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

[peachmangosteen]

Does anyone know if there's any way to remove things from Continue Watching on Disney+? I've tried just fast forwarding to the end but it's still showing up. UGH!

[Cloud9Shopper]

I think HBO Max will be my next subscription. I’ve always wanted to see The West Wing!

[meowmommy]

5 hours ago, Cloud9Shopper said:

I think HBO Max will be my next subscription. I’ve always wanted to see The West Wing!

I watch a *lot* of programming on HBO Max, even more than I used to.  They carry a significant part of the HGTV, Food Network, TLC, and other Discovery channels, a bunch of movies from TCM, CNN's documentaries, and of course the usual HBO content. 

My two biggest irritations are that when they converted to Max, they eliminated the ability to sort the watchlist, and that when I end a show, it not only doesn't push the next episode to the top of the queue (I don't mean autoplay, but just for the next viewing), but now it wants to replay the episode I've already seen.

And now they've jacked up prices again.  When I bought my annual ad-free plan in February, it was $150, and now it's $170.  FWIW, if you only care about the West Wing, I see the full DVD set currently on Amazon for $70.

[JustHereForFood]

On 6/12/2024 at 11:42 PM, peachmangosteen said:

Does anyone know if there's any way to remove things from Continue Watching on Disney+? I've tried just fast forwarding to the end but it's still showing up. UGH!

I had the same problem and just gave up.

[Shrek]

7 minutes ago, JustHereForFood said:

I had the same problem and just gave up.

Same.

There's a couple of others that have the same issue & things keep appearing on my Netflix continue watching that I have never watched which is really annoying, I have checked where & when the account was logged on & nothing unusual popped up either.

[Bastet]

Prime cannot handle me having nothing on my Continue Watching list, so if I remove everything, it will put back one thing I removed!  What it repeatedly chooses to return is Designing Women, which particularly irks me as it's the syndicated version rather than the uncut original.  No, I will not be watching that again!

(I have seasons one through five on DVD, but didn't buy the final two seasons as I only like a few episodes from those.  So I watched those seasons on Prime in order to see them for the first time since they aired.)

[StatisticalOutlier]

19 hours ago, Bastet said:

What it repeatedly chooses to return is Designing Women, which particularly irks me as it's the syndicated version rather than the uncut original.

What's up with the edited syndicated versions?  Do you know, or can you discern, the reason for the cuts?  Content?  Time? 

[Raja]

21 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

What's up with the edited syndicated versions?  Do you know, or can you discern, the reason for the cuts?  Content?  Time? 

I can't speak to the specific program but much content that was acceptable for network primetime broadcast in the latter 80s through the early 90s was no longer acceptable when those shows went to syndication 

[possibilities]

Also, cuts make time for more commercials, on channels that are ad-supported.

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

What's up with the edited syndicated versions?  Do you know, or can you discern, the reason for the cuts?  Content?  Time?

Time.  For some reason ($), Amazon bought the syndicated package rather than the original run.  So all episodes are cut for time, and the one-hour episode is missing entirely.

[meowmommy]

5 hours ago, possibilities said:

Also, cuts make time for more commercials, on channels that are ad-supported.

But on a streaming channel, time is irrelevant.  The program doesn't have to fit in 30 minutes or 60 minutes. 

I've pretty much stopped watching everything on Amazon once they told us to pay more or accept ads.  They did it ass-backwards.  Netflix, HBO, etc., were always ad-free, but they offered a cheaper tier if you didn't care about ad-free, so I kept what I had.  Amazon switched us to ad-supported and forced subscribers to 'upgrade' to keep what we had before.

[peachmangosteen]

The ads so far on what I've watched on Amazon were nothing that bothered me at all. Very short and only at the beginning.

But I do agree it's kind of bullshit to suddenly decide to have ads and make people pay more if they don't want them. 

I still find the fact that Paramount tells me I have ad-free but plays an ad at the beginning of everything more annoying though.

And Hulu's ads in general are the most infuriating.

Speaking of ads, I think I've asked this before but I don't remember lol, does anyone have the ad-supported Netflix? If so, what are the ads like?

[SoMuchTV]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

Speaking of ads, I think I've asked this before but I don't remember lol, does anyone have the ad-supported Netflix? If so, what are the ads like?

So far I'm finding them fairly unobtrusive.  Maybe 2 short breaks in an hour show, and sometimes it seems like it skips over a break entirely.

