We’re a tad late to this party but our Now TV unit arrived today and it’s as good as we’d heard. The little white box is a subsidised Roku LT and it must be the bargain of the year for just £9.99 delivered. It even includes the HDMI cable (which by itself is often more than £9.99).
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Have a look at the video below and read this guide and you’ll be up and running in just a few minutes.
If you’re a Plex house already and want to add another zone, or if you want to try it out for the first time without risking a big outlay then this is highly recommended.
nowtv.com : plex.tv : Check Out Our Plex Server Article
Last update on 2024-04-08 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The box is wifi only so beware that streaming a HD video does stutter.
The Plex UI is a bit minimal. Nowhere near that of the Samsung devices.
Budda – Played our 720p HD content fine, but as you point out high bitrate HD would be an issue. It’s the same UI as the Plex Roku client and there are another couple of versions you can try (see the Plex forums). For the price of an HDMI cable it’s a total no-brainer 🙂
Worth a punt at that price.
Thanks
At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man (TM)…
Would it have been the end of the world to put an RJ45 socket on it I wonder?
While it indeed may play content acceptably, it will consume wireless bandwidth that could’ve been used for truly *portable* devices.
10/10 for low price, small size and hackability,
5/10 for wireless-only option 🙁
All that said, I might still get one!
Tim – this is what you want then – http://autoho.me/HYewDe
The ‘3’ is out now too at £99.
Ha ha!
That’ll teach me to be grumpy and not research properly before posting!
So the low price is (partly) explained by the de-populated board, no doubt as it is supposed to be for NowTV only and not the full Roku product.
Will investigate further as it might still be a goer for a 2nd TV, etc.
Thanks Mark 🙂
Tim – no probs, I have the 2 at home in a Plex zone as well and recommend 🙂
@ Budda, whta samsung device would this be.
🙂
hello,
i am still waiting for mine to arrive, can anyone tell me if the plex app supports ssl over 32443? hoping it does so this can be used across the internet.
thanks
Are you tied to an ongoing subscription or is it just a one-off £10 if hacking with Plex?
(I might’ve found a spot for one…)
No Sub Tim.
Ok, found out my NAS can run the Plex server as an app, so truly into no-brainer territory 🙂
Box ordered, now just 5 long days to wait…
Perfect! Easy worked straight away!
Superb – thank you.
<10 minutes to hack the NowTV.
60 minutes to set up Plex
do i have to subscibe with nowtv.?
yup u have to subscribe but close browser when it gets to payment screen and that’s it
Plex have come out with an update (Ver 2.8.2
https://forums.plex.tv/index.php/topic/90788-changes-in-the-282-update-now-available/page-4.
Will this affect the sideloading?
Seems Plex will require a on-off fee of $5 for this version (plus future updates)
This is abso-****-lutely awesome! Thank you ver much for taking the time to make and publish the “how to” video.
Waiting for my box to come, is there a plex hacking available for Apple Mac thanks
Works a treat
All good here too. 🙂
@Darren The hack will work fine with the Mac as you use a web browser to do it. Just remember where you store the downloaded file and use that location for the upload to the Now TV box.
This is brilliant.
I bought one this evening in Currys for £14.95 but it came with a free sky sports day pass which I will be using. So the box cost me £4.95!
Within an hour I had it set up with plex, streaming my HTPC movies upstairs in HD. I had never even heard of plex before.
Going to buy several of these.
Is they away to install Netflix on these?
Nice hack , thanks!
Any way to install a decent browser on this?
thanks for that, it was so easy and is running great 🙂
Fantastic, just what the doctor ordered and all for £9.99 and your great guide
Got mine today, hooked it up, all good. Have tried streaming a couple of Yify torrents to it, seems smooth and lovely. well worth the tenner!
Anyone managed to get DD or DTS into an amp from this box?
buying a new tv tomorrow and getting a free now tv box wiyh it.does that mean if i do the hack on it i will get the movies and sport channels for free?
I have x3 set up with rarplex – main is hooked up to a projector – these boxes stream 1080p 3d hou and hsbs flawlessly – for the £9.99 they are just plain brilliant –
Is there a similar box with dvd drive?
