To Subscribe Or Not To Subscribe, That Is The Question: Paid Streaming Services

[biakbiak]

Just FYI for anyone on Xfinity, Peacock just showed up today as a streaming app. Free premium access if you’re a Xfinity subscriber.

[GHScorpiosRule]

50 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

Just FYI for anyone on Xfinity, Peacock just showed up today as a streaming app. Free premium access if you’re a Xfinity subscriber.

WAHOO!!!!!

Because you know, that agent never called me back.

But someone from Comcrap answered my FB message to them and got the new remote mailed to me and did at least tell me that I should get it shortly. I really don't care about ANYTHING on this app, which can only be viewed from On Demand on Comcrap, (that's what they said) is the new Psych movie! That's right. Shawn and Gus for the Win!

[GHScorpiosRule]

I officially HATE Peacock. Yes, yes, it's now available, but when I try to watch season one, of say, Law & Order, Mothership, it takes me BACK to the frickin' Sundance channel, where episodes are currently airing. Same for SVU (not that I watch anymore; I was testing). When the point of this stupidass streaming/on demand channel on ComCrap is to be able to watch unedited episodes!🤬🤬

So I'm not going back there until July 15, when the Psych II: The Sequel will drop.

NBC/Peacock can certainly learn a thing or gazillion from Disney + or the other streaming networks.

 

 

 

 

[Mittengirl]

I have tried all the streaming services except Disney and haven’t been impressed with any of them.  They are, or were when I used them, difficult to navigate.  It seems like it takes so long to find something to watch that I get too frustrated to enjoy it.  I tend to just not bother with them and then feel like I am wasting my money and cancel.

 

Does Disney+ show the old Disney movies from before the ‘80’s?  I would love to sloth out on the sofa and watch those.

Can you use a Disney gift card to pay for their service?  I would give them a try if that is the case.

[Ohiopirate02]

5 minutes ago, Mittengirl said:

I have tried all the streaming services except Disney and haven’t been impressed with any of them.  They are, or were when I used them, difficult to navigate.  It seems like it takes so long to find something to watch that I get too frustrated to enjoy it.  I tend to just not bother with them and then feel like I am wasting my money and cancel.

 

Does Disney+ show the old Disney movies from before the ‘80’s?  I would love to sloth out on the sofa and watch those.

Can you use a Disney gift card to pay for their service?  I would give them a try if that is the case.

Disney + has an extensive collection of Disney movies from the studios very beginning.  I honestly think they have all of them except for Song of the South, but I am not sure.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 minutes ago, Mittengirl said:

I have tried all the streaming services except Disney and haven’t been impressed with any of them.  They are, or were when I used them, difficult to navigate.  It seems like it takes so long to find something to watch that I get too frustrated to enjoy it.  I tend to just not bother with them and then feel like I am wasting my money and cancel.

While the search functions to find a show or movie can be frustrating at times, it's gotten a bit better for me in the past few months with Netflix and Amazon's Prime Video. But Peacock is another animal altogether. You would think they've had their collective asses and heads under a rock, because NOTHING works. You should be able to click on the show, and then be able to choose which season/episode you want to watch. But noooo, that's not happening here. 

5 minutes ago, Mittengirl said:

Does Disney+ show the old Disney movies from before the ‘80’s?  I would love to sloth out on the sofa and watch those.

Can you use a Disney gift card to pay for their service?  I would give them a try if that is the case.

As to the first question? YES! One of the first things I saw when I got it (I think it was in this thread) was how The Cat from Outer Space showed up! And since I was a nimrod and didn't remember the dinosaur sequence from Fantasia, the original is there--clearly the Board of Education got permission to use those minutes and either Disney or someone, got a narrator to do the voice over when I watched it when I was in elementary school. Fantasia just has the music playing. I also recall seeing Return to Witch Mountain in there. You'd have to do a search for the movies though, because the main screen shows only the recent stuff and hits.