Considering the price differential with the ad-free tiers, I'm happy with it.  They do say that "all but a few movies and TV shows available" but so far I haven't run into anything that wasn't available.  Curious if anyone else has.

[Irlandesa]

I think the streaming services that started with having ads are more sophisticated about including more ads.  So Hulu, Peacock, Tubi, Freevee...etc. seem to have a lot. 

Amazon Prime has been rather unobtrusive so far but I'm sure that'll change once they combine Prime and Freevee.

[peachmangosteen]

I actually find Freevee’s ads fine. I usually only have like 1-3 breaks and only up to 1 and 1/2 minutes each time, which I guess is somewhat similar to Hulu but since Freevee is free it’s much easier to accept. I expected way more in Freevee since it’s free. Tubi has so many breaks that I find myself never being able to stand it, which sucks because there are a few originals on there I think I would like.

Thanks for the info about Netflix’s ads, @SoMuchTV. Since it’s so much cheaper than the ad free I might give it a shot to watch Bridgerton and That 90’s Show when it returns at the end of the month. I was just going to wait and resub in August when Umbrella Academy comes back but I’m a little too curious about this season of Bridgerton to wait lol.

Edited June 18 by peachmangosteen

[RealHousewife]

44 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I actually find Freevee’s ads fine. I usually only have like 1-3 breaks and only up to 1 and 1/2 minutes each time, which I guess is somewhat similar to Hulu but since Freevee is free it’s much easier to accept. I expected way more in Freevee since it’s free. Tubi has so many breaks that I find myself never being able to stand it, which sucks because there are a few originals on there I think I would like.

Thanks for the info about Netflix’s ads, @SoMuchTV. Since it’s so much cheaper than the ad free I might give it a shot to watch Bridgerton and That 90’s Show when it returns at the end of the month. I was just going to wait and resub in August when Umbrella Academy comes back but I’m a little too curious about this season of Bridgerton to wait lol.

I agree with SoMuchTV about Netflix. The ads are pretty minimal compared to say, Hulu. I also restarted my Netflix subscription for Bridgerton. :) Rewatching old seasons before I begin season 3. 

[Bastet]

8 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I still find the fact that Paramount tells me I have ad-free but plays an ad at the beginning of everything more annoying though.

Yeah, that drives me batty.  Thanks to the suggestion of someone here, I back out and then click on the title again and it plays without the ad, but I shouldn't have to do that.  Ad-free means ad-free, not "well, it's just one at the beginning for one of our originals".  Prime was the same way when it was ad-free, which also bugged me, but slightly less as they at least included a "Skip" option.

[meowmommy]

6 hours ago, Bastet said:

Thanks to the suggestion of someone here, I back out and then click on the title again and it plays without the ad,

Yeah, that was me.  You'd think they'd get the hint when I back out every single time, but no.

14 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

The ads so far on what I've watched on Amazon were nothing that bothered me at all. Very short and only at the beginning.

Well, then, I might check out their programming again.  That's how Hulu ad-supported movies used to be -- one ad at the beginning and then the rest of the movie ad-free was perfectly fine with me.  I could mostly live with that if that's what AP is doing.

I'm a little irritated with Tubi.  At first I thought they were great.  They'd have one or two very short ads at the beginning, and take far fewer and shorter breaks than were in the original show.  Now the ads are more frequent, and often six or seven at a time, and some of them are a full 30 seconds each.  OTOH, Tubi is still freaking *free*, so I guess I can't complain. 

I grew up with three channels and PBS.  You got to watch your show *once*, in real time, and if you missed it, you could wait and hope it showed up in summer rerun season.  And the ads that you couldn't bypass and never thought about bypassing.  It wasn't until the mid-80s that I even had a TV with a remote control and discovered the mute button.

No wonder I remember all the ad slogans and jingles from the sixties but couldn't tell you any from this century...

[SoMuchTV]

I’m sorry to report (and maybe everyone else already knew this) that Netflix has gone over to the dark side and started pushing their credits up into a box that you have to pass the click-the-right-buttons test to bypass. Hey, Netflix!  Maybe I want to know who was the Croatian voice of bystander #4. Or I just want to listen to the rest of the theme song. They didn’t use to do this!

