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The new NOW TV box retains the charm and simplicity of the original, while offering some genuinely useful upgrades to the hardware.
And the NOW TV service itself is still an impressive foil to the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video. The option for live viewing is one of the biggest feathers in its cap – although on the movie side I guess that's debatable.
Its simplicity, price and lack of contract are the other features which make NOW TV such an impressive product.
The base price is almost throwaway money, and even if you let your passes lapse for a few months over the summer you can always pick up a pass or two to while away those long, dark winter nights.
And it's smart. Not necessarily in terms of the technology, but in terms of Sky seeing a way to supplement its Sky TV customer base in the face of a contract-less, on-demand revolution.
We liked
NOW TV comes at a bargain price. The initial bundles are good value, and the one-month passes are a decent price once the first purchases run dry – apart, perhaps, from the sports programming that's so lucrative for Sky.
It's also super-simple to use. The setup and navigation are easy and enable you to get going with the minimum of fuss. I also love the fact that NOW TV gives you access to live channels, and not just on-demand content.
In terms of picture quality and stream I had no issues. Granted, I do have the luxury of a speedy city connection, but there were no dropouts.
We disliked
Those sports passes are still seriously expensive, especially compared with even the movie pass – the day pass, at £6.99, is particularly brutal.
You'll also find box sets coming and going with relative regularity from the service.
I also struggled a little with the remote – sometimes it required a few jabs to get it to respond to what I was hitting.
Verdict
NOW TV is still a superb service. It will give you hassle-free access to whatever Sky content you want whenever you want it, for a great price – mostly.
Sky is understandably holding back its HD content for its contract customers, or for direct purchases from the Sky Store, but given the general low price of the box and service that's not a huge issue.
If it only supported the Netflix and Amazon Video apps then we'd be hopelessly in love with it; however, we can understand why they're not available.
Given the £15 base price, and the fact you can pick up month-long free trials easily as a new user, there's almost no reason not to give NOW TV a go.
