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]

Personally I think they are after more money due to a drop in new movies since Covid.  What better way than to rip us off for HD content or whack adverts in.  It is laughable but no doubt a win win for them.

Seriously though how hard can it be to give us 5.1?  We should be upset over a lack of 4k and atmos content instead!

[Anonymous User]

I can’t believe they have had the nerve to not only reduce to 1 stream but
add in adverts. Fortunately I got an email from Disney saying that seasons
1 to 10 of The Walking Dead are now on Disney+ And so will be season 11 on
August 23. Best thing of all every episode actually has subtitles Which NOW
TV were never willing to provide, which I find a despicable practice in
2021.

[MrZippy]

I’ve said this before but someone needs to make a complaint under the disability discrimination act regarding subtitles, believe you have to make reasonable efforts to accommodate people with disabilities. It seems to me as the programme has subtitles available and the AppleTV supports subtitles that it would be readable to expect NowTV to offer them, opposed to discriminating against people with hearing disabilities. 

[Anonymous User]

That's it for me too. I thought they couldn't make the experience on an Apple TV if they tried, and with Ads / Trailers combined with a barely usable app, I'll be cancelling once my Tesco credit runs out... 

Disney+ / Netflix / Amazon and Apple TV+ are way better!

[Ab76]

I’ve succumbed and bought an Amazon Fire Stick (which is vastly inferior to my Apple TV).

Here’s a warning for you all. To turn Dolby 5.1 on you have to adjust a setting in the Now app, not just the settings in the Fire Stick. It’s taken me 30 minutes of hair pulling to work that out.

[gavs82008]

@Ab76 

This is nothing new for NOW apps on many devices.

https://help.nowtv.com/article/how-to-adjust-audio-settings

[nst]

Even though I have the firestick... and even with its new software.. I find the experience slow and clunky.

Since Now finally started to play nice with the Apple TV app... (PLEASE Netflix follow suit).. it just shows me how superior the whole apple infrastructure is when it comes to the TV experience.

I can now add TV shows to my up next list, and thats synchronised across all devices, I can see new episodes when I check on my iPhone... I use the firestick highly grudgingly.

However... with the imminent price rise for boost - something I never expected given that what it offers is standard with most other streaming services... coupled with the fact they seem to think its perfectly acceptable to not provide a 5.1 soundtrack on the AppleTV... enough is enough and im cancelling boost.

Cutting off my nose to spite my face perhaps.. but i refuse to pay £5 a month when I cant use it properly on my platform of choice... a platform where literally every other streaming app has managed 5.1 for years so I simply cannot accept there is any technical limitation that Now are up against.

When they finally get their act together is when ill come back... of course this will have a knock on effect for me as ill cancel movies too as I dont want to watch in 2.0.

Ill keep my eye on this forum as Im sure it will be apparent when they fix 5.1.

[Anonymous User]

The BBC iPlayer is even worse as it offers no subtitles for any program
whatsoever, that is unless it’s an imported french drama like The Last Wave.

I know I’m going off topic but I made a complaint to the BBC about lack of
subtitles on the Apple TV box and them being in breach of the equalities
act of 2010 but I’ve heard nothing back from them and that was about 3
months ago. I’m pretty disgusted by them.

[Anonymous User]

I think it could be years if not at all for 5.1 sound. I firmly believe
there is no technical reason why there cannot be 5.1 sound for NOW TV on
the Apple TV box when other streaming providers can do 5.1 and above
(Atmos). It’s the reason I never use now TV cinema. I’d simply rather rent
them individually from the iTunes or Amazon.

I know I am going off topic a little bit here but the BBC keep repeating
that they can’t do subtitles for the Apple TV box because of technical
difficulties and the format that apple have chosen to use. It just seems to
be the go to reason for when somebody can’t do something with the Apple TV
box when it’s the most capable of all streaming boxes.

[Samuel71]

Me ranting at NowTV today:

honestly I came on here today thinking it was a bug or something but clearly not the case I am absolutely done with NOW the price for the quality you get is appalling. I started it again for ZSJL and then saw you’d added apple tv integration. Was happy with putting up with a shigher than everyone else cost for a poorer experience (720p like wtf?) stereo sound (like wtf?) useles app interface (honestly a joke) but there’s a few select shows/films that just mad enough difference. But throwing adverts in is honestly a joke: channel 4 adverts but it’s free, itv adverts but it’s free, Netflix no adverts better quality cheaper, Disney no adverts, cheaper cost, better quality, Apple TV+ no adverts, cheaper cost, better quality, but now tv thinks it can give a worse quality, with adverts and charge more than the rest…..

All I’m getting back is the standard: but we reduced the cost from £11.99 to £9.99 for films, added kids into tv so £3.99 and releasing 125 new shows. Whoop de do

[Ab76]

I can see Now losing a lot of customers over these changes and it’s inability to improve the viewing experience (the most expensive streaming service provides the lowest quality).

Rather than subscribe all of the time, in the future I might subscribe for one month out of every three or so and watch everything I want to see in that month. Netflix, Prime, Apple TV and Disney (which combined cost me less than I pay Now) will keep me busy the rest of the time.

