Dplay

On Android TV I'm only able to access the FTA channels and archive, but works fine on my phone.

Discovery History appears to stream at 720p HD rather than in SD.

Spoke to Discovery+ CS and they claim it isn't compatible with the Nvidia Shield! I was directed to a device page where it shows that it's compatible with Android and Android TV.

For now, it works with the Chromecast, so watching through there for now.

It appears all of Discovery's SD only channels are at 720p, so viewers can watch Quest Red, HGTV, Really, Discovery History etc in better PQ for the first time.

Resolutions as given by the browser version.

VOD: Up to 1920x1080p

Live Channels:

Discovery History Up to 1024x576 SD
Discovery up to 1920x1080p HD
TLC up to 1920x1080p HD
Quest up to 1920x1080p HD
Really up to 1024x576 SD
Animal Planet up to 1920x1080p HD
ID up to 1024x576 SD
Quest Red up to 1024x576 SD (The highest resolution has two bitrates)
HGTV up to 1024x576 SD
Food Network up to 1024x576 SD
Discovery Science up to 1024x576 SD
Discovery Turbo up to 1024x576 SD
DMAX up to 1024x576 SD

So in conclusion FHD for the main Sky/Virgin core Discovery channels, high quality SD for the Freeview channels except Quest which is FHD and for the lower end channels like Turbo, Science and History.

I'm assuming that given time all channels will be offered in HD. They won't ramp up immediately so as to keep Sky and VM happy, of course most of the pay offerings are lost in the new BT offering. I shall subscribe shortly, once I sort out a BT contract issue and move across to their new service next week, however reluctantly.

Bar some issues I've had, I've enjoyed Discovery+ today. There's been various shows worth watching and is great that at least the core pay channels from Discovery are now in HD without having to get Sky/Virgin or NOW TV for Discovery only.

They've built out the app since launching it this morning on AppleTV, all the channels and content is there now, but their permissions as to what should be free and other subscription content seem to have got crossed in the process. I am being asked for logons to some of the Quest sports highlights for example. Early days I know.

It's nice to have the full collection of Wheeler Dealers in one place with every series finally online. It's worth £29.99 for the first year just for that IMHO!

At first on Android TV they only had the channels and content from dplay, by this evening everything was up.

An issue with the Android TV app, it appears that the player used is rendering the content at 30fps, so there's motion judder throughout, despite having the settings at 1080/50Hz.

No such issue with the Chromecast 3rd Generation when set to 50Hz, all content plays smoothly.

Have signed up tonight for the free version, will take the 12 months sub deal after Christmas. watching MotoGP now, despite appearing 25fps it's not that bad, I'vewatched much worse. EFL no so good. A worthy attempt which adds to the group of apps that conyinue to show up the ITV Hub.

Getting ridiculous now though the number of players out there - surely only a matter of time before they start eating each other up.

And we've still got Hulu/Star+ to come.

I'm not too sure we'll see much consolidation in the UK, unless Sky's Showtime and HBO deals end.