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  • How to turn Sky's £10 Now TV box into a networked media player with Plex

    by 
    Jamie Rigg
    Jamie Rigg
    04.08.2014

    Update 16/3/17: Sky has begun rolling out an update to all Now TV boxes that disables developer mode and purges any sideloaded apps. At just £10, Sky's Now TV box is pretty good value for money as is. The idea, of course, is that cash continues to flow in Sky's direction by means of the film, TV and sport subscription packages, but there's nothing to stop you from forking out the hardware fee and using it simply as a window to BBC iPlayer, 4OD and other free services. Understandably, the selection of channels is limited -- Sky would prefer you use the box for its paid content -- but with only a few minutes of tinkering, you can easily turn your Now TV into a robust network media player capable of pulling video and audio from your personal network and several internet sources. You see, Sky's hardware is basically a re-branded Roku LT player with a heavily curated app store, but as long as you have the correct file, you can push apps to a Now TV box that otherwise shouldn't be there. Being able to run software like Plex immediately makes the cheap set-top box an even more compelling proposition, and better yet, side-loading apps couldn't be much easier.