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.

[Hooba]

I've just pulled the trigger on a Fire TV Stick 4K Ultra HD. Will use it on my second TV and retire the AppleTV HD that I've been using on that telly. I also recently retired an Amazon Echo Studio - that will be resurrected and hooked up to the Fire Stick. That's a big win for £50.

I'll keep the AppleTV 4K that I use on the main TV because I really do love AppleTV - but also have BT TV hooked up to that TV and 5.1

Amazing how new functionality drives purchasing decisions. Clearly a great, mutually beneficial, deal done between Now and Amazon. Not so Now and Apple? Explains the lack of 5.1 on Apple?

[nst]

@Hooba 

Im not a conspiracy theorist by any means..

And over the last year of posting in here ive mostly erred on the side of caution.

But this is just bizarre.  If I were more of a tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorist id quite quickly join the dots between releasing an update to the AppleTV app which is INEXPLICABLY disabled leaving out an essential thing (5.1).... when there seems to be no technical explanation for this whatsoever...

and then some kind of deal has been struck to finally allow NowTV on Fire Sticks... Ive no idea why this hadn't happened before now but obviously Sky and Amazon have come to an arrangement...

... did that arrangement have anything to do with the timing, and the eventual release of the now inferior app on AppleTV vs the superior Fire Stick one?

mmmmmmmm.

I do wonder.

Even if... lets say 5.1 is the differentiating factor between devices... driving more TV and Movies fans to choose Fire Stick (as they would never choose AppleTV right now without 5.1) and then after a period of "exclusivity" they magically find a fix to getting 5.1 on AppleTV (as all other apps have managed happily for years).

[Mikeaj96]

@schnapps  Can confirm it has now appeared on the App Store 😉

[Anonymous User]

Why would 5.1 drive movie and tv lovers to the Fire TV. I personally haven’t subscribed to Sky for 10 years and only intermittently subscribe to NowTV. Yet I watch hours of TV a day, but I love good TV.

[nst]

@Anonymous User 

Depends on your wants and needs.

I would think that its not unusual for people to have decent sound systems capable of surround sound at the least.

I have a decent 5.1/atmos setup, and so I wouldn't really want to watch stuff with a 2.0 soundtrack if I had an alternative.  If that was all NowTV was offering then I wouldn't be a subscriber.

Personal choice of course.

I do understand however why some TV and Movie fans with stereo speakers or who just use the inbuilt speakers in the TV would be quite happy with 2.0 sound - also if you watch on laptops, phones, or tablets.

My point was... taking myself as an example... as much as ive been waiting for the AppleTV app... I find myself sorely disappointed and not able to use it yet.  Ive had to resort to continuing to use my LG WebOS app.  However id prefer to use the Fire Stick more than the LG TV app... so now I have a new option available to me.

What a crying shame that AppleTV didn't nail it last week.  I find myself drifting off to another platform and I suspect that's what this has all been about.

[Hooba]

Perhaps I'm guilty of projecting my own purchasing decisions on to others - which probably isn't wise as I'm sure not everyone approaches things the same way I do.

But - I remember cancelling Sky 6 years ago. That was the week Openreach rolled out FTTC to my address - opening up the realistic possibility of cutting the Sky cord, but still having the means to access Sky channels. Plus all the other streaming services. It wasn't a quick decision. I think back then not even the AppleTV HD had been released - so it was a case of using the 3rd gen AppleTV, accepting that I wasn't going to get any better than 720P, 25FPS, 2.0 audio. But I felt that was a quality sacrifice worth paying, for the £savings.

Fast forward 5 years and Boost then upsets the apple(no pun intended)cart. 1080P, 50FPS, 5.1 audio. So I promptly went out and bought a couple of NowTV sticks. 

Then Boost, together recordable Sky, comes onto the BT platform. So - I go with that, knowing full well that the days of cheap passes scrounged from various sources are over. But - a price worth paying for the additional functionality (and reliability).

Now we have Amazon doing NowTV, with all the Boost bells and whistles. So, I hop on that bandwagon, as for me its a no-brainer.

So yes, for me, the 5.1 etc is driving my purchasing decisions. And because its driving my purchasing decisions, that leads me to jump, possibly incorrectly, to the conclusion that NowTV know full well that there is 'value' to be derived from opening up NowTV functionality to some devices over others, and they want paying for that - whether in cash, or by doing deals to get other content on to their own devices (e.g. Amazon).

So - that's the long and short of why I post the rubbish that I do ! Probably completely wrong and 5.1 will pop up on ATV in a couple of weeks !

[AlexB83]

I don't think Apple TV and Amazon fire are that much in competition, they are at a totally different price point and not sure one app having 5.1 audio is going to make you buy a different device from what you would have done anyway.

[Anonymous User]

Yes strange how this is released on firetv not that I'm complaining. Clearly talk has been going on between comcast and amazon. I've noticed a better picture on the firetv than the apple tv. Lot more crisper I've set the display settings on the firetv to 1080p 50hz same as the apple tv. Also the firetv just seems a lot more quicker in general. As I stated before u dont have the option for 5.1 but I do use my bluetooth headphones. Either way the firetv stick or tv sell a lot cheaper than the apple device. So for sky it makes sense. 

[nst]

@Hooba 

Spot on.  I too would always choose the technically best solution to give me the best service.  Hence my willingness to pay an additional £3 for boost but I expect to be able to use it on my platform of choice.

@AlexB83 

They aren't in competition.. but they ARE as they both have their own hardware that they would like to get people to purchase.

Therefore I can totally see that Amazon have paid NowTV or done a deal with them in another way to make the NowTV app on the Fire TV platform superior to the one offered on AppleTV - even just for the short term.

I guarantee that from today you will see a barrage of advertising pointing you towards Fire Stick's NowTV app and probably touting 1080p and 5.1 capabilities.  If AppleTV had launched last week with an equally capable app then you can see how the Amazon push would be diluted.

Actually now the events of the last week with AppleTV's lacklustre app release make perfect sense.

Of course... this 'deal', should it exist, would not be permanent... but just long enough to encourage as many NowTV customers to download and use the app on their platform (and of course buy their stick) and of course unlike Apple you are then bombarded with Amazon ads and services....

Once you've been happily using the app on First Stick then you'll see AppleTV 'allowed' to have 5.1.

I knew this was weird... and now I can see why.

AppleTV can't output 5.1 audio???? come on.  Give me a break.

This shouldn't be an issue for Amazon as their hardware is dead cheap.. and could be bought for as little as £19 in black friday but even so its still a fraction of the price of an appleTV.  Cant really see that the audience is the same for both devices.

[nst]

is it not 5.1 on Fire Stick?

If not, ignore everything ive said this afternoon. lol

However, im pretty sure it is 5.1 looking at their boost information page online.

its only AppleTV that can't.