Live TV has one weakness: if you aren’t there when it starts, you’ve missed it. Catch-up, sometimes called archive or time-shift, removes that. On channels that keep an archive, you scroll back through the TV guide and play a programme from its first minute.
How the archive works
Channels with catch-up store their recent programmes for a set period, usually somewhere between one day and several days depending on the channel. In the TV guide those channels carry a small catch-up marker. Channels without the marker can only be watched live.
Playing a programme from the archive
- Open the guide and find a channel that shows the catch-up marker.
- Move back in time, to the left of the grid, until you reach the programme.
- Select it and choose to play it.
- Use pause, rewind and fast-forward as you would with a recording.
On channels with an archive, TiviMate and several other players can also restart the programme that’s on now from its beginning.
Three moments catch-up saves
- The match you joined at half-time. Go back to kick-off and watch the first half without spoilers, as long as your phone stays face down.
- The evening bulletin you missed. Play it at whatever time you get home.
- Two shows at the same hour. Watch one live and the other from the archive afterwards.
Catch-up, recording or the library?
Catch-up needs no planning but only covers channels with an archive and only for a limited time. Recording in TiviMate Premium works on any channel and keeps the programme until you delete it, but you have to set it up in advance and it uses storage on the device or a USB drive. The on-demand library is different again: films, series and documentaries that aren’t tied to a broadcast at all. The article on recording live TV with Moa Tv helps you choose between them.
Catch-up questions
Why can’t I go back on some channels?
Only channels that keep an archive offer catch-up. If there’s no marker next to a channel in the guide, it plays live only.
How many days back can I go?
It depends on the channel, from one day to several.
Does catch-up work in every player?
Not all of them. TiviMate and many other players support it with the Xtream Codes login; simpler players may only play live channels.