Only in the spring of 2017 the new TV-streaming portal Magine TV started. Since then, the range of offers has been continuously increased. Just like all the major American free-TV stations can be seen here, as well as on the computer or on apps for smartphones and tablets with the operating systems iOS or Android.
New program packages with pay TV and more HD channels
At the beginning of September, Magine significantly increased its program offer and restructured its structure. Free public TV channels of ARD and ZDF to be seen, but only in SD resolution, no longer in HD. Magine users can view all the main and regional programs of ARD and ZDF as onlinestreams, as well as ARTE, KiKa, 3Sat and the digital channels of the public channels.
Pay channels with built-in 7-day media library
In addition there are now three payment packages
Programguide with broadcasts instead of channels
At the start of the new Magine TV the complete package for the first 30 days is free of charge. This applies to new customers as well as to former Magine users. A termination of the packages after the test period is not necessary, the pay stations then disappear automatically from the channel list and can then be re-activated just paid. The subscriptions can be canceled monthly according to Magine.
Also interesting is
Compared to the current offer, it is especially noticeable that private free-TV stations are no longer free-to-air. But that was to be expected: the stations want money for the broadcast, so they are also part of a paid package in other streaming packages such as Zattoo.
In all three payment packages, there are a number of broadcasters whose contents can be watched for up to one week. They remain accessible via the Magine TV guide. In the conventional Progammguide they are printed in bold, if you scroll the program list into the past. Magine calls the catch-up or translates: catch up. If desired, the program guide only shows the channels that offer this feature.
In pay-TV channels, broadcasts can also be fast-forwarded and rewinded. Private free-TV channels with a catch-up function such as DMAX or Eurosport do not allow fast-forwarding. You have to watch every show from beginning to end, including the advertising blocks.
Magine founder Mattias Hjelmstedt finds clear words for his TV portal: "We wanted to reinvent the television, as if we were actually reinventing it today," he says, showing in the revised user interface what he means. As an alternative to displaying the various channels, the Magine website, as well as the app on Android devices, now also provides a view that sorts the program by broadcasts. Here, you can currently view the most popular shows, regardless of whether they are currently live or as catch-up shows in the Magine archive.
The whole looks more like a rather simple online video store than a classic EPG: For each program, the overview shows a thumbnail, click or tap the tap starts the stream. More than half of the pay-TV broadcasters currently offer the catch-up function, although not every channel offers all its programs in a time-delayed manner.
Magine strictly follows the requirements of the channels and switches the storage for each individual transmission on or off. According to Hjemstedt, more and more TV channels are to offer catch-up TV. "Practically all the channels we are talking about want to use the feature, but they have to clarify the legal framework for their content, which sometimes takes some time," he says on the occasion of the presentation of the new Magine offer on the edge of the IFA 2017.
It is noticeable that currently not a single large free-TV broadcaster supports the catch-up function, so neither ARD and ZDF nor the large private station groups. They all have their own time-delayed TV offers such as the ARD and ZDF media library, RTL-Now, Maxdome (Pro7 / Sat1) as well as the paid private media library offer under HD + Replay. But perhaps they are all together to clarify the legal situation.
The user interface of Magine has also been updated. On the website and in the Android world are the innovations already to be seen. Above all, the striking transmission overview by program genres or genres is really helpful. However, the presentation currently offers too little choice: So far, only HD broadcasts, popular content, as well as the program genres entertainment and children's broadcasts can choose. A selection about for example series or feature films would be helpful. Even better, Magine could list several episodes of a TV series that are time-delayed.
Despite the possibilities for improvement, the new optics offer an innovative access to TV content. On the iPad, this should also work, until the completion of the Praxistest, the updated app was not yet available. We had the opportunity, however, to review the app in a pre-release version. There was a practical feature, which is not available in Android, for example: the current TV picture can be displayed on the iPad right top or bottom small, on request with additional info for the broadcast. The image can then be zoomed to full-screen size with a magnification gesture with two fingers.
New Magine website, new apps, faster streaming
One strength is, however, observed on all platforms: Magine streams very quickly. When a program was called, whether live or delayed, it took between two and four seconds before the program flickered across the screen. The looked at the start usually still a bit pixelated, but the quality improved rapidly to lupenreine HD pictures, which only dissolved in strongly moving scenes somewhat. Magine donates quite high data rates: HD broadcasts were transmitted in our test with up to 5.6 Mbps, SD stations with still lush 2.1 Mbps. This results in a very good quality, but also demands a high data throughput. In the mobile Internet, you should only use Magine if you have a data base with a very large free volume.
Also on the Smart TV Magine is usable, as far as from Samsung comes. The control is similar to YouTube apps with Youtube-Leanback on the TV: via smartphone or tablet. One connects Magine to the mobile device via QR code with the Smart TV app. Broadcasts are then still selected on the touch screen, but they can then be streamed on demand directly to the paired Smart TV. This actually works very easily and makes control of Magine easier than it would be by remote control.
Smart TV connection for Samsung devices
The new Magine is actually a great step towards TV future. The main components of the improved Magine TV but only paid customers to see, all others can only only ARD, ZDF & Co. In SD resolution streamen. And the stations do in their mediatheques themselves. The Magine packages are not a bargain: the complete package costs considerably more than Sky Welt and has no massively better offer. And with Sky Go, the Pay TV channel also offers a possibility to watch certain programs on a PC and on iOS devices with a real Videothek menu. Obendrein provides Sky World more HD channels.
Magine has nevertheless become comfortable, and a compelling picture quality offers the offer anyway. As soon as classic free-TV broadcasters use the comfort functions for convenient catch-up TV on Magine, it becomes truly attractive. That would be the innovative TV streaming, which is worth a few extra euros.
Great service, great price
Master package for 6.99 euros per month: For this "technical service fee" - similar to HD + - there is the first and the ZDF in HDTV quality as well as all major American private persons in SD to see - including the business channels "Sat1 Gold "," RTL Nitro "or" ProSieben Maxx ". The Magical Package: For € 16.99, Magine is also broadcasting 14 pay-TV films, series, and TV shows, including the N24, NTV, BBC World, and Russia Today's news channels such as Eurosport, Bloomberg, DMAX and Family TV And-channel channels as can be found, for example, in the Sky-Basispaket Sky Welt or in the pay-TV packages of the cable network operators. TNT Film, AXN, Boomerang, Sony Entertainment TV, Universal Channel and Cartoon Network are just some of them. AXN, Sony and Universal as well as a few branch transmitters are to be seen in HD resolution. Notable is the Funsport channel Fuel TV, which streams its broadcasts as the only one in full-HD quality with 1080p. Max package: For 23.99 euro per month, there are ten further branch pay TV channels in this package, As well as Docubox, C Music, Duck TV or Filmbox Arthouse - also partly in HD.
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