how do you use ITV Hub without youview

[TonyKD49X8309C]

I can use demand 5 and bbc iplayer but cannot use ITV hub or demand 4 as it wants to install youview - i don't like youview and if i install it i cannot use the record to usb function. Does anyone know how to use itv hub without the rubbish youview????

[Ianbroughton]

I agree this is not good. 

Sony needs make it easy to switch youview on and off or simply allow users to download the itv and ch4 apps, like I can on my Sony phone or tablet without youview. 

[benhester]

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@royabrown wrote:

@TonyKD49X8309C and @benhester

Try opening the present 🎁 I left for @suzie75 above. I’m sure she won’t mind 

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Many thanks to royabrown for the present. That helped hugely and I have stopped hating my Sony TV.

Does the package work still when the software updates to Android version 9?

I'd hate it to revert to it's old self so I've disabled auto updates for now.

B.

[Tracey23]

We have a Sony KD-49X8005C we are unable to get Itv hub when we click on the Itv hub icon it comes up with youview: it then say's "youview brings together the best live & catch up TV with no need for a set box 

. Simply scroll back through the guide &chose from great selection of programs.

See (help guide for more info. Select (next) to enable YouView.

When we select next it comes up with terms of use ect

we select accept & enable 

Then it comes up with post code optional we select next

Box comes up saying "to fully enjoy youview select (ok) in the next (digital auto tuning) screen. 

Select ok comes up do you want to start auto tuning

Select ok

Comes up saying "choose your TV connection: antenna or cable 

we are not sure which one we should selected so we have tried both 

After the scan it come up number of service's found 0

But still unable to watch Itv hub

[royabrown2]

@Tracey23 

YouView expects you to be using a terrestrial TV aerial, and with this you choose Antenna.

It sounds like you aren’t - perhaps your main programmes source is Sky?

If you don’t connect a terrestrial aerial and tune in the terrestrial channels, the itv Hub won’t work, as it relies on the tuned signal to show what region you are in, so it can show you targeted ads.

You don’t need to keep the terrestrial aerial connected; just while you tune. And of course you will need it again if you have to retune for any reason.

If you have a terrestrial aerial, roof or loft, connect it and tune now. If you don’t, maybe you have a room (portable) aerial you could use?

Or the alternative might be to get a NowTV stick, and plug it in to one of your HDMI ports - £15, and though you have to create an account, you don’t actually have to subscribe.

This will give you all the Players you need, without the hassle of setting up a terrestrial aerial, now and in the future.

[steheap]

Hi, Youview is painfully slow, to the extent I feel I never want a Sony TV again - always had Sony - It is so much better without Youview but I cannot use ITV Hub with renabling. Other Smart TV do this fine without awful Youview

[therealvinceunlimited]

I was interested in this older posting as I recently asked the same question. The accepted resolution post seemed to recommend disabling YouView but this doesn't fully answer the question on how to watch ITVHub. Later posts suggest getting GitHub, often via a click link in the post, often presented as a 'gift'.  However I personally solved this recently on my Sony Bravia 55” KD-55AF8 which has a built in Chromecast facility.  I have an Apple iPhone and have struggled to cast anything to the Android biased TV software but when I deleted YouView, returning the TV to it's natural Freeview baseline, the ITVHub iOS App cast seamlessly from my mobile to the TV, automatically connecting as soon as the casting icon was selected.  No issues of incompatibility between iOS and Android.  Additionally, the horrendous, childlike, un-Sony like, YouView interface is gone and I no longer have the constant struggle to set up my postcode location on the TV ITVHub App which I had to do by clearing weird caches from deep within the TV system. Vince

[royabrown2]

@steheap 

So you are blaming YouView for providing what Sony themselves don’t provide?

That’s a bit rich.....

[therealvinceunlimited]

Roy, I’m not ‘blaming’ YouView. I am criticising its interface and also the clunky interaction of the ITVHub App with the rest of the Sony Android system. I think that the whole Android system is poor and falls far short of the quality I expect from Sony and therefore must ultimately blame Sony for using this. I responded to the post because the solution I found may be of use to others who have also found issues using the inbuilt YouView and ITVHub Apps.  On reading the posts I didn’t see a simple reference to using a mobile phone casting solution which works for me. Vince

[royabrown2]

Hi @therealvinceunlimited 

I wasn’t accusing you there, more the poster who came before you.

Personally, I just can’t get on with casting, but I know a lot of people can, so that alternative to the Hoshsadiq repository is welcome.

I had high hopes for Sony TVs with the Android OS and YouView, but we are now 4 years on, they still can’t get Android right, YouView has stalled as but a pale shadow of itself as seen on YouView boxes, the satellite isn’t Freesat, and people on here more knowledgeable than me aver that a lot of the hardware and software on these TVs isn’t up to snuff.

So the Sonys may have the most gorgeous screens to be seen in John Lewis, but I remind myself that their beauty is only screen deep, and go back to havering between LG OLED and Samsung QLED when the 2015 Samsung we booted the 2015 Sony Android set out in favour of comes up for replacement.

But I continue to find it weird that YouView on these sets, for all its faults, gets blamed for bringing the itv Hub and All4 to these TVs, as if it were somehow YouView’s fault that Sony didn’t license them independently.

Which, YouView having signally failed to fulfil its initial promise, Sony have had three or four years to do.

[therealvinceunlimited]

Thanks for the clarifications Roy.  I agree that Sony are letting themselves down on their adoption of Android and using YouView without evolving for the better based on customer experiences and feedback.  Another issue I have with the YouView EPG is that it is forever indicating on major sections of the bandwidth that there is 'no information to display'.  What is the point of an EPG if it doesn't tell you what is on on half the channels?  I haven't experienced this problem with the baseline Freeview EPG.  I also criticise Sony for failing to provide over the air updates, as promised.  My TV came with Android 7.0, I had no updates and eventually used a USB stick to upgrade to version 8.0, despite recommendations on the Sony web site to not do this quite yet.  No 8.* updates have been issued over the air yet.  Despite all this I do like my Sony OLED TV display and sound so am not looking to switch manufacturers just yet.  Vince