I have just received the new pro box, don’t know if I’m being really stupid or not, but I have lost a few channels that I previously had on old box. If I record 2 channels it won’t let me watch a third. Again if 2 channels are recording and I watch Now or Netflix, it cancels the recording. According to the write up of the box it’s supposed to record up to 4 channels and allow you to watch a fifth. This doesn’t appear to be an upgraded box at all. I have unplugged it and set old one back up which is much better. Unless I’m doing something wrong.
the new BT Pro Box can be setup with an aerial connection as with the earlier generation boxes where the freeview free to air channels will be receivable on the 4 tuners that the box has (up from 2 on the earlier boxes).
The new BT Pro Box can be alternatively be set up in Ip mode whereby no aerial is connected. In that scenario some free to air channels are received as multicast channels in the same way as your subscription channels.
Boxes are currently restricted to receiving 2 multicast streams which is why you are experiencing the difference.
So the choice as to how to operate the BT Box Pro (ie with or without aerial) is yours,
Using an App such as Now or Netflix will not itself change the number of recordings allowed but you may get some information messages about potential bandwidth impacts that could potentially could cause an issue ,