'DirecTV NOW' Launches on the iOS and Apple TV App Stores

[Lax608]

If they couldn't handle the demand on day 1, will they be able to once millions more inevitably sign up? Apple TV gets error code 60 and Fire TV gets error code 40 is basically what I dealt with last night. I think between the 2 devices, I got to watch about 30 minutes of content. Not a good start...

I had this issue as well on Apple TV. I have to imagine that it will be fixed in the very near future?! I am also disappointed in the lack of recent episodes on demand. E.g., the most recent Saturday Night Live is from the week before Halloween and no Tonight Show. If we were able to use the NBC app this wouldn't be too big of a deal but... There is much work for them to do, but I think it's a good start. Anyone who thought or expected it to perfect right out of the gate is dreaming. I am a little disappointed by the almost un-usableness of the Apple TV app but hopefully it will be fixed if soon if it hasn't been already. I have been very interested in cutting the chord for quite some time and I think this service (when running well) could be the answer.

 

[Mtmspa]

I am doing this sans the Fire TV. The Gigafiber is scheduled for install this Saturday. Lifetime price of $90/mo or less. Dropping the Xfinity Comcast 200 Mbps that will essentially be the same price after promotion ends. Even though I constantly call Comcast to threaten to leave, reducing my bill, this deal is will save $40/mo WITH the deals. For the faster speeds alone it will be worth it. I am now researching a house antenna, like from the 80's, as I have a coax line plumbed from the roof area to master control box, that ties into the amplified splitter. This will eliminate multiple ugly antennas on each wall, and tie into existing wiring. From what I'm told, DVRs will be available later 2017. I set all my AppleTVs up yesterday, and although I'm not happy about constant input switching, I'm going to use the TiVos with the OTA antennas to record off the broadcast channels, as 90% of what we record is through major network. It will take a little to get used to, but will provide way faster internet and a more unplugged opportunity. When the TV app is more powerful through Apple, I may then drop DirectTV.

Not sure about TiVo, but Tablo has an ATV app so I never have to switch inputs.

 

[Lax608]

Not sure about TiVo, but Tablo has an ATV app so I never have to switch inputs.

How do you like Tablo? There seems to be some mixed reviews out there. I would imagine some of the issues are from people not connecting it directly into a their router.

 

[aaroncon]

How would Automator be setup?

It seems crazy that they don't support HTML5 for both Safari and IE.

Someone else may be able to provide a better/cleaner way to open via Automator, but I did this and it seems to work:

1. Open Automator
2. Create new Application
3. Add Run Applescript action
4. Enter the following in the applescript action:
   

   do shell script "/Applications/Google\\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\\ Chrome --app=https://directvnow.com >/dev/null 2>&1 &"

5. Save as application to somewhere such as your desktop.
6. Open as you would any other application.

Disclaimer: I know not what I am doing in Automator!

 

[co.ag.2005]

How do you like Tablo? There seems to be some mixed reviews out there. I would imagine some of the issues are from people not connecting it directly into a their router.

I'm curious too... and how it compares to HDHomeRun and the Channels app and/or Plex DVR, etc.

 

[Lord Hamsa]

If they couldn't handle the demand on day 1, will they be able to once millions more inevitably sign up? Apple TV gets error code 60 and Fire TV gets error code 40 is basically what I dealt with last night. I think between the 2 devices, I got to watch about 30 minutes of content. Not a good start...

I seem to recall the same types of issues when HBO Go first launched. It settled down after a few days.

 

[macduke]

I'll be too busy in the evenings this week to try it out. Is it working well for everyone? I'm really looking forward to diving into it, even though lack of CBS for NFL games is a huge kick in the pants.

 

[Kaibelf]

Service is crap I hope I can get my money back. FXX keeps buffering and then giving me Error 40 and no my Fire TV stick is not rooted.

Since it's a 7 day free trial across the board and it's day 2, what money are you asking for back exactly?

 

[lsutigerfan1976]

I am sure the demand has something to do with some of the issues. But, I have a feeling you can only be signed-in to two devices at once. Hope I am wrong.

You may be on to something. I was reading the directnow help twitter page. And when someone mentioned to them that they were signed into their iPad, and 2 streaming devices. But only streaming from 1 of the 3 devices at one time. They received a response back stating to make sure that you are signed into no more than 2 devices at any given time.