As to the second? I don't know. I get the first year free because I have Verizon as my cell phone provider.

[Mittengirl]

I would love to watch the old Ken Berry movies. I swear he was in about half the ones I remember from childhood.  Ooh, and Kurt Russell.  And Haley Mills. 
 

The Million Dollar Duck, The Ugliest Dachshund, Snowball Express, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, Summer Magic, Pollyanna.  And probably a hundred more that made up my childhood movie life.  I may just have to subscribe.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Mittengirl said:

I would love to watch the old Ken Berry movies. I swear he was in about half the ones I remember from childhood.  Ooh, and Kurt Russell.  And Haley Mills. 
 

The Million Dollar Duck, The Ugliest Dachshund, Snowball Express, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, Summer Magic, Pollyanna.  And probably a hundred more that made up my childhood movie life.  I may just have to subscribe.

They have a lot of them but are still missing a lot. For example they have Pollyanna, That Darn Cat, and The Parent Trap but are missing everything else with Hayley Mills. 

Disney Plus: The master list of movies and TV shows right now (Updated May 15)

Over 500 Disney-Owned Films And Shows Missing From Disney Plus

2 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

Can you use a Disney gift card to pay for their service?  I would give them a try if that is the case.

I believe that subscribing directly through Disney requires a credit card, debit card or 1 year (new subscriber) gift card. If you go through Apple or google you should be able to pay with one of their gift cards. 

[biakbiak]

3 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

 

I officially HATE Peacock. Yes, yes, it's now available, but when I try to watch season one, of say, Law & Order, Mothership, it takes me BACK to the frickin' Sundance channel, where episodes are currently airing. Same for SVU (not that I watch anymore; I was testing). When the point of this stupidass streaming/on demand channel on ComCrap is to be able to watch unedited episodes!🤬🤬

So I'm not going back there until July 15, when the Psych II: The Sequel will drop.

 

Because of previous licensing agreements they don’t yet have the rights to all of the seasons. For L&O Peacock only has seasons 13-20. When the Sundance agreement expires they already have a deal in place for them to come over. 

Edited May 19, 2020 by biakbiak

[Irlandesa]

6 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

I have tried all the streaming services except Disney and haven’t been impressed with any of them.  They are, or were when I used them, difficult to navigate.  It seems like it takes so long to find something to watch that I get too frustrated to enjoy it.

Oh interfaces are the worst.  Searching is okay but it always feels like a hassle.  Netflix and Prime are probably the two services with the better interfaces but it always surprises me what they choose to highlight on their page.  Sometimes, they don't highlight their new releases.  Why not make it easy for me? Ugh.

That's happening with Acorn for me right now.  They have  a new show out and I had to scroll through a bunch of shows to find it.

But Hulu is the bane of my existence.  It's so hard to find things. I've always had to use the search function.  And today it kept giving me playback issues. 

And maybe this is the librarian in me but I can't believe no interface has figured out that we might want to put shows we'd like to watch in sub-categories/folders. Or at least I don't think they have. They all are lumped into one watchlist which can get quite long. I know I could create a separate Netflix profile  but when I'm scrolling through upcoming releases, I'd like to categorize shows on my watchlist by genre (mysteries or romance or comedy or mystery comedy) and/or language or maybe by how much I desire to watch them (really want to see, am curious about, maybe if I'm feeling stupid, sleepy time binge).  Then, I can select based on my mood and it will never have to appear on my home screen again once I've "categorized" it. Right now, I feel like I kind of have to be selective and I don't want to be selective.  And I don't want to have to toggle out of one profile and refind a show to put in another profile watchlist.

Edited May 19, 2020 by Irlandesa

[biakbiak]

5 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

But Hulu is the bane of my existence.  It's so hard to find things. I've always had to use the search function.  And today it kept giving me playback issues. 

 

Even the next episode of the things you’re watching. It’s so perplexing. 

