New Now TV Box @ Argos
raymartin01
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Argos currently have the latest Now TV/Freeview box on offer at £24.99 bundled with either a 3-month Entertainment Pass or a 2-month Cinema pass - bargain!
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raymartin01
Posts: 1,898
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Can you provide a link. I logged on to Argos and the new Now TV smart box was £69.99 with a five month entertainment pass or 4 month cinema pass.
http://www.argos.co.uk/search/shop-the-new-now-tvbox/?tag=ar:shop:nowtv:smartbox
I saw the old box on offer from £14.99
http://www.argos.co.uk/search/shop-all-now-tv/?tag=ar:shop:nowtv:shopall
I also checked Currys but again could only find similar offers to Argos. Yesterday I saw the Now TV V2 box in Sainsbury's with a 3 month pass at £20.
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/6194202
For some reason it doesn't come up in a search!
The other one is: http://www.argos.co.uk/product/6159247
They're both in stock in my local branch.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/tv-dvd-audio/digital-and-smart-tv/set-top-boxes/now-tv-full-hd-smart-tv-box-3-months-entertainment-bundle-10153753-pdt.html
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/tv-dvd-audio/digital-and-smart-tv/set-top-boxes/now-tv-hd-smart-tv-box-2-months-movies-bundle-10153783-pdt.html
Thanks Ray, in stock at my branch.
Even if you don't need the Freeview side of them the 50hz output makes a great difference especially for sports and whilst I have no proof of this theory I'm convinced Sky use different servers/CDN's for these devices, since I got my smart boxes I've never seen one instance of the picture quality dropping from its maximum state or buffering of any kind
Haven't looked into this at all but would this not simply be an issue of the new boxes having more onboard RAM for buffering, thus reducing quality drops and visible buffering?
I don't think so because I'm comparing to the Windows PC's (I gave up on the old boxes because of not being able to switch to 50Hz) I was previously using which had far superior hardware, one had 8GB RAM the other 16GB, both had GB ethernet ports rather than the 10/100 in these smart boxes and one was hardwired to my router the other connected by wireless AC at over 700 Mbps.
Both PC's ran Now TV ok but there were issues with buffering and quality drops from time to time which are things I've not seen since investing in the new smart boxes.
One of which is hardwired to the router again and the other connected wirelessly to my 2.4Ghz wifi because for some reason it wont see my 5Ghz network, but as it works perfectly like this I haven't bothered to investigate the cause.
Got to say that I've never had any quality issues watching Now TV via my PS4. I do have 70mb broadband though.
Have to say never had this issue with my Acer pc which only has 6gb ram it runs nowtv smoothly and rarely buffers even on live sport.
IF kt's any use i use zonealarm not ms security software.
I'd definitely recommend upgrading if you have one of the earlier boxes. I'm sure this price won't last.
Bought 2 today for presents - bargain! May buy a third for our conservatory.
PS Watched the City v Arsenal game earlier - the PQ is a great improvement on the previous boxes. The 50Mhz output really makes a difference. It's also completely silent. As an added bonus, I'm not interested in the Movie Pass, so I'll be putting that on eBay! The net cost should only end up being about a tenner.
I could understand this last century as without the Internet, having a catalogue retailer could save money, and people could use the store fronts for pickup. But it just seems pointless in today's Internet world.
Before asking this, I did check on Wikipedia and it said the catalogues are updated twice a year? Could that be true? In such a fast changing world, that is really bizarre.
What is the advantage of using Argos' stores and catalogues over normal Internet retailing? I can understand using Argos website if that is constantly updated as it is then just like Amazon. But whenever I go past an Argos store, I see people pouring over outdated, laminated catalogues and this just blows my mind.
Surely I am missing something...
Now with Amazon they deliver the next day, even the same day sometimes but waiting for a delivery to arrive from Amazon is a chore in itself and even a bigger pain when they say “your parcel is out for deliver” then they don’t turn up at all and when you ask what went wrong they fob you off with excuses like “it’s been snowing in John o’Groats and could not get through” when you live in Lands End and it’s been sunny all day, exaggerated true but a good as excuse as any.:)
If the price is right, and quite often it is, Argos is my first choice over Amazon and E-Bay but if you haven’t got an Argos near then online is better.
As for the Argos catalogue today it’s just used as a browser for the kids, as the OH says “A toy Bible for kids”:D as we give the grandkids an Argos book leading up to Christmas and ask them what they like. I have not used a Argos catalogue for many a year myself.
I do the same and the quality sometimes is truly awful.. tried watching Oz on Sunday and on fast moving images, the pixalating was shocking due to their insistence on broadcasting 720p and rubbish encoding.. They should really take a leaf out of Netflix and Amazons book and use variable bitrates going up to 1080p or higher...
An actual visit to Argos or Screwfix or Toolstation would be enlightening for you... ;-)
Who needs drones or Amazon Logistics telling you your address doesn't exist because the drivers satnav is out of date!?!
Who's your ISP are there contention issues in your area!?!
Very good post but I would add that many ebayers use Argos as a collection point for goods. Personally I find I have always had very good service from Argos and they are very competitive as was earlier pointed out regarding the new Now TV box and entertainment pass.
One thing that the government need to address however is the business rates for bricks and mortar stores where there is a huge imbalance on traditional high street shops over online services and retail warehouses and offices. Shop staff have been replaced by office staff and stores being replaced by warehouses. The latest ham fisted approach of adjusting business rates may have made things better in some parts of the country but in London and towns the South East it has been made far worse and is making some small business in the high street unsustatinable.
I did say the price wouldn't last.