 

[Return Zero]

Signed up yesterday afternoon and it was working great last night. Fired it up again this morning but could not access any channels. Jury on reliability still out, but it's definitely not perfect so far

 

[Mtmspa]

How do you like Tablo? There seems to be some mixed reviews out there. I would imagine some of the issues are from people not connecting it directly into a their router.

Work great for me. Hard wired to my router and external onegig drive. Bought both in amazon.

 

[997440]

I'll be too busy in the evenings this week to try it out. Is it working well for everyone? I'm really looking forward to diving into it, even though lack of CBS for NFL games is a huge kick in the pants.

It's working well on --

iPad Air 2, iOS 9.3.5........Mac Mini, 10.11.6, Safari 10.0.1, Silverlight 5.1.50901.0 (Did have to empty Safari's cache.)..........W7 with new install of latest version of Chrome.

In desktop browsers, must disable script blocker. Could be you only have to enable specific scripts but there are several. After you enable scripts A,B and C, in example, several others are loaded. Didn't take the time to find which are required.

 

[webbuzz]

You may be on to something. I was reading the directnow help twitter page. And when someone mentioned to them that they were signed into their iPad, and 2 streaming devices. But only streaming from 1 of the 3 devices at one time. They received a response back stating to make sure that you are signed into no more than 2 devices at any given time.

This morning I tried again.

- iPad and AppleTV both streaming live, no issues.
- Sign into app on iPhone and I get the error.
- Pause stream on AppleTV, press menu button on Siri remote so AppleTV is at home screen.
- Go back to iPhone and it works. You might have to press guide and select the channel again.

All done without signing out of any device. This could be a fluke for now.

 

[BruiserB]

Work great for me. Hard wired to my router and external onegig drive. Bought both in amazon.

Same for me. Love my Tablo, have had it since last year around Christmas. Mine's also hard wired to the router....I had trouble getting it to work with wi-fi but I had it right next to my router anyway, so I just connected the Ethernet cable.

Even though I have regular DirecTV and their DVR, I bought this with anticipation of cutting the cord on DirecTV. I live in a condo building that supplies analog basic DirecTV to all residents as part of the association fee, but we have to pay for digital cable boxes, HD, DVR, etc individually. My plan now is to downgrade my regular DirecTV service to just the included basic package and return my DVR. I think I can keep the single receiver and downgrade it to SD and I will still maintain an account with DTV. I can use the login credentials from that to validate the individual station apps on my AppleTV. Those usually provide enough on-demand availability that I won't need the DVR other than the one I get from Tablo for the OTA channels. DTV Now will give me great HD live TV of the premium channels. The $5 HBO is a great deal too, and now I can watch it live on DTV and get the functionality of HBO Go by using the login credentials. One of my peeves with HBO Go/Now is that they didn't provide live streaming for live programs (Real Time with Bill Maher and John Oliver weren't available until next day). Now I can watch live or later.

DTV Now/Tablo is going to be a great combo I believe.

 

[Tinmania]

Service is crap I hope I can get my money back. FXX keeps buffering and then giving me Error 40 and no my Fire TV stick is not rooted.

I think it is just high demand during rollout issues. That said my iPhone was apparantly immune to those issues last night whereas my Fire Stick was just about unwatchable (login errors, audio dropping, saying all changes were not subscribed, etc.).

Where did you find error 40 means rooted? This is what I found:

You receive Error Message 40: Video Error.

This message indicates trouble while loading video content. We are likely experiencing a temporary glitch in data transmission and will resolve the issue as soon as possible.

https://help.directvnow.com/hc/en-us/articles/213267423-Error-Message-40-Video-Error




Mike

 

[Lax608]

Same for me. Love my Tablo, have had it since last year around Christmas. Mine's also hard wired to the router....I had trouble getting it to work with wi-fi but I had it right next to my router anyway, so I just connected the Ethernet cable.

Even though I have regular DirecTV and their DVR, I bought this with anticipation of cutting the cord on DirecTV. I live in a condo building that supplies analog basic DirecTV to all residents as part of the association fee, but we have to pay for digital cable boxes, HD, DVR, etc individually. My plan now is to downgrade my regular DirecTV service to just the included basic package and return my DVR. I think I can keep the single receiver and downgrade it to SD and I will still maintain an account with DTV. I can use the login credentials from that to validate the individual station apps on my AppleTV. Those usually provide enough on-demand availability that I won't need the DVR other than the one I get from Tablo for the OTA channels. DTV Now will give me great HD live TV of the premium channels. The $5 HBO is a great deal too, and now I can watch it live on DTV and get the functionality of HBO Go by using the login credentials. One of my peeves with HBO Go/Now is that they didn't provide live streaming for live programs (Real Time with Bill Maher and John Oliver weren't available until next day). Now I can watch live or later.