[Irlandesa]

26 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

Even the next episode of the things you’re watching. It’s so perplexing. 

The most frustrating thing about it is that I remember watching Hulu back when it was free if you watched ads. I remember the playback getting stuck in the middle of the ad and never moving the show forward after watching the ads. The only way out of it was to either back out or refresh and then you'd get the same damn ads over again.

I thought when I signed up for a deal last winter, that Hulu would have improved things in the years since it had gone into full pay mode.  Turns out---nope.

[biakbiak]

11 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

thought when I signed up for a deal last winter, that Hulu would have improved things in the years since it had gone into full pay mode.  Turns out---nope.

I steal my friends password and it’s still feels like too much money for the interface! 

[festivus]

Oh Hulu. I quit them when they changed the interface and I sent them a nice lengthy e-mail detailing why. I liked what they used to have, it was so much easier to find an interesting show to watch. I do get Hulu again now but just because it comes free with my Spotify subscription. 

[Guest]

I find both Peacock and Hulu's interfaces worthless. Unless I know a show is specifically on either one, I won't even bother using them because it's too frustrating to find anything.It seems with both that their primary attention was paid to the graphics but not much else.

And I really hate the autoplay Netflix interface. If I want to watch the preview or start the show, I WILL. I don't need Netflix doing it for me. 

[Bort]

1 hour ago, Giant Misfit said:

I really hate the autoplay Netflix interface. If I want to watch the preview or start the show, I WILL. I don't need Netflix doing it for me. 

Ah, you can disable that. If you log into Netflix on your PC and go into Manage Profile and uncheck all the auto play stuff.  

[Luckylyn]

On 5/18/2020 at 4:41 PM, Mittengirl said:

Can you use a Disney gift card to pay for their service?  I would give them a try if that is the case.

The Disney store sells a special Disney Plus gift card for a one year subscription.  

[AimingforYoko]

Any reports on HBO Max would be appreciated.

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

Any reports on HBO Max would be appreciated.

Underwhelming. Many of the things they advertised are not available. It may be better in a month or so because I’ve seen reports that more will be added in June. They didn’t make a deal with Roku or Amazon. There are short ads. They are not taking full advantage of WB catalog. OnE positive for classic movie fans is that the TCM section is very good. Whether it’s worth it or not depends on what you are interested in watching. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by Guest

[Luckylyn]

The HBONow app updated to become HBOMax on my ipad.  I haven’t noticed glitching.  There’s access to TCM, DC etc... One problem is that I can only access  HBONow on my firestick which is a limited library.  I didn’t realize they didn’t have an agreement with Amazon for HBOMax yet.  At least I can watch on my Ipad.  I like that I can download movies.

[Luckylyn]

8 minutes ago, Dani said:

Underwhelming. Many of the things they advertised are not available. It may be better in a month or so because I’ve seen reports that more will be added in June. They didn’t make a deal with Roku or Amazon. There are short ads. They are not taking full advantage of WB catalog. On positive for classic movie fans is that the TCM section is very good. Whether it’s worth it or not depends on what you are interested in watching. 

I’m very excited about the TCM options and am excited for Doctor Who.

Edited May 28, 2020 by Luckylyn

[AimingforYoko]

17 minutes ago, Dani said:

They didn’t make a deal with Roku or Amazon.

Yeah, fortunately I have a workaround because I subscribe to YouTube TV. But I think I'll probably hold off for a while.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

They are not taking full advantage of WB catalog.

That's what frustrates me the most.  There are some old shows that don't stream anywhere else (but have in the past* and they can be bought) which fall under the WB umbrella.  But they're not part of this launch.  What is the point if you don't even stream your own properties? 

*I point this out because the shows I'm thinking of had obviously cleared whatever rights needed to be cleared in order to make it streamable previously.  And they didn't use much original music.

I haven't been on Hulu for a while but it appears are complaints about Hulu's interface were the sole reason Hulu has decided to address it.  I will take credit for the action but not the result (which probably still sucks).

