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From what I've seen of the dev units running the GM of tvOS, even the App Store app isn't visible at present. It's my guess that either later today, or first thing tomorrow, the app Store app will appear, and then you'll be able to download apps, and that will include nextflix. It's possible Apple might push something onto the device, in a similar manner as the current apple tv when it gets new "channels" for Netflix, so think of it as an alias, so tapping on it goes and gets the app. I've no idea though.

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Rumor has it that the reviewer devices have an updated build of tvOS with the App Store, so there could be another tvOS update for developers to enable the App Store for their devices.

On the subject of iPlayer. Good to see BBC deciding it might be a good idea to do this. I suspect the Auntie Player showed that it's not that difficult to do, and people DO want this. Would have been nice if it was there for the launch of the device.

Wether it'll work via a VPN, I don't know, but would be hopeful that it would, as an ex-pat it would be nice to use iPlayer to watch shows, rather than obtaining them by other methods
Apple has stated that devs will get another update that will bring the dev kits to parity with the consumer atv's. They just won't say when. I think it's safe to say sometime today or first thing tomorrow it will happen. Reviewer devices do have the app store available, otherwise they wouldn't be able to review the apps that all of them have been referring to in their articles.
 
Does it include all the stuff that Sky subscribers get? I remember looking at the website, and it looked like there were a few *s, suggesting that some of the newer, better stuff might be Sky only?

Sorry, I'm not a Sky subscriber so I use Now TV with vouchers without committing to signing up so can't answer that. It seems to have the latest programs though and you can watch live programs from some Sky channels but I'm not sure if all the channels are available.
 
I haven't had any problems using it.

I find the quality of it WAY below Netflix. The actual bitrate I mean, not the quality of the content. The picture looks terrible. Netflix looks great on the same TV.

An Amazon Prime TV (Or whatever they call it nowadays) app would be the best thing, and stop me having to stream Mr Robot from my phone over Airplay to the TV.
 
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I find the quality of it WAY below Netflix. The actual bitrate I mean, not the quality of the content. The picture looks terrible. Netflix looks great on the same TV.

I use a Now TV box on my main telly and the picture is really good through it. Still no Dolby Digital yet even though it has been promised to to be on the way.
 
I find the quality of it WAY below Netflix. The actual bitrate I mean, not the quality of the content. The picture looks terrible. Netflix looks great on the same TV.

An Amazon Prime TV (Or whatever they call it nowadays) app would be the best thing, and stop me having to stream Mr Robot from my phone over Airplay to the TV.

Yes this is what I was going to respond with. The quality of the picture when watching the football last season was below SD quality with constant buffering and pixelation.
 
Sorry, I'm not a Sky subscriber so I use Now TV with vouchers without committing to signing up so can't answer that. It seems to have the latest programs though and you can watch live programs from some Sky channels but I'm not sure if all the channels are available.

We have Virgin, so if anything was of interested it would be the HBO stuff on Sky Atlantic - i.e. the stuff they seem keenest to keep as Sky exclusives. Might be worth another look though - if nothing else could maybe binge on all the Mad Men after it went to Sky.
 
I'm going to get crucified for this, but Apple's MO lately seems to be all about releasing things that aren't ready to be released.. aka lacking some obvious features.

It's always been Apple's "MO". Start small and build. Such as the original iPhone without 3G or App Store, later to the 4G/LTE game than others. Strict rules on APIs (like multitasking, 3rd party keyboards) then loosen up as time progresses.

There are of course many reasons for this, and it has worked well for them.

It's quite well known too, a nice article about it: http://www.macworld.com/article/1151235/apple_rolls.html

The opposite would be something like Samsung's approach, where you get many features early (often IMO poorly implemented, and we often see them cut down later, e.g. Air View now gone from the S6 (along with expandable storage, removable batteries, waterproof body).

No right or wrong, just different.
 
It's always been Apple's "MO". Start small and build. Such as the original iPhone without 3G or App Store, later to the 4G/LTE game than others. Strict rules on APIs (like multitasking, 3rd party keyboards) then loosen up as time progresses.

There are of course many reasons for this, and it has worked well for them.

It's quite well known too, a nice article about it: http://www.macworld.com/article/1151235/apple_rolls.html

The opposite would be something like Samsung's approach, where you get many features early (often IMO poorly implemented, and we often see them cut down later, e.g. Air View now gone from the S6 (along with expandable storage, removable batteries, waterproof body).

No right or wrong, just different.

Good article.

