display
Anyone who still brings a TV stick onto the market today should do something significantly better than the competition.
Because such streaming players are now in abundance: Apple TV, Google's Chromcast, Fire TV, Nvidia Shield.
Many smart TVs have the function for streaming videos built in.
Telekom claims to make television easier with its stick - and to offer Magenta TV's own range of products to users who have their Internet connection with the competition.
In the test, we first find out that the stick is not a stick at all.
Rather, it is a mini-box that has a short cable with a plug that fits into an HDMI port.
Every modern television has such an access.
In addition, the mini-box must also be connected to the socket with another cable.
The scope of delivery also includes a remote control, which unfortunately lacks a number field.
The setup of the magenta TV stick is done quickly.
First, the remote control must be paired and a WiFi hotspot selected.
There is no connection for a LAN cable from the router.
Because the Android TV software works on the device, the setup requires a Google account and a Telekom account to be entered.
display
In some cases, the information has to be entered laboriously using a virtual screen keyboard on the television with the remote control, but sometimes this is also possible via a browser on the computer or smartphone, in which only a sequence of digits is then entered, which then appears on the television screen.
Once everything is set up, streaming can begin.
Telekom sells its stick to anyone who pays the current price of 50 euros.
But she still describes her offer as a beta solution, which should last until spring.
It is not yet clear how high the price for the stick will be.
Users can try the service free of charge for three months, after which it costs 7.95 euros per month.
This is a fair price given that more than 50 TV channels are streamed in high HD resolution, including the private programs from ProSiebenSat.
1 and the RTL group.
These channels in HD also have to be paid for by subscription from other providers, regardless of whether they come into the house via cable or satellite.
display
Magenta TV is particularly interesting because of some convenience functions such as recording memory in the cloud, replay and restart.
Unfortunately, recording with the stick is not yet possible, it should be added later.
It already works in the smartphone app, which can also be used.
The memory should last 24 hours.
However, there are some limitations.
The RTL group does not allow HD recordings, and ProSiebenSat.
1 limits the storage to 60 days.
The Magenta TV service can be used on five different devices with a subscription.
display
Magenta TV Stick
Buy Telekom Magenta TV Stick online now
Order at Amazon Compare prices at Idealo
Other apps like Netflix can also be installed
In the test, we couldn't make out the replay function, which should actually be embedded in the electronic program guide.
At Telekom, replay refers to the start of a program at a later point in time up to seven days after the broadcast.
Restart means playing a program from the beginning while the live broadcast is still running.
display
Telekom praises its megathek as another Magenta TV advantage.
Here you can find the broadcasts from the ARD and ZDF media libraries with even more titles than are made available by the broadcasters in their own media libraries.
In addition, some exclusive programs that have been licensed by Telekom are available.
All of these shipments are presented with tiles, although it remains unclear what the sorting is based on.
Thanks to the Android TV software, many other apps can be installed, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Spotify and DAZN.
Conclusion:
At the moment you can tell that the magenta TV stick is in its beta phase.
Important functions are still missing.
Not everything is really running smoothly.
Program information pages load too slowly, and even switching from one channel to another takes too long.
Zapping with the remote control takes an unnecessary extra step.
The channel list is called up with the arrow, but the OK button first switches.
TV viewers are used to switching directly on the remote control.
However, all of this should be easy to improve with a software update.
In addition, there is still no wish list for programs and the option to edit the station list.
The TV stick is UHD-capable, so it can process content in the high 4K resolution if a corresponding television is connected.
But that doesn't work with Amazon Prime and Netflix, but with YouTube and Telekom's own platform Videoload.
In any case, Magenta TV is suitable as a complete TV solution that easily makes cable and satellite connections superfluous.
This article was first published in February 2020.