the info on the screen as to whether HD and 5.1 are available, in small white on black icons. 

Doesn’t prove you are getting these things, though, just that they are available.

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.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Just wondered if you could see on-screen what the box is streaming and sends to the TV before the TV upscales it to 4k eg. 720p, 1080i, 1080p, FPS.

As you mention the details in the programme info panel just say what the programme should be rather than what you're actually getting.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

It definitely needs an update to show more stream details.

 

It used to show stream quality on the top right corner for example 4830 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

For me the boost HD has not made any difference, I have sky HD, netflix, amazon and apple TV and now TV is nowhere near as good as any of them. Actually cancelled the boost HD now as there is not much difference.

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @Anonymous User 

 

For me taking the 50fps for Sports out of the equation i find it more difficult when comparing the 720p feed on NowTV against the 1080p HD Boost Pass on my 50 inch 4K television sitting about 8ft away from the television screen.

 

Where the HD Boost Pass comes into its own personally for me is watching NowTV with the HD Boost Pass on my 92 inch Projector screen where the PQ looks much sharper now ( i.e. nowTV is watchable at last on my projector screen when previously compared to 720p the picture was too soft & horrible where i avoided watching NowTV in the past on the larger screen and just stuck with Netflix & Amazon Prime).

 

Plus i now have 5.1 surround sound which is an absolute must when watching movies on the large screen.

 

Anyway if you think the HD Boost Pass isn't worth it and don't need the extra third stream then save yourself £3 which it looks like you have already done 😉.

 

 

 

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Yes ive cancelled it, no idea how now tv can continually make a picture look garbage. I thought going to 1080p would make a big difference but they have managed to make that look bad, some achievement. Dont get my wrong its in there interest for it to be bad, they want to keep people on the Sat service, the ironic thing is that even iptv streams are better pic quality although they have the framerate issue.

 

Also this grey filter thing is really frustrating, thats also been there forever, no idea what thats about, its as if your tv has no contrast, i even tried to up my contrast and colour to compensate.