Its true though - if you look at every new iPod or iPhone they are met with the laziest of cliches: 'evolution, nor revolution'.

Firstly, why is that a surprise anyway - do people really expect each new version of a phone to be some sort of revolution.

Secondly, you only have to look at the current iPod / iPhones compare to the originals - worlds apart, so somewhere along the line things have improved dramatically, even if its less noticeable from year to year.
 
The Now TV platform is awful.

I disagree. Aside from the (admittedly, very annoying) habit of splicing repetitive ads into the middle of on-demand content, it's one of the best streaming platforms on the UK market. Particularly in terms of the quality of content relative to the price. Only iPlayer does it better, in my experience.

Note: the bitrate of Now TV's streams seems to vary depending on what device your using it on. Apple devices and LG TVs get the best quality streams, but some others do not. It does indeed look really crap on a Mac/PC.
 
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I disagree. Aside from the (admittedly, very annoying) habit of splicing repetitive ads into the middle of on-demand content, it's one of the best streaming platforms on the UK market. Particularly in terms of the quality of content relative to the price. Only iPlayer does it better, in my experience.

However, the bitrate of Now TV's streams seems to vary depending on what device your using it on. Apple devices and LG TVs do seem to get the best quality streams, but some others do not.

I used an Apple TV to watch a football match last season and the quality was terrible - constant buffering, lower than SD quality and pixelation throughout as I mentioned before. And this is with a 152mb BB connection.
 
May I heartily agree with the "at long, bloody last!" sentiments.
I get really crappy reception on my digital tv (via aerial) and being able to AirPlay BBC iPlayer to my tv has been a godsend.

I'm hoping that the BBC will be able to create some kind of subscription service to anyone outside the UK. A nice stream of revenue hopefully. But I'm presuming that this will probably require a nod from the Government.

"I'd gladly sell my house and all my belongings to help the BBC" - 'Not the Nine O'Clock News', back in the day....:)
 
An Amazon Prime TV (Or whatever they call it nowadays) app would be the best thing, and stop me having to stream Mr Robot from my phone over Airplay to the TV.

Amazon Prime video is one app we probably won't see on Apple TV, given that Amazon have so far refused to release it for Chromecast, and that Amazon have recently stopped selling both Chromecast and Apple TV.
 
this is great! hopefully they do the app for other devices too. ipads, and roku too.

iPlayer has been available on both iPad and Roku for a long time. Along with pretty much every other device you could imagine.
 
I used an Apple TV to watch a football match last season and the quality was terrible - constant buffering, lower than SD quality and pixelation throughout as I mentioned before. And this is with a 152mb BB connection.

Maybe it isn't as good for live sport. For on-demand programming it is very good, though. I watched the whole last season of Game of Thrones on it. Nice HD quality and never a glitch.
 
When / If this gets Siri integrations, then that will be a slam dunk. No-brainer for much of the UK public.
 
"how UK audiences watch programmes online,......"




Any as usual, the USA will get the crap "BBC america" mix of sitcoms and reality TV rather than great things like BBC 3 and BBC 4.

I would pay to get true BBC channels here in the USA
 
How so? They originally said they had no plans to do it,

"No plans" = "nothing to announce today".

then all of a sudden have a change of heart,

They haven't. The legal negotiations around this have been happening for years.

and in the time between, some bright sparks have come shown that there isn't that much work in getting something up and running, and I'm sure the resources the BBC has could get their own thing up and running just as quickly, and without having to resort to any workarounds that might have been required for Auntie Player to access the various sources.

The technical work involved with a new streaming platform is virtually nothing and never was an issue. It's about the rights and legal issues involved, as it always is.
 
Bloody Hell. Once again we in the US have been left out. Bollocks! :)

Seriously, I am happy to hear about Apple Music, but scratching my head about why they didn't work to make it available at launch.
Right, since Siri is not required for Apple Music to work on ATV, yet another reason why ATV3 should get Apple Music.
 
I used an Apple TV to watch a football match last season and the quality was terrible - constant buffering, lower than SD quality and pixelation throughout as I mentioned before. And this is with a 152mb BB connection.
Your internet connection is probably most to blame there. However I find Sky's non HD quality rather poor, and they don't provide HD channels to Now TV customers.
 
The technical work involved with a new streaming platform is virtually nothing and never was an issue. It's about the rights and legal issues involved, as it always is.

I can't see how there are any particular rights or legal issues involved in putting iPlayer on Apple TV. Given it's already available on every other streaming device and every other Apple device out there.
 
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