Boost - Apple TV 4k

[Anonymous User]

Can someone confirm that Boost IS now available for the NowTV app on the 4K Apple TV?

As far as I can tell it seems to be 1080P with NO 5.1 sound. Is this right?

Is 5.1 sound coming to the Boost on 4K Apple TV?

[nst · Accepted solution]

There is already a very comprehensive thread on the subject:

https://community.nowtv.com/t5/Set-top-boxes-Smart-TVs/Update-Now-TV-app-for-apple-TV/td-p/366659/pa...

TD;DR...

NO.  Astonishingly NowTV think that's its OK to launch Boost on AppleTV and leave off 5.1 sound (and charge the full boost sub fee).

As we all know AppleTV is vastly capable of 5.1 so why NowTV seemed incapable of providing a 5.1 sound stream on their content within the app is mind blowingly incomprehensible.

Are they planning to?  Well they say they are.  When?  Goodness only knows.  Its been more than a month since launch and no sign of an update - the app itself was in public beta for 8 months and they knew full well about boost from the start and they promised boost support for launch but not this half baked option.

Some people seem quite content to accept the boost service without 5.1 as maybe they don't have 5.1 sound systems... and that's fine for them.

I watch a lot of movies, and TV shows that are supposed to have a 5.1 soundtrack and I have a decent 5.1 sound system, so its not acceptable for me to get the service without what I feel is a vital component of an HD service.  Picture goes hand in hand with sound.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the reply - totally agree, I have a great Sonos surround system and this is unacceptable.

[nst]

Sonos here too.

Also covered in other threads but those of us in a similar position to yourself... who patiently waited for the AppleTV app to be released (for many years!)... and for whom 5.1 is an essential part of the boost service they pay for... have ended up abandoning the AppleTV app as its not fit for (our) purpose at the moment.

I was using my inbuilt LG WebOS app but have switched to the Firestick one for now.  Grudgingly.

I want all my streaming services under one 'appleTV' roof - there's no reason why this can't happen but NowTV's frankly bizarre decision to release a boost service without 5.1 simply means I cannot use it.

[Gryphaea]

Any change or update on 5.1 availability ?

[nst]

Sadly not... no.

This remains the most baffling thing to me.

There seems to be no technical reason whatsoever why they can't get 5.1 on the AppleTV.  Literally ALL the other apps on the platform manage it as a bare minimum and many go further to provide 4K and Dolby Atmos audio.

I just dont accept that Now have technical issues here - if so then they look utterly incompetent.

Also, I think its pretty unacceptable to allow Boost subscribers to pay the extra on the platform when they are not getting all the features.

Whose bright idea was it to provide HD without 5.1 - great movie watching experience eh.  Its not as if Now's main sales feature is a movie channel....

Sarcasm aside they did, finally, and unexpectedly integrate with the AppleTV TV app - and this is a huge deal and makes the service that much more useable.  That being said I still have to switch to the Fire Stick in order to actually watch in the content in the quality that im paying for... and to that end the AppleTV app is useless to me.

I had hope that this was a short lived glitch...and they were true to their word that it was being worked on and to be fixed shortly.. but that was what were were told back in December and no sign of it being 'fixed' yet.

Maybe someone should give them Netflix's IT department number... or Disney+'s... or Amazon Prime's.... because they could supply a 5.1 audio stream with their eyes closed.... but for some reason this eludes the Now development team.

[Anonymous User]

I feel that with many of these and similar decisions, they are business decisions. NOW TV is no doubt seriously eating into the long standing revenue streams and I am sure there are some decision mkaers who will never want NOW anywhere near the quality of SkyQ. Alas, Sky cannot stem the tide like everybody else and need to adapt by delivering better than the rest, including IPTV type competitors. With things like 5.1 and now not working on Apple TV 4k v2 (or no UHD/recording) out of the box.....its not looking good for the future.

[gavs82008]

@Anonymous User 

Comcast the owners of Sky and NOW, are pushing more on the streaming services. Considering they launched Peacock in the US using the same technology as NOW and already has 5.1 along with 1080p as default in their subscription at no extra cost. 

More recently an article stated that NOW will be bringing us HDR and 4K as part of Boost. They even acknowledged the insane factor of Apple TV not having 5.1 which is going to be addressed by the end of the year. 

Whilst I agree that the service isn’t as good as Disney or Netflix or Amazon. My hope is over the next year we will see a lot more changes to NOW to improve on it,

[Trans_Goth_Girl]

I just wanted to chime in.

I always wondered if it was something to do with the Apple TV SDK, Yes I completely understand Netflix/Disney+/Prime Video all have managed to get multichannel audio for the TV shows/movies, I’m also wondering if it’s the way it’s all implemented?

I’ve got a funny feeling however that Comcast are going to turn  sky and now on their heads by the end of the year going into 2022.

especially when you consider the strides they’ve been making with Peacock, I mean they even have a better UI then NOW.

