Pause Live TV on Apple TV 4K

[jetbootjack]

Sorry this is a double post (I put it in the Update Apple TV App thread originally)

Is anyone able to pause live TV on Apple TV?

The device is listed as one able to pause live TV but the UI on live streams just shows now and next rather than the transport controls you get on boxsets and other non-live content?

     sTeVE

[jetbootjack]

Anyone - moderators even?

[schnapps]

Hi @jetbootjack 

Unfortunately i don't have an Apple TV box to test this function out.

Though like you said it's mentioned under the NOW Help Article that owners of an ATV generation 4 and above box can pause NOW live TV up to 30 minutes.

When using either my NOW branded devices or Roku players when you have a live NOW stream on the screen, hit the pause button on the remote and the picture will freeze with a pause icon and buffer timer showing on the television screen that you have paused live TV.

Hopefully an Apple TV box owner who regularly uses the forum will come to your rescue how it's done.

[dr_necessitor]

@jetbootjack @schnapps @gavs82008 

I know that Pause Live TV doesn’t work for Sports channels on ‎tv 4K (don’t think it works for Sports on any other devices either, but prepared to be wrong about that!)

Don’t know about for Entertainment channels (never watch it live) nor for Cinema (no pass). Have a sneaky feeling that it’s a no across all devices, but again prepared to be wrong about that too.

[schnapps]

Hi @dr_necessitor 

Live TV Pause on the live NOW Sports channels definitely works for me (plus live NOW Cinema & Entertainment) on my NOW Smart Box and Roku Players 😀.

[jetbootjack]

Thanks for the replies!

I can pause the F1 sports channel on a NowTV stick for 30 minutes just fine, so assumed it would also work on ATV as the FAQ says - but no live TV seems to be pause-able despite what the FAQ says 😞

sTeVE

[dr_necessitor]

@schnapps Interesting. I’ve also got a Roku Streaming Stick+ (which I haven’t used for ages) so I’ll remember that. Trying to use Apple tv 4K for everything these days. “One box to stream them all”…

[dr_necessitor]

@jetbootjack 

It’s worth keeping in mind that the (newish) app for Apple tv has had a prolonged & painful birth and it’s still got odd things that behave differently from its siblings on other platforms…

[jetbootjack]

So quick update on this for anyone using Apple TV.

Pause live TV does NOT work, I have been communicating with NOW sharing system details, answering many questions and videos of the system(s) in use to demonstrate the problem and to be honest the Now Team have been really communicative, but alas Pause is not yet working on Live TV.

I will update this thread when I get an update...

sTeVE

[Enapace]

@jetbootjack 

Yeah I have noticed that Pause Live TV doesn't work on the Apple TV 4k but I had half wondered if it was because i was using the 2021 model.

[jetbootjack]

I have two original 1080p with Siri Remotes one 4K and one 2021 4K both with the new remote.

None can be paused…

STeVE

[Enapace]

@jetbootjack 

Ah so it's not me then I am glad I got the 2021 one though at least BT Sport now works in 4K HDR

[jetbootjack]

So I finally got this from Now TV, sigh…

Thanks for getting in touch and apologies for the delay in responding.

I understand you're having issues with pausing the Live TV channels and appreciate you bringing this to our notice.

We want to be able to help our members with all the features that ensures a smoother viewing experience across various devices.

However, we have raised this to our Team of developers who have investigated and can confirm there is no functionality (or never been) to pause on linear channels via Apple TV.

Hence, we'd apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Reply to this email without changing the subject line, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

To make sure you don’t miss an update on your case, add NOW to your safe-sender list or address book so the emails land in your inbox and not your junk folder.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

The NOW Team

[nst]

to be fair, @jetbootjack  I feel your pain but this is simply indicative of a much wider problem.

Disparity of functionality across now's supposedly supported platforms.

Not all platforms are equal, and for whatever reason Now feels that its perfectly acceptable for some things to be present on some apps and not on others.

For your Live pause... its not something they ever implemented on the AppleTV app - but then that just joins the queue of other things they left off that others have on other devices... boost with 5.1 being the main one of course as extensively discussed in the other thread.

Ive always said.. a service like Now that charges the same regardless of your platform of choice.. should provide functional parity across ALL devices.  You shouldn't have to choose based on what they support - if they cant provide 100% functionality on a platform then it shouldn't be supported at all in my opinion.

