ChatterBank0 min ago
Now Tv
12 Answers
What programmes does Now TV give you, is it easy to install and how much does it cost?.Thanks.
Answers
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Thanks for your reply, Megfitz. The Now TV Smart Stick simply plugs into an HDMI socket on your TV. and then takes a signal from your home wi-fi. To watch programming provided through it, you press the 'Source' button on your TV's remote control (which is often labelled by a curved rectangle, with an arrow pointing into it) and use the up/down buttons to change...
19:31 Sun 07th Feb 2021
A Now TV Smart Stick costs £24.99 directly from Now TV, although they're currently out of stock. (That doesn't necessarily mean you can't get one though. See below).
Without any type of 'pass', all that a Now TV Smart Stick does is to turn a 'non-smart' TV into a 'smart' one. (i.e. it allows the TV to connect to the internet and use catch-up TV apps, such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, etc. There are also additional apps that come with it, or which can be downloaded to it, enabling you to watch YouTube videos on your telly, for example, or to listen to internet radio stations from across the world). There are no ongoing costs with simply using such apps on the Smart Stick but, of course, you don't gain anything if your TV is already 'Smart'.
To get additional TV channels though, you need to purchase one or more 'passes'. For example, I've got the Entertainment Pass, which gives me access to
Sky One
Sky Atlantic
Sky History
Sky Nature
Sky Witness
Sky Comedy
Sky Crime
Sky Documentaries
MTV
Comedy Central
Fox
Vice
Discovery
Gold
SyFy
and National Geographic.
I also get access to 'box sets' of programmes from those channels.
The Entertainment Pass costs £9.99 per month (after a 7-day free trial period). Payment is by direct debit but there's no contract. (i.e. I can stop paying at any time I want, without having to wait for a contract period to end).
Other people might choose to buy a Sky Cinema Pass instead of, or as well as, the Entertainment Pass. That provides access to all of Sky's movie channels, plus there are over 1000 movies which can be streamed on demand. That pass costs £11.99 per month.
There's also a Kids' TV pass, for £3.99 per month, that provides access to 6 children's channels plus thousands of programmes that can be streamed on demand.
A Sky Sports Pass provides access to all 11 Sky Sports Channels for £25 per month.
There's also a Hayu Pass, which allows you to stream lots of US reality TV shows on demand. It costs £4.99 per month.
Setting up a Now TV Smart Stick is a fairly straightforward process. You simply have to use your computer (or tablet, etc) to register an account with Now TV and then follow the instructions.
As I mentioned above, Now TV's own website is currently showing that they're out of stock of Smart Sticks. However they're often sold in supermarkets, etc, frequently in a deal that includes one or more month's access to a pass at a total price which is not that much more than the cost of the Smart Stick itself.
Without any type of 'pass', all that a Now TV Smart Stick does is to turn a 'non-smart' TV into a 'smart' one. (i.e. it allows the TV to connect to the internet and use catch-up TV apps, such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, etc. There are also additional apps that come with it, or which can be downloaded to it, enabling you to watch YouTube videos on your telly, for example, or to listen to internet radio stations from across the world). There are no ongoing costs with simply using such apps on the Smart Stick but, of course, you don't gain anything if your TV is already 'Smart'.
To get additional TV channels though, you need to purchase one or more 'passes'. For example, I've got the Entertainment Pass, which gives me access to
Sky One
Sky Atlantic
Sky History
Sky Nature
Sky Witness
Sky Comedy
Sky Crime
Sky Documentaries
MTV
Comedy Central
Fox
Vice
Discovery
Gold
SyFy
and National Geographic.
I also get access to 'box sets' of programmes from those channels.
The Entertainment Pass costs £9.99 per month (after a 7-day free trial period). Payment is by direct debit but there's no contract. (i.e. I can stop paying at any time I want, without having to wait for a contract period to end).
Other people might choose to buy a Sky Cinema Pass instead of, or as well as, the Entertainment Pass. That provides access to all of Sky's movie channels, plus there are over 1000 movies which can be streamed on demand. That pass costs £11.99 per month.
There's also a Kids' TV pass, for £3.99 per month, that provides access to 6 children's channels plus thousands of programmes that can be streamed on demand.
A Sky Sports Pass provides access to all 11 Sky Sports Channels for £25 per month.
There's also a Hayu Pass, which allows you to stream lots of US reality TV shows on demand. It costs £4.99 per month.
Setting up a Now TV Smart Stick is a fairly straightforward process. You simply have to use your computer (or tablet, etc) to register an account with Now TV and then follow the instructions.
