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NowTV - 1080 and/or surround anytime soon? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 1
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NowTV - 1080 and/or surround anytime soon?
Has anyone heard anything more than speculation that NowTV will actually be available in 1080 and/or also offer surround sound anytime soon.
There doesn't seem much point improving the set top box, as they have, if the underlying service is unable to meet, what are today, basic service features. As we know Netflix and Amazon both do it very well, so why not NOW TV? Thoughts please? |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Derbyshire / UK
Posts: 3,724
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Isn't it a case of Sky deliberately crippling Now TV because they don't want to make the offer to attractive compared to the rip off basic SD satellite service.
I honestly can't see the justification in paying £21 (ish) without boxsets when you get a similar service for £6.99. Though to be fair the 720p is actually quite good, at least on the Super League anyway. |
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#3 |
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,538
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Quote:
Isn't it a case of Sky deliberately crippling Now TV because they don't want to make the offer to attractive compared to the rip off basic SD satellite service.
I honestly can't see the justification in paying £21 (ish) without boxsets when you get a similar service for £6.99. Though to be fair the 720p is actually quite good, at least on the Super League anyway. As for the price you can get that down even further by buying two or three month passes. I was in PC world earlier and they had a display stand full of now tv passes. For £15 you can get a two month movies pass so thats £7.50 pm or a three month entertainment pass so £5 pm. Look on E bay and its even cheaper. I picked up a one month entertainment pass for £2.49. |
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#4 |
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Derbyshire / UK
Posts: 3,724
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I brought 2 of the 6 months entertainment pass and black box for £19.99 from Argos. A whole year of Sky for £39.98 (£3.33 per month)
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#5 |
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: South Wales
Posts: 5,865
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I must say I'm also pretty impressed buy the PQ on Now TV. And to answer the OP's question, I would say it's down to SKY hampering the service, as to not let it be direct competition to the satellite service.
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#6 |
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Oxfordshire
Posts: 2,942
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The PQ is okay, but watching F1 I have issues with judder. I don't care so much about the extra resolution, but it'd be better to get the same interlaced signal that's broadcast, at least for sport.
I'm sure to an extent it's about hampering the service, but 1080 would also require more bandwidth which is more cost for them. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 655
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Quote:
The PQ is okay, but watching F1 I have issues with judder. I don't care so much about the extra resolution, but it'd be better to get the same interlaced signal that's broadcast, at least for sport.
I'm sure to an extent it's about hampering the service, but 1080 would also require more bandwidth which is more cost for them. |
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#8 |
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Oxfordshire
Posts: 2,942
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Quote:
What device are you watching on? And if it has the setting have you set that device to output at 50 Hz?
It's 720p25 that's badly converted on the fly from the original HD interlaced signal. That's the issue. The boxsets are fine, and I thought the SD live channels were fine too. It's just live sport that's poor. There's more to PQ than pixels. |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 275
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Quote:
I must say I'm also pretty impressed buy the PQ on Now TV. And to answer the OP's question, I would say it's down to SKY hampering the service, as to not let it be direct competition to the satellite service.
Saying that, the new Now TV box has got options for 1080p and DD/DD+? Whether they are active I don't know, but the provision for higher quality video and audio are there, a future upgrade maybe. |
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#10 |
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Anywhere I darn well please.
Posts: 1,020
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From experience of working at similar companies, I'd wager a fair amount that this debate is likely raging on within SKY HQ as we speak. It's highly likely the Now TV Product team want to deliver the best possible experience, including 1080p et al - but are restricted by the core business at this current time.
I think it's likely Now TV will stay pretty close to how it is now until Sky Q hits a certain number in terms of percentage of customer base - then that may give the Now TV level product a bit more leeway to offer an improved service. |
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 655
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When it comes to live online streams especially sports I don't think higher resolutions and bitrates necessarily mean a more watchable picture.
The BBC's live Iplayer streams are the best I've seen at 720P and a tad above 5000 kbps, they are much better than NBC Sports 7000 kbps 1080P streams, I would go so far as saying Iplayers live content is the closest I've seen on any platform to broadcast HD. I don't know what bitrates and resolution they use but BT Sports via the Windows app and Now TV via the new smart box are a little further behind but still a lot better than most other and in theory better services I've watched, it seems to me decent encoding at the source plays a major part in getting good watchable live TV online. That being said if Sky really want Now TV to compete with Netflix and Amazon at the very least they need to make the movie and TV catchup/on demand content available in 1080P with 5:1 sound. |
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