Two different things behind one login
Live television is a broadcast in progress. Everyone watching a channel is watching the same moment, and that moment is being produced now. You join partway through, as you would with an aerial.
On-demand — films and series, often labelled VOD — is a library of complete files sitting on a server. Nothing is happening in real time. You pick something and playback starts from the beginning.
The same credentials unlock both, which is why they feel like one service. Technically they have little in common.
Why live is harder to deliver
The difference comes down to how far ahead the player can work.
On-demand video is already complete, so a player can download well ahead of the picture. Look away for a moment and there may be a minute of video already waiting. A network hiccup is absorbed silently.
Live cannot do that. The next few seconds do not exist yet. Whatever buffer the player holds is small by necessity, so an interruption that on-demand would swallow becomes a visible stall on a live channel.
This is why people are puzzled when a film plays perfectly and a football match stutters on the same connection. It is not inconsistency — the two are asking different things of the network. Our Ethernet vs Wi-Fi guide covers why steadiness matters more than raw speed for live.
What that means when something breaks
Because the two halves work differently, which one fails is a diagnostic in itself.
- Live stutters, on-demand is fine. Points at connection steadiness rather than bandwidth or credentials. On-demand working proves your login is valid and your connection has capacity.
- On-demand fails, live is fine. Rules out credentials and network almost entirely, since live playback proves both. Usually the on-demand section of the service or the player's handling of it.
- Both fail. Look at credentials, the player or the device before blaming either half.
Working out which half is affected before changing anything saves a great deal of time. The troubleshooting guide uses the same layered approach.
The guide belongs to live only
The EPG is a schedule, and schedules only apply to things happening at a time. On-demand has no schedule — it has categories, descriptions and cover art instead.
So an empty guide is a live-television problem. It tells you nothing about whether the library is working, and vice versa.
Where catch-up sits between the two
Catch-up is the interesting middle case, and it explains why it behaves unlike either half.
It is reached through the guide, like live television — you go back in the schedule to something that has already aired. But what plays is a stored recording, so it behaves like on-demand once it starts: it can buffer ahead, and you can seek within it.
That hybrid nature is why availability is uneven. Catch-up depends on a recording having been made and kept for that channel, which is decided per channel rather than across a service. It is available on some and not others, and that is a property of the channel rather than a fault in your setup.
Our channels page sets out how it works in practice.
They also look different, for good reasons
On-demand files are encoded once, carefully, with no deadline. Live is encoded in real time, which means compromises. That is part of why a film often looks better than a live channel at the same nominal resolution.
Our guide to picture quality covers where sharpness is actually decided. The short version is that a difference between a film and a live channel is usually expected rather than a fault.
Choosing where to start
If you are setting up for the first time, start with a live channel. It is the more demanding of the two, so a live channel that holds steady for twenty minutes tells you your setup is sound. On-demand playing well proves considerably less.
Our channels page explains how the live line-up is organised, and the movies and series page covers the library.
Frequently asked questions
What does VOD mean?
Video on demand — films and series stored as complete files that you start whenever you like, as opposed to live channels that are broadcasting whether you are watching or not.
Why does live TV buffer when films play perfectly?
A film is already complete, so the player downloads well ahead and absorbs interruptions invisibly. Live has nothing to download ahead, so its buffer is small and the same interruption becomes a visible stall.
My films will not play but live TV works. What is wrong?
Live playing proves your credentials and connection are fine, which rules out most causes. The problem is usually in the on-demand part of the service or how your player handles it, so it is worth reporting rather than reconfiguring.
Does the programme guide cover on-demand content?
No. The guide is a schedule and on-demand has no schedule. The library is browsed by category and description instead, so an empty guide says nothing about whether it is working.