Reviews for PBS: Watch Live TV Shows

I guess I'm too used to all the perks of the Netflix and Amazon apps. This app is extremely limited in its functionality, unfortunately. You can't back up or fast forward at all when watching a show. The ability to put shows in a list of favorites fails in its functionality. When I click the check mark to add a show, it is not added. Just now I was watching a video in this app and an error message came up telling me that I needed the PBS video app. IOW, the very app I was inside rejected itself.

I was excited about installing this app and bringing a slice of home with me overseas where I retired. Oh, the previews play just fine here, but the episodes of everything I tried are "not available in your region." If you are going to block the episodes, then at least have the decency to block the previews, too. What a complete disappointment.

I love the shows we see on PBS. I think we all have our favorites. I'm partial to Masterpiece, Nature, the Mysteries, Comedies, and of course the concerts. But have grown to love things like the operas, Broadway shows, and music I might not otherwise have listened to. There are educational and humanity documentaries. Just do much and watching thru a nominal membership and the App allows me to choose what and when. Just wish certain shows were available sometimes.

As others have mentioned, while streaming an episode (such as Victoria) the program is interrupted and restarts at the beginning of the episode. Then I have to go through the extremely frustrating task of pressing on the progress bar to find the scene that we were watching. The app has also gotten stuck in the episode preview segment. Had to force the app to stop in Google settings and then restart the app to get it to work again. These problems have been happening for several weeks now.

I have the app on my phone and iPad. On my iPad there are playback options like rewind 10secs but on my Android no, which makes it hard and a bit annoying to watch as I want h many things on my phone. I'd rather just watch it on my TV which limits when I can watch it such as if you are on the go or in the car. Other than that I love the shows and documentaries!!! Very educational.

The panels and navigation are simple but elegant. One glaring issue: the navigation panel stays bright white the whole time. I have to cover it with a piece of dark tape. I hate having to watch the add again if i have to stop and come back to it. After the last update its getting stuck on loading a different menu but that might be my phone. Links to cast info etc would be nice .

Coming from the Roku app this version for Android TV is garbage. Biggest gripe is there is no way to view content that isn't in their featured categories. Want to browse by drama or nature and science? Good luck with that. The only way around I've seen is to login on the website to browse what I want to watch then add it to my list to be available on Android TV. This isn't a new problem but I'd hoped they'd figure it out. I regret renewing my passport access...

Content is great, but a few bigs make it hard to work with. The app logs me out every time I leave, creating an extra step to access any content. Also, it doesn't remember what episode I played last or where I was within an episode, so I have to manually try to find my place every time I walk away and come back. With a few fixes, the app would be much better.

For the past two or three years I have struggled with this app. It just stops streaming when it gets overloaded or something. It's disappointing! I came on here to write I would be canceling my subscription to PBS as they don't seem to put any money into their equipment. However,I just noticed there is a new video player and controls so I have just reinstalled the app and will try again. PBS, please don't disappoint me. I will cancel my subscription if it doesn't make things better.

I love PBS and want to support them every way I can, became a PassPort member to get access to the catalog of shows. When this app works, it's wonderful and high quality. Unfortunately, most of the time it doesn't...will stop, buffer, won't start up again. Have to go to the beginning and restart, trying to drop in where I got cut off. Watching one 55 minute drama episode actually takes 1:30 if I'm lucky, 2 hrs if not. I also have Hulu, Starz, Netflix...but absolutely no issues with them.

I let my membership lapse. I absolutely believe in PBS and their content, but the only 'gift' I ask for is streaming. Why is skipping still such a major problem? If you're going to offer a streaming app as a perk, you should make sure it's working properly and fix it when its not. The app looks great and on occasion, works. But 9ver the last year plus, whether I use the app on my phone or my tv, videos are either not available for playback or they constantly skip back or ahead a couple seconds. Literally constantly. Please fix it!

Video player cannot fast forward or rewind and does not sync properly with Roku app. Please add functionality to skip ahead and rewind in 15 s increments or something like that (like what is possible in YouTube). Also when I watch something on TV via my Roku player, the pbs app on my phone doesn't sync the position properly. (Oddly the sync works in the other direction, ie, when I watch on my phone, the Roku app syncs the position properly.)

I enjoy watching all the great content on the app, but there are definitely improvements to be made- namely a "resume watching" option on the main page. Similarly, I wish that episodes of a series would auto play after completing the previous one. It is really annoying to go into my saved shows, select the season I am watching, and then pick the episode every time.

The app is difficult to navigate and not intuitive . The playback controls are some of the worst of I've seen in an app. Moving forward or back in play results in a time count beginning from that moment, not from the start of the show. When using this with a chromecast, a screen (possibly buffering?) would often flash on the television showing the time and duration. This would flash for a fraction of a second. Very annoying.

I love the programs on PBS, and being able to stream them is great. I gave 4 stars instead of 5 because the app doesn't keep track of where I left off, so I have to scroll through seasons and then episodes to find my place rather than just tapping "continue watching". I can use that feature, but it picks up in the wrong place every single time.

I was told by PBS Help Desk this will not work on Google TV with Chromecast, however it appears to work fine for me. Although it doesn't show on the apps bar by default like Netflix etc, it is located in "More Apps" and I am able to play, pause, rewind, fast forward, etc. with no problems so far. The controls could be more responsive, and it's an extra step to access the app, thus the 4 stars.

Excellent library of content. Netflix has really declined, so I cancelled it, and donated to PBS to become a member and gain access to Passport. I've enjoyed it a lot so far, except the video playback. The play/pause function is inconsistent and causes the time marker to jump around randomly, and there's no double-tap to fast forward or rewind a few seconds like most other video streaming apps have. So, great service and fairly good app, but the app could use some improvement.

I love the programs on PBS and use the app frequently on my Roku, however, it needs a lot of work. It's fine if I'm watching a current program, so the next available episode is the one I watch. However, if it's an older show or one from Walter's Choice, I have to keep a list of all the episodes and mark them off as I watch them because it won't keep track of where I am. This is the ONLY app I have to do this with. Even Tubi keeps my place even if I go a couple of weeks between episodes.

This is a wonderful app!! I'm VERY HAPPY with it in every way ☺ !! There is only one brief commercial at the beginning of each episode/show before the opening credits, then the rest of the program is totally commercial-free. And if you need to move back/forward It's so easy with the time-line feature. I literally can't find ANYTHING wrong with this app. It's wonderful. Don't pay attention to the complainers... this is a free app. You don't need to be a member to use it either.

I've always loved PBS. And, having this app is a dream come true. especially with no ads, just amazing content. The app works great. the only suggestion is that I would like for this to be more binge friendly and add a "play next episode" button after an episode is done. Also, when selecting an episode to play, the play button is too small. When I first opened it, I almost missed it.