[RealHousewife]

On 6/18/2024 at 4:24 PM, Bastet said:

Yeah, that drives me batty.  Thanks to the suggestion of someone here, I back out and then click on the title again and it plays without the ad, but I shouldn't have to do that.  Ad-free means ad-free, not "well, it's just one at the beginning for one of our originals".  Prime was the same way when it was ad-free, which also bugged me, but slightly less as they at least included a "Skip" option.

I haven't tried Paramount or Prime. That is pretty ridiculous. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

I watched Hulu's three-hour (3 part) documentary about Sherri Papini's faked kidnapping.  At the very end, there was kind of an epilogue thing where her husband was telling us how everybody's doing these days, with footage of him and the kids hanging around horses or something.  Fucking Hulu darkened the image and put links to three other shows covering the bottom 1/3 of the screen, one of which I'd already seen and they know I've seen it because they know everything about my viewing habits. 

The scene lasted multiple minutes.  It's bad enough when they mess with the credits, but actual content?  And, not to spoil anything, but a mind-blowing I-didn't-see-that-coming capper to the whole show?  The hell??

Plus the captions no longer appear when the screen looks like this, so after my mad scramble for the remote, praying I pass the click-the-right-buttons test, I had to back it up so I could see what he said.

It's so bad I'm seriously considering not taking them up on 99 cents/month if they offer it again this November because I can't stand the thought of shelling out even 3 cents a day to be annoyed.  They should be paying me. 

[EtheltoTillie]

5 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I watched Hulu's three-hour (3 part) documentary about Sherri Papini's faked kidnapping.  At the very end, there was kind of an epilogue thing where her husband was telling us how everybody's doing these days, with footage of him and the kids hanging around horses or something.  Fucking Hulu darkened the image and put links to three other shows covering the bottom 1/3 of the screen, one of which I'd already seen and they know I've seen it because they know everything about my viewing habits. 

The scene lasted multiple minutes.  It's bad enough when they mess with the credits, but actual content?  And, not to spoil anything, but a mind-blowing I-didn't-see-that-coming capper to the whole show?  The hell??

Plus the captions no longer appear when the screen looks like this, so after my mad scramble for the remote, praying I pass the click-the-right-buttons test, I had to back it up so I could see what he said.

It's so bad I'm seriously considering not taking them up on 99 cents/month if they offer it again this November because I can't stand the thought of shelling out even 3 cents a day to be annoyed.  They should be paying me. 

But do you think it's worth watching LOL?  I am not sure I want to spend three hours.  I wish I had a TLDR version.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

But do you think it's worth watching LOL?  I am not sure I want to spend three hours.  I wish I had a TLDR version.

For that kind of story, tl/dr; would be my bag too. 
But it would definitely include the part that @StatisticalOutlier noted Hulu had effectively cut. Sheesh!

@StatisticalOutlier, is there a nearly hidden option to see the last few minutes of the show/movie on Hulu? 

Spectrum wants another $50/mo. for me to have cable. IDK. An old work friend and my son-in-law think I should just get cable and nix the cheapo versions of Hulu and Peacock after my SIL cancels "our" Paramount+ again. 
Paramount+ was as low as $13/mo. the last time I checked, so, along with free YouTube content, I can get the equivalent of cable for $30/mo., saving about $250/year.

I guess the real issue is how much time would I save accessing the content I want when I want it (if any?), and, how much time would I waste watching stuff I wouldn't otherwise watch? 

I quit TV from ages 14-44 because I am an addict. (I'm 70+ now.)

Quite a few family members have tuned out of cable news to reduce personal stress, but my decades as a reference librarian whose job it was to know things — including crap in the zeitgeist — is not something I can just abandon.

Edited June 25 by shapeshifter

[EtheltoTillie]

@shapeshifter I too have been a lifelong information junkie, and my husband is too--I guess that's one reason we're compatible. I never quit TV.  I needed to watch TV and know about pop culture when I was a magazine editor.  I was a pop culture addict so that's why I was drawn to that career. 

I can't imagine not watching news to avoid stress.  I can't comment on your subscription issues without more information.  Do you currently get internet from Spectrum?  Without cable? 

We have cable TV, internet and a VOIP "land line" from Spectrum (we don't really use the land line--it's part of the package).  We also have multiple streaming subscriptions. That's our "fun" budget.  I have thought about eliminating cable, but the workarounds are just too annoying for me and when all is said and done do not lead to meaningful savings if any.  Also, some of the cable subscriptions lead to free log ins on Roku, where we watch the streaming subscriptions (example HBO/Max).  I could not live without TCM and the streaming log in Watch TCM.

