Jiří Filip In today's review, we will look at a service that has been gaining more and more popularity recently. We are specifically talking about Internet TV Sledování TV, which is starting to replace classic cable or antenna TV in many people's homes, as it is very easy to operate and is not limited by DVB-T2 or similar madness that changes every few years. So how does this television affect an ordinary mortal who uses Apple products in his life, led by the Apple TV?
Getting to know the service
Before I start evaluating the service as such, it is necessary to at least quickly familiarize you with it. Watching TV is internet television or, if you prefer, IPTV, for the reception of which no TV antenna or satellite is needed, but the Internet. To use it, just register on the website sledovanitv.cz, choose the appropriate package and therefore other additional mini-packages and you're done. You simply log in to the service using your credentials and start consuming the content you have subscribed to in full.
You have a total of three main packages to choose from, and you must choose one of them to activate the service. The packages differ in both price and content, where the basic one for 199 crowns offers "only" 82 TV channels and no movies, while the most expensive one for 799 crowns gives you 159 channels and 91 movies. Zlatá medně cesta then costs 399 crowns and offers 123 channels and 91 movies. All three main packages offer playback up to 168 hours back or the option to record shows. They can be supplemented with many others focused on diverse content. You can read their complete offer right here.
First run
Starting the service for the first time on Apple TV is very simple. After downloading the Watch TV application from the App Store and launching it, the TV interface will offer you the option to log in using your login email and password, which you just need to fill in and you're done. The second option is to log in via a numerical code generated on the service's website in the interface for managing the devices on which the service is running. I also went this way, because it seems to me the most user-friendly and the fastest. After all, "clicking" a few numbers on the Apple TV remote control is still easier than trying to find a long email address.
Once the login is done, the interface of the entire service will appear on the screen in all its glory. It is tuned to dark colors, which makes it very pleasant to look at in the evening in the dark, which I can confirm from my own experience. If I were to evaluate the graphical processing of the application as such, I would rate it as excellent. Personally, I really like it when developers try to stick to Apple's design language when creating their software for products from Apple's workshop, which they did really well here. I'd almost venture to say that if I put an Apple TV in front of an uninitiated person with the Watch TV app running, they'd think it was native. Design evaluation is, of course, always a very subjective matter, so it doesn't make much sense to continue with it. Therefore, let's go straight to the controllability of the entire application.
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The main role is clarity
The application is divided into a total of four large sections TV, Film Library, Recordings and Program, which are complemented by three more subsections - namely Home, Search and Settings. All these sections are included in the bar at the top edge of the screen, on the left side of which you can also see an icon for quickly deactivating the entire orientation interface and thus de facto returning to the program you are watching.
In the TV section, you will find all your pre-paid TV programs, which are displayed in a clear grid, similar to, for example, on an iPhone. Below each program, what is currently running on it is indicated, thanks to which you can choose your preferred programs almost instantly. It's also great that starting a program, i.e. switching to another one, is absolutely lightning fast, just like with classic televisions. However, you can enjoy the above-mentioned reverse playback, which is partially available through these channels as well. After starting them, by swiping your finger on the controller downwards in the upper part of the screen, you will see both information about the program in question, as well as the option to start it from the beginning (or from any other part of the program - just rewind it to the classic bottom bar), or record . It is also possible to stream it via AirPlay – that is, of course, if you have somewhere.
You can return to the main orientation interface using the Menu button on the Apple TV controller, which can of course also be used to pause or increase and decrease programs. It's great that as soon as you return to the orientation interface from the program you've been watching, it will still be running "in the background" and you can continue to watch it - although, of course, via the icons. However, if you just want to take a look at what they put on and where, and at the same time you don't want to lose the content you are currently watching, this version of watching it is also quite nice. Another option for switching programs is swiping from left to right while watching a program on the controller. In this case, a list of programs will appear on the left side of the screen with descriptions of the programs running on them. Here, however, it is necessary to take into account that due to the limited space that the developers resorted to in order to preserve the largest possible "viewing space" for the program, this channel switching is not as convenient as the first option. However, it can still be used without any problems.
The Library and Recordings sections are largely influenced by the type of package you subscribe to the service. If it's basic and you don't buy any of the additional packages offered, you can enjoy the content from the Filmoteka. However, I think that both the main and additional packages are so interestingly put together from the point of view of the films that you simply cannot resist and just pre-pay for one and "eat". The selection of films is really wide, and what's more - it also includes real blockbusters that have blown up cinemas.
As for the Recordings section, it stores all your recordings of programs recorded from TV, and of course, in a nice and clear way. Therefore, if you want to enjoy a program more than 168 hours after it has been broadcast (this is how long programs can be "rewinded" thanks to reverse playback), Recordings are the easiest way to do it. However, again, keep in mind that storage space for uploads varies depending on the package you subscribe to. If you use the base, only 25 hours of recordings can be saved this way. With the medium package, you get 50 hours of recordings, and with the premium package, you get a great 120 hours of recordings, which is quite a lot. Of course, only things from TV can be recorded. Movies from prepaid movie packages cannot be saved this way.
The last section that deserves a deeper analysis is the Program. It probably won't surprise you that in this section you will find the complete broadcast program of all the TV stations you subscribe to for several weeks ahead. Thanks to this, you can not only get a perfect overview of what is coming up on TV, but you can also pre-set the recording of your chosen programs well in advance. This is possible through the Program. To do this, simply click on the selected program on the Apple TV remote control and select the Upload option. Once you do this, the recording is set to that show and will be recorded in the Recordings as soon as it airs.
