Benso
SMB Shares
Play films and series from a NAS drive or a computer on your network, signed in or as a guest. Servers that announce themselves are listed to pick from.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
All Features
55 features on Apple TV, Mac, iPad and iPhone.
Sources
Xtream and M3U
Add your TV provider’s Xtream login or M3U playlist, with its XMLTV guide, over https or plain http.
A provider on plain http is used only after you agree, because others on the network could see your sign-in and what you watch.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Plex, Jellyfin and Emby
Watch the films and series on your own server, at home over plain http or anywhere over https. Plex signs in with a code on your phone.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Network Folders
Add a WebDAV folder or a web server’s folder listing, at home over plain http or anywhere over https. Films and series are recognised from their names.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Files on Your Device
Add a folder from Files or Finder, or open a video or .strm file with Benso to play it straight away.
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Add-ons
Add compatible add-ons for catalogues, streams, subtitles and live channels, or sign in to Nuvio to bring your library across.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Live TV & Guide
Programme Guide
Move through channels and the next 24 hours, jump back to now, and open any programme for its details.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Multiview
Watch up to four live channels at once, with the sound from the one you choose.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Channel Lists
Your own lists come first: favourites, recent channels, your playlists, the categories you pin, and any XMLTV guide you add as a list of the channels it covers. Then Benso Lists, folded: lists for Sport, News, Kids and Films from your channels. Favourite, hide, rename or find any channel by its name or number. Sort any list by number, name, what you watched last or favourites first, filter it to HD, channels with a guide or favourites, and move any list into Benso Lists or out of them, by dragging it or with the remote.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Reminders Plus
Set a reminder in the guide, and Benso asks if you’d like to watch when the programme starts. iPhone and iPad send a notification too.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Extended EPG Plus
See everything your provider lists, beyond the next 24 hours.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Pause Live TV
Pause a channel and pick it up again, as far back as the channel allows. Live Rewind can keep up to 4 GB on the device to move back through.
Live Rewind is off until you choose a size, and works in VLC for channels sent as one continuous stream.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Catch-Up and Start Again
Start any programme from the beginning, and catch up on what you missed.
Needs a provider that offers catch-up.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Saved for Catch-up
Save programmes from the guide to watch later on catch-up.
These are bookmarks, not recordings: playback depends on your provider’s catch-up.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
About This Programme
When the guide doesn’t describe a programme, a line about it is written on your device from the catalogue’s description, marked as generated.
Not available in Arabic.
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Films & Series
One Page for Each Title
A film or series from several sources shows once, with its cast and crew, trailer, and a film's first days in cinemas and digitally, as Trakt lists them for your country or else the US. Watch From lists every copy to choose from.
Ratings show with their source: Trakt's viewers' once 25 have rated.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
More from the Director
A film’s page has more from its director and a series’ page more from its creator, marked Director or Creator, beside More Like This and more with the lead actor.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Continue Watching
Pick up where you stopped. The next episode is waiting once it has aired, and films, episodes and seasons can be marked as watched.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Search Everything
Films, series, people, channels and what’s on TV in one search. A film series shows as one collection, and titles in your sources are marked. Live TV search results fade in gently as they arrive.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Lists and Details
Trending, box office, most watched and genre lists, and each title’s details, artwork and cast, come from Trakt. A series’ episodes and their pictures come from TVmaze. Add-ons you add come first for a title’s details.
A title with no picture shows its own card, with its name and year.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Ask in Your Own Words
Search for “something like Slow Horses but lighter”, and a Suggestions row picks titles from the catalogue.
Not available in Arabic.
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Previously On
A line above a series’ episodes offers a recap of the last one you watched. Choose it, and a few sentences are written on your device from its subtitles.
Written from subtitles, so some details may be wrong. Turn recaps off on the card or in Settings → Films & Series. Needs the episode’s subtitles with your copy or from a subtitle add-on, and isn’t available in Arabic.
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Sort and Filter
See All sorts and filters by genre, era, picture quality, running time and what you’ve watched, and can be saved as a list of its own.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Playback
Four Players
System Player, Native, VLC and Benso Player. On Automatic, each film or episode goes to the player that plays its format best.
Automatic tries Benso Player last.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Audio and Subtitles
Set your languages once, and the right sound and subtitles are chosen. Subtitle files beside your videos and from add-ons are found too, in the style you choose.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Skip Intro and Next Episode
Skip intros, recaps and credits, and the next episode starts after a countdown. Where your source doesn’t mark them, intros and credits are learned on your device from the music episodes share.
Learning takes a few episodes and doesn’t work with every stream. In VLC it needs a file on your device or a provider that allows more than one connection. Turn it off in Settings → Playback → Skipping.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Subtitles When There Are None
Where a film or episode has no subtitles in your language, Benso writes them from what’s said, and can translate them, on your device.
