01-04-2023 10:33
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 😑
02-04-2023 19:25 - edited 02-04-2023 19:27
Good analysis. To see where it’s going, maybe look at Xfinity and NBCUniversal in the US; not a lot more entertainment than Peacock on NBCUniversal, but XFinity pushing themselves as a broadband supplier and aggregator of other, individual, subscription services.
Your option 1 I see as possible; 2 likewise, but rolled into Comcast-owned Peacock, not some third party. 3 is possible, but not with Sky’s current mindset.
Can I suggest maybe Option 1a? Sky Stream comes down in price to something doable for Now customers, maybe adding, or being, something second tier to the current Sky Stream, as Sky will no longer have the expense of running Now; maybe they can de-puck Sky Stream, or offer the puck nearer to Now box/stick prices?
I wonder how Sky are getting on with Sky Stream now - these days, they’ve now got two products cannibalising full-blown Sky, Now built with the technology available ten years ago, and Sky Stream with today’s technology,
Sky know there will always be holdouts against their dish/contract full offering, but I don’t think they will be happy going forward for the long term servicing two levels of holdouts.
02-04-2023 19:40
most certainly.
Technology has changed a lot. I believe if it hasn’t happened already that the time will come very soon. sky will no longer offer physical dish installs. products like sky Q will be phased out and customers will be encouraged to move to sky stream. I can see the sky stream platform being the only way to watch a sky in the future.
The sky glass device I believe has very limited appeal in the market as many people are happy with their televisions and simply want to add sky. The sky stream puck is perfect for this and sky know that.
It is certainly true, that NOW is an aged service. Ironically, perhaps a little ahead of its time when it was launched.
I can certainly see sky stream and NOW eventually being merged, but as you say, the sky stream service will probably end up as an app that runs on a number of platforms with no need for a physical device. If the customer already has something suitable, the Apple TV box is a good example of this as it’s computationally far more able than even the sky stream box is and an app which simply gave you the sky stream experience, seems a very straightforward thing to provide.
The best way to put it is that NOW will continue to exist until such time that the sky stream service no longer requires a proprietary box to use it. When that time comes, there will be no need for NOW anymore. For me, I would not be interested in this because all I want is to access some of Sky’s programming output and I don’t want any of the other features that are included with the stream service.
One thing is for sure, I don’t see that sky will ever be looking to make this service cheaper in any way, shape or form as much as we are customer would like them to do so
02-04-2023 22:10
Sky Stream has the long-term contract issue covered; it can be month to month, like Now.
And its pricing can get very close to some Now deals, though not the Cinema/Entertainment duo many of us have.
Can’t currently match the way I can watch Now on any of 18 devices in my home, as the mood takes me, though.
02-04-2023 22:19
Close, but no cigar! And no app?
02-04-2023 22:30
@redchiz1 wrote:Close, but no cigar! And no app?
Puck-based at the moment. But we might hope Sky Go, or even Now, apps would point the way to native Sky Streaming apps.
02-04-2023 22:36
Aye. But still a way to go before they meet. In the meantime I will still rather pay for NOW when and if required. Mostly for the footy, I will happily admit, anything else they may throw at me I will occasionally accept at an offer price and cancel as soon as the offer expires. Other people have different interests, of course.
02-04-2023 22:48
Yep, Now still wins the day for me at the moment. But Sky will very soon have some choices to make….