Smart Box Review - July 2016

[Anonymous User]

Been using my new Smart Box for just over a week so here are my initial thoughts.

I am running the box via ethernet on a fibre line so bandwidth is not a problem

As per both previous versions, of which I have had, the set up of the box is very simple - basically plug and play. Logging into you NOW account is simple and brings in your account passes etc with very easily.

My initial impressions of the picture quality is very good - better than the 2015 (black) box which ran on the same ethernet line. Sound is very clear. So far so good!

I have watched movies (I have the Cinema pass) and the picture is crystal clear with no buffering - as good as my now redundant Virgin box.

I was hoping for a more logical interface - it seems ridiculous to me there is not a dedicated button on the remote to bring up the "My Apps" page, which for me is one of the most popular pages. I understand that Sky wish to push their services but putting a dedicated "Sky Store" button seems a bit much.

The Freeview section needs work very quickly. Getting Freeview on this was one of the reasons I upgraded as I wanted the cushion of not relying just on the internet (Virgin internet is pretty reliable though to be fair). It really is a bit of a mess. On the Home page, you have a window showing the last live channel but this does not work if the Live channel was via the Entertainment pass only via Freeview. The EPG is poor and has room for improvement as does the reliability of channel availability as I have had 60 channels and then 29 channels in the space of 5 minutes. 

Lastly, I have found the box to be unstable with having to reset 3 times in a week to get anything to work including Freeview (I have has to rescan for channels every day) and Sky News.

I am hoping the next system update will get the box stabilised and more reliable and then over the next few months address the other issues I have mentioned above.

All in all its nearly there but needs some urgent work to get it where is should be. If you are new to NOW boxes I would wait a couple of months or purchase the 2015 version.

Another positive the NOW live chat team are awesome!

[dr_necessitor]

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@4268 wrote:
@Anonymous User I use an internal aerial, sat on top of a wardrobe on a inside wall of downstairs flat, am 15 miles from transmitter and get 142 channels. Needs a bit of trial and error to get it picking up channels.

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That's great, but I would suggest that each person's own experience with an internal aerial might well be different/variable depending on the make/model of internal aerial, location of said internal aerial within the property (as Peter Kay once said "I need to get higher") , the type of property itself (how many storeys and what it's made from etc), distance to relevant transmitter(s) (how far away, is there a mountain in the way etc). So many variables to influence the outcome when using an internal aerial.

[mark_suff]

@BicBasher  Works fine for me, haven't had a problem with it for over two months. 

[BicBasher]

@mark_suff There was an issue with the live stream losing around 5 frames per second, but it seems to be working fine on the whole now with the ticker juddering only once every 30/45 seconds.

I'd say the YouTube app still streams the Sky News stream better than the Sky News app though.