[meowmommy]

I signed up yesterday to lock in the $3/month discount, but I can't watch anything but HBO Now on my Roku.  

3 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

I’m very excited about the TCM options

Much bigger catalog than you can get through the TCM app itself.  Just too bad that I have to watch it on a tablet or a computer because AT&T can't work out a deal with Roku.

[krankydoodle]

12 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

I’m very excited about the TCM options and am excited for Doctor Who.

Same. I'm also really happy that British comedies like Ghosts and the various Alan Partridge series are available.

[biakbiak]

Hulu is doing a beta of their own version of Netflix Party. I am sure it will have a ton of bugs! 

[Stuffy]

Hulu is the only app that freezes my tv, and sometimes the app won’t even load. My tv isn’t new but none of the other apps regularly freeze the tv. Also I hate how Hulu’s search works. I wish all the apps would copy how Netflix’s search works. Netflix will give you everything by the actor or series first and then there will be the recommendations. 
 

 

[meowmommy]

2 hours ago, Stuffy said:

I wish all the apps would copy how Netflix’s search works. Netflix will give you everything by the actor or series first and then there will be the recommendations. 

I hate recommendations.  Amazon Prime does it, too.  I make a point of never clicking on their recommendations.

I had quit Netflix a number of years ago because of the way they changed their interface, and finally signed back up on March 1.  It's only slightly more tolerable now, but at least this helps:

https://mashable.com/article/netflix-search-codes/#SOkbGHHZaZqX

Quote

Netflix has a master list of hidden categories that go far beyond the usual Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, and the like. First discovered by the blog What's On Netflix, anyone can access them by simply typing specific URLs into a browser. Each URL has the format:

http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/###

 

[Luckylyn]

Hulu is super glitchy for me. Freezes all the time.  It works best with my firestick but sometimes freezes with that too.

[Stuffy]

7 hours ago, meowmommy said:

I hate recommendations.  Amazon Prime does it, too.  I make a point of never clicking on their recommendations.

I had quit Netflix a number of years ago because of the way they changed their interface, and finally signed back up on March 1.  It's only slightly more tolerable now, but at least this helps:

https://mashable.com/article/netflix-search-codes/#SOkbGHHZaZqX

 

Thanks for the link. I didn’t know about the codes. It will help A lot. 
 

I hate recommendations too and usually ignore them. The things I do like about the Netflix search is the predictive text, so I don’t have to use the remote to type in the entire thing. I also like that they actually give you what you’re looking for first, and I can ignore the recommendations that come after. Amazon search stinks because they have random shows mixed in when you just want to see a specific actor or show. I’ve tried putting quotes around things but it will still have random stuff listed along. 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Stuffy

[Irlandesa]

One thing I do like about Amazon's interface is that when you pause, the names of the actors appearing on the screen at a certain point will show up.  So when I wonder "hey, who is that guy?" I don't have to 1) figure out the character's name and then 2) go look it up on IMDb and hope it's there.

[Guest]

For everyone who doesn’t already get Peacock Premium through their cable service NBC is offered a pre-order deal. It’s $29.99 a year for the version with ads and $79.99 a year for the ad-free version. There will also be a free version with less content. The offer is good through July 14th with the launch on July 15th. 
 

It seems like NBC has made Peacock unnecessarily convoluted.  It’s hard to know exactly what is going to be available on each version. 
NBC Peacock Free vs Premium: What's the difference?

