Now tv 4k

[Rich19861112]

So now tv have introduced a boost option to add 4k channels and on demand. It’s called ultra boost.

when will ee tv Apple TV users etc be able to receive this?

[hooba]

We'll never know which (commercial / technical) is responsible for an Ultra Boost app being available on such a small number of devices. Could well be a combination of both. When NowTV first launched the only TVs that had a dedicated onboard app were LGs - that felt commercial to me - exclusivity for a period of time.

The fact that the app on AppleTV 1st gen isn't supported, but the app on 2nd and 3rd gen are supported, feels like a technical limitation (hardware).

Ultra Boost is still relatively new. It may be the case that as time goes on the Ultra Boost capable apps will be available on other set top devices / consoles / TVs. But each device specific version of the app will need to be updated, and then supported.

Delivery over EE TVs multicast system (via the EPG) is a different kettle of fish - there's no app involved and one of the BT/EE Devs has already confirmed that an update isn't required for that anyway.

And the whole subject of apps  is irrelevant if you subscribe to Now through EE TV, as it's not possible to opt for Ultra Boost through EE.

[Midnight_Voice]

@hooba 

In order to show you content appropriately, the Now app has to know if you have Boost or UltraBoost, which I think is some sort of setting on your Now account.

My thinking was that the Now app on the Box Pros, not knowing what UltraBoost was, would not recognise the UltraBoost setting, would assume no Boost was present, and would drop to SD/stereo.

My recall is that I tried this when I had UltraBoost direct from Now, and this is what I observed. And those who used the Firestick loophole to get UltraBoost found the same.

I wonder if what you are observing is the result of a quiet partial upgrade on the path to full implementation?

Though from what you say, the UltraBoost setting is now recognised as such, but the app still doesn’t provide the UHD streams with Atmos.

[hooba]

The app appears to operate in a binary fashion only -  the two states being either SD and 2.0 sound; or HD and 5.1. No boost present triggers the former. Boost or Ultraboost triggers the latter.

See also the newly released Paramount+ app. Despite being able to subscribe to any one of 3 tiers on the Pro box itself (Basic, Standard, Premium), the app only delivers 2 of those tiers. In this case the Standard and Premium tiers deliver only Standard, and Basic delivers Basic.

It's comical really.

[Midnight_Voice]

@MartinH416 

You are assuming that the Now app is the same everywhere, at least as far as user functionality goes, and it isn’t. 

[Midnight_Voice]

@MartinH416 

The AppleTV will play the content in SD, HD or UHD, according as you have no Boost, Boost or UltraBoost, and for direct Now subscribers they have the choice of all three.

But Now subscribers via EETV simply can’t obtain UltraBoost in the Now app, because it’s not available for them to buy. You can call this a commercial problem if you like, but I don’t, because there are no commercial issues at stake here. Just the technical problem that EETV have no means of selling you UltraBoost.

This is different from the issue on the Box Pro and the Box Mini that even if you have UltraBoost, the Now app on these two boxes cannot respond to it correctly.

And different again from the EPG issue on the EETV Box Pro, Box Mini, and AppleTV, where adding UltraBoost means creating, implementing and maintaining a third set of Now channels for UHD in the EPG of each.

@DarrenDev suggested that he had heard that UltraBoost might only come for EE customers, and not for BT ones. I do hope wiser heads will prevail there.

[Midnight_Voice]

@hooba 

I have a new motto for EETV - 

‘Forever Playing Catchup’

[hooba]

I think the extra multicast channels have already been created and test broadcast (as far ago as August). There's only 4 UHD channels anyway.

• Sky Sports 1 HDR UHD
• Sky Sports 2 HDR UHD
• Sky Sports Main Event HDR UHD
• Sky Sports F1 HDR UHD

I think the point Darren Dev was making was that it's proving difficult enough as it is to enable ordering of Now Ultraboost through EE, so they're unlikely to go to any effort at all to update BT systems, particularly as they want consumers off BT systems, full stop. 

[MartinH416]

That doesn’t tie in with the help desk conversations that I have had. There may well be a sales system issue (because they seem in a mess on that side) but the responses from several different agents were that NOW wasn’t allowing EE to have 4k at this time but that they were pushing hard to get it. I.e for commercial reasons Now were keeping the 4k proposition to themselves.  Can’t blame them and by definition it is a nice way to cream off the higher £ customers who then have little reason to go back. In the same way that Sky kept 4k to the Q offering for ages before releasing it to its Now TV arm. 

I don’t know who is correct and unless you work at the right level within one of those organisations then I doubt it’s possible to tell. Not too bothered what the reasons are, far more interested in when it will be resolved. 

[MartinH416]

Just as an update I gathered my emotional strength and phoned EE earlier today. It didn't start well and after an hour of calls spanning 4 people I finally got someone to cancel the now TV subs that I had through EE. This being something they promote as being something that I could just turn on and off myself but apparently not when it comes to it.

I have since received an email telling me that I have renewed my broadband contract....... no idea how they think I agreed to that but another 'feature' of their sales system I guess. They did try to offer me a cheaper renewal for BB but couldn't process it because the system wouldn't allow them to do so once he had processed the TV changes. I suspect that is because they have this weird (only one order at a time system - BT etc). 

Key things:

- They confirmed that they couldn't confirm when EE would be selling Ultra boost

- As suggested, the best/only way forward being to close down EE and open Now directly

- I would have to say that by the eof the conversation I was quite confused about the new total cost of doing this but as the 4k was the issue in hand I progressed it. 

- I encountered the odd Apple TV 4k issue. To get past this I seemed I had to not only change my Apple TV settings to 4k but I also had to access the Now TV via the Apple TV app. i.e. launch the app from within it. Only when I did this was I able to see UHD content for sports channels. Strangely I could always access the 4k TV content. All very odd.  

It just seems remarkably difficult to actually buy and then use this 4 k content and yet it's at the heart of their marketing. Not convinced I have cracked it even now. 

I'll stop whining now. Thanks for the help. Will update if any further useful info. 

To emphasise the points I raised earlier re the support the reps get. They all tried to help but 2 of the 4 tried to tell me that I already had 4k sky sports, one told me I needed a 4k TV (errrm well yes). Three of them insisted on asking me if I had a health alert or pendant connected and that they had to ask for legal reasons every time I ring? Not sure what law that might be but it makes little sense that they ask me 3 times on the same day and ..... what about the 4th? was he better or worse? 

[hooba]

Pleased you're making progress.

Yes, that was another bug bear ... even when taking BT Tv I think I only managed once in about two years to make a change to my package online. And again, yes - most changes to TV packages then resulted in a 2 year contract renewal for my broadband. Which is absolutely not how it should work, and is against any agreement I made with BT. But what are you supposed to do? Phone up and try and get someone to understand what the issue is? Then correct it? It's all too difficult. So I now have a bare bones EE Tv package that I can live with, without changes, for the duration of the 2 years - that's what it came to in the end. It really is a shambles.