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nawi102
Advocate

The worst player/software

Unfortunately the Now TV Player for Samsung TV is horrible, the worst player of all streaming services out there:

- Default resolution is 720p, additionally paid resolution is 1080p with low bitrate, no 4k. What year is this?

- The 1080p suffers from visual glitches most likely due to low bitrate. Haven't had that problem with any other player

- Non-skippable adverts before each episode

- No "skip intro" option

- Can't pause playback with a single click on the remote. Need to click twice to stop playback and then twice again to start it, as a single click brings up the menu.

 

Horrible, horrible player 😑

 

 

17 REPLIES 17
nst
Elite

I dont want to rain on your parade...

But, basically, welcome to NOW.......

The player experience is pretty universal across multiple platforms - it ranges from Bad to Worse.

The service itself is light years behind all the other streaming players in the market - which is extra bad considering its actually the most expensive.

720p as standard is unacceptable.  the paid upgrade only goes as far as 1080p so doesnt come close to 4K and ATMOS audio that others are routinely providing.

Non skippable adverts.... yep... theres that.  Always surprises me how ANY subscription service also serves adverts - aren't we paying to NOT have ads here?

Player controls are highly dependant on the platform and the remote.  Think yourself lucky as if you have an AppleTV although you can pause pretty easily given there is a play/pause button on the remote... if you want to FF/RW its a nightmare as they refuse to use the AppleTV native controls and you have to click and then select FF/RW then press again then move back to the play button - its awful.

 

It is horrible but NOW dont seem to care much.

RoyB
Legend

@nawi102 

Those aren’t adverts before the shows. They are promos.

So that’s alright then 😛

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
nst
Elite

No, they aren't they are adverts,

If you dont pay for boost you get a promo AND ads before a show.... on the entertainment pass at least.

gavs82008
Legend 5
Legend 5

@nst 

The same promos that you get with Amazon prime videos 🤔 

At least however with them you get to skip them!

FYI that I do not work for NOW, just a NOW customer trying to help
nst
Elite

no!  They are actual adverts.

April 1st was yesterday stop gaslighting me 🙂 

 

Seriously - I get one or two ADS for cars/washing powder/etc etc - THEN the promo for NOW content... then the show starts!

And no, not skippable 😞

gavs82008
Legend 5
Legend 5

@nst 

Ouch that sucks, so non boost customers have to deal with all that then the promos for NOW/Sky 😳 

The skip feature is something that should be added. Especially for recaps and intros! 
Would be nice to skip the promos if you have boost too. 

On a side note, I almost caved in on buying an Apple TV 😲

FYI that I do not work for NOW, just a NOW customer trying to help
nst
Elite

it very much does!

On the one hand I very much disagree with ANY paid-for streaming platform showing Ads - Thats what we are paying for - funding the service and NOT paying money to then see ads.

Netflix have a lower cost ad-supported tier but thats OK - the price is less because of it and you have a choice.

NOW, as the most expensive UK streaming service to ALSO serve ads to paying subscribers is plain wrong.  Ive always argued that SKY ONE/Atlantic etc etc should never have ads as you can only watch it with a subscription but Sky have done this forever and dont seem to want to stop.

I may have an explanation as to why some of you are disagreeing that Ads exist... Firstly, it's a 'benefit' of a boost pass that you dont get any Ads (apart from unwanted, unskippable NOW promos)... so if you pay for boost you get 'ad free'.  Secondly... I used to have a boost pass - when it lapsed I STILL didnt get ads - they never appeared... I put this down to some kind of most welcome glitch on NOW's side.... however that all changed for me when I took another Boost offer and had it half price for 3 months.... it's only when that lapsed that I started to get Ads.

So some of you are obviously ad-free because you are paying for boost, and some are ad-free in a post boost pass world because of a NOW glitch - top tip if thats you.... dont take out another boost sub because when that lapses you will get ads.

RoyB
Legend

@nst 

Yes, I see we were at cross-purposes there 😢

But currently, we are watching the slow disintegration of Now, as series we once took for granted on Now peel off to other streaming services - Disney, Paramount, what-have-you.

And the trickle will become a flood when HBO goes in a couple of years.

But unlike the other services, Now doesn’t live or die by what it puts out, isn’t worried about the lack of 4K, and so on, because it doesn’t see itself as an expensive streaming service, it sees itself as Sky’s bargain basement.

And from that mindset comes the ‘let them eat cake’ view that “Hey, here’s unique content cheap (compared with the other ways you can get it from us), no contract, and if you want 4K, we offer that on Sky Streaming, on the internet like Now, still no contract; or full-blown Sky on satellite.”

So try to look at it with Sky’s mindset, get inside their head, see how they are thinking.

Now is Sky wringing the last drops out of the wet tea-towel of its content revenue, from people who aren’t going to pay for Sky’s more premium services.

So they look at postings like yours, go “Great, we aren’t too cheap then”, note that you are still subscribing, and then go “Great, we aren’t too expensive then”, and continue charging what the market will bear until they are.

Also looking gleefully at the considerable extra revenue they are getting from BT TV, where, no matter how much BT slice off the top, armloads of people are apparently happy to pay top whack for Now, without a sniff of the retention deals we all snag for ourselves that renders quoting Now’s headline prices a touch academic 💷💷💷

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
nst
Elite

@RoyB 

Sadly, you aren't wrong there.

NOW is, indeed, Sky's 'poor mans cousin' and as long as its just a bit cheaper than Sky Glass/Stream/Q AND significantly hamstrung such as no 4K or ATMOS options, then it is cheap enough in Sky's eyes and gives them a springboard product from which to up-sell to the more expensive options.

But also, as many have mentioned, NOW refuses to see itself in its correct context i.e. just one of several UK streaming services all competing for those all important monthly subscribers.  Like it or not they share the pool with Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Paramount+ etc and this is direct competition.

Customers do not have infinite finances, and WILL be more discerning with their streaming services.  Most people dont subscribe to ALL of them so services like NOW really cant go on ignoring this forever.

As many of us seem to know.... yet none of us work at Sky of course.... NOW's days in its current guise are numbered - I really believe that.  NOW refuses to change and continues to try to rip off customers with very poor service and standards and people will certainly vote with their feet.  NOW seem to be relying on high profile tentpole acquisitions such as The Last Of Us, or House of the Dragon - but those will dry up someday and a single show is not enough as they seem to think it is.

In my opinion we will see one of the following outcomes in the next few years:

1.  NOW simply disappears - enough people have been convinced to take up Sky Stream to make NOW very niche.  NOW as a 'portable service' accessing content through an app will be rolled into the Stream package and all content will be available through Sky GO via the stream subscription.  The functionality remains but no longer called NOW but significantly more expensive to access.

2.  NOW folds itself into another provider like Netflix - this is possible as there is not room for all the multiple services long term.  In the same way we get peacock rolled into NOW entertainment... and Paramount+ is rolled into Sky Cinema for non NOW customers....  This is already happening inevitably and in the USA several stand alone "me too" studios who tried their own streaming service for their own content have had no choice but to give up and merge.

3.  NOW changes significantly and is forced into changing its output in line with its competitors - it no longer differentiates between Movies and TV shows as none of the other services do - and it lowers its price AND raises its quality so you end up with a service that has Movies, TV, minimum 1080p but preferably 4K all for £9.99 - £12.99 price range per month.

 

It will be interesting to see where this goes.  Change is already afoot but behind the scenes.