I think 4K/HDR is definitely in the roadmap long-term, just not for the short term and maybe Atmos shortly after.

I’m actually super excited to see how the platform is going to mature across multiple devices within the next year or two, I mean did anybody really see Apple TV app integration coming for NOW? I sure didn’t.

I really think they should start trading on the sky name as well, I mean let’s just drop the TV on NOW TV, Whoopie do.

I'd like to see something a little more streamlined, like sky now, sky streaming, Sky lite just to name a few.

maybe also I will get the six device limit lifted as well, one day, maybe?

are you also definitely think that sky/NOW should consider iTunes going through all Apple devices and not just the Apple TV, just my opinion is here.

Feel free to agree/disagree tell me I’m talking out of my A, It’s all good.

take care everyone

[nst]

@Trans_Goth_Girl 

This is all well and good.. and I share your hopes that Now will change with the times and make their offering to compete more in terms of quality with all the other services.

Remember a couple of things.  Firstly they are playing catchup - literally - as the others are already there with 4K, Atmos, etc... and they cant even get 5.1 working yet... and any timeframes are so far in the future.

Secondly... what you say is fine but Now have a habit of not supporting all platforms equally and I can certainly see that if and when they choose to introduce an attractive new feature then a large percentage of their customer base will be left frustrated as their platform of choice has to wait to be updated - and in Now's case this can take years.

@Anonymous User 

'recording'.....  So many talk about it... but if you want to record TV shows then get SkyQ or another PVR service.

In the context of a streaming platform such as NowTV, Disney+ etc etc etc why would you want to 'record' their content when its always available.

I know... some have things on for 'limited' times such as 4 weeks or so but thats the way it goes with streaming (or the non Netflix / Disney / Amazon ones anyway).

[Trans_Goth_Girl]

Considering Jeremy stepped down as CEO, sky for the longest time had this ideology of we don’t want to eating to our core business (sky Q).

Now Comcast have appointed a new CEO themselves, I think it’s a case now of we don’t care, After all isn’t consumer choice key here, as long as we’re not paying more for essentially less.

I definitely think the boost membership has a lot of work needed to be done to where we get to a point where it’s created equally across all supported platforms, not just Apple TV but LG smart TVs and the Xbox One family/Xbox series S/X video game systems, due to not supporting 5.1 or 50FPS.

i’m just excited to see how everything will shake out in the end, only from the perspective of being tech nerd.

I think now (at least for the time being) from what I’ve read I want to stay out of the hardware business, I’m guessing less is more, if you can’t support the devices that you have listed properly what’s the point really?

At the moment what’s going to happen when the fire cube ends up on that list is another possible concern also.

considering how many Apple device uses there are, I’m shocked but at the same time not surprised that sky/now found a way of screwing up the Apple TV app for tvOS in the most half cocked way possible, go figure I guess?

ultimately at the moment I really don’t care about 4K/HDR/Atmos because let’s get 1080p with multichannel audio right first shall we?

I hope nobody is running before they can walk? 😜

just give me a whole UI overhaul as well, I’m guessing that’s subjective also? As it should be.

[nst]

@Trans_Goth_Girl 

Sadly the current UI is not that old... and its Now's idea of the latest greatest thing.

Maybe new owners will force change here...

Those of us with AppleTVs know how ridiculous it is that they have prioritised a consistent UI across disparate devices and it simply doesn't work - all devices have unique remotes and established UI practises and Now's reluctance to follow the Apple UI guidelines have resulted in a poor user experience.

You make a point that I have made many times in here.....

If you cannot FULLY support ALL functionality on a device then its better to drop that device than release a half baked experience on that device.  And.. yes I include appleTV on this.  If they cannot support Boost FULLY then it shouldn't be supported at all (though I would increase that to they shouldn't support a platform at all where they cant support boost fully).

The issue AppleTV customers have is they are paying full price for a boost service that is not 100% delivered and thats not fair.

Now they no longer produce their own hardware (well, rebadged ROKU) they seem to be favouring the Amazon Firestick - this seems to be the platform of choice if you want the latest greatest functionality.  I just hope this isn't the case going forward but to be told that 5.1 takes another year to fix is so frustrating.

[Trans_Goth_Girl]

If you’ve seen the Peacock, well it’s really nice, by nice I mean clean.

if now are favouring Amazon devices over Roku/now branding Roku devices, I would hypothesise that has something to do with getting prime video across the sky ecosystem (I have no inside source, just a hunch).

I also think it’s funny right now that the last time of checking the Humax Aura has the now app but when you click on it it says not available, I mean what’s that all about?

I still think the iTunes billing issue needs sorting also, it shouldn’t be relegated just to the Apple TV HD/4K app but any Apple device you’re running.

What can I say I’m a big fan of iTunes billing.

