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.

[Osk9000]

Couldn’t care less about this regal green paint job when I can’t listen to this overpriced content in anything other than stereo. 

the fact that you need to pay extra for a resolution that was made popular in 2007 is enough of an insult let alone the lack of 5.1. 

Really we should be getting UHD, HDR and atmos! 

[Anonymous User]

I’d love this to be true regarding HBO but I was doing a dig around online
and found that whilst HBO Max may come to Europe in 2021 It’s likely to
bypass the UK because HBO have recently extended their apparently very
lucrative deal with Sky until 2024.

I do hope I’m wrong.

Meanwhile I’m returning to NOW TV soon to see the bonus episodes of The
Walking Dead and maybe fit in that one series of Damian then I’ll be gone
again until the final season of The Walking Dead comes back. I will be
using the old app for this as it supports voice chat for skipping forwards
and backwards and supports the Apple remote properly.

[Samuel71]

My wife said the same about walking dead : thankfully they air before my passes run out.

I think most will be wait and see with how it develops but considering the fact that it has gotten expensive to be a cord cutter people are going to have to be selective and I think NOWTV are short sighted to think it’s just about content as every service will have great content but that’s up to them.

In another note had a response from NowTV about me cancelling because of the above and the response totally ignored what I said and just tried to say stay with us because of the amount of content we have 🤷‍♂️.

[MrZippy]

Content that’s impossible to find due to a poor app, no ratings and no recommendations. And lack of continue watching working correctly.

[bjwgorman]

Hello. I have had no issues for a while using NOW TV on my two Apple 4K TV boxes (1st and 2nd gen) but in the last couple of weeks, it pixelates every now and again and I have to close the app and relaunch it. This is both on live TV and box sets. I’ve checked my broadband and there’s no issues there (also hard wired). I’ve checked and both boxes are up to date and have been restarted.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

[Anonymous User]

I have the same problem and I have also found that when I watch live tv the sound cuts out and I have to restart the app on both my Apple TV’s 4K 1st and second generation hard wired as well, contacted now tv about this and got a very rude person who wasn’t interested in helping at all and basically said someone would email, well that was over a week ago,
Really am getting to the point where I’m
Thinking of cancelling all my passes now, with what we pay it’s a joke of an app compared to the others that are available and what you get.

[Osk9000]

Have they got 5.1 implemented yet or are will still running on technology from 2012, 720p default and 2.1 ? 

They are tempting me back with a £2.99 movie offer.

I can just about accept 720p due to upscaling but 2.1 is criminal. 

[MrZippy]

Lol, 2.1 you wish. It’s 2.0 ie. Stereo. 

[nst]

@Osk9000  you'll be lucky.  as @MrZippy said its 2.0.

Long long story and long long saga.

TL;DR. -  no - coming up to 1 year since the launch of the updated AppleTV app and still the mysteries of providing 5.1 for the on demand content eludes the development team.

Of course, we know (but shouldn't know as we are treated like idiots) that the LIVE content through the app is 5.1 and has been since a few months ago however the app is still officially not capable of a 5.1 stream so the on demand content is stuck at 2.0.

Take the offer.... im quite sure that miraculously in the next few weeks 5.1 will finally start to work.. thus dragging the AppleTV app into the 2012's.  Thank goodness we aren't waiting for ATMOS and 4K as I dread to think how long that would take.

I have a long held theory (and forgive me for repeating it again) that the lack of 5.1 on the AppleTV app has always been an artificial one - its been promised long before during the beta, and as a short fix in the weeks after the app was released but of course its still not here.  I recon that once the Firestick app has been out for 1 year that the AppleTV app will fully work with boost, giving a 5.1 soundtrack and functional parity.  That and the recent sky collaboration with Apple will remove that artificial quality block sooner rather than later.

[Osk9000]

So so bad. Can't believe they still haven't added it. Thanks for the update. 

[nst]

@Osk9000 

Indeed - but I do think its soon.  Finally.

Remember, the current app is routinely providing a 5.1 stream on the live content.  Clearly and obviously its capable.  Its just a case of when they finally 'allow' it to do 5.1 on demand.  December 🙂 

Ive been saying the for ages.  I hope I get a prize when it starts working next month.

