NovaTV: Review & Guide

★★★★★

[Movies, TV Shows, Other Originals]

Launched only in 2019, NovaTV has quickly grown to be one of the top free streaming apps. It has been updated frequently, even changing its package name a few times. Where NovaTV shines the most is its vast collection of stream sources. If there is a video title for which you are unable to find reliable sources with other apps, give NovaTV a try.

Pros

• A large collection of stream sources, including many “trusted” sources.
• Can use a download manager to download a stream to a local file for offline viewing.
• Will recommend video titles by relevance or similarity.
• Can change stream during playback.
• Can rewind/fast-forward using the arrow buttons on the remote control.
• Has an automatic viewing history in addition to the manual watchlist (like favorites).
• Can resume playing from where you left off last time.

Cons

• The voice search function requires a mouse pointer.
• The most recent versions force you to use their own Titan Player, which imposes ads.

Details

Vast Source Collection

NovaTV has probably the largest collection of stream sources among all the free streaming apps we have tested. More amazingly, it marks certain sources as “trusted”. Those sources are more reliable and are of better quality and performance. Try the trusted sources first, and that will save you from having to wade through a bunch of poor-quality sources.

Movie Database

NovaTV is fully integrated with The Movie Database project (TMDb). It shows detailed and useful information on every movie and TV show title (such as description, rating, and nice posters). It also uses information from the database to recommend video titles by relevance or similarity. For instance, if you are on an Oscar-nominated film, it will show you other Oscan-nominated films of a similar genre. It’s a very neat feature for discovering titles that you are not aware of.

Downloads

NovaTV is one of a few streaming apps that let you download a video stream to a local file. You can later play the local file using a media player app (such as MX Player, VLC, or Kodi) without worrying about buffering. The downloading feature in NovaTV relies on an external download manager app (which must be installed) to work. Currently, NovaTV supports Advanced Download Manager or One Download Manager. Advanced Download Manager or ADM (com.dv.adm) is available from Google Play Store. One Download Manager (com.one.downloader), on the other hand, is not. But its APK is embedded in NovaTV. In our experience, Advanced Download Manager works more reliably than One Download Manager.

Playback Features

NovaTV has several really nice features during playback:

• You can pick a different stream without having to stop playing first.
• You can intuitively use the LEFT/RIGHT buttons on the remote control to rewind and fast-forward.
• It can resume playing from where you left off last time.
• It keeps an automatic viewing history. You can also manually add a video title to your watchlist (like favorites).

Voice Search

NovaTV supports voice search. However, it uses the voice search button from the Android onscreen keyboard rather than implementing a separate voice search button. And that voice search button on the onscreen keyboard is not accessible using the arrow buttons on the remote control. As a result, you will need to either switch the remote control to mouse mode or use an air mouse.

TV-Friendly User Interface

Other than the small annoyance of the voice search button, the rest of the user interface is well designed for TV viewing and works well with the remote control.

Subtitles

NovaTV fully supports subtitles, with subtitle files from the free services opensubtitles.org and subscene.com.

Third-Party Integration

NovaTV used to support several external video player apps including MX Player and VLC. However, the most recent versions force you to use their own Titan Player, which imposes ads.

NovaTV supports online accounts with Trakt.tv, Real-Debrid, AllDebrid, and Premiumize. The free Trakt.tv service is really handy for tracking your viewing progress and history. And the other three paid services will provide you with additional high-quality premium stream sources with very little buffering.

Ads, But No Ads

The official NovaTV app has lots of ads, including both banner ads and full-screen ads. Some full-screen ads can be up to 30 seconds long, with no way of cutting it short. Sometimes NovaTV even shows an ad before playing the video. The worst of all is that some of those ads cannot be dismissed using the BACK button on the remote control. You will need to switch the remote control to mouse mode (or use an air mouse) to click on the screen area that closes the ad (normally an “X”). If there isn’t an “X” or a close button on the screen, you may need to press HOME to go back to the Home Screen and then go to Settings->Apps to force stop the NovaTV app. In short, really annoying!

Fortunately, there are modified ad-free versions out there, removing the biggest annoyance of an otherwise perfect app. However, the most recent versions force you to use their own Titan Player, which brings back ads.

VPN Recommended

Due to the dubious copyright status of the free Internet video sources, it’s recommended that you protect your own privacy by setting up VPN protection on your TV box first.

Install & Setup

The NovaTV app has changed its package name several times in the past. The latest app (com.bionic.gemini) is not available from Google Play Store. But it can be found from various sources on the Internet.

If you have further questions regarding this app, please contact us. We will be glad to help you out.

Once installed, the app is pretty much good to go. If you have an existing Trakt.tv account, you may want to enter it under Settings. It will bring back all your viewing history and the list of shows you are currently watching.

If you experience performance issues with Nova TV on an older TV box, you may consider upgrading to one of our latest TV box models. We have tested the app thoroughly and it runs smoothly on all our boxes. For example, our TX3 Smart TV box has high-quality and high-performance hardware, enhanced with a customized version of the SlimBOX firmware. It is very fast and reliable, and yet very competitively priced. The 4+32G model is only $65.

Useful Tips

1. During playback, press the UP button (not the usual OK button for other apps) to bring out other functions, such as changing stream, changing subtitle, rewind, fast-forward, and etc.
2. When browsing through video titles, if you want to see more titles on the screen, you can reduce the media poster size by changing it from the default Normal to Small in Settings.
3. The most recent versions force you to use their own Titan Player, which imposes ads. The workaround is to install VLC or MX Player Pro and use them instead.
4. NovaTV has frequent updates, and you will need to keep the app up to date. Otherwise, you will experience a declining number of quality stream sources.

Other Similar Apps

BeeTV is a very similar app in both screen layout and functionality. Both apps seem to also share a large portion of their stream sources. In addition, there are several other free streaming apps that we recommend. Even a great app like NovaTV still has its limitations. So if there is an obscure video title or TV series that you can’t watch within NovaTV, try some of the other apps.