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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Very Poor Audio streaming quality on new NowTV player

I recently started a free trial of the entertainment pass to start watching Game of Thrones. Everything was working fine on the Silverlight player (although it's pretty annoying having to use that) but today the site forced me to download a third party NowTV player app to watch content.

 

I have installed the app but now the stream quality for the audio is extremely low. The video is fine, but the audio is clearly stuck at the absolute lowest possible streaming quality. I have very stable high speed internet and a capable PC; I have used services like netflix and amazon video many times and had no problems streaming at the max settings, even with 4K content.

 

Given that there are absolutely no options or diagnostics of any kind in the NowTV player app there is nothing I can do but post here. Very dissapointing performance - I can only assume this is a bug in the software or the streaming service. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling and deleting all nowtv related cookies from my browser but neither of these things have helped.

39 REPLIES 39
Anonymous User
Not applicable

I have the exact same problem the audio is awful 😞 hope they fix the app soon
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Same issue here. Like you, I've tried everything I could think of to fix it, including installing every major version of Firefox since v41 (I read that a certain version of FF was supposed to fix it), which took ages.

 

For the first week or so of my free trial, I managed to use Silverlight, but only in old FF versions. That's now not an option any more.

 

I've not long updated to v2.0.1 of the NowTV Player app, but issue still exists. I've now cancelled my account, which is a shame because there's a bunch of stuff on Sky Arts I was looking forward to enjoying, but when the audio sounds like it's at 64kbps at best, there's just no point. I've got a month left, so if this is fixed before then, I'll re-join.

 

It is super disappointing, especially as I've seen forum threads for this issue for months now, with very little follow-up by any NowTV reps.

 

Just in case anyone involved with the development of the NowTV Player app, here's my setup:

 

Player version: v2.0.1

OS: OSX 10.10.4 and Windows 10

Audio: USB audio interface (not on-board)

Browser's tested: Chrome (latest), Safari 8.0.7, Firefox (every version since v41 to latest).

Broadband: ~72Mbps fibre.

 

Steps taken on both OSs:

* Fully uninstalling and re-installing multiple times.

* Removing all cookies.

* Forcing the use of my on-board sound driver (both by completely disconnecting my audio interface and just switching outputs).

* Some HTTP request proxying and fiddling with various things (to no avail).

* Setting the app to fully fill my screen (only maximised, not full-screen), closing, then re-opening so it launches as large as it can be. The idea being that I tend to watch stuff in the background and thus in a smaller window. The app might have been seeing my small window size and downgrading the quality. Didn't make a difference.

 

 

Tony-D
NOW Team Member
NOW Team Member

@Anonymous User wrote:

Same issue here. Like you, I've tried everything I could think of to fix it, including installing every major version of Firefox since v41 (I read that a certain version of FF was supposed to fix it), which took ages.

 

For the first week or so of my free trial, I managed to use Silverlight, but only in old FF versions. That's now not an option any more.

 

I've not long updated to v2.0.1 of the NowTV Player app, but issue still exists. I've now cancelled my account, which is a shame because there's a bunch of stuff on Sky Arts I was looking forward to enjoying, but when the audio sounds like it's at 64kbps at best, there's just no point. I've got a month left, so if this is fixed before then, I'll re-join.

 

It is super disappointing, especially as I've seen forum threads for this issue for months now, with very little follow-up by any NowTV reps.

 

Just in case anyone involved with the development of the NowTV Player app, here's my setup:

 

Player version: v2.0.1

OS: OSX 10.10.4 and Windows 10

Audio: USB audio interface (not on-board)

Browser's tested: Chrome (latest), Safari 8.0.7, Firefox (every version since v41 to latest).

Broadband: ~72Mbps fibre.

 

Steps taken on both OSs:

* Fully uninstalling and re-installing multiple times.

* Removing all cookies.

* Forcing the use of my on-board sound driver (both by completely disconnecting my audio interface and just switching outputs).

* Some HTTP request proxying and fiddling with various things (to no avail).

* Setting the app to fully fill my screen (only maximised, not full-screen), closing, then re-opening so it launches as large as it can be. The idea being that I tend to watch stuff in the background and thus in a smaller window. The app might have been seeing my small window size and downgrading the quality. Didn't make a difference.

 

 


@Anonymous User We are going to look into this i promise. Is the problem the same on Mac and Windows? Have you donwloaded the Windows 10 App form the WIndows Store? (I know that strore is a complete travesty) Have you tried audia via the GPU (HDMI or Display Port?) I know you've used onboard audio but i can't tell if its Internal or External sorry. Also, does your monitor have speakers or some sort of output? Thanks, looking forward to hearing back. 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi Tony,

 

Apologies for the late reply.

 

I've not tried the app from the Windows Store (I've never used the Windows Store!), but I'll give it a go and report back. By the sounds of it, the Windows Store will be an interesting experience...

 

My onboard audio is Realtek ALC889A, and is part of my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P). My outboard/usb sound (the one I always use) comes from a fairly aged (but amazingly still going!) M-Audio Fast Track Ultra audio interface. I should note that I've never had any issues with audio in any given scenario on either OSX or Windows using my outboard/usb sound.

 

I'll see if I can find a way to test GPU audio and report back with that, too. I'm pretty sure my monitor has a wee audio jack that I might be able to use. I'll reboot after changing audio configs to get a clean slate. Will only be able to test HDMI, though, as I don't think I have a DisplayPort output from my GPU. Might be able to test DisplayPort audio on my Macbook Pro, though.

 

Any ideas for things to try on OSX? I know I'm in the Windows section of the forum, but I might as well ask while I'm here.

 

Cheers.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

When I watched Australia v England rugby match on NOW TV some time agoI had to use IE as it didn't work using Chrome or Edge and the picture wasn't great, but watchable. Last Saturday I decided to try again and watch the Lions in New Zealand. This time they offered an app so I could use Chrome and I downloaded it. The result was woeful, jerky picture and appalling sound. All sports channels were as bad and today I found things hadn't improved. As a last resort I tried using IE as it was OK-ish the last time and there was no problem with the sound. So it seems the NOW TV player is the culprit. Hopeful of watching the second test next week after all.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi Tony,

 

No change in audio quality when using HDMI audio (GPU -> monitor -> ref. headphones). Not tried Windows Store app yet, but kinda tired of trying things to be honest.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Tony-D, it's been over a year now since I and many others have commented on the terrible audio quality using the desktop player. This is simply unacceptable that it's not been fixed; it's clearly a stream quality / profile problem and nothing to do with people's computers.

My thread on this: https://community.nowtv.com/t5/PC-Mac/Extremely-poor-audio-quality-with-NOW-TV-desktop-player-why/td...

PLEASE chase this as a priority issue. If we're no longer able to use Silverlight, we have no option except to use the Electron desktop player. Why should we accept an artificial reduction in sound quality - simply because someone's either not squished this app bug correctly, or they've mistakenly not made higher quality audio available to the HLS streams used by the desktop player?

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I second this - its happening on the films not entertainment and all other players - itv catch up/hub, amazon player and netflix  - the sound is great. Whats going on? Im not a teccie. There is a noticable drop in quality of sound - you almost cant hear it on full volume?

 

Windows 8.1

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Yes, this is terrible! Please fix ASAP