Fetch TV has launched two new set-top boxes

THE closest Australia has to a Foxtel competitor, Fetch TV, has launched two new set-top boxes to stake its claim. Do they measure up?

THE closest Australia has to a Foxtel pay TV competitor, Fetch TV, has launched two new set-top boxes to stake its claim in an increasingly crowded landscape.

Here, we review both the Mighty and the Mini and see how it compares to alternatives in the market and if they’re good value for your money.

MINI

By Wenlei Ma

The Mini has been configured for two purposes: As either a stand-alone hockey puck-type streaming box or as a secondary device to the Mighty in a home media network.

As a stand-alone, the Mini is a challenger to the likes of Apple TV or the Roku-powered Telstra TV. At $149, it’s much better priced than the fourth generation Apple TV ($269 for 32GB or $349 for 64GB) and still competitive against Telstra TV ($109). But unlike Apple TV or the Mighty, it has no storage capabilities and is purely a conduit for streaming if you’re using it as a stand-alone.

For streaming nuts, the biggest draw of the Mini is it has all three local streaming services, Netflix, Stan and Presto. Signing into them is a bit tiresome, requiring you to manually input your login details, unlike the PS4 and some internet-enabled TVs which requires only a four-digit activation code. But it’s great for someone without a smart TV or gaming console.

It also has all the free-to-air TV catch-up apps (Channel 9 is coming soon) though these are nestled under the TV menu rather than grouped with the streaming apps.

Fetch envisions that ideally the Mini will be used in conjunction with the Mighty as a second-room device on the same network.

But it’s what’s coming down the pipeline that’s really exciting. Fetch said that it is launching a more integrated multi-room offering in Q4 which will include the ability for the Mini to record live broadcasts by sending an instantaneous instruction to a connected Mighty. Any recordings on the Mighty can also be played on the Mini through streaming.

Fetch will also solve that age-old problem of dodgy TV reception in some rooms of the house. Soon, the Mini will piggyback off the free-to-air TV feed from the Mighty.

For the moment, unlike Apple TV and Telstra TV, the Mini supports a raft of pay TV channels through its $15-a-month entertainment package which gets you the likes of the Comedy Channel, Syfy, BBC First, Universal, MTV, TV Hits, National Geographic, Al Jazeera, ESPN, CNBC, Bloomberg, Disney and Nickelodeon.

This is the Mini, and it’s a decent unit.

Optus broadband and mobile customers will be able to add the English Premier League as well.

With live TV, the Mini lets you pause and rewind for up to 15 minutes.

The pay TV channels are streamed through the internet but if you subscribe through one of Fetch’s ISP partners, the data used by the Mini is unmetered.

The package also includes 30 select movies every month. This rotates and currently includes Anchorman, Clueless, Sound of Music and Rugrats in Paris.

You can rent and purchase new release and back catalogue TV and films, just like the through the iTunes store or various other services such as PlayStation store or Dendy Direct.

The interface is simple to use, easily toggling between live TV, streaming apps and movies. There are various shortcuts which will feel more intuitive as you get used to them.

The app is the same for the Mini as for the Mighty, allowing you to use it as a remote, as somewhere to browse movies and TV shows before selection. The app will also let you stream some of your movies and shows through your mobile device, handy if you’re in a different room and you want to watch something different to what someone else in the house has selected.

Fetch has promised new improvements to the app soon which is said to include a new look and faster speeds as well as “download to go” so you can watch something you’ve bought on your app even when your device isn’t on the same Wi-Fi network as the Mini.

Perhaps one of the biggest gripes of the Mini interface versus something like Apple TV or even the PS4, and this is very much down to personal preferences, is whatever program you had playing continues to play in the background as you browse and navigate around the platform, even within apps like Netflix.

As someone who finds broadcast TV and its ads loud and often annoying, I’d rather look for the next thing to watch without being aurally assaulted by the very thing I’ve decided to get away from.

In terms of the specs, unlike the Mighty, the Mini doesn’t support 4K and only has one free-to-air TV tuner to the Mighty’s four. It’s also a lower-scale 1GB of RAM versus the Mighty’s 3GB. Like the Mighty, the Mini supports HEVC, which essentially means you can watch HD on a slower connection. It was pretty fast on the 11 Mbps connection we tested it on — and that’s on the Wi-Fi network, not via an ethernet connection.