As I mentioned above, Now TV's own website is currently showing that they're out of stock of Smart Sticks. However they're often sold in supermarkets, etc, frequently in a deal that includes one or more month's access to a pass at a total price which is not that much more than the cost of the Smart Stick itself.
PS: Both Asda and Argos are currently selling Now TV sticks for thirty quid. They come with a one month Entertainment Pass, a one month Sky Movies pass and a one day (only) Sky Sports Pass included:
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Hi Buenchico,
Thanks for the info, I’m not veryau fait with technology but do I understand from your answer if I buy a Now Smart Stick ( I have aNow phone and Broadband package) I can somehow attach it to my TV and get the entertainment package you detailed , obviously I’d have to pay a monthly fee after the initial freebie,
My TV has free view but is not connected to satalite.Sorry to ask such stupid questions but as I said I’m not up to speed with all this and my family are not able to visit and help.Thanks.
Thanks for the info, I’m not veryau fait with technology but do I understand from your answer if I buy a Now Smart Stick ( I have aNow phone and Broadband package) I can somehow attach it to my TV and get the entertainment package you detailed , obviously I’d have to pay a monthly fee after the initial freebie,
My TV has free view but is not connected to satalite.Sorry to ask such stupid questions but as I said I’m not up to speed with all this and my family are not able to visit and help.Thanks.
Thanks for your reply, Megfitz.
The Now TV Smart Stick simply plugs into an HDMI socket on your TV. and then takes a signal from your home wi-fi. To watch programming provided through it, you press the 'Source' button on your TV's remote control (which is often labelled by a curved rectangle, with an arrow pointing into it) and use the up/down buttons to change the TV's source from 'DTV' to 'HDMI1'. (Those labels might vary a bit across different TV makes and models but it should be very easy anyway). Your TV will then take its picture and sound from the Smart Stick, instead of from its Freeview tuner. (To watch Freeview channels again, you simply need to reverse the process, so that you switch the source back from 'HDMI' to 'DTV', or whatever).
If you go for one of the thirty quid deals that I mentioned above, you'll be signed up to a one-month free trial of both the Entertainment Pass channels and the Movie Pass ones. If you only want the 'Entertainment' channels after that, you'll simply need to cancel 'Movie' your subscription before you start getting charged for it. You'll then continue to get the 'Entertainment' channels for £9.99 per month. (As I stated above, there are no contracts. You can start and stop your payments whenever you want. For example, if you'll have your grandkids at your house a lot over the summer holidays but not at other times, you could sign up for the Kids' Pass just for two months in the summer).
The Now TV Smart Stick simply plugs into an HDMI socket on your TV. and then takes a signal from your home wi-fi. To watch programming provided through it, you press the 'Source' button on your TV's remote control (which is often labelled by a curved rectangle, with an arrow pointing into it) and use the up/down buttons to change the TV's source from 'DTV' to 'HDMI1'. (Those labels might vary a bit across different TV makes and models but it should be very easy anyway). Your TV will then take its picture and sound from the Smart Stick, instead of from its Freeview tuner. (To watch Freeview channels again, you simply need to reverse the process, so that you switch the source back from 'HDMI' to 'DTV', or whatever).
If you go for one of the thirty quid deals that I mentioned above, you'll be signed up to a one-month free trial of both the Entertainment Pass channels and the Movie Pass ones. If you only want the 'Entertainment' channels after that, you'll simply need to cancel 'Movie' your subscription before you start getting charged for it. You'll then continue to get the 'Entertainment' channels for £9.99 per month. (As I stated above, there are no contracts. You can start and stop your payments whenever you want. For example, if you'll have your grandkids at your house a lot over the summer holidays but not at other times, you could sign up for the Kids' Pass just for two months in the summer).
Khandro:
When you try to access BBC iPlayer, Auntie Beeb's servers examine the IP address that your request is coming from. That's allocated to your home router by your internet provider and will be exactly the same whether you're using a smart TV, a computer, a Now TV stick or anything else which gets its data through your router. So using a Now TV stick wouldn't enable you to bypass the restrictions that the BBC is legally required to put in place regarding access to iPlayer from overseas. [You'd also find it difficult to sign up to Now TV anyway, as Sky (who own Now TV) doesn't hold the overseas rights to the programming it transmits].
The only way that you can access geographically-restricted BBC content from overseas is by using a VPN, which routes your internet traffic via a UK-based proxy server, so that the Beeb's servers 'see' the IP address of that server, rather than the one allocated to your home router. If you go down that route, it would be best to use a VPN that has multiple servers in the UK. Then, if the Beeb blocked access from one IP address used by your VPN, you could simply switch to another one.
