NOW TV to launch most advanced box yet

[dr_necessitor]

NOW TV to launch most advanced box yet

"Online TV streaming service, NOW TV, is to launch its most advanced TV box later this year. The brand new NOW TV Smart Box will bring together NOW TV’s wide range of pay TV content and over 60 live free-to-air channels.

Additionally customers with a NOW TV Box will see new a brand new interface (UI) roll out to their TVs from February. The new-look UI will include a number of great new features including a content-rich homepage offering editorial recommendations of what to watch across catch up TV apps and pay TV content from NOW TV. A new ‘Best of Catch Up’ section, curated by content partners, will also arrive showcasing all the best shows our customers may have missed in one place.

Gidon Katz, Director of NOW TV said: “The launch of our new homepage on the NOW TV Box will make it easier than ever for our customers to quickly find and watch their favourite shows. And when the new NOW TV Smart Box arrives later this year, it will be the perfect one-stop box to get a contract-free, flexible way of watching the best of pay TV and free-to-air content all in one place.”

NOW TV worked with Silicon Valley based Roku Inc. to develop the new NOW TV Smart Box which will sit alongside the existing NOW TV Box, with pricing details and further information to be made available later in the year."

[Anonymous User]

Forgive me if this has been discussed elsewhere - but does anyone know where the new box will be purchasable from?  will it just be from NowTV's website?

I'm checknig each day - don't want to miss out on of these bad boy's if stock is limited at first.

[lenturn]

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@Anonymous User wrote:

So it seems we do finally have 50Hz output!

So F1 should be a lot smoother.

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I guess that will depend on the framerate that's used. If it's anthing like the BBC's 720p/25fps they use on iPlayer, then don't expect miracles!

[Anonymous User]

@Anonymous User All that's been said thus far is early July which is a little vague. I'd imagine NowTV will sell them in usual way.

[Mark_Weinreb]

I'd be wary of bying the new smart box from a retailer for a while, unless you can be sure it's the right one. Both Currys and Argos list the current black box as "Now TV Smart Box" or similar. Caveat emptor.

[ukbobboy]

@Mark_Weinreb

Hi Mark

You know, there will always be people who will rush out and buy the latest (bleeding edge) tech, whether it has been fully checked out or not.

But, it's these people that find the bugs, production problems and any other kinks in the system so that the rest of us, who may get the kit up to a year or two later, buy trouble free items.

UK Bob

[Mark_Weinreb]

@ukbobboy Good point. If you search these forums, you'll find several posts from unhappy people who, last year, bought the current black box in the belief that it could get Freeview. They'll have read that the new box is called a smart box and is to be released in July, they'll see a box advertised as a smart box (which the current one isn't), buy it and...tears before bedtime.

[ukbobboy]

@Mark_Weinreb

Hi again Mark

You said:"you'll find several posts from unhappy people who, last year, bought the current black box in the belief that it could get Freeview." Yes, I agree and you forgot to mention also that there have been users who bought the Black Now TV 2015 Box thinking they were buying a bargain price Roku 3.

These people don't do any due diligence research, rely on electrical store staff to give them accurate or true information then complain when they find out they did not get what they thought there were getting.

And quite frankly, these are not the bleeding edge people that find out about production problems, if someone can't tell the difference between a Now TV box, a freeview box or a Roku 3 then that is not the person you want to take technical or buying advice from.

As for anything new and as a personal policy, I tend to wait until a piece of tech has been out in the market for a year or two, I also seek out user reviews, not so much professional, and extensively check user forums, only then do I consider buying the tech I am after.

UK Bob

[mark_suff]

@Mark_Weinreb  If you look at the pics of the new smart box it looks completely different from the first black box, so easy to tell the two apart. It doesn't help with retailers as you say calling the first black box a Now Tv smart box.

Mark.

[ukbobboy]

@mark_suff @SeeMoreDigital @Mark_Weinreb

Hi Guys

I'm not sure what the problem is concerning the Now TV 2015 Box and the Now TV 2016 box, the things there are both Smart Boxes just that 2015 one uses established tech and the 2016 box uses later tech, like dual or four core CPU.

Plus, the definition of a Smart Box is not fixed, as long as new tech and facilities can be incorporated into the box the design and look will always evolve and change.

UK Bob

[mark_suff]

@ukbobboy  The problem is, it can be confusing for people buying it. If you look at the marketing and the carton the  2015 box comes in it's officially called Now Tv Box, the 2016 version is Now Tv Smart Box. It's nothing to do with what's inside or how it looks, when people are looking to buy and they search for Now Tv Smart Box they will get the 2015 box listed as well which can be confusing if you don't know what 2016 box looks like, especially as a lot of websites don't specify year of manufacture, I often see questions asked on various sites about if product (all sorts of items) is current version. It happened with 2015 black box and older white box also, my local Argos told me they had the Now Tv (2015) box in stock when I got to the store last August to buy it, it was in fact the older white box. I can see the same thing happening with this one as well.  

Mark.