SBS On Demand 12+

Asterisk; Rex; etc

For all those making movies with subtitles - don’t forget that the viewer is not only trying to read the subtitle (in time - sometimes there’s no time in which to read it) but to take in the visual as well. The global filmmaker doesn’t seem to take that into account. If it’s an animated film, an audio translation option might be better for those who are not having trouble with hearing. That way the viewer can appreciate the colour, the designs, the images used in each scene of the movie. Either way - don’t rush the production. Allow time for the viewer to enjoy each shot, each scene, and the humour or whatever mood is being conveyed in the shoot
Thanks

Fantastic programs - when the app behaves

I use this on my ipad and no problems, other than constantly restarting when you go to some other app. But the moment i switch to the loungeroom and watch on my firestick 4D, it is next to useless.
You have to try and search for your program in favourites, because you can't find it. Then they start on the latest episode and get stuck playing in the background, after you have paused and moved over to another app. This always happens when you pause and view another app. When you switch back it starts playing the very latest season but it wont stop playing. It seems to be the ads that are causing the problem. You cant fix this by turning off your fire stick. You have to reboot it from the settings menu. I've given up watching because its very irritating and you have to make sure you have loads of spare time, so you can put up with spending 30 minutes trying to fix it before you can do anything. It used to have something like 'continue watching' but that seems to have disappeared 🤷‍♀️

And can i just say, the ads😡😡😡
When were there so many ads. It takes double the time to watch something because all the ads keep interrupting.
I loved Sbs because it was uninterrupted playing like the ABC.

Ongoing issues which haven’t been fixed?

As most of the other reviews say- using the app on my phone is usually okay except for the obscene amount of ads. I understand it’s a “free app” and so you can expect some ads, but there are sooo many on this app that it almost makes streaming from it not worth it.

The bigger issues that seem to have been reported many times but unfortunately have not been rectified are the lagging/ buffering/ glitching while playing on a tv or similar.

I’ve been trying to catch up on World Cup matches and when I start the replay firstly it starts playing an ad with the broadcast over top and it won’t stop until I turn my tv off. Then once I do get it back on and into the replay and start watching the match, it lags/ buffers like you wouldn’t believe. The players look like claymation! So I have to pause it wait for it to load up and then play for about 10 mins before doing it again. Rather than taking 2 hours to watch a match, it’s taking more than 3!!!
Very frustrating. I’ve also checked my internet and it’s perfectly fine so it’s definitely the app.

As I said, it’s sad to see this same issue reported many times over the last few years and yet nothing seems to have been done about it?
If you can find your program or movie somewhere else then I would suggest avoiding this app.

Developer Response ,

Hi there

Thanks for letting us know - so sorry to hear you've had this disappointing experience.  Could you please get in touch with our team at sbsondemandteam@sbs.com.au.   We'll look into this further for you.  Thank you!