"One Box to View Them All"

The speedyrite award for "One Box to View Them All" goes to:

Roku 2 Streaming Media Player (4205E) with Faster Processor (2015 model)

The 2nd generation NOW TV box is a cut-down version of a Roku 2. But the Roku 2 is better because it is better featured.

Managed to pick up a Roku 2 recently on Amazon UK for £49 (versus the normal price of about £70).

Apps are available for all the main UK catch-up & on demand services:

• BBC iPlayer
• itv Hub
• All 4
• Demand 5

Also installed a couple of apps that provide access to TVCatchup and TVPlayer (effectively legitimately streaming Freeview channels over the internet), found courtesy of http://blog.artesea.co.uk/2016/01/tvplayer-on-roku-or-now-tv.html

There are also apps for all the popular streaming services:

• NOW TV
• Netflix
• Amazon Video
• Google Play Movies & TV
• YouTube

Installing the PLEX app has enabled streaming of content from a local iTunes library on a computer that also has the PLEX server app installed.

The Flixster app provides access to a small number of movies purchased on DVD in the past that came with an Ultra-Violet copy.

Radio is well served by the tunein radio app.

Finally, the Roku 2 has a USB port. So you can plug in a USB drive and access content from it via the Roku Media Player app.

So the NOW TV 2nd generation box, acquired a couple of months ago for £19 (together with a 6 month NOW TV Entertainment pass) from Amazon UK, has been replaced by the Roku 2.

What's not to like about Roku 2?!

Happy New Year & New TV Provider

The Sky TV subscription ended overnight.

Last night, we finished viewing the last few recordings and downloads that were still on the remaining Sky+HD set-top box.

Today's tasks are to disconnect and remove the Sky+HD from the "TV & LAN infrastructure" and pack it away. Will also attempt to rationalise and untangle the mass mess(!) of cables behind the cupboard whilst scrabbling about around the back.

The Humax BT Youview+ DTR-T2110 has been handling recordings from Freeview channels since before Christmas, in parallel with mainly downloads from Sky Catch-Up/On Demand (supplemented with the odd recording).

Over the same period, the TV (2nd Generation) has streamed NOW TV Movies, Netflix and some movies from our collection in iTunes on the Mac mini. Planning to replace it with the new TV 4th Generation soon.

So, Happy New Year! Or should that be Happy New TV Provider?

Coming soon: Pros and Cons, Economics, Picture Quality, Hardware Reviews etc.

Farewell Sky+HD

The last day of our Sky TV subscription looms near.

We shall soon be disconnecting the remaining Sky+HD box and packing it away, to join its sibling Sky+HD box that used to be our Multiroom box in the tech graveyard corner. 

We're going (mainly) "over the top" for a 12 month experimental period using NOW TV & Netflix (maybe also Amazon Video as some stage) and  a YouView+ recorder for recording stuff and watching Catch-Up from Freeview channels.

As far as our customer relationship with Sky is concerned, all is not lost.

We continue to be a Sky Fibre Pro broadband customer and, of course, Sky plc will continue to benefit from the re-direction of our (albeit reduced amounts of) entertainment spending into NOW TV.

No plans to sell my Sky shares at the present time. Why? Because I am confident that there are still plenty of people prepared to stick with Sky+HD, I'm sure there will be reasonable demand for Sky Q when it becomes available and Sky also have the somewhat unique proposition of NOW TV to mop up the rest.

But, in my opinion, the future of TV viewing will be non-linear. For various reasons, it won't be the right solution for everybody, but right now it looks like the right solution for us. 

We are excited to be (at least partially) cutting the cord!