NOW TV

I guess if it requires an app to implement it then it isn't quite 'automatic' - just as the Amazon Fire TV isn't? (AIUI it's quite difficult to implement AFR on DRM-ed content?)

The new 4K Fire Stick has AFR on some apps including Prime Video and Plex, but not Netflix which as you say isn't automatic. I'd expect AFR to be on the new Fire TV Cube when it's finally released in the UK.

Amazon (and I believe Apple and Android TV) haven't implemented Automatic Frame Rate switching in their core video playback functionality - i.e. when you send it 23.976, 25, 50, 59.95Hz content it doesn't automatically, at an OS level, automatically switch frame rates.

Instead they've introduced app-controlled frame rate switching using an API supported in certain OS releases on certain hardware. AIUI the API the app can, optionally, tell the OS to change the video output refresh rate (if supported and enabled). This requires the app to be coded to support that API and report the correct frame rate to the OS. It appears to the end user as if it is automatic, not manual, but at the app level, it isn't automatic, and has to be coded for. AIUI the reason for this is that it's difficult (impossible?) to probe DRMed content to discover its frame rate prior to decryption, and for security reasons, de-DRMed content that could be probed isn't easy to access (for obvious security reasons)

Some Amazon apps support this app-controlled frame rate switching, most (all?) Apple TV apps seem to, and very few Android TV apps appear to... (Whilst Amazon's Fire TV OS is a fork of Android, it differs from Android TV in how it signals frame rate to the underlying OS) I believe in Fire TV OS it's known as 'Cinema mode' as it's main reason to exist is to output 23.976Hz content at 23.976Hz, not with 3:2 at 59.94Hz (as previously the case). Given that almost all US high-end OTT content on Prime Video is 23.976Hz - this makes a lot of sense...

I'd expect all new Amazon hardware to support the Cinema Mode API and all future Fire TV OS releases to support it on newer hardware.

(Newer Roku solutions do this for pretty much every source I can find - but I don't know if this is handled at App level via an API or whether the OS handles it automatically.)

AFR doesn't work with Pluto TV for some reason.

That suggests it's an App API thing then - and not automatic at the OS level?

It's a strange one as AFR is an option in the menu, rather than at app level, unlike those on Android TV.

Apple TV works the same though. You can fix the refresh rate at an OS level, or let apps control it.

On the ATV 4 it's still not automatic based on analysis of the incoming video to determine its frame rate, and instead is based on accompanying data alongside the AV asset.

Suggestion that NOW TV HD has been postponed until the BT launch sadly.

NOW TV Sports price increases (via the site) announced.

Daily £8.99
Weekly £14.99

Monthly unchanged at £33.99

NOW TV will offer a F1 season Sky Sports Pass for £195 from the 2nd March.

http://streamedtv.uk/now-tv-announces-cut-price-sky-sports-season-ticket-for-f1-fans/

There might be wisdom in the HD delay, with Sky launching its all singing and dancing IPTV offering replicating its satellite offering via the net in Austria a day or so ago.

Pausing NOW TV and launching SkyX in the UK in the summer and slowly discontinuing NOW TV would seem sensible.

Sky will not allow new customers to sign up for the NOW TV equivalent in Austria when X launches commercially soon.

😂 NOW TV isn't going anywhere in the UK. And don't expect a Sky X equivalent in the UK for a while either.

The NOW TV equivalent in Austria - Sky Ticket - is very much a German service and was only available in Austria due to proximity.