Sky's fledgling internet TV service has launched its own set top box for just £9.99:
Now TV has unveiled a £9.99 internet streaming box. The box also gives access to BBC iPlayer, Demand 5, BBC News, Sky News, Facebook, Flickr and Spotify through the TV.The new set-top box connects via HDMI and then allows access via your wi-fi network to services on your telly.
You can buy a day's worth of access to Sky Sports for £9.99, or Sky Movies for £15 a month. New customers get a 30-day free trial of the Sky Movies Pass. Sky claims that it will add more "content and apps" to the Now TV box in the coming months. but there's still no word on the promised Sky basics channels including (Atlantic) that were supposed to be available via NowTV by now. I guess it's fair to say that when they do appear on this platform they'll cost as much as they do via dish - Sky's not going to undercut its own service.
Sky says the new Now TV box is "smaller than a beer mat", measuring 8.4 x 8.4 x 2.4cm. It's apparently based on the Roku LT, so will support 720p but not 1080p via its HDMI port, and all streaming is via 802.11n wi-fi as there's no built-in Ethernet. Available now from nowtv.com.
The future's almost certainly IP TV, and at just under a tenner this is an affordable alternative to Apple TV and other similar services.
2 comments:
I've had 3 separate month long trials of NOW TV and cancelled at the end each time as the picture quality is very poor (borderline unwatchable), Monsters Inc was sub DVD quality. As a TIVO owner and a Netflix subscriber (1080p through Panasonic Blu Ray player) I have no need for expensive poor quality streams of great movies.
I have just been accepted for the LG free beta trial of Now Tv on my cinema tv, I hope the quality is better or they will have problems as Netflix and loads of other apps are available in the app store as for this box it seems to be a closed platform and will ultimately fail when people realise they cant use other services like Netflix and Lovefilm. Roku LT is only a few pounds more from Ebuyer and you get every app inc Now Tv.
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