Using a VPN on a computer is very easy. You simply install the app and away you go in just a couple of clicks.
Using a VPN with a smart TV that uses the Android operating system is fairly straightforward too; you simply need to download the VPN app and configure it.
However most smart TVs aren't Android-based, so things get a little (but not a lot) more complicated. You can go into your router's settings and make changes there, so that all internet-enabled devices in your home send their traffic through the VPN. However that method can be a little daunting for people who aren't 'technically-minded'. It's far simpler to set up a wireless hotspot from your computer. (The only downside to that is that you'd need to have your computer turned on whenever you were accessing BBC iPlayer on your telly).
In your position, my own choice would be to use Nord VPN. They've got plenty of UK-based proxy servers and offer high-speed connections (so that you don't end up with a lot of 'buffering', as you can with slower VPN services):
https:/
(When you go to that page, you'll see an offer that expires in 9 hours 39 minutes and 40 seconds. Everyone always does!)
The 'Help' section of the NordVPN website is particularly good. For example, click 'Help' (at the top right of the screen) and type 'smart TV' into the search field. Scroll down to 'Sharing a wireless VPN connection from your Windows PC' and click on it to see how to turn your computer into a wi-fi hotspot.
When you try to access BBC iPlayer, Auntie Beeb's servers examine the IP address that your request is coming from. That's allocated to your home router by your internet provider and will be exactly the same whether you're using a smart TV, a computer, a Now TV stick or anything else which gets its data through your router. So using a Now TV stick wouldn't enable you to bypass the restrictions that the BBC is legally required to put in place regarding access to iPlayer from overseas. [You'd also find it difficult to sign up to Now TV anyway, as Sky (who own Now TV) doesn't hold the overseas rights to the programming it transmits].
The only way that you can access geographically-restricted BBC content from overseas is by using a VPN, which routes your internet traffic via a UK-based proxy server, so that the Beeb's servers 'see' the IP address of that server, rather than the one allocated to your home router. If you go down that route, it would be best to use a VPN that has multiple servers in the UK. Then, if the Beeb blocked access from one IP address used by your VPN, you could simply switch to another one.
Using a VPN on a computer is very easy. You simply install the app and away you go in just a couple of clicks.
Using a VPN with a smart TV that uses the Android operating system is fairly straightforward too; you simply need to download the VPN app and configure it.
However most smart TVs aren't Android-based, so things get a little (but not a lot) more complicated. You can go into your router's settings and make changes there, so that all internet-enabled devices in your home send their traffic through the VPN. However that method can be a little daunting for people who aren't 'technically-minded'. It's far simpler to set up a wireless hotspot from your computer. (The only downside to that is that you'd need to have your computer turned on whenever you were accessing BBC iPlayer on your telly).
In your position, my own choice would be to use Nord VPN. They've got plenty of UK-based proxy servers and offer high-speed connections (so that you don't end up with a lot of 'buffering', as you can with slower VPN services):
https:/
(When you go to that page, you'll see an offer that expires in 9 hours 39 minutes and 40 seconds. Everyone always does!)
The 'Help' section of the NordVPN website is particularly good. For example, click 'Help' (at the top right of the screen) and type 'smart TV' into the search field. Scroll down to 'Sharing a wireless VPN connection from your Windows PC' and click on it to see how to turn your computer into a wi-fi hotspot.
>>> but you would have to buy a UK TV licence for it to work in the UK
Eh? What? I don't understand! I've been asked to click on 'Yes' or 'No', in response to a question about whether I've got a TV licence, when using BC iPlayer but I've never been required to prove that I've got one! (BTW: That shouldn't be read as me actually endorsing licence evasion. I don't and I do have a licence!)
Eh? What? I don't understand! I've been asked to click on 'Yes' or 'No', in response to a question about whether I've got a TV licence, when using BC iPlayer but I've never been required to prove that I've got one! (BTW: That shouldn't be read as me actually endorsing licence evasion. I don't and I do have a licence!)
Khandro,
If you have a smartphone to can use Mobdro website or app to get UK stations then wire or bluetooth it to your TV.
If you buy a cheap stick to put in the HDMI port of your TV, then you can put Mobdro on that and watch UK and other country’s TV on that.
https:/
If you have a smartphone to can use Mobdro website or app to get UK stations then wire or bluetooth it to your TV.
If you buy a cheap stick to put in the HDMI port of your TV, then you can put Mobdro on that and watch UK and other country’s TV on that.
https:/
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