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Anonymous User
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SMART Stick or SMART box

Hi folks...

 

New to the forum... I have recently left SKY, having been with them for donkey's years... and have now subbed to NOW TV on a 6 month pre pay offer... I still want Freeview and the players (BBC, ITV, 4od, 5od) and I watch Netflix a lot...

 

I was just about to buy a SMART box, when I dived in feet first for a new Apple TV 4k... However, the NOW tv app on apple is just awful, so that has gone back...

 

So... SMART box on offer or the new SMART stick... ??? Do they do the same thing, or have they lost some of the features in the new Stick?

 

Also, is the interface teh same as the standard Samsung tv App? No improvemnts ??

 

Thx in advance for your help folks...

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Andy
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User I think live chat sometimes get mixed up between Freeview over-the-air broadcasts and the catch-up apps.

 

No Eurosport on any of the NOW TV devices I'm afraid. 

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36 REPLIES 36
Andy
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User

 

Welcome to the forum. The only big difference between Smart Box and Smart Stick is the box has an inbuilt Freeview tuner so you can connect an aerial to it and use it to watch Freeview channels (nothing fancy like 7 day guide or recording, you get a basic now and next guide and can pause or limited rewind, no favourite channels or reordering channels etc)

 

If you don't need the Freeview functionality or you,re happy to just use your TV's inbuilt tuner then the box and stick are virtually identical functionality, except the stick is marginally faster, cheaper, neater and has voice search for NOW TV content and a point-anywhere remote. Both will have the same range of apps - BBC iPlayer, YouTube, ITv/4/5/UKTV catch-up etc. 

 

Not familiar with the Samsung interface but most of the apps are based on the box interface so I suspect it will be very familiar.

 

For more detail check out

https://help.nowtv.com/article/what-is-a-now-tv-smart-stick

https://help.nowtv.com/article/what-is-a-now-tv-box

 

PS some places are still selling off the smaller black NOW TV Box which doesn't have Freeview built in, only the larger NOW TV Smart Box does.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Dude, thx for this... I posted this before noticing the 'SMART stick review' thread...

 

I'm so annoyed at how bad the NOW app is on Apple TV, somehtinbg I handn't thught was possible... it was going to tie everythign I watched under one feed... But alas, it has gone...

 

Interesting to her that the stick doesnt have freeview as the 'Live chat' dude I spoke to this morningi assured me it did... and I asked him several times...

 

It seems that getting all my ducks in 1 row is not going to be possible as Netflix and Eurosport players, seem to lose out... Assuming you can't get ES player on the NOW stick??? If you ocjld then it would be just teh ticket, adn I;ll just stick with Netflix on the Samsung App

 

Thx again

 

Andy
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User I think live chat sometimes get mixed up between Freeview over-the-air broadcasts and the catch-up apps.

 

No Eurosport on any of the NOW TV devices I'm afraid. 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Thx again dude... Still think I'll go for it... At £19 it's a damn sight cheaper than ATV at £200... 🙂 

 

I'll just have to persist with NEtflix and Eurosport on the TV apps...

 

Thx

Andy
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User It is a pain trying to get everything in one device.

 

The other alternative you could think about is a Roku Express or the more expensive Streaming Stick+. They have all the apps the NOW TV Stick does plus Netflix, Amazon, Google Play, Rakuten, TV Player and others. No Eurosport however you could probably get it via Amazon Channels on the Amazon app (although you need to be both a Prime/Prime Video member AND subscribe to Eurosport via Amazon channels - also Amazon don't currently mention either of those devices supporting live channels at the moment so you'd have to double check with them if they do). However the Netflix and Amazon apps are a bit clunky at the moment, it's still not an all-in-one solution.

 

For the price the NOW TV Stick is a bit of a no-brainier until something better comes along!

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Andy @ukbobboy

 

Tx again both... My question is, on the Roku+ 4k thingy. Is the NOW tv app the same as the one that NOW actually use and not some third party app that doesnt have teh same look, feel and functionality...? And the Netflix App?? Is it the same as what you get on most TVs...??

 

Also, reading the comparrison thread on here, some are saying the NOW stick is actually better for interfce, lag and quality...? 

 

Thx again

Andy
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User The NOW TV devices are actually cut-down Rokus so it's exactly the same app on all (although the Rokus are currently on v3 whereas NOW TV devices are on v4, slight cosmetic changes). Don't be tempted to imagine you're getting 4K NOW TV on the Roku 4K stick though, NOW TV is 720p stereo only on all Roku/NOW TV devices - it's the highest quality they offer!

 

The NOW TV stick is slightly quicker than the boxes, will be about the same as the Roku stick. Video and sound quality should be identical across them all.

Andy
Legend 5
Legend 5

As for the Netflix app, you'll find all apps on Rokus/NOW TVbdevices have a 'clunkiness' or 'boxiness' to them, it's the way the Roku interface is set up. Netflix is one of the better apps but I've always thought TV versions, Amazon, Apple TV versions are slicker. As with everything it's a matter of taste and you do get used to the look of Roku apps. They're not going to win any style and design awards tho!

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Andy I actually think the netflix app on Samsung is pretty decent tbh and is almost a mirror image of what's on the new ATV 4k (older versions of ATV were pretty cak)... I assume the ATV app is native, and maybe smasung have now gone down that route... Used to have lots of issues with netflix on samsung, with dubbing constantly being out of sync...

 

My issue with NOW on ATV was that none of its functionality or navigation was there... No 'My TV' and browsing was a nightmare... Having read about it, it doesnt seem NOW are in any way going to update it anytime soon either... Hence me asking about the apps on these sticks... Obviousaly the NOW stick should have a decent app, but I am now more tentative about 3rd party devices...

 

With ref to the TV player app... I browsed that briefly on ATV and it might have been just my eyesight, but it seemed that all the channels were in standard def only???

 

Thx again