[nst]

@Trans_Goth_Girl 

Again, something ive been saying all along in here....

Getting Prime access in return for Sports access is a huge deal for both companies... and it doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to realise that... at the exact same time this was a announced a brand new highly polished (for Now anyway) app appeared with no warning on the previously unsupported Firestick.

This app was released one week after the AppleTV one which had been in public beta for 9 months... (and the Amazon one wasn't even in beta).... This app released in a far superior and function rich state than the appleTV one.  

... Now no longer sell their own hardware... and all efforts seem to be on the Firestick..... but you can see why cant you!

Also, I firmly believe that the 5.1 missing from AppleTV is nothing to do with technical limitations and everything to do with forcing people to migrate to the Firestick app - at least for a period of 'exclusivity' - after which the seemingly simple task of enabling 5.1 on the AppleTV app will miraculously appear.

My guess is there is an arrangement to enable Amazon to sell more Firesticks by supplying the best app on that platform for a period of 1 year.  During which time many (like me) have been forced to use the Firestick app over the AppleTV one as I pay for boost and im not watching a movie in 2.0 thanks very much.  I will abandon the Firestick one the moment that AppleTV enables 5.1 but for the time being Amazon have gotten exactly what they wanted (and paid for I think).

[Trans_Goth_Girl]

Firstly if you’ve got a decent AVR and speakers, why would you watch a movie in 2.0? 😜😂😜 sane people wouldn’t (like yourself).

ultimately this could be Amazon trying to cash in on the market, let’s be honest here what are the top two streams available? If you’re in the Apple ecosystem it’s the Apple TV 4K/HD if you’re in the Google camp it’s the Nvidia shield.

Unless you’re into home automation and have Alexa running, it leaves very little room or desire to purchase any form of fire TV device, even though it’s running a custom version of android anyway.

Android in Amazon skin so to speak.

I find it even more hilarious they held off on the fire cube, even though not the cheapest I would say it’s the better of the two, when compared to the fire stick 4K, if I was to compare both to the competition I would take the shield and the Apple TV any day of the week.

I would definitely say that the ultimate streamer however, if you consider media servers, that is, is definitely where the Nvidia shield shines especially if you want pass through for Atmos.

I’m still interested to see how this all shakes out in the end especially within the next year or two, I think four years total will be even more interesting, Specifically in relation to hardware and whether or not sky will migrate their core business (sky Q) with the red headed step child so to speak (Now).

i’m just glad great minds think alike (I think) 😜

[Osk9000]

I cancelled my sub to NowTV about 3 months ago because of this. 

I’ve been a subscriber for several years now and just about accepted the old Ui and 2.0 sounds especially as I was able to buy a year pass for £50 for movies and entertainment

 In the last year I was a beta tester for the new app and things seemed to be looking up. 

Then the new app launched with a redesign. Crackdown on long term price deals, no 4K, hdr or atmos and to my shock no 5.1. 

When you consider they are asking £21 a month standard pricing which I was on after my offers ended. And I was paying extra just to get 1080p!! With no 5.1 on ATV … it’s madness 

i can’t actually believe you need to pay extra for HD. A boost for UHD maybe. 

NowTV are so antiquated considering the competition and twice as expensive. So it was time to jump ship. I’m only back here to see if there is any more news on 5.1. Sadly not! 

[nst]

I feel the same as you, @Osk9000  however to be fair you cannot criticise the new app for not launching without 4K and Atmos as of course this has never been on the cards.

As Ive mentioned before I too am a beta tester (i.e. 9 months of my life wasted on this) and I am aghast at their decision to not support 5.1.

Despite many protests at the time, each of which was met with a 'working on it and hope to have it soon' - they seem 6 months on to not give much of a monkeys about it.

Agreed, at full price Now does not represent value for money and given the offerings, content and price from the likes of Netflix it is very expensive considering measly 1080p and 5.1 are a paid extra when mostly this is included as a base level standard on other services and has been for years.

Now will surely have to change as customers will start to vote with their feet.  The shame of it is that their appleTV user base is artificially suppressed right now as the boost subscribers who have a decent sound system just can't use the app.

[_eMa_]

News about support 5.1 on ATV ?? 

[gavs82008]

@_eMa_ 

Annoyingly nothing 😡

[nst]

As a long, long time contributor on this topic (in the main thread not this one!)

... the answer for me is that I no longer believe they ever will.

There is no reason why this is not possible.  There is no reason why they STILL haven't addressed this coming up to 2 years after the app was released and way more than 2 years since the beta trialists (me included) pointed it out to NOW that it wasnt working.

I have since voted with my feet and cancelled my Boost pass as it does not represent the same value that it does on other platforms that pay the same for it.  I would not consider re-instating it unless 5.1 was supported on AppleTV.

After all, if they haven't done it by now..... then they never will.