I’ve had to opt for the mediabrowser 3 side load as plex doesn’t run as a service which is put politely .. disappointing for a media’server’
I also got caught out on the payment screen and have had to cough up 4.99 for the 1st month. What’s going to happen when the subscription expires? is it going to even allow me to get past the splash screen. It didn’t when I was signing up ! ( it also forced an update too before I was allowed to do anything.. so maybe Sky are on to it !)
Sometimes when I watch programmes on some of the channels a random pop up comes on saying something along the lines of ‘connect to server’. any ideas anyone?
tried to set it up today but it looks like you now have to put your payment details in or you get the onscreen notice,
your account is not set up properly
visit nowtv.com/activate which takes you to the payment screen, is there a work round?
Can’t wait to get my NOW TV box. I’m gonna F**king hack the Sh*t out of the F**ker!!!
Just visit nowtv.com/activate and activate the now tv box, you can then cancel the subscription right away.
Box hacked, but struggling to find which version of Plex Media Server to run on a Seagate Central 3tb. Any ideas?
I wanted to get this product for the house in France. Just as a warning – this product (incl. all the nowtv subscriptions eg. movie subscriptions etc) does not work when you are not in the UK. I had thought the restriction was limited to free TV players like BBC iplayer, but no, even paid for subscriptions are blocked if you try to use the device when not in the UK.
Can you do this with a now tv box and an Ipad?
after hacking the box, does it allow free sports and/or movie channel too?
hi
i work away from home a lot. I take a plex one of these with me everywhere. in the hotel, i plug the tv now box into the tele, log onto their wifi and stream from home. sometimes their wifi interweb is slow, so just i degrade the picture to dvd levels and its okay.
best tenner i ever spent (actually thats not right. a wedding licence cost less than that 25 years ago..that was the best deal i eever got)
well I got mine from sainsburys for £20 with 2 months of the movie packages – had issues with the VIRGIN SUPERHUB once I messed with the settings for that I got plex sorted in minutes – now Im taking my time getting stuff converted and plex auto updating librarys etc – im deffo going to grab another for the bedroom 🙂
******BE WARNED******
The box is good it works no problems. They don’t tell you you have to register on the Now TV website and enter you payment card details first months a trail. After which you pay £9.99. A con say at the least. Once you you connect it to your TV the fun begins.
#1 you have to go on line to type a code so it activates the box.
#2 you find that you have to get the wireless connection with your router type in exactly or you will find it will not accept the connection.
#3 now you are set and browse their is very little to choose from …Iplayer ITVplayer, 4oD, 5oD, BBC News, Sky News and a various online media YouTube, Vimeo. Please don’t get your hopes up most have adverts that interrupt every 10-15 minutes, You can get sky movies nothing special and you will have seen these on TV at some point. Price range from the classic £2-3 and the up to date ones £6-7.
#4 You can go on Facebook here again you have to get a code and tell your account online that the Now TV box is now accessing your Facebook account, this is very limited don’t think you can post because you CAN’T. Spotify you have to up grade to the premium account last time I checked that was £19.99. Same with the rest of the stuff.
#5 In all it is a waste of time all it does is make you purchase Sky features that nothing like what’s on a sky box. The box does not switch off you will have to disconnect it by unplugging it
#6 You would be better off with Freeview box at least you can record the stations and wind on the adverts and the monthly payments for top up is or was £7.99 a month no contract.
#7 If you do decide to go ahead and purchase the box. Once you have activated the account check “My Account Details” and there your “My Passes” don’t forget to cancel your “Sky Movies Month Pass” as this is automatically set up soon as you enter your card payment details and they will charge you the following month of £9.99. Even them they try to get you to change your mind by offering you the same for £7.95. Again once you cancel that they try once more.
Pros:
A good looking box that works
Cons:
It sells you an idea that fall way short of what it actually delivers, in the long run it will cost more for the little you will get from the service. No streaming of live TV. Drains the internet power from your router.
hi all
I have heard that you can get the Sky Movies and Sky Sports Free through the Plex
Is this true?
The hack is blocked … The website won’t load and there is no getting around the subscription requirement … It’s a bait and switch trap and 19.99 you’ll have to go back to PC world for a refund for if u decide not to hand them your credit card details
The Now tv box can still be hacked, it asks for payment details, but just choose a free month trial then cancel before the month is up, not exactly difficult to do.
Hi when i put the ip address into my pc it asks for a username and password. Can anyone help? The site says “rokudev”