In Native and VLC, and not with every stream. VLC needs a file on your device or a provider that allows more than one connection. Translating needs both languages downloaded on your device.
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Previews While Scrubbing
Moving through a film or episode shows a still of where you’ll land.
Where your provider allows only one connection, the picture itself moves instead.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Speed, Sync and Sleep Timer
Play from 0.5× to 2×, nudge sound or subtitles into step, and stop at the end of the film or episode.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Picture in Picture and AirPlay
Keep watching in a small window while you use other apps. On iPhone and iPad, send the picture to an AirPlay TV.
In System Player, Native and Benso Player. On iPhone and iPad, VLC hands the picture to one of them when it can play the stream. On the Mac, VLC and Benso Player float the player’s window over other apps instead.
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Your Way
Arrange Home and Lists
Home, Films and Series start with a few lists. Edit Lists, at the end of each page, shows, hides and reorders them, adds more from your accounts, add-ons and Benso Lists, and hides all of Benso’s at once. Explorer shows every list to look through first.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Profiles and Restrictions
Each person keeps their own Continue Watching, Saved for Later and lists. Add or change a profile picture directly in Profiles; the current profile also has a picture button in iPhone and iPad Settings. A PIN protects adult channels, films above an age you choose and anything you lock.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Trakt
Each profile signs in with a code on a phone. What you watch and rate goes to your account, and your watchlist and lists become rows.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Appearance
Pages take a soft colour from their artwork. Choose the app icon, and whether Home opens on featured titles or your own lists. Featured titles keep year and genre details uncluttered.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Seven Languages
Benso is in English, Arabic, German, Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese and Turkish, and follows your device’s language.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Accessibility
VoiceOver actions on cards, more room for larger text, and less motion when Reduce Motion is on.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Siri, Spotlight and Handoff
Ask Siri to play a channel or carry on watching, find your titles in Spotlight, and continue a film on your other iPhone, iPad or Mac.
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Apple TV
Top Shelf
Continue Watching and your recent channels on the Apple TV Home Screen, ready to resume or tune.
- Apple TV
Set Up with Your Phone
Scan a code and type your provider’s details on your phone. They go straight to the Apple TV over your home network.
- Apple TV
Match Frame Rate
In full screen, the TV switches to each stream’s frame rate, so movement looks as it was filmed.
Turn on Match Content in the Apple TV’s Settings too.
- Apple TV
Mac
Player Window
What you play opens in its own window and goes full screen. Space, the arrow keys, J, K and L, M, F, I and C work as in the TV app, all listed in the Controls menu, a two-finger swipe moves through a film, and live TV has the same options as films.
- Mac
Live TV with Mouse and Trackpad
Click what’s on to watch it in Live Preview, and again for the player. The wheel scrolls channels and a sideways swipe moves through time. Command-arrow jumps an hour, and Command-T or the mouse’s Back button returns to now.
- Mac
A Native Mac App
A sidebar with Search at its top, the Mac’s menus and keyboard shortcuts, and every page back where you left it. Rows move sideways with two fingers on a trackpad or the round buttons at their ends, without scroll bars. Back and Forward go through where the window has been, with Command-[ and Command-], a mouse’s side buttons or a swipe on the trackpad. Named Benso in the Dock, Finder and Mac menus. Right-click the app’s lists folder to hide it. Edit Lists at the top of the guide sidebar lets you show it again.
- Mac
Setup and Sign-in Sheets
Adding a source or signing in uses the Mac’s own forms, with each field named beside it. Return moves to the next field, and ordered lists can be dragged into place.
- Mac
iPhone & iPad
A Guide for Touch
The guide scrolls both ways under your finger, with channels and times kept in place. Choose and edit channel lists in a panel that adapts to your screen.
- iPad
- iPhone
Live TV Upright
Watch a channel above the guide, with Play, Pause and More on the picture. Browsing another list keeps your channel playing until you choose another.
On iPad and iPhone Duo’s inner display, with Live Preview on.
- iPad
- iPhone
Touch Controls
Pinch for Fit or Fill, hold the right side for 2× playback, or lock the controls. Swipe up from the guide’s picture for full screen and down to return. Swipe to Change Channels is optional in Playback settings.
- iPad
- iPhone
Privacy & Backups
Backup & Restore
Save your sources, lists, settings and profiles to a file or to iCloud, and bring them back on any device. Sign-ins go in too, sealed with a passphrase.