[Luckylyn]

DC Universe Streaming Service Future Potentially Uncertain With HBO Max

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiyuYfL8vLpAhVzl3IEHf5mBUAQFjAAegQIAhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fscreenrant.com%2Fdc-universe-streaming-service-future-uncertain-hbo-max%2F&usg=AOvVaw1ZDBFxZB6DRDMWT--agTLi

 

 

[Guest]

16 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

DC Universe Streaming Service Future Potentially Uncertain With HBO Max

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiyuYfL8vLpAhVzl3IEHf5mBUAQFjAAegQIAhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fscreenrant.com%2Fdc-universe-streaming-service-future-uncertain-hbo-max%2F&usg=AOvVaw1ZDBFxZB6DRDMWT--agTLi

 

 

I think they are going to have to pull content from DCU to HBO Max quickly. They used DC to promote HBO Max and the DC content is already light plus two-thirds of the live action DC movies are leaving on July 1st. Unless something changes the DC section of HBO Max is going to be pathetic in August. 

Edited June 10, 2020 by Guest

[AimingforYoko]

Substantial hike to YouTube TV raises price to 64.99/mo.

We all kinda knew this was going to happen after the Viacom deal, but I did not expect this large an increase. I will have to weigh my options.

ETA: Price hike starts immediately for new customers, August billing for existing.

Edited June 30, 2020 by AimingforYoko

[isalicat]

J'adore BritBox. All the content I would probably need for the rest of my TV viewing life. Plus it works perfectly - always saves where I am in any given series when I go back for the next episode.

[Guest]

Was glad to have HBOMax so I could watch the third season of Search Party -- a show that I thought had been long gone. I was disappointed that their selection of past HBO Documentaries was pretty terrible. I'm sure they long ago lost the rights to a lot of stuff -- like Living Dolls -- but I had expected that they'd at least have all the episodes of Autopsy and possibly one of my favorite docs, American Hollow. But...they don't. 

At least I don't have to pay extra for it since I already have HBO. Based on their selection alone, I'd have bought it for the month to watch Search Party then would have immediately canceled it.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

Was glad to have HBOMax so I could watch the third season of Search Party -- a show that I thought had been long gone. I was disappointed that their selection of past HBO Documentaries was pretty terrible. I'm sure they long ago lost the rights to a lot of stuff -- like Living Dolls -- but I had expected that they'd at least have all the episodes of Autopsy and possibly one of my favorite docs, American Hollow. But...they don't. 

For some reason WB as decided to go with rotating content for HBO Max. They’ve held back a lot of content they own that is supposed to rotated in later. 

[BetterButter]

Is Anyone Watching Quibi?

[peachmangosteen]

14 hours ago, BetterButter said:

Is Anyone Watching Quibi?

LOL! I'm not. I watched it for the first few weeks. I watched all of When the Streetlights Go On, which was terrible, and the first few eps of Gayme Show and that Nicole Ritchie show, both of which were fine but I didn't feel compelled to continue really.

[Moose135]

On 6/30/2020 at 4:00 PM, AimingforYoko said:

Substantial hike to YouTube TV raises price to 64.99/mo.

We all kinda knew this was going to happen after the Viacom deal, but I did not expect this large an increase. I will have to weigh my options.

ETA: Price hike starts immediately for new customers, August billing for existing.

I saw that when I logged in the other day. That's a big jump at one time, and looking at the list of new channels, Paramount is about the only one I'm really interested in. We've been watching Yellowstone, and after I switched to YTTV last October, we'd watch at GF's place, since she still has Comcast cable. She's been at my place during the COVID thing, so I loaded the Paramount app to my Roku and we signed in with her cable account.  At some point she'll end up giving up her place and dropping cable, so I'm glad YTTV added it.

That said, with an internet-only deal from Comcast (the only option available in my area) and YTTV, I'm still $125 a month ahead of a cable/internet package from Comcast.

Edited July 7, 2020 by Moose135

[AimingforYoko]

1 hour ago, Moose135 said:

That said, with an internet-only deal from Comcast (the only option available in my area)

Comcast has a lot of faults, but their internet service can't be touched. (Unless you're one of the lucky few who lives in an area with fiber).

[SunnyBeBe]

Does anyone have Philo?  I've read that it provides TLC live, among other channels and that it's FREE through Amazon Prime.  However, I haven't been able to get it to come up as an app on the tv screen.  I searched and got nothing. Any idea how to find it?  I won't have access to my actual tv until later this week, but, it should be the same with any Prime Account, right?  The other options for live stream would cost substantially more. 