As for the Home subsection, which I wrote about in the previous lines, it is de facto a profiled offer of content exactly for you. Although it also displays TV channels, the most useful element of this section, in my opinion, is the Don't Miss section and others like it, which bring together the most interesting or, if you want, the best movies running on your subscribed channels. Thanks to this, you can be sure that you won't miss anything good. It goes without saying that they can be uploaded and saved "for worse times".
At the very end of my observations from testing, I would like to point out two things that are not 100% related to Apple TV, but are still pleasing. The first is the ability to quickly return to the player, which you can do after double-pressing the round Menu button on the controller (both from the Apple TV and, of course, on the phone and the like). Thanks to this, you don't have to go back to it via the top menu bar, which is simply great. The second is the Continue Playback function, which – as its name already suggests – allows you to start the programs you've been watching exactly where you left off. There would probably be nothing so surprising about this, if this function did not work cross-platform - that is, on all devices that you will have logged into your Watch TV account. So, if you expect to consume from time to time, for example, on the iPad and then move to the TV, know that where you left off on the iPad, you can very easily pick up on the Apple TV, which I find very useful. Lengthy rewinding of programs and remembering where we actually left off while watching yesterday is absolutely no fun for anyone.
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Quality
Movies and TV broadcasts run in the highest possible quality, which is the case with the TV broadcasts of domestic TV stations in HD. This may seem at first glance to have already survived, but know that this is not the case. I personally tested the service on a 4K TV with a diagonal of 139 cm, and the HD quality of the content of the TV stations did not offend me at all. However, the higher resolution of movies is of course a different story and you will really enjoy it.
In addition to the image, I was also pleased with the low data load of the Internet network to which I had an Apple TV using the application connected. Although I always had the broadcast quality set to unlimited (and thus de facto allowed the application to "eat" data as it wanted), I absolutely did not feel it on the speed of the Internet connection. And be careful, the entire test took place in a small town, where I catch the Internet over the air with speeds of about 30 Mb/5 Mb. It is therefore clear that any greater load on such a "fast" network simply hurts. However, when turning on the TV, its speed decreased by an order of magnitude lower units of Mb/s (around 3 Mb/s), which is definitely great. At the same time, I repeat again that the television "went" to the maximum resolution that the programs allowed. So if your internet is even worse, I think you won't get into trouble anyway with a lower quality setting.
Summary
After a few days of testing the Watch TV app on Apple TV, I didn't come across a single thing that bothered me or didn't make sense in any way. Therefore, I can recommend this service to you with a calm heart. It works perfectly, looks beautiful and is also reasonably priced. So, if you are looking for a service that provides you with TV broadcasts practically anywhere or if you just don't want to have more unnecessary cables running around your house, Watching TV is a great choice.
I agree with the author and I am also very satisfied. The provider is constantly coming up with something new and for about 6 months there was not a single outage!
I have nothing against the service, but why is it not stated that it is a paid advertisement?
But on iPad or iPhone it's a disaster :(
It is not true that it works without problems. It is very buggy. For example, it often does not update the program. Sometimes the program doesn't start automatically after starting (I have to press play) and what annoys me the most is that when I open the program and want to go down, the wheel starts spinning and it throws me back about 1 day. Surely something else would be found.
It is so. There are a few bugs there, I reported a few of them (mainly error display of EPG, problems with scrolling videos, etc.) - but again it is true that the developers are still working on it and gradually improving it. And specifically mentioned EPG errors are known and supposedly according to their statement it should be reworked and significantly improved in the next version.
That's right, get angry and fall. In the end, we settled on a cookie, it works reliably and is even cheaper.
I think this article should be marked as an (at best, paid) advertisement!
I've been using the service for about a year, together with Kuki (as soon as they made an app for Apple TV) and I think that neither of them can be said to be a great choice.
She wrote the Cleverlance app for Kuki, which probably says it all... well, Watch TV, as in principle, it's not a bad app. For example, the interface is not as terrible as in Kuki, but it still has so many flies (that is, more butchers)... For example, movement in the EPG, in a word, hell. E.g. you try to see what they gave yesterday. Of course, there is no option to select a date, so you use the arrow and the application starts loading frantically out of nowhere and jumps (mostly) into the past and before it recovers, it scrolls back for example 4 days. For some channels, it's even enough to just hover over it. So jump out of the EPG, go back (this resets the display to the current time) and try again. But it's usually faster to find it on your computer and watch it there, or have the program recorded there. Or if it's a series, for example, play it via Kuki ;)
The vaunted continue playback feature (I don't know if it's somehow affected by the package or provider, which is also a chapter in itself) is definitely not available for all shows, and if you have Watch TV directly from them (which is probably the worst option) it almost doesn't work at nothing. Or else, it definitely doesn't work for recordings.
Speaking of recordings, for example such "little things" as the recording on the Apple TV cannot be played here and there, and the application crashes when trying to play it, even if the recording works normally on the computer. Sometimes you just need to play the first few minutes on the PC and then it will "catch" on the Apple TV as well. Or if you want to delete the recording you are currently watching, it will ask "100 times" if you really want to quit and that the current program will be terminated, which it will never do even if it usually deletes the recording. And it asks even if you play something else, so again it's faster to do it on the computer.
And it could go on like this for quite some time. So yes, (and unfortunately) this application is one of the best in the offer of Czech IPTV for Apple TV, but it is really far, far away from being a great choice!
Oh and it doesn't support HOMEPOD either! Which is a big minus.
It's a gnawing fruit you'd like.A matter for posers.