Freeview Play enables you to watch live television as well as having access to catch up television services and playback from the start of a live programme.
Notes: To use Freeview Play your set needs to be connected to the internet and tuned into a reliable and consistent Freeview signal.
Freeview Play is only available in the United Kingdom.
To tune in your set, refer to the Tuning in Digital Channels section.
While using Freeview Play, the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) is available while in the Live Television mode. It provides information about forthcoming programmes. You can view the start and end time of all programmes and on all channels for the next 7 days. To enter the EPG, press the [GUIDE] button on your remote control. Press the [EXIT] button to leave programme guide.
When the EPG is entered, a screen like the one below will appear. This will show a live preview of the programme being received in the top left-hand corner and a synopsis this on the right. This synopsis will change as you navigate around the guide with the [ARROW] buttons on the remote control.
In the middle of the display is the programme listing, which is shown in time order, half hour segments being shown at the top and channel name on the left. If you would like to quickly scan through the channels, press the [CH+] or [CH-] buttons to quickly move up or down through the listings. Using the [RIGHT] button will move forward in time, using the [LEFT] button will move back in time.
When moving backwards through the EPG, the display will change to show the programmes which have been previously recorded on the on-demand players for the channel shown. Recorded and available programmes will be indicated by the Freeview Play logo appearing next to them as shown in the picture below. Greyed out programmes are not available on catch up.
When a programme has been selected, the preview window and synopsis change to show the programme details. The date is below the preview window.
Notes: For full functionality of the EPG, a reliable and consistent connection to the internet is required.
Without internet, back EPG will not work, channel preview will not appear, programme synopsis will change to a basic view, channel icons will not be present and catch up services will not be available.
While in the EPG, various functions can be accessed quickly by pressing the coloured buttons at the bottom of the remote control. These are detailed as described below.
While in the schedule list you can go backwards and forwards in time (7 days forwards and 7 days backwards) to select the programme which you would like to watch. If the Freeview Play logo is present, the programme can be played back when selected using the [ARROW] buttons and [OK] is pressed.
You can also select the day and time of the schedule list view by entering the rows at the top of the screen and selecting the day and time range.
Freeview Play recommendations can be viewed by pressing the [GREEN] button on the remote control. This screen allows you to choose the programme to watch directly or select from a number of genres. Select the programme to watch using the [ARROW] keys on the remote control and then press [OK] to start playback.
When the [YELLOW] button is pressed on the remote control while in the EPG or in recommendations, the set will allow access to the back EPG and the various Freeview Play on-demand applications. The ‘Catch Up’ menu allows you to access available programmes, from the last 7 days, that you may have missed. The ‘Catch Up’ menu will show programmes, by day, in the order that they were broadcast (descending in time order).
To navigate through this page, use the [ARROW] buttons on the remote control and then press [OK] to either play back the selected programme or go into the chosen on-demand player.
While playing back a programme, or in one of the on-demand players, pressing [BACK] or [EXIT] on the remote control will take you back to the ‘Catch Up’ menu. Pressing [BACK] or [EXIT] again takes you out of the programme guide and back to standard television.
Note: Catch Up is only available on Freeview Play. On-demand players may require you to log in.
You can use the powerful search function to look for a recorded programme by its name. Use the on-screen keyboard to enter the name, or part of the name of the programme which you would like to view and then select from the list which appears to the right of the keyboard.
When the required name is shown on the right-hand side, it can be selected to bring up the list of programmes with that title. Select one of the streams to playback using the [ARROW] buttons on the remote control and [OK] to start the playback.
If the [FREEVIEW PLAY] button is pressed on the remote control, the set will display the Freeview Mini Guide.
Programmes on now are displayed for all channels. Select one of these using the [ARROW] buttons on the remote control and [OK] to change to this channel and view the programme.
While on the selected channel, you can also press one of the coloured buttons on the remote control.
Should there be a “swirl” symbol next to the programme name, this means that you can playback the program from the start.
Press the [RED] button to enter the view programme list for the channel you are on. This will show both future and past programmes which can be selected by pressing the [LEFT] or [RIGHT] arrow buttons on the remote control and the [OK] button to view.
If the [INFO] button is pressed while on the selected programme, then an information screen is displayed.
While in the view programme list, the [RED] button can be pressed to return to the On TV Now option.
Press the [GREEN] button to view recommendations for the channel that you have selected.
If the [GREEN] button is pressed here, all recommendations for all channels will be shown.
Press the [YELLOW] button to enter the on-demand players.
Press the [BLUE] button to search for a television programme. This is the same as the search function on the main EPG page.