[AimingforYoko]

What is your platform (Roku, Fire Stick, etc)? I have a Smart TV that's Roku and another TV with a Fire Stick and Philo's available on both.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Does anyone have Philo?  I've read that it provides TLC live, among other channels and that it's FREE through Amazon Prime.  However, I haven't been able to get it to come up as an app on the tv screen.  I searched and got nothing. Any idea how to find it?  I won't have access to my actual tv until later this week, but, it should be the same with any Prime Account, right?  The other options for live stream would cost substantially more. 

It’s free with prime? That’s new. I’ve used it in the past. I believe it’s available on all the big streaming devices but it may not be on all smart tv’s. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, AimingforYoko said:

What is your platform (Roku, Fire Stick, etc)? I have a Smart TV that's Roku and another TV with a Fire Stick and Philo's available on both.

42 minutes ago, Dani said:

It’s free with prime? That’s new. I’ve used it in the past. I believe it’s available on all the big streaming devices but it may not be on all smart tv’s. 

 

I've got Prime and Firestick, and it wasn't free for me. Only the first week was free for the "trial period" and I cancelled it after I watched what I wanted in the first day. Not impressed with the other stuff they have.

[SunnyBeBe]

1 hour ago, AimingforYoko said:

What is your platform (Roku, Fire Stick, etc)? I have a Smart TV that's Roku and another TV with a Fire Stick and Philo's available on both.

The one that I don't have with me right now is on a Firestick.  I just got it.  The one that I checked and couldn't find is on my parent's tv and it's on a Cube. 

[meowmommy]

On 7/6/2020 at 12:28 PM, Dani said:

For some reason WB as decided to go with rotating content for HBO Max. They’ve held back a lot of content they own that is supposed to rotated in later. 

I'm still pissed that HBO won't make a deal with Roku.  I'm paying for HBO Max and getting HBO Now.  I don't want to watch stuff on my tablet.

3 hours ago, Moose135 said:

I saw that when I logged in the other day. That's a big jump at one time

We did a trial of YouTubeTV in January when it was time to renew the cable contract, and it wasn't that great.  The only real advantage would have been the price, and now that advantage has gone away, too.

Looking at picking up Disney Plus since Ebates is offering a $15 rebate right now on an annual plan.

[Ailianna]

On 5/19/2020 at 2:20 PM, Giant Misfit said:

I find both Peacock and Hulu's interfaces worthless. Unless I know a show is specifically on either one, I won't even bother using them because it's too frustrating to find anything.It seems with both that their primary attention was paid to the graphics but not much else.

And I really hate the autoplay Netflix interface. If I want to watch the preview or start the show, I WILL. I don't need Netflix doing it for me. 

 

On 5/29/2020 at 11:55 AM, Stuffy said:

Hulu is the only app that freezes my tv, and sometimes the app won’t even load. My tv isn’t new but none of the other apps regularly freeze the tv. Also I hate how Hulu’s search works. I wish all the apps would copy how Netflix’s search works. Netflix will give you everything by the actor or series first and then there will be the recommendations. 
 

 

If I want to watch something, I actually use the computer to go to their site, search there (where I find it's a lot easier, plus having a computer keyboard versus the hunt and click method), and put it on my watch list.  It's an extra step, but I find it's a lot less frustrating.

In other news, I would like to see the new Psych movie, and it's on the new Peacock.  I have Spectrum, and a roku and a fire stick.  How can I access Peacock (even just for a night or two to see the movie)?

[SunnyBeBe]

I’m going to search for it when I get to my tv later this week. The firestick is brand new and the tv was bought at a Christmas.  If I don’t see it, I’ll try on amazon site. 
 

Anyone have Spectrum streaming? A rep called me about it, but, I didn’t have time to chat.