Update Now TV app for apple TV

[Anonymous User]

Will the Now TV app for Apple TV ever get an update?

The current version is complete rubbish and makes me regret ever getting a Now TV pass.

Unless there is an update my Now TV experience will be very short indeed.

[Anonymous User]

Hi guys. My NowTV app is constantly crashing on my AppleTV. Firstly the movie's live schedule tends to change and disappear once a month, so currently now you can't see a schedule for live movies. Then on the entertainment, every time I review the schedule moving from channel to channel cause the screen to go white and the app crashes. This happens every 3/4 channel searches, i.e. Scrolling through the live channel schedule. This has been happening every time I use it for the last two weeks. It used to crash once every two weeks, with the screen going green and then the entire Apple TV crashes and restarts. Now the app just crashes, but it happens about 10-15 times a day which is super annoying. It makes using NowTV almost unbearable and is going to lose a lot of customers very quickly.

[Anonymous User]

They've been saying that for months!

[Anonymous User]

I think it’s safe to say NOW TV has no intention of supporting Apple TV, presumably because they’d rather people bought their own hardware box instead. Really, the company should stop stringing everyone along, and either port the iOS app (which is fine), kill the Apple TV app entirely and echo Amazon Prime Video in allowing full AirPlay between iOS and Apple TV, or just stop all support for Apple TV entirely and risk losing subscribers.

The only reason I still subscribe is because it’s cheaper than buying the few shows I still watch over getting them on iTunes or grabbing a DVD. But the experience is now getting to the point it’s just not worth it. No search. Black screens. Broken loading. Duplicate episode lists. Hardly any subtitles. No favourites lists. Etc. I’m sure we’ll again hear how “hopefully” there will be some news “soon”, but this is the same thing we’ve been hearing for two years now. And if it quacks like a piece of abandonware, it probably is abandonware.

[Anonymous User]

I'm in the same boat! The extra content provided via NowTV's subsctiption doesnt justify the cost when you have to put up with such a bad end user experience.  Seriously about to jump ship and continue with Netflix and other providers whose interface, video quality and overall experience is much better, albeit at the expense of SOME content.

[Anonymous User]

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@Anonymous User wrote:

I think it’s safe to say NOW TV has no intention of supporting Apple TV, presumably because they’d rather people bought their own hardware box instead.

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Couldn't agree more. The sad thing is Sky could have dominated the market as a true cross platfrom conent provide instead of having the mindset of a proprietary hardware distributor, following the same model as their antiquated satellite service instead of what's correct for a digital medium.

[Anonymous User]

I recieved an email this morning from them asking me if I'd like a FREE Now TV box so I guess that says it all and their going to follow the Amazon business model. I could understand if they had no app development whatsoever, but the fact there is an application already on iOS that would not take significant resources to port is disappointing.  This could of been great but it's back to Netflix for me in hope of a more open model for UK broadcasters to compete against NowTV's content monopoly which might actually make them improve their service.

Disappointing to the max!

[SeeMoreDigital]

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@Anonymous User wrote:

I think it’s safe to say NOW TV has no intention of supporting Apple TV, presumably because they’d rather people bought their own hardware box instead....

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Or given that Apple offer their own content, it could be the other way round...

[Anonymous User]

"Or given that Apple offer their own content, it could be the other way round..."

That makes no sense. NOW TV is perfectly at liberty to issue its own tvOS app. It has an iOS one that would be relatively easy to port. Instead, it has done almost _nothing_ for two years. Apple isn’t stopping NOW TV from creating an app any more than it stopped Netflix from doing so.

This is a choice, for whatever reason, being made by NOW TV, as is the decision to not offer any kind of workaround. Amazon Video at least enables you to AirPlay to Apple TV, given that Amazon and Apple have some kind of petulant Cold War going on. NOW TV’s stance appears to be “buy our box or use a tablet”. The former isn’t great if you already have an alternate box, and the latter is unsuitable if more than one person is watching.

Again, my conclusion is NOW TV simply doesn’t care about this. Actions speak louder than words, after all.

[Anonymous User]

Looks like Amazon & Apple have buried that hatchet which will give Apple TV users other options as NowTV continue to ignore us.

[SeeMoreDigital]

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@Anonymous User wrote:

That makes no sense. NOW TV is perfectly at liberty to issue its own tvOS app...

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From what I understand, when NOW TV submitted their standard UI to Apple it was rejected, as it was not flashy enough. The 'scrolling window' style UI that you guys see on your Apple TV devices has been designed and is controlled by an Apple approved 'third-party' company, not NOW TV.

So when-ever NOW TV change their content and genres (which is very frequently), the information is sbmitted to the Apple approved 'third-party' company for them to incorporate within their swanky Apple TV UI. All of which is out of NOW TV's direct control...

Cheers

[Anonymous User]

"From what I understand, when NOW TV submitted their standard UI to Apple it was rejected, as it was not flashy enough. The 'scrolling window' style UI that you guys see on your Apple TV devices has been designed and is controlled by an Apple approved 'third-party' company, not NOW TV."

I’ve not heard that from anyone – not from NOW TV nor someone I know who works _at_ NOW TV. Regardless, even if that were the case, it doesn’t stop NOW TV tweaking the UI and resubmitting. (As for ‘not flashy enough’, that makes no sense. There are very varied UIs on Apple TV.)

I’m also aware the existing NOW TV app is basically a script-based thing that’s been shunted across from the older ATV, and is in part outside of NOW TV’s control. Again, all the more reason to port a decent fully native app the company does control.