Find backups and recovery help in Settings → Backup & Sync. Apple TV backs up to iCloud.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Sign-ins in the Keychain
Passwords and sign-ins are kept in the Keychain on each device, and diagnostics never include them. With Benso Plus and Sync Across Devices, they reach your other devices end-to-end encrypted.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Feedback and Diagnostics
Send feedback or a feature request from your own email. A support report goes with it only if you choose, with counts and versions, never addresses or titles.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
No Ads
Benso shows no advertising. Benso Plus pays for its continued development.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Benso Plus
Unlimited Sources Plus
Add as many TV providers, media servers, folders and Nuvio accounts as you like. Your first is free. An account counts once with all its add-ons, and a guide on its own never counts.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Sync Across Devices Plus
Your sources and their sign-ins, favourites, channel lists, playlists and profiles with their pictures reach each of your devices, Apple TV included, end-to-end encrypted in your iCloud. Continue Watching, Saved for Later, Home’s lists, reminders and your guide, language and player choices stay the same on each one too.
Importing and syncing accounts from iCloud requires Benso Plus and Sync Across Devices turned on. Existing accounts stay on the device when sync stops. A folder chosen on one device, the PIN and its restrictions, and Trakt sign-ins stay on each device. Choose Source Accounts and Profiles separately in Settings → Backup & Sync. Turning either off keeps existing data on this device.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Supporter Icons Plus
Choose Gold, Glacier or the glowing Plus icon.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
Monthly, Yearly or Lifetime
Compare Monthly, Yearly and Lifetime. Eligible monthly and yearly plans offer 7 days free, with the renewal price shown before you buy. The purchase button and billing details stay in view while you compare plans. A gold welcome confirms your Plus membership, with a feature-request link and a separate preview of future plans.
- Apple TV
- Mac
- iPad
- iPhone
App Capabilities
This is an overview of the availability of major features for Benso.
Sources6
| Feature | Apple TV | Mac | iPad | iPhone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xtream and M3U | ||||
| Plex, Jellyfin and Emby | ||||
| SMB Shares | ||||
| Network Folders | ||||
| Files on Your Device | Not available | |||
| Add-ons |
Live TV & Guide9
| Feature | Apple TV | Mac | iPad | iPhone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programme Guide | ||||
| Extended EPG Plus | ||||
| Channel Lists | ||||
| Pause Live TV | ||||
| Catch-Up and Start Again | ||||
| Saved for Catch-up | ||||
| Reminders Plus | ||||
| Multiview | ||||
| About This Programme | Not available |
Films & Series8
| Feature | Apple TV | Mac | iPad | iPhone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Page for Each Title | ||||
| Lists and Details | ||||
| Continue Watching | ||||
| More from the Director | ||||
| Search Everything | ||||
| Ask in Your Own Words | Not available | |||
| Previously On | Not available | |||
| Sort and Filter |
Playback7
| Feature | Apple TV | Mac | iPad | iPhone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Four Players | ||||
| Audio and Subtitles | ||||
| Subtitles When There Are None | Not available | |||
| Skip Intro and Next Episode | ||||
| Previews While Scrubbing | ||||
| Speed, Sync and Sleep Timer | ||||
| Picture in Picture and AirPlay | Not available |
Your Way7
| Feature | Apple TV | Mac | iPad | iPhone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrange Home and Lists | ||||
| Profiles and Restrictions | ||||
| Trakt | ||||
| Appearance | ||||
| Seven Languages | ||||
| Accessibility | ||||
| Siri, Spotlight and Handoff | Not available |
Apple TV3
| Feature | Apple TV | Mac | iPad | iPhone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top Shelf | Not available | Not available | Not available | |
| Set Up with Your Phone | Not available | Not available | Not available | |
| Match Frame Rate | Not available | Not available | Not available |
Mac4
| Feature | Apple TV | Mac | iPad | iPhone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Native Mac App | Not available | Not available | Not available | |
| Setup and Sign-in Sheets | Not available | Not available | Not available | |
| Player Window | Not available | Not available | Not available | |
| Live TV with Mouse and Trackpad | Not available | Not available | Not available |
iPhone & iPad3
| Feature | Apple TV | Mac | iPad | iPhone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Guide for Touch | Not available | Not available | ||
| Live TV Upright | Not available | Not available | ||
| Touch Controls | Not available | Not available |
Privacy & Backups4
| Feature | Apple TV | Mac | iPad | iPhone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backup & Restore | ||||
| Sign-ins in the Keychain | ||||
| Feedback and Diagnostics | ||||
| No Ads |
Benso Plus4
| Feature | Apple TV | Mac | iPad | iPhone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited Sources Plus | ||||
| Sync Across Devices Plus | ||||
| Supporter Icons Plus | ||||
| Monthly, Yearly or Lifetime |
Ready to press play?
Your favourite TV channels, movies, and series. All in one place, playing beautifully.