Neon going to offer TV only package.

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openmedia

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#2096316 25-Sep-2018 17:39

Bold:

I just read on Stuff today about the TV only package and it got me interested, so thought I'd check here for the current state of DD 5.1 and Neon, since I can't find a single mention of it on the Neon website..

Oh well, seems nothing has changed.

I'll check again next year before Game of Thrones comes out.

Is this the article

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/107344670/sky-tv-taking-pirate-sites-to-court

Doesn't provide a lot of detail, but I'd be interested if it supported Android TV and offered DD 5.1

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

Bold

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#2096339 25-Sep-2018 18:07

openmedia:

Is this the article

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/107344670/sky-tv-taking-pirate-sites-to-court
Doesn't provide a lot of detail, but I'd be interested if it supported Android TV and offered DD 5.1

Yes, that's the story I read. No, not a lot of detail, but its the first time I had heard about the lower priced TV only subscription.

There's a similar story on the Herald which hits on the point that content blocking is a waste of time..

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12131324

Bold

36 posts

Geek

#2096341 25-Sep-2018 18:09

Wash:

Introducing Dolby Digital 5.1 involves substantial change to the way the content is prepared and packaged across multiple platforms including NEON. It is being discussed internally.

Regarding mono audio, that was a problem on SD content only and only on selected big screen devices. HD content (like Game of Thrones, Westworld etc) was never affected.

Good to hear it is being acknowledged at least..

If its working before the next season of Westworld or Game of Thrones, I will subscribe :)

rugrat

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#2096412 25-Sep-2018 21:04

Sky moaning about Pirating, strange that the ones that don’t pay get better quality.

DD5.1, and the likes of Salvation which is only SD Sky 1, pirated 1080p and DD5.1.

If Neon was DD5.1 I’d subscribe in a heart beat. Picture is fine. Plus it needs to be able to do it through the likes of chrome cast, air play if they’re not going to do TV applic. Though I don’t know why there’s no Apple TV applic.

Bobdn

222 posts

Master Geek

#2096417 25-Sep-2018 21:28

The best thing on Neon at the moment is Succession. It's premium HBO content.

Better than Game of Thrones and Westworld (both of which I really like).

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/aug/02/succession-review-brilliant-dissection-mega-rich-family-jesse-armstrong

ockel

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#2096456 25-Sep-2018 22:15

Bobdn:

The best thing on Neon at the moment is Succession. It's premium HBO content.

Better than Game of Thrones and Westworld (both of which I really like).

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/aug/02/succession-review-brilliant-dissection-mega-rich-family-jesse-armstrong

Its soooo Murdoch. You'd hate to think its life imitating art but it could be.

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Bobdn

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Master Geek

#2096458 25-Sep-2018 22:35

Yes! Can't wait for season two now. Might have to watch season 1 again.

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Scott3

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#2096460 25-Sep-2018 23:08

Lol, When I read the title, I though they were offering a cheaper price if you only view on your TV (as opposed to computers, mobiles etc)

openmedia:

Anyone here tried Neon on an Android TV or FireTV device?

I tries a bit over a year ago. At that stage there was no Android TV app, so I tried to sizeload the android app. Didn't go well.

Asked support about it over a year ago:

18/07/2017 11.06 PM

I havn't had much luck running the Neon android app on an Android TV device. Is a specific android TV apk file available?

I use an android TV box (amazon fire TV) to meet my streaming needs (Runs Netflix, Kodi etc very well.)

The same app you use for other android TV platforms will be fine (i.e. Sony, Sharp, Philips TV's, and numerous streaming boxes.)

I am currently considering upgrading to the latest Fire TV, or to a Nvida shield TV to gain H.265 support. Would any particular device be more suited?

Hello Scott

Thanks for getting in touch.

I'm afraid your Android TV box is not supported on NEON TV.

Check out the range of devices, browsers and software we currently support . We’re currently working on making NEON available on as many devices as we can.

We've had lots of feedback around smart TVs and we're making it one of our top priorities and will let you guys know as soon as we have news on other TV apps. In the meantime, we have an app for Samsung Smart TV and you can AirPlay or Chromecast to your TV.

Cheers!

[redacted]

The NEON team

I ended up getting a Cromecast, and used that a few times, but I really prefer having a self contained streaming system.

I just checked their devices page, and they don't seem to have added any new platforms.

Seems a big market to pass up, as Sony & Philips TV's smart tv's run android TV. Plus numerous streaming boxes...

Wash

57 posts

Master Geek

#2096693 26-Sep-2018 11:39

Handsomedan:

My real beef with Neon is tha the iOS mobile app still doesn't scale up to fill the screen on an iPhone X.

Hate to think what all the owners of those lovely big-screened iPhone XsMax's will be feeling...it's not letterboxed - it's postage-stamped. shown in a small rectangle in the middle of the screen...unwatchable.

That's very strange. I just tried it out on an iPhone X and it fills the full height and the appropriate width based on the aspect ratio of the show. I've never had any problems on an iPhone 8 Plus either.

Handsomedan

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#2096743 26-Sep-2018 12:08

Wash:

Handsomedan:

My real beef with Neon is tha the iOS mobile app still doesn't scale up to fill the screen on an iPhone X.