[SeeMoreDigital]

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@Anonymous User wrote:

...Again, all the more reason to port a decent fully native app the company does control.

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The NOW TV UI that's available on the NOW TV branded products (and on my LG televisions) looks pretty good to me. But given Apple like to have things done 'their way' @Anonymous User, what you suggest would seem to be "easier said than done!"

Perhaps you'd all be better off lodging your UI complaints to directly to Apple...

[Anonymous User]

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@SeeMoreDigital wrote:

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@Anonymous User wrote:

...Again, all the more reason to port a decent fully native app the company does control.

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The NOW TV UI that's available on the NOW TV branded products (and on my LG televisions) looks pretty good to me. But given Apple like to have things done 'their way' @Anonymous User, what you suggest would seem to be "easier said than done!"

Perhaps you'd all be better off lodging your UI complaints to directly to Apple...

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Have you seen the variety of UIs that apps have on the Apple TV 4? It certainly doesn't have to be "Apple's way". The problem is that Now TV refuses, for whatever reason, to develop an app for the Apple TV 4 and is carrying on with its legacy Apple TV 2/3 app that was developed/controlled by a 3rd party. Again, they are choosing to do this: Apple are not blocking them from developing a new app; Apple are not saying they must use a certain UI. Many other "legacy" apps jumped from the old 2/3 platform to the new 4 platform and developed very rich custom UIs for their apps (eg, Netflix, etc). 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Have you seen the NOW TV UI that runs on a NOW TV box @Anonymous User?

In my opinion it looks much better than the one created by the Apple 'third-party' company. And it actually works 😉

[Anonymous User]

It does look better @SeeMoreDigital, but so does Netflix which is a properly developed native app for tvOS/Apple TV 4.  The reason people are referring to the iOS app is because porting that to tvOS would be the quickest way of replacing the current awful Apple TV 2/3 port. Alternatively if NowTV are adamant on doing as little as possible for the platform then they should at least consider integrating with Apple's official TV app which I believe is launching in the U.K. later this year.

[Anonymous User]

Exactly. As noted, I’m not sure what SeeMoreDigital is getting at in this thread. Apple acts as a gatekeeper to the App Store, but that's all. It doesn’t develop apps other than its own – Apple TV 3 being an anomaly. And as you say, Sam, there are load of different UIs on the system – you don’t have to do anything Apple’s way.

SeeMoreDigital said:

“Perhaps you'd all be better off lodging your UI complaints to directly to Apple...”

Why? In this case, the block is NOW TV, who – presumably for commercial reasons – have chosen to not fully support Apple TV (perhaps to ‘encourage’ people to buy their branded hardware). Amazon did much the same, but at least had the decently to enable its iOS app to work via AirPlay. NOW TV won’t even do that. (And, yes, I know: contracts blah blah blah. But it’s 2017. It’s not a surprise people will want to ‘cast’ stuff to a box.)

Again, the only conclusion it’s possible to come to is that NOW TV doesn’t care about Apple TV at all. Which is fair enough; but the fact its support people keep stringing everyone along (“hopefully, there will be more news soon!”) is getting old.

[Anonymous User]

I get the feeling @SeeMoreDigital doesn't get the difference between Apple TV 2/3 apps and Apple TV 4 (tvOS) apps. Apple TV 2/3 apps did indeed need to follow Apple's UI guidelines, and they all looked the same more or less. tvOS apps for the Apple TV 4 are much more similar to iOS apps, in that they are created directly by the developer (not Apple or a 3rd party) and they can have nearly any UI they want.

There's NO reason Now TV can't develop a tvOS app (or port their very good, existing iOS app) and use their own UI. AND they could choose to have their 3rd party separately continue to maintain the current Now TV app for use on the Apple 2/3 only, or they could choose to end support since it's "legacy".

[BSMoxham]

I have to say, I’m currently watching the Manchester Derby on SSPL and I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with the quality of the picture.

Now I’m on the Beta so I’m not sure they’ve done some stuff behind the scenes but it’s definitely the best quality picture I’ve seen on NowTV.

[MrZippy]

See I’ve said this before, whilst 720p I believe the picture quality is way better than Netflix which is my main viewing and that’s 1080p.

I think NowTV are using a higher bitrate compared to Netflix, noticeably higher. So whilst the resolution is lower the quality is better meaning the upscale is more effective.

[nst]

@MrZippy 

I totally get what you are saying.  And I dont dispute it one bit.

But I can confirm that the bog standard cheapo NowTV box, with a boost subscription, when compared side to side with the 'standard' quality is very noticeably better.  Not just a bit, not just subjectively speaking, but very much better.

What you say is also interesting because ive noticed that Netflix and Disney+, and Amazon Prime's so-called UHD or 4K streams do not look any better than NowTV's 1080p content.

[Anonymous User]

Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video UHD content may look comparable to Now TV 1080p streams now but, that's only because of the current bandwidth restrictions in place for all the former. Netflix Dolby Vision streams, with Atmos max out at 7.62Mb/s. You'll never get close to what that content can look like, with those data rates. It does well to look good with the non throttled, 15.26Mb/s data rates.

Is there an opportunity to join the beta? I'm a Quality Assurance professional by trade, so it would be interesting and I'd like to contribute. I was 'forced' into buying a Now TV stick after finding out the Apple TV 4K doesn't support Boost, so I have a vested interest in contributing too.

Paul