Smart Digital TV Boxes

[john10001]

Does anyone know if there are any Smart Digital TV Boxes that offer "Catch UP Only" and "On Demand" TV services? Or do they all give live streaming "as it is broadcast" television?

I've been looking briefly at Now TV, Chromecast, YouView, Apple TV etc but finding out exactly what they are and what they do, and knowing the difference between them is quite confusing.

Thanks,

John

Ps. This forum doesn't work in Chrome. When I click login no box pops up.

 

[next010]

Live streaming TV isnt that common, almost all are catch up and on demand based.

NowTV (re-branded Roku) does all three with a mix of services. The live TV component comes naturally from Sky but the NowTV also omits competing on-demand services like Netflix which are present on regular Roku. Regular Roku do not feature live UK TV broadcasts.

Chromecast is just a receiver for whatever content your viewing on your android tablet or PC with Chrome, it's a way of beaming that content to play on the TV, it requires an Android tablet/phone for best use as more apps support chromecast on Android.

Youview is a catch up TV box that combines UK specific catch up services and broadcast TV into one package.

AppleTV is a front end for iTunes store, it does not do any UK services other than Netflix and a small handful of others like Eurosport or Youtube.

Amazon's FireTV is similar sort of like an AppleTV but with an app store, it mainly features the big name services and is coming to the EU as well.

If your looking for only catch up the Youview is probably the one to go for or buy a game console or Blu-ry player they have all the catch up services built in.