Sky’s beloved Now TV streaming service is no stranger to UK homes but it’s far from flawless. A “me-too” alternative to Sky’s rather pricey Sky Q premium TV contracts, Now TV has been playing second fiddle for years; forced to stream at 720p resolution and lacking any live TV pausing powers. The firm’s latest £15 media streamer, however, ushers in a new, exciting change for the long-running service.

Rejoice! Full HD streaming is at long last on the horizon for Now TV, although its announcement arrived with an accompanying collective sigh in the Expert Reviews offices. That’s because, unlike the other new features, (more on those later) the ability to stream in 1080p isn’t available on launch. As such, the Smart Stick isn’t much more than a mildly updated Now TV Smart Box.

Now TV Stick: What you need to know

But, let’s apply the brakes for a moment before we spiral into negativity and begin with the basics. What’s so special about this new, dirt-cheap media streamer? Well, it’s Sky’s first attempt at a Fire TV Stick-like dongle, which can be plugged directly into a spare HDMI port on the back of your TV.

Like its set-top box sibling, you can watch Sky’s long list of TV shows, movies, kids and sports programming – provided you’re paying for the appropriate package – and stream on-demand box sets and films. It’s also possible to use other streaming services, such as BBC iPlayer and All 4, and Full HD streaming is coming to the service later in the year.

Now TV Stick: Price and competition

The Now TV Stick costs a measly £15. At that price, the Stick is a good deal cheaper than its long-standing TV streamer competition. Amazon’s Fire TV Stick is yours for £40, and the Roku Express Streaming Player currently costs £29. The latter, of course, isn’t limited to using Sky’s narrow selection of apps, so you can also use it to stream Netflix and Amazon Video, too.

Now TV Stick: Setup

The Now TV Stick is remarkable value for money, then, but what do you get with your hard-earned £15?

Like the Roku, the Smart Stick plugs directly into your TV’s spare HDMI port and is powered by the supplied USB cable, which can either be attached to your TVs spare USB socket – provided the output is 1A or above – or the bundled mains adapter.

Alarmingly, there’s no supplied HDMI extension cable like with the Fire TV Stick, so you better make sure there’s plenty of clearance between the TV and your wall if you’re burdened with outward-facing HDMI ports.

That said, setup is a doddle. Simply plug in the Stick, boot it up, choose your Wi-Fi network, enter the password and log in to your Now TV account. It’s that simple; you’ll be ready to go in a matter of minutes.

Now TV Stick: New features

The Now TV Stick comes with a slightly-upgraded Wi-Fi remote, which includes a similar voice-search feature to Amazon’s recent Fire TV Stick and the Apple TV. Simply press and hold the microphone button on the face of the remote control and you’ll activate the voice-search features, which can be used to search for movies, TV shows, actors and so on.

It works exactly as you’d expect and, for the most part, it had very few problems correctly identifying my incessant orders. The service itself is a tad limited though, as you can’t navigate to individual channels by voice, so while you may (or may not) ask for “Teen Mom”, you’ll have to head to the appropriate Sky channel using the TV guide.

What’s more, you’ll also shortly be able to pause and rewind on all of Now TV’s selection of Live TV channels, a feature the service has heretofore lacked. I wasn’t able to test the feature at the time of writing, though, as it’s only going to go live when the Stick hits store shelves.

And with these new features comes the arrival of a new, cleaner interface that’s much more straightforward to use than the old set-top box. Pressing the home button on the remote control takes you to a screen with six shortcuts on the left-hand side and various bits of promoted content on the right.

The new “Best of Catch Up” section displays promoted programming from all the bundled catch-up services, not just Sky’s offerings. There’s also a TV Guide as well as a text-search option on the homescreen.

It’s all pretty standard stuff, but there’s certainly room for improvement. Clicking the TV guide for instance only displays what’s showing now and what’s on straight after; there’s no way of finding out anything beyond that. Likewise, you can’t use the search function for specific channels – searching for BBC One didn’t work at all – and search with the remote control is still fiddly.

Now TV Stick: Content and packages

There are some other features to look out for in 2018, however. From Spring you’ll be able to download Now TV shows and movies onto your smartphone or tablet for offline viewing. This is a feature that’s coming to the Kids pass first but is expected to trickle down to the other Now TV packages shortly after.

And, perhaps most importantly, all Now TV passes will be available to stream in Full HD by the end of the year. Being forced to stream only in 720p has always been one of the services’ biggest drawbacks and it’s exciting that the cheaper streaming service is no longer quite so far behind the firm’s satellite TV product.

However, it’s inexcusable that this feature isn’t available at launch. You’re currently stuck with watching your TV shows, movies and sports fixtures at a blurry, smudgy 720p resolution and it really isn’t nice to look at. I would have much preferred a bump in resolution at launch over new voice-search features or UI upgrades and I don’t think anyone else would disagree.

That said, the Stick cements the service as the cheapest, and most flexible, method of watching Sky Sports. Currently, you can choose from three flavours of Sky Sports Pass: daily, weekly or monthly at £7, £11 and £34 respectively. That’s perfect if you only want to watch the odd Premier League match and don’t want to get bogged down with a pricey Sky Q subscription.

Elsewhere, the Entertainment pass costs £8 a month, the Cinema pass can be picked up for £10 a month, and the Kids pass is £3 a month.

Now TV Stick: Verdict

Phew, that was actually quite a lot to take in, wasn’t it? However, it’s great that we’re finally at a point where we can buy a well-equipped media streamer for the price of a single movie ticket or, alternatively, a couple of pints in a London pub.

Okay, It isn’t without its foibles and still lacks the ability to stream in Full HD but the Now TV Stick is a decent, content-rich media streamer and it costs peanuts.

Source: expertreviews.co.uk