Hate to think what all the owners of those lovely big-screened iPhone XsMax's will be feeling...it's not letterboxed - it's postage-stamped. shown in a small rectangle in the middle of the screen...unwatchable.

That's very strange. I just tried it out on an iPhone X and it fills the full height and the appropriate width based on the aspect ratio of the show. I've never had any problems on an iPhone 8 Plus either.

Hmm...I must admit, I never used to have issues with my 7+, but the X has always been postage-stamped...

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Wash

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#2096745 26-Sep-2018 12:11

Handsomedan:

Wash:

Handsomedan:

My real beef with Neon is tha the iOS mobile app still doesn't scale up to fill the screen on an iPhone X.

Hate to think what all the owners of those lovely big-screened iPhone XsMax's will be feeling...it's not letterboxed - it's postage-stamped. shown in a small rectangle in the middle of the screen...unwatchable.

That's very strange. I just tried it out on an iPhone X and it fills the full height and the appropriate width based on the aspect ratio of the show. I've never had any problems on an iPhone 8 Plus either.

Hmm...I must admit, I never used to have issues with my 7+, but the X has always been postage-stamped...

That's very odd. With all titles? Current app version? Have you been in touch with support?

Handsomedan

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#2096806 26-Sep-2018 13:24

Wash:

Handsomedan:

Wash:

Handsomedan:

My real beef with Neon is tha the iOS mobile app still doesn't scale up to fill the screen on an iPhone X.

Hate to think what all the owners of those lovely big-screened iPhone XsMax's will be feeling...it's not letterboxed - it's postage-stamped. shown in a small rectangle in the middle of the screen...unwatchable.

That's very strange. I just tried it out on an iPhone X and it fills the full height and the appropriate width based on the aspect ratio of the show. I've never had any problems on an iPhone 8 Plus either.

Hmm...I must admit, I never used to have issues with my 7+, but the X has always been postage-stamped...

That's very odd. With all titles? Current app version? Have you been in touch with support?

Had another quick look after reading your question and it appears that it's not all titles.

Justice League is clearly not as wide a format as IT for example as the former goes from top to bottom, but is letterboxed at the sides, where IT is still postage stamped, with no ability to "stretch" the view to fill the screen...but it's clearly a wider format, too, so that may be it. But like other providers, I'd love to be able to watch full screen or at least edge-to-edge on my X...

It's annoying.

No - haven't contacted support, as I simply don't use it often enough (I'll start getting agitated again when GoT comes back though).

What I find odd is that Sky Go allows screen fill...regardless of original aspect ratio

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Wash

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#2096816 26-Sep-2018 14:04

It looks to me like IT was filmed in 2.35:1 or 2.39:1 as opposed to the more common consumer wide screen ratio of 1.77:1 (16:9).

An iphone 8 plus has a screen aspect ratio of 16:9 while the X has a wider aspect ratio of 19.5:9.

From what I can see, the playback area is filling the full height of the screen (landscape orientation obviously and including the safe area that is supposed to be left empty to avoid interfering with the swipe up home gesture), but the actual video has letterboxes in it to compensate and make it fit a 16:9 display aspect ratio. That is why it looks like there is screen real estate above and below the visible image which in turn makes it look like it isn't using all the available width on the device.

Looking at Game of Thrones Season 7, it must be in 16:9 (makes sense for TV) so it uses the full height available and looks good to me on an iPhone 8 Plus and an X.

There might be an option in the player library to try and make it detect and remove the letterboxes or just do a dumb zoom as I've seen features like these on other platforms. TV's commonly have options to zoom to fill the screen height but you lose image to the left and right.

My best advice would be to watch movies on a big screen (TV or something like that) rather than a phone ;)

Handsomedan

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#2096842 26-Sep-2018 14:19

Wash:

My best advice would be to watch movies on a big screen (TV or something like that) rather than a phone ;)

Yeah, it's a convenience thing and the reason why I am not that bothered, as it works perfectly well on my iPad Pro and obviously casting to a TV.

I use it mainly on the bus if I haven't remembered to download something for offline viewing on my iPad.

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Bluntj

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#2096874 26-Sep-2018 14:52

rugrat: Sky moaning about Pirating, strange that the ones that don’t pay get better quality.

DD5.1, and the likes of Salvation which is only SD Sky 1, pirated 1080p and DD5.1.

If Neon was DD5.1 I’d subscribe in a heart beat. Picture is fine. Plus it needs to be able to do it through the likes of chrome cast, air play if they’re not going to do TV applic. Though I don’t know why there’s no Apple TV applic.

Sky have shown they have no idea on how to compete. For decades they just blindly increased prices year upon year and when they woke up technology had passed them by.

Now once again they want to spend hundreds of thousands on court action to force the ISP's to block content, when they should be spending it on technology to that would entice those that pirate to subscribe to their services.

I believe the ISP's will win in the end and will end up being the content providers with the likes of Netflix.

Most people are happy to pay to watch quality programming like GoT, but at a reasonable price without all the other crap programming included that they dont wish to watch and pay for.

The Netflix model is just perfect for most people and that is how Sport is going to go as well.

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