 

[StatisticalOutlier]

5 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

But do you think it's worth watching LOL?  I am not sure I want to spend three hours.  I wish I had a TLDR version.

It held my interest throughout, but I knew pretty much nothing about it going in.  I'm pretty impatient when receiving information; I don't listen to podcasts because I'm always thinking, "Get to the fucking point."  The Papini show didn't have an unacceptable amount of flab, but again, it was all news to me.

[Zella]

31 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I'm pretty impatient when receiving information; I don't listen to podcasts because I'm always thinking, "Get to the fucking point." 

Yes. I hate this shift to "informational" podcasts and YouTube videos. I don't want to sit around listening to or watching that shit for hours. Just give me something I can read. It will be so much faster for me, and I will retain it much better.

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

It held my interest throughout, but I knew pretty much nothing about it going in.  I'm pretty impatient when receiving information; I don't listen to podcasts because I'm always thinking, "Get to the fucking point."  The Papini show didn't have an unacceptable amount of flab, but again, it was all news to me.

Same, these 8 hour true crime podcasts are impossible to listen to.  But many people love them.  I like This American Life.  Three compelling stories in an hour. 

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

It held my interest throughout, but I knew pretty much nothing about it going in.  I'm pretty impatient when receiving information; I don't listen to podcasts because I'm always thinking, "Get to the fucking point."  The Papini show didn't have an unacceptable amount of flab, but again, it was all news to me.

I just opened Hulu on my computer and skipped to the end of episode three.  I got to watch the whole epilogue without any interruption.  Maybe try again with fast forwarding.  And/or try on a computer, where there is a little more control by using the cursor. 

I don't think I will watch this.  I already knew about the story and read some summaries on the show thread. 

[SoMuchTV]

14 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I watched Hulu's three-hour (3 part) documentary about Sherri Papini's faked kidnapping.  At the very end, there was kind of an epilogue thing where her husband was telling us how everybody's doing these days, with footage of him and the kids hanging around horses or something.  Fucking Hulu darkened the image and put links to three other shows covering the bottom 1/3 of the screen, one of which I'd already seen and they know I've seen it because they know everything about my viewing habits. 

The scene lasted multiple minutes.  It's bad enough when they mess with the credits, but actual content?  And, not to spoil anything, but a mind-blowing I-didn't-see-that-coming capper to the whole show?  The hell??

Plus the captions no longer appear when the screen looks like this, so after my mad scramble for the remote, praying I pass the click-the-right-buttons test, I had to back it up so I could see what he said.

It's so bad I'm seriously considering not taking them up on 99 cents/month if they offer it again this November because I can't stand the thought of shelling out even 3 cents a day to be annoyed.  They should be paying me. 

It's interesting you say that.  I just watched that as well, and Hulu stayed with it all the way to the end, every episode.  I wonder if it makes a difference what platform you're on.  I was watching on a smart tv, directly through the Hulu app (not through Disney).  I'll say again, Hulu has its downsides (...long commercials...) but it's the only streamer that's consistent (for me) with not squashing the credits and honoring my no-autoplay option. 

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I just opened Hulu on my computer and skipped to the end of episode three.  I got to watch the whole epilogue without any interruption.  Maybe try again with fast forwarding.  And/or try on a computer, where there is a little more control by using the cursor. 

Yes, the computer allows a lot more control for streaming. Which can be annoying.

7 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Do you currently get internet from Spectrum?  Without cable? 

Yes. Exactly.
Spectrum cable was free for about a year when I first moved here.
I did watch some cable news shows, but mostly reruns of Castle, LOL.

I have 2 Roku TVs of different vintages, with slightly different interfaces,
and 2 antennas with fickle amounts of signal, but one or the other usually give me MeTV, Antenna TV, etc. 
I have the bargain basement versions Hulu and Peacock, which allow me to stream shows the next day, and, for now, Paramount+ too. 

Greenlight internet service has been "coming soon to your area" for 3 years now.🙄 If they do, maybe Spectrum will give me a cable deal to keep them as my ISP. 
 