MIGHTY

By Matthew Dunn

The Mighty is Australia’s closest competitor to Foxtel’s IQ box.

Fetch TV has called its set-top box the Mighty for a very good reason.

Offering a combination the best pay and free-to-air television with streaming video on demand services, the Mighty builds on all of the services available through the Mini.

Despite its physical design looking eerily similar to the second-gen Fetch TV Personal Video Recorder, the $399 Mighty has added some impressive new features.

At the top of the list is the 4K capability of the Mighty, which makes it the first of Fetch’s products offering users the ability to watch Ultra HD content.

Furthermore, Global Head of Business Development at Netflix Bill Holmes has been quoted saying the Mighty was leading the way for enhancing the streaming experience.

“Netflix is investing heavily to offer a premium 4K viewing experience — nearly doubling its 4K catalogue this year — and we are excited that Fetch TV’s new “Mighty” will be among the first STB’s deployed anywhere in the world to support Netflix in 4k,” he said.

Even more impressive is the fact the Mighty supports High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), which means users will be able stream 4K content from Netflix over internet speeds close to 15.5 megabits per second, as opposed to the 25Mbps currently seen by most devices.

Support for HEVC also allows Fetch TV to offer a high-def sports stream for 3.8 Mbps, instead of the standard 5.5Mbps.

Another great feature of the box is the fact it comes standard with Wi-Fi connectivity, meaning users have greater freedom as the Mighty no longer needs physical connections needed with its predecessor.

Although, in order to stream 4K content, a strong network will be needed.

Fetch TV offers a seven day TV guide at the push of a button.

As mentioned earlier, the Mighty has apps built for three local streaming services, a $15-a-month entertainment package similar to the likes of Foxtel and the ability to rent or buy movies and television shows outright.

It is also equipped with four free-to-air tuners, although a free to air antenna/aerial connection will still be needed to view these channels.

While the Netflix generation might have never experienced such a feature, the Mighty doubles as a Personal Video Recorder for the pay TV and free-to-air channels.

With 1TB of storage — enough for around 585 hours of standard definition recording — the product comes with the ability to create a Series Tag, which will record every episode of a certain series when it airs.

The Mighty offers a high level of customisation for these season tags, with the ability to only keep the last few episodes of a certain title or to prioritise a certain show over another if the storage is becoming too full — although it’s hard to imagine this will be an issue with 1TB storage

Additionally, the four tuners mean users can record up to six different shows at the same time.

The set-top box also has the ability to pause and rewind live TV, while also offering a television guide to show what’s on over the next seven days.

Navigating between all of these components is easy thanks to a clean user interface and the minimalist remote.

VERDICT

Both the Mini and Mighty have offerings, depending on what you are looking for.

The Mini is a great device for a someone who prefers streaming and on-demand content with access to Netflix, Stan and Presto in addition to the networks’ catch-up apps. But unlike the more expensive Apple TV, it is geolocked so you won’t be able to jailbreak it for access to US Netflix or the likes of Hulu or HBO Now.

The entertainment package has some decent pay TV content, especially on the likes of the Comedy Channel and BBC First and is a cheaper alternative to a full Foxtel subscription.

Where the Mini works best is paired with a Mighty, particularly when Fetch rolls out updates to its capabilities later this year.

The Mighty is slightly more expensive and would be the perfect fit for people looking for a lighter and cheaper version of services offered by Foxtel IQ.

Combining free-to-air and pay TV channels with built in apps for streaming services, movie rentals and a television guide, the Mighty is a great stepping stone for those wanting to explore the expansive world of streaming video on demand without stepping out of their comfort zone.

However, for those who only have Foxtel for the sport will need to keep their subscription as Fetch TV only offers ESPN and EPL

For those who aren’t avid free-to-air fans or those who grow tired of the offerings of pay TV quickly, the device might be a little too much for your needs.

It feels like the target market of this product is the older generation who are not entirely sold on streaming services and need a little nudge in the right direction or families with young kids who will be won over by the likes of Nikelodeon and Disney.

*News Corp, publisher of this website, has a 50 per cent stake in Foxtel.