DTV Now/Tablo is going to be a great combo I believe.

That's good to hear. I am planning on Tablo or Tivo to solve the local channels issue. Tivo seems to get better write ups but its expensive, you need to change inputs to watch it, and a Tivo mini is required for every TV. I love the idea of an Apple TV app like Tablo but some of the channel changing issues I've been reading about have me thinking I may not like it. Anyway, yes, if you couple Tivo/Tablo with DirecTv Now I am not sure if there is a reason to pay for cable again.

 

[Tinmania]

I'm also concerned that this isn't really different from when Dish and DIRECTV started.

Well it goes along with the original idea behind both: providing TV content outside the traditional cable providers. Ergo we have Sling from Dish and DirectTV Now. But they still have to play along with the network/content providers.

Personally, I think the whole channels and channel packages model will decline. Although I signed up for DirecTV Now, and have another few weeks left on a two month free Sling trial, I could live without either of them. I don't even enjoy the "live tv" thing anymore. A DVR helps but it's not perfect and if everyone used it that advertiser-supported model would fail anyway. I do fine with just Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Throw in Youtube, Pluto TV, and whatnot and there is always something to watch. This is besides Plex that has my movie collection, and the occasional Red Box DVD or Blu Ray.



Mike

 

[kissfan]

Has anyone checked into this one?

I have DTV and AT&T wireless. So, I have unlimited data on my phone with their bundling offer.

If I drop DTV for DTVnow, will I still get the unlimited data bundling?

 

[tonyr6]

I think it is just high demand during rollout issues. That said my iPhone was apparantly immune to those issues last night whereas my Fire Stick was just about unwatchable (login errors, audio dropping, saying all changes were not subscribed, etc.).

Where did you find error 40 means rooted? This is what I found:


https://help.directvnow.com/hc/en-us/articles/213267423-Error-Message-40-Video-Error

Stupid useless Google. Man the search engine sucks more everyday after the 1st day outage I was only able to find one article about it not working. Too late as it's working now.

 

[Carnegie]

Has anyone determined whether DirecTV Now has the same home IP address restriction (for streaming content through the main app on, e.g., a Roku or Apple TV) that Playstation Vue has?

I'm wondering if part of the trade off of only allowing 2 simultaneous streams is that you're allowed to stream to a different IP address (and not just on mobile devices). I know someone who has 2 separate lines of internet service - one for their main residence and one for their detached garage - for whom that ability might make this service quite attractive relative to, e.g., Playstation Vue.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

$105 for a 32GB TV and get 3 months of TV streaming on my iPhone with no data impact...

SOLD!

(Picked mine up last night...)

Needs:
Local channels, they ask about location services on start up of the app
Ability to buy more than 2 streams
CBS


Good Stuff:
I've been streaming this all day at work (I like having droning background noise in the background to drown out co-workers' conversations - yes, I'm productive...I just listen with my phone closed.) and no issues.
Channel Selection is good
I was worried about the store having a run on TV's and I was the 6th customer to get one at 8pm last night.
Loving the TV! (Will have to put the TV 3 on Craigslist for $30)

 

[s15119]

Lol CNN has no viewership left. That's not the issue, I assure you.

Hmmmm, who told you that?


http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/november-2016-ratings-cnn-has-most-watched-month-in-8-years/312580

 

[benboy12]

I just picked up my free Apple TV with a DirectTV Now service. I believe I read in the comments that you have access to HBO now if you pay for HBO. However, when I go to register an HBO Now account, AT&T or Direct Tv are not listed as qualified providers. Am I missing something?

Also, how do you access ABC/Fox/NBC OnDemand through the AppleTV interface?

 

[Feenix]

I have VUE in Seattle and the Network Stations are almost ALL "on Demand" only. Does anyone know if this allows for FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc? Local station news, too?

 

[jerm13]

I just picked up my free Apple TV with a DirectTV Now service. I believe I read in the comments that you have access to HBO now if you pay for HBO. However, when I go to register an HBO Now account, AT&T or Direct Tv are not listed as qualified providers. Am I missing something?

Also, how do you access ABC/Fox/NBC OnDemand through the AppleTV interface?

You get HBO Go if you subscribe to HBO through DTV Now. There's an option to log into Go with your DTV Now info.