[MrZippy]

What’s funny is NowTV don’t even get the basics right as it doesn’t remember the episodes watched after an unknown period, I’m not sure if this is between not having a pass active or just after a period of time.  But it’s really annoying, Netflix remembers forever, not that I’ve ever stopped paying, even between regions, so when on holiday in the USA and the show isn’t currently in the U.K., when it is added in the U.K. it still knows where I got to. 

[Anonymous User]

They had lost me before these changes because of their inability to provide
subtitles to any TV show show that was on Fox. Me and deaf friend couldn't
watch many shows together.

Now two of those shows, The Walking Dead and War of the Worlds are both on
Disney+ with both subtitles and 5.1 sound. ( I am beyond delighted for my
friend to be able to watch these shows with me now )

They will lose more content due to Disney buying Fox and whilst normally I
don't like to see a monopoly on content at this moment I'm quite happy.

[Wentey]

Looks like all the sports channels are now in 1080 with 50FPS nice to see the sky sports news tick flow smooth after all these years doesn’t look like heave done it for the entertainment channels tho sky news still has jagged ticker 

[Anonymous User]

The entertainment channels will never be 50fps. All the content shown on them is either native 25fps (often filmed as 50i) or 24fps sped up to 25% (and hopefully the sound pitch corrected).

[nst]

Doesn't matter anymore.

Ive cancelled my Boost pass as a result of the price rise to £5 a month where, on my primary streaming device (AppleTV), they can't be bothered to support 5.1 audio.

Once they have, and boost subscribers get the same value for money that they get on whatever boost supported platform they chose, I'll consider re-subscribing.

[nst]

To anyone interested... ive pestered the NOW 'help' twitter account again.

I think, although fruitless, its not a bad idea to keep letting them know about this.

I sent:

sorry to ask again but with the new boost price rise to £5 I will be cancelling my subscription until they support 5.1 audio on appletv. Why is this taking so long and is there a estimate as to when it will be fixed. I won’t pay £5 and receive half the service.

they replied:

We want to offer this functionality via Boost as quickly as possible. The new Apple TV app doesn’t currently support 5.1 Dolby, however our team is working hard to find a fix and we hope to be able to offer this is in the near future. Sorry for any inconvenience.

I then responded:

Thanks. This is so hard for the consumers to understand when EVERY other app on the appletv has been providing a 5.1 feed for YEARS let alone atmos and 4K. Why is NOW having problems supporting something that’s been available for years with others?

To which they replied:

Thanks for understanding and bearing with us. It is an ongoing issue that is currently still under investigation and we are still trying to work out a fix for this at the moment. We anticipate having a solid fix for this soon and will be keeping our members updated.

my final reply was:

Thank you. This has been promised as a ‘soon’ fix since December 2020. It would significantly aid our understanding if you could let us know the problem you are having whilst every other app manages 5.1 perfectly fine on the appletv. Why only NOW that can’t do it??

and they responded:

Will will pass the feedback along for more information on this.

Obviously trying to get rid of me at that point.. and I doubt they will pass it back.

However, their inability to provide 5.1 when literally everyone else can and does and has done for years in their apps is astonishing and impossible to accept from the consumers perspective i.e. ours... and the fact that the price is rising to £5 a month and still no 5.1 is unacceptable.

I would encourage others to keep asking the questions.

Whilst they continue to investigate..and work hard on fixing it.... you'd think that someone would pick up the phone and call the development teams at Apple, Amazon, Netflix, or Disney+  as they all seem to have cracked the super secret and hard to solve problem of streaming a 5.1 audio signal.

[ukbobboy]

@nst 

Hi nst

First, I don't have a dog in this race, i.e. I do not own any Apple devices or 5.1 sound equipment but I have been dipping in and out of your forum thread from tme to time.  So what I'm about to say is pure speculation but does contain a limited amount of sense.

Here we go, I don't believe that in 2021 NOW does not have the capabilities to produce 5.1 dolby sound for it's programming. It more than likely they cannot make the sums work, i.e. dolby's licensing fee, additional equipment needed, initial training of support staff and other stuff like that. In other words, if they thought it would be profitable they would be all over it.

Right now, NOW has other priorities, such as transporting their home policies and ways of working to a UK company and it's staff while trying to appeal to and grow a profitable user base.

Still, I just speculating on why there is a hold up on such an obvious facility.

UK Bob

[Duncaw67]

@nst 

I also cancelled my boost pass and entertainment pass on 21July,as I refused to pay extra for an inferior service,all they could say was sorry to see you leave,and hopefully come back to NOW membership in the future!!!!

[dr_necessitor]

Still paying for Boost here (chiefly for Sports at 50FPS) but next payment is still £3 (which is because I seem to be on an offer - but I’ve had no notification of this offer, nor does it say anywhere within My Account exactly when this offer price expires/how long it apples for, and based on my extensive past experience of “being on offers” this seems unusual to me). Surely not an open ended offer?

[Mark_Weinreb]

If I remember my briefing notes correctly, @dr_necessitor there was a suggestion that Boost might stay at £3 for some users (definition of some not defined). On your account, does it say £5 with a £2 discount? That’s what I see on my account.

The idea being that no-one should pay more than they were.