UKC

Heads up for anyone thinking about a TV box / smart TV etc

I usually connect my tablet to the TV for watching stuff off the iplayer but its a bit off a faff. Also, the itv player, 4OD and others are just full of adverts and we choose not to watch a lot of stuff because of this. I need something better but not a full on smart TV so I picked up a NOW TV box from ASDA last week - £20.00. I have to say I'm over the moon with it, best 20 quid I've ever spent! What's in the box? well its simply a little white box the size of a tobacco tin, remote inc batteries, power lead and HDMI cable. It has to be registered on line before it works and you get 3 months of free sky movies with it. Once registered you just enter in your wifi password and you are away. There are no buttons on the box, everything is done via the remote control and on screen menus. Everything works fast with a great picture and no freezing - iplayer, 4OD, 5OD, ITV player, BBC news, SKY news and others. For the sky movies you have to enter in the code of the box and register your debit card, its one of those 'you need to cancel or we charge you outside the offer period' deals but I registered mine and cancelled it, on line, an hour later. I still get the free sky movies for the 3 months and watched a few already. Good choice of box sets available on 4OD too, just getting through 'Teachers' at the moment. Youtube is also available through the gizmo too but I'm thinking that'd it be a pain to have to use the remote to search for stuff, you know, enter one letter of each word at a time but no, there is another trick to it. Sign into your own youtube account on your mobile, enter the unique box number into youtube and your phone becomes linked to your box - that is, search for what you want on your tube via your phone, press play and your phone sends the instruction to youtube who forward the instruction to the NOW TV box and your video plays on the TV instantly! Cool or what?
You need a decent internet connection obviously and a TV with a HDMI input but other than that there is no other requirements, highly recommended!

http://direct.asda.com/Now-TV-Smart-TV-Box---Entertainment-Bundle-with-3-Mo...

*footnote
ITV, 4OD and 5OD still have adverts but far, far less than via the on line service and live TV.

In reply to wilkie14c:

Use mine all the time . Film choice changeover seems to be Friday and you get 4 or 5 new titles per week, my only complaint being the number of kiddy films featured.
Thanks for the tip re You Tube, btw. hadn't worked that out myself.

In reply to Tom Valentine:
I'd have thought there'd be a strong demand for an Ir transmitter built into mobiles with manufacturers uploading the relevant codes to a central database. You'd have an app on the phone and just add your devices from within the app then use mobile to control tv, dvd, stereo in fact any item that uses a remote. A gui on the phone screen would prob be easier to use than a plastic box covered in little buttons such as a traditional remote control unit.
Nice touch though with YouTube, a good usable solution they've come up with

In reply to wilkie14c:

This is how the Chromecast works

In reply to wilkie14c:

I got one a while back for £10. It worked okay, but it's far too closed a platform for me, and, like you, I cancelled my subscription as soon as I joined; I think I watched two films..

Here's my wibblings on what I replaced it with; a generic £35 Android media box:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=607262

I'm posting from this box now, having just been watching some stuff on iPlayer. The main advantage over the nowtv box is that it's just an Android box, and I can install whatever apps I want, not just those the dirty digger allows. It's starting to replace my tablets and PC for surfing and media use.

In reply to r0b:


Er, no. It isn't. Chromecast is not a universal remote control app for a phone/tablet, which is what wilkie14c was on about. It certainly doesn't use IR in any way, shape or form.

In reply to r0b:

Er, no. It isn't. Chromecast is not a universal remote control app for a phone/tablet, which is what wilkie14c was on about. It certainly doesn't use IR.

For those who prefer to pass as little cash as possible Murdoch's way, a Roku box does the same as the Now box - which isn't surprising really, because the Now box is a re-badged Roku. Admittedly the Roku boxes are more expensive than the Now box, but AIUI they offer more functionality than the subsidised hook-em-in-make-em-pay Now box does.