Official TV/Film Video Entertainment Apps & Services thread

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  • First generation Youview boxes are losing ITV Hub next year. Model numbers are in this article.

    https://rxtvinfo.com/2021/first-gen…to-lose-itv-hub

    The fast changing world of technology is leading, as this article says, to equipment barely 5 or 10 years becoming obsolete.

    Add into the mix the fact that it's often better value to replace than to repair and you have a ton of waste. Not good for our new found love of the environment.

  • The fast changing world of technology is leading, as this article says, to equipment barely 5 or 10 years becoming obsolete.

    Add into the mix the fact that it's often better value to replace than to repair and you have a ton of waste. Not good for our new found love of the environment.

    The smaller the format/platform install base the faster it goes obsolete. That's partially why some platforms can never catch up, vicious circle of not fast enough early uptake meaning you don't get the later support that if it had been achieved may have broke the cycle. Often results in market leader remaining market leader even when the new entrants are better just because they continue to attract software/apps. App development costs are easier to justify for a platform witn a larger install base = virtuous circle.

  • Roku OS 10.5 is now out.

    "Roku OS 10.5 introduces new features putting Live TV front and center on Roku streaming players, tips to help you get the most out of Roku Voice, new speaker configurations for Roku audio products, more voice control options, and updates to Roku mobile app features."

    https://www.roku.com/blog/en-gb/roku-os-10-5

    I've had a quick scan read, and the Live Channel thing sounds interesting, aa does the podcast and music search thing that has Spotify as a launch partner.

    I've updated my old Roku already, so it'll interesting to see if all new features are available, past updates have only had limited changes on older devices e.g. casting from Apple didn't work, just on newer models.

  • Roku OS 10.5 is now out.

    "Roku OS 10.5 introduces new features putting Live TV front and center on Roku streaming players, tips to help you get the most out of Roku Voice, new speaker configurations for Roku audio products, more voice control options, and updates to Roku mobile app features."

    https://www.roku.com/blog/en-gb/roku-os-10-5

    I've had a quick scan read, and the Live Channel thing sounds interesting, aa does the podcast and music search thing that has Spotify as a launch partner.

    I've updated my old Roku already, so it'll interesting to see if all new features are available, past updates have only had limited changes on older devices e.g. casting from Apple didn't work, just on newer models.

    Nice one, thank you cheeky.

  • Nice one, thank you cheeky.

    My pleasure.

    Just put on my new(ish) Roku an it turns out it updated 9 days ago. Oddly that blog post is dated in September, but all the articles complaining it broke something seem to have come in the last few days. I wonder if they wrote it a while back but only made the post "live" when the update launched. Or the more obvious reason, that they've been rolling it out for a while now and it's only some older models that have a problem with it.

    Just found this as I was composing this.

    [OS 10.5] Some older Roku TVs and Roku Ultra players are experiencing playback issues after update
    Update 11/22/21 5:35PM PST We are continuing to investigate reported performance and stability issues, although we can confirm that this is only affecting a…
    community.roku.com

    -----

    I looked into the Live Channels a bit more and it doesn't seem available to me. Reading between lines, I get the impression it's only available in US at the moment.

    Ah. It looks like Live TV Channel Guide has been available inside the Roku Channel app since June 2020 in US. See here https://www.roku.com/blog/live-tv-channel-guide

    So this probably means they've expanded the functionality in Roku OS 10.5 so that you can see the channels outside of the Roku Channel app on the Home screen that you first see when you start-up your Roku. That certainly sounds worthwhile, I hope this becomes available in other countries.

  • BBC iPlayer is now on PlayStation 5.

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  • Discovery+ is now on Roku in UK. It has successfully installed on my oldest Roku, so it's not got the narrow device support of some apps.

    First impressions, it boots straight in and allows you to browse without hitting you with a Sign Up splash screen. Appreciate that.

    The layout is very similar to old-style iPlayer crossed with the new-style iPlayer TV App. It seems fast enough to navigate on old hardware.

    I can't tell if you can view Live streaming versions of the channels. I haven't however registered yet for an account, it may show this once logged in.

    If you hit Sign Up it takes you to screen with 2 tabs (Entertainment, Entertainment & Sport) and tiles to select between Monthly and Annual subscription.

    Of interest to those not wanting to subscribe though is the following.

    At the bottom of the subscription options screen it says "Register to watch free content" with a grey Register button below it.

    Roku adds Discovery Plus - RXTV info
    Users of Roku streaming devices in the UK and Ireland will now be able to access the sports & factual entertainment app from the channel store.
    rxtvinfo.com
  • Two updates happened for the Freesat 4K box range in December.

    1st : Added search integration for Amazon Prime Video app

    https://www.freesat.co.uk/help/4k-tv-box…s/december-2021

    2nd: Minor update for unspecified known issue.

    https://www.freesat.co.uk/help/article/4412467339282

    The 1st of the two Freesat updates in my quoted post here, if I'm understanding it correctly, is for Search Integration being added. I'm not sure how much is the Prime Video app being updated, and how much is the Freesat box software, it may be a bit of both.

    Some Streaming Services apps are removing Search Integration, so this is interesting.

  • The BBC is continually updating their page about which devices currently support 1080p for BBC iPlayer.

    Mostly 2018 onward devices it seems so far. Predominantly 2019.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/q…es/1080-streams

    720p if you don't see it here then.

    Probably doesn't include PCs, just TVs and games consoles. I'd assume PCs use best possible and are software dependent and won't ever be featured on this page.

    Was looking through the 1080p iPlayer support list again just now and I've noticed a few more prominent ones, they are probably new since I last posted as I'm sure I would've noticed at least one of them.

    Both Sky Q and Virgin are now listed. The former for 2016 models and latter for 2018 models. From this and what I already know I think this probably means the oldest, if not all, Sky Q satellite boxes and the V6 model of Virgin cable boxes. I don't recognise the model numbers given for the Virgin boxes, I'm going by year given.

    I think I've noticed a difference on my V6 recently, so I'm not surprised by this being added to the listing.

  • Was looking through the 1080p iPlayer support list again just now and I've noticed a few more prominent ones, they are probably new since I last posted as I'm sure I would've noticed at least one of them.

    Both Sky Q and Virgin are now listed. The former for 2016 models and latter for 2018 models. From this and what I already know I think this probably means the oldest, if not all, Sky Q satellite boxes and the V6 model of Virgin cable boxes. I don't recognise the model numbers given for the Virgin boxes, I'm going by year given.

    I think I've noticed a difference on my V6 recently, so I'm not surprised by this being added to the listing.

    Spiderplant on Cable Forum has said the model numbers are for Virgin's (Humax-manufactured) TV360 and Mini boxes, the model with the R being the recordable main box. So I was wrong. ;( :S

    So it's not V6 that has the 1080p iPlayer support, unless it's not been listed on the BBC webpage yet.

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