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The full-screen TV show and movie imagery that’s shown as you change channels is high-res and looks great, and the on-demand menus are straightforward enough. And other aspects of it are much nicer and show more polish.
Nope!Īs is, the current interface lets you find your way without too much confusion. For a service that you can watch anywhere (and one that lacks a DVR), I wish DirecTV Now would let you set up notification reminders for when your favorite shows are about to come on. There’s a brief summary and that’s about it. Pick an individual network and you’ll get a vertical scrolling list of the programming schedule, but selecting a show from there doesn’t really do anything useful. It’s not quite as scrappy and thrown together, but there’s plenty of room for improvement. Everything about the guide is a 1.0 product that very much looks the part, and it reminds me of what Sling TV was like at launch.
Swiping left or right changes channels one by one, but this forces you through every channel instead of your favorites, which seems pretty dumb. Some of the swiping gestures - at least on the Apple TV remote - seem a bit counterintuitive and awkward.
#What is the video player directv uses online tv watch how to#
The interface (I tested it on Apple TV) was mostly fast and fluid, but it’ll take a good 30 minutes or even an hour before you remember where everything is and how to get around. Thankfully, DirecTV Now lets you pick your favorite channels and view those in a separate list. Scrolling through the entire guide can take awhile. Okay, you’re saying, but what’s it like to actually replace your cable with DirecTV Now? I spent most of Tuesday giving it a test run, and there are a lot of channels here if you’re paying for that $35 promo. They know it’s a glaring weakness, and they’re working on it. In response, AT&T has already confirmed that DirecTV Now will add a DVR feature in 2017. Another competitor, Sling TV, will soon launch testing on its own cloud DVR. Sony’s PlayStation Vue, a rival to AT&T’s new service, offers a cloud-based DVR that can save recordings for up to 28 days. If you miss something live, you’ll have to hope that a replay is eventually available on demand. Worse yet, DirecTV Now has no DVR functionality whatsoever for recording shows. There’s some weirdness around live TV from the big networks (ABC, FOX, NBC) too only customers in cities where those networks run the local station will get live programming.
Showtime is also absent, and at least for now, DirecTV Now will not offer NFL Sunday Ticket or the Red Zone channel. Most pressing is that the service doesn’t have CBS in its lineup, meaning you can’t watch The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, 60 Minutes, and other weekly ratings hits. Even better, you can subscribe to HBO for only $5 extra each month.Įven without HBO, DirecTV Now includes many popular channels, and the cheapest subscription will get you access to shows like The Walking Dead, Empire, The Voice, Grey’s Anatomy, and others. And yes, the $35 promo gets you pretty good savings and something mostly comparable to traditional cable. AT&T claims that anyone who signs up in time will be able to stay at the $35 price point for as long as they remain an active DirecTV Now customer. That tier will eventually cost $60 for those who miss the introductory offer. I’ve been using DirecTV Now for a day, and my early impression is that there’s a lot of potential and value in it, but the first try feels a little unfinished.įour tiers of channel bundles are offered with DirecTV Now, but the deal that AT&T is pushing hardest at launch is a limited-time promotion that will let you pay $35 per month for a package of over 100 channels. No satellite dish or cable box required it’s all over the web.
#What is the video player directv uses online tv watch trial#
You can sign up starting today for a free trial on a slew of platforms including smartphones, tablets, living room streaming devices, and PCs. AT&T kicked this week off with some big news: DirecTV Now, its internet TV streaming service, is here.