[Ab76]

Thank you everyone for the information that live programmes are broadcast in Dolby 5.1. I’ve just finished watching the Brazilian Grand Prix live in Dolby 5.1 (the Sonos app confirms as much),

It’s nonsensical that NOW can broadcast live in 5.1, but not stream non-live programmes in 5.1. If there were any serious technical difficulty surely it would be the other way around.

For whatever reason (perhaps as others have suggested to encourage us to buy Amazon devices), they must be deliberately turning 5.1 off for non-live programmes streamed via Apple devices, but find it too difficult to do that for live broadcasts. It’s pretty appalling behaviour from the most expensive streaming service in the country (my Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney +, BritBox and Channel 4 on demand subscriptions combined are less per month than I pay NOW).

[Anonymous User]

Well they’ve definitely screwed up the Peacock launch for Apple TV. The films included under Peacock are listed in the Entertainment section instead of films. As such the integration with the TV app is messed up. It seems to be either picking those peacock films up as not existing such as A Million Ways To Die In The West or trying to match them to TV shows as it’s created a tv show called Bowfinger… another successful launch from Now

[nst]

@Ab76 

Glad you agree with me.

Ive been saying this for a long time.

5.1 on live started working a few months ago yet I think they were hoping we wouldn't notice.  We did.

I asked them why and got no real response.

Its literally impossible for them to say that the app is NOT capable of 5.1 when it is.

The 2.0 limit on 'on demand' content via the AppleTV app is purely artificial now.  It has been for a while.  There is no reason why they cant provide 5.1 on demand when they can live.  None whatsoever.

Why, in November are we still waiting for this to be miraculously fixed.

Again, its only a few weeks away from the anniversary of the Fire Stick app going live .... what a shocker if they flick the switch to allow on demand content in 5.1 on that date.

[Anonymous User]

Sonos app is reporting on demand content to me as being in 5.1 - when navigating around standard Apple TV interface it reports stereo pcm 

[Shminky]

I have also noticed today that Dexter via on demand is outputting 5.1. My ears were in shock when I pressed play.

[nst]

@Anonymous User 

@Shminky 

If, and its a big if.. they have finally fixed this...

I recall when they launched the app last year it took them best part of a month to re-label all content on the AppleTV from 5.1 to Stereo.

One of our many complaints at the time was that the app wasn't capable of 5.1 yet all the content was still labelled as such.

So, imagine they had fixed it.... it would take them ages to update all the tags back to 5.1 from Stereo.  The labels mean nothing.  If the output is 5.1 then its 5.1 regardless.

p.s. the boost support page still lists AppleTV as being incapable of 5.1 (someone should have told them that live has been working for months at least)

[GW]

@nst 

@Anonymous User 

@Shminky 

Urm? I have nothing in 5.1. The GP and City v Everton are in stereo. On demand Dexter in stereo. 

5.1 on my Sonos through the LG app as usual. 

[Hooba]

@GW Yep - same for me. No 5.1 whether on demand, or live. Have never seen any 5.1 on AppleTV Now app. The GP and City v Everton are in stereo for me too.

[nst]

@GW 

Strange.

I have a Sonos sound bar and that's how I know the output format....

And, I can repeat the test over and over if I go to the TV guide section of the app and play something as Live it will always be 5.1 for me... however the same content if 'played from the beginning' i.e. the on demand version is still always 2.0.

As we've said, its very weird that the app which is "not 5.1 capable" is playing some stuff in 5.1.

To those who recently reported on demand being 5.1 Ive tried myself and its still always 2.0 for me.

Weird how we are getting different results....

[Ab76]

After a week I’m still getting 5.1 surround sound for live events, but I’ve played some on demand content a few times this week (content that’s available in 5.1 for supported devices) and it’s still only stereo. I know because I have a Sonos system and their app tells me what sound is being played. 

Even though I have Boost, NOW insist on forcing me to watch 30 second adverts (that cannot be skipped or fast forwarded) for other programmes/films (including ones I’ve already watched). Along with the lack of 5.1 for on demand films, this is another reason why I’m thinking of cancelling at least the film part of my subscription.