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Anonymous User
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Update Now TV app for apple TV

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.

2,755 REPLIES 2,755
Anonymous User
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What’s the point of updating the Apple TV app but not allowing 5.1 sound on in so angry

Anonymous User
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At last after years and years of delays Sky have finally released an updated app, but it's barely any different to the last beta version. Boost is apparently supported but just doesn't work. Content that claims to support 5.1 and 1080p is the same hyper compressed 720p stereo sound garbage as it always was. 

 

The trials manager also promised that the launch version would support the TV app, but that's nowhere to be seen. Even the UI is horribly un-Apple and get clunky to use. 

What a mess. Did someone at Sky pull the trigger too early? Maybe it needed another decade or so in the oven?

Anonymous User
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Nope this is the pile of poo they were planning!

One positive, it actually makes the Amazon Prime app look good!
nst
Elite

@Anonymous User 

 

My point exactly.

 

But worse than that... boost subscribers on the appleTV still pay the full £3 even though they don't have 5.1 sound.

 

and... more concerningly from a trades description perspective.. they seem content to do this.. release the app... and not bother to change the labels on content that clearly state the movie/tv show has a 5.1 soundtrack.

 

Im sure that there must be unwitting AppleTV users who are happy to finally get the new app... subscribe to boost now it seems "available" on the platform.. only to press play on a movie marked as 5.1 to discover it is actually 2.0

 

Im so convinced this is related to the Amazon Fire Stick release just a week later getting a much more polished app... and coincidentally coming to a huge commercial agreement with Amazon re content sharing..... couldn't exactly do that at the same time as making a superior AppleTV app with full boost and TV app integration now could they......

 

Im sure AppleTV WILL get 5.1 magically fixed sometime.  I can't believe across the entire development and beta test period they couldn't get 5.1 working... and remember we were told to expect boost and TV app integration - there is a good reason this was removed from the app... but I recon that the Fire Stick app will be given time in the spotlight first before the AppleTV app is allowed to catch up.

 

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable
That doesn’t even make sense.

Someone who is using or looking to buy a Fire TV stick isn’t likely to be looking at an Apple TV. Totally different markets, and prices! So why cripple the one on the premium device.
nst
Elite

@Anonymous User 

 

I totally agree

 

The appleTV is a totally different audience and price point indeed.   It is a premium product and the fire stick is not (though technically extremely capable and unbeatable at the price point).

 

However.. nothing about this whole thing makes sense.  The decision to launch boost on a device that is more than capable of a poxy 5.1 sound stream and leave it off whilst still charging full price and displaying 5.1 tags through the app.  The length of time this app took to develop, beta test, and release and still not have proper boost.  The fact a fire stick app launches with no prior warning.  The fact the fire stick app is in many ways superior to the appleTV one.

 

There must be some corporate explanation here.. as a technical one makes no sense.  When literally ALL the streaming apps on AppleTV do, and have done for years, provide a 5.1 sound signal without even breaking a sweat... and even 4K and Atmos streaming as well.. there's literally no reason why NowTV can technically do it.

 

Although they are aimed at different markets.. you can certainly see why a company such as Amazon would want to use every advantage it can to lure consumers into purchasing and using its device as opposed to someone else's.  For example.. this has worked on me.... I have a fire stick 4K - I use it occasionally and there's no denying its speed, quality, and flexibility especially at that price point - and now Amazon have their way as I now use it for NowTV - at least until the AppleTV app "fixes" 5.1.  So I can clearly see what they are trying to do and why... and how its working for them.

 

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Out of interest, where did the rumour start that the Irish version of the ATV app has had long time Boost support?

I mentioned this on another site and was promptly advised, by an actual Irish ATV/ Now TV app user, that it was rubbish and that they don't have Boost support.

 

With regards to the Firestick, if you're interested in playing back the content as it was intended, it is not an option. It doesn't frame rate/ format match for the majority of apps you can use with it. This is an area where the ATV is superior to just about any other streaming box, as it does the correct frame rate/ format matching, as long as the content isn't 24fps (rare) or come through the Now TV app it would seem.

 

Paul

Anonymous User
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Yes your quite right about frame rate I just mentioned this on another post, switching it to 50hz fixes it though. And the picture is pretty dam well good I would even say better than the Appletv app. For the time being I will continue watching via my Firestick 4k untill nowtv update the the Apple version.  When I say update I mean I mean with regards to 5.1 and an app that is actually like the Firetv one. 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Anonymous User 

 

I very rarely watch anything via Now TV but, watched some of 'This is 40' last night, via the ATV, and it looked very presentable. Certainly as good as I remember Sky Q looking and probably better than the Now TV stick I've been using up until now. I write probably but, I'd need to do a side by side comparison to say for sure.

 

Of course the content itself is quite variable too. With Sky Q, stuff on Discovery usually and reasonably consistently looked the best, so that's a good reference point for me.

 

Paul

nst
Elite

@Anonymous User 

 

Interesting observation...

 

So, here we are with a superior Fire Stick app.

 

I do wonder the why's and how's... but here we are.

 

Will we see appleTV's version updated to include 5.1?  undoubtedly.. just when we don't know.  Not holding my breath on this but we can be sure its not a pure 'technical' reason.

 

I was pondering this and of course.. the reality is many people have multiple platform options - not everyone granted... but AppleTV owners might well have a smart TV app, or maybe another streaming device to include fire sticks, nowTV sticks, and gaming consoles. 

So.. assuming NowTV have pocketed a wedge of cash from Amazon for this...I guess what do they care as the customers who have an appleTV are just forced to carry on watching on another device (as presumably most have been given the old app anyway).  Its not as if this weird move has cost them many customers.

 

Personally I am still a customer, I want the content.  I pay for it.  But I feel quite inconvenienced not being able to choose to use my AppleTV as my only streaming platform.... certainly not with the app the released.