[jetbootjack]

Yet ATV is lasted as a platform that can pause TV in the FAQ - this was a recent update…

sTeVE

[RoyB]

@nst 

We might presume that the paradigm Now experience was that provided on the Now stick, and that all provisions of Now on other devices aspire to that.

However, we have a dilemma, in which each other platform has its strengths and limitations; should Now not play to those strengths on that platform (probably not, for consistency across platforms)?

But should Now not provide the app on platforms where the platform limitations mean that certain paradigm Now features can’t be implemented, as best they can?

I’m thinking here of Fing, a useful app and very powerful on Android, but very limited on iOS, due to Apple’s rules about what iOS apps can and can’t do; but Fing nevertheless provide what they can, and I think this should be the model for Now also.

[jetbootjack]

That all seems rather non-sequitur to the fact that Now lists the Apple TV as a device that can pause live TV in their FAQ.

The limitations or not of Apple’s policies have no effect on Now’s provision of basic functionality they say they already offer but in fact do not…

[RoyB]

@jetbootjack 

Yes, it would indeed have been a non sequitur if I had been replying to your posting, but I was in fact replying to @nst‘s posting, as the @ implies.

Unfortunately, perhaps, posts in a thread appear in strict chronological order, and you had made your posting before I was in a position to reply to @nst 

And I do agree that Now ought to implement Live Pause on Apple TV, or at the very least, not claim that it has it when it doesn’t 😢

[nst]

@RoyB 

Apart from needing a thesaurus to understand most of your post... 🙂

The point here is the live TV pause functionality which is apparently advertised as working.

This functionality has nothing to do with the idiosyncrasies of the AppleTV platform or app - a more suitable example would be the lack of support for the scroll wheel on the remote for example.

I think its more than reasonable to expect an advertised function to work - especially when its a simple as pressing pause on a remote which would be the same on any platform I assume.

My point still stands though - if they want to miss of chunks of functionality on certain platforms but still offer the 'Now' app and service.. then depending on whats missing they shouldn't really be charging the same to users of that platform.  Best example of this being the current issue of Boost not supporting 5.1 for the last year - this sub-boost package should not cost the same as boost on other platforms where they manage surround sound for the same price.  In my opinion.

[RoyB]

@nst 

Hopefully, it was just ‘paradigm’ you had to look up 😛

I have just looked at synonyms, and nothing quite gets close - Oxford has the best list, and Merriam-Webster show that they simply don’t understand the word. ‘Exemplar’ is nearest though, I think.

The same is true for your ‘idiosyncrasies’ - none of the proffered synonyms quite nail it.

Which is why, of course, we both pick our words carefully.

The main problem with different pricing on different platforms, though, is that you don’t subscribe to a membership on a certain device, you just subscribe to a membership, and the device you use to consume it is up to you.

Secondary problems would be what to charge if Now did this, though, and how to proceed if, you, having paid less for a limited Apple TV experience say, then tried to start watching Now on a higher priced device. Would you want to be refused? Or pay an incremental extra charge? Would it be fair, though, to then make you pay for Now on a TV, when most of your usage was still on the Apple device?

You can see how unwieldy it would get, and in a hurry, too.

My own candidate for this issue - where admittedly Now aren’t trying to claim it does something it doesn’t - is the lack of subtitles on Now on YouView. Now can do subtitles everywhere else, YouView can do subtitles everywhere else, so why on Earth this gap in functionality?

But rather than campaign for a lower price, I’m just instead watching Now on anyone of about seven devices that do give me the full Monty.

[jetbootjack]

I’m just instead watching Now on anyone of about seven devices that do give me the full Monty.

But that’s the point really - not how much you pay as that is a flat fee and should be given the complexity of any other approach - but parity of functionality, especially given the Apple TV is on par or more powerful than any other box Now is available on…

It is clear Sky’s offering is not competitive with other services in terms of image or sound quality (4K, Atmos, Dolby Vision etc) and fails to offer full functionality across all platforms, which other services do on any platform. This lumpiness of some features on some platforms is just further evidence of their protection of their main platform SKY TV.

The point of me starting this thread however was not to debate these points but find out why Now advertise a feature SPECIFICALLY as working on the AppleTV yet that does not work.

TBH if you really want the the Full Monty best get a Sky Glass TV - lol 😂 

sTeVE