[EtheltoTillie]

Ah, over the air TV with an antenna:  Not possible in Manhattan.  Too much interference.  Growing up in Queens in the ancient past, I lived in a building that had a master antenna on the roof and every apartment could hook up.  So we had over-the air TV with good reception for the basic channels.  If you used an extra TV in another room, where we did not have the coaxial cable hookup, you'd have to use rabbit ears, which would work poorly.  The cable channels didn't exist yet. 

Edited June 25 by EtheltoTillie

[meowmommy]

11 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Paramount+ was as low as $13/mo. the last time I checked

If you get the annual plan (ad-free), it works out to $10/month.  Of course, then you're stuck with it for a year whether you like it or not.

Ad-free Hulu/Disney, Paramount+, and HBO Max currently run me a total of about $45/month.  Before the newest price increases, of course.  😡

18 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Fucking Hulu darkened the image and put links to three other shows covering the bottom 1/3 of the screen

I haven't watched that program yet, but my current pet named Peeve on Hulu is that I can't adjust the size, the font, or the location of the subtitles, at least on Roku.  We watch pretty much everything with captions, and the size is huge.  A lot of shows run chyrons or hints or identifiers or credits in the middle of the bottom of the screen, and they're always blocked by the captions.  Other services know to shift the captions to the top or off to the side when there are words at the bottom.

But yeah, I can never remember with these services whether I have to arrow right or just click ok to stay with what I'm watching at the end of the program, or if that's going to start the next episode or movie that I really don't want to watch. 

[Bastet]

Another way that Hulu annoys me is making their fastest rewind/FF speed ridiculously slow.  Paramount+ zipping ahead/back at lightning speed is annoying, but even worse is having your fastest option only go 32 seconds ahead/back at a time.

[StatisticalOutlier]

6 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Hulu has its downsides (...long commercials...) but it's the only streamer that's consistent (for me) with not squashing the credits and honoring my no-autoplay option. 

I'm not even sure how this stuff works, but I have a dumb TV and a Roku device that has the Hulu app (I hate the word "app") on it. 

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if your Hulu acts differently from my Hulu, which makes it all the more maddening.

[Bastet]

2 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I'm not even sure how this stuff works, but I have a dumb TV and a Roku device that has the Hulu app (I hate the word "app") on it.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if your Hulu acts differently from my Hulu, which makes it all the more maddening.

I also have a dumb TV, but access streaming apps via a Fire device, and I checked out of curiosity -- that final segment played normally for me (Hulu didn't put those damn three boxes suggesting other shows across the bottom of the screen until the credits started).

It's only .99/month, but my list of things I want to watch on Hulu isn't terribly long, so I went into the deal figuring I'd keep it for a few months, six at most, and then cancel.  But I'll probably wind up keeping it the entire year (and then canceling, because there's no way on this or any other planet I'd pay more than 99 cents for that damn thing) to get through my list, because I get so frustrated every time I watch something on there, I don't watch for all that long before I switch to TV or another streaming service.

[StatisticalOutlier]

2 hours ago, meowmommy said:

A lot of shows run chyrons or hints or identifiers or credits in the middle of the bottom of the screen, and they're always blocked by the captions. 

I call those "persistent captions," meaning they're there no matter what.  My DirecTV had captions that would disappear if you hit the volume button, but of course hitting the volume button made a volume level bar appear on the bottom of the screen that you might or might not be able to see through enough to read the chyron.

But with my Roku, there's no way to make the captions go away for just a second to see what's behind them.  I think I can hit * and turn the captions off in order to see it, but then I'd have to do that AND rewind to before the chyron AND hit * to turn the captions back on after I read the chyron.  And do it all over again every time I want to see something behind there.

I've actually quit watching House Hunters as much as I used to because it's so annoying not being able to see what's behind the captions.

Speaking of captions, here's a tip (for Roku, anyway):  manually turn captions off for movies in a foreign language with English subtitles, because there will be captions that say "mournful music" or "leaves rustling" blocking the subtitles for the dialogue.

[Broderbits]

13 hours ago, meowmommy said:

I haven't watched that program yet, but my current pet named Peeve on Hulu is that I can't adjust the size, the font, or the location of the subtitles, at least on Roku.

I had the same problem with huge subtitles on an Acorn show on Roku and found out the following:

On your Roku remote, Navigate to Settings.

Select Accessibility.

Proceed to the Caption style.

Then, Text size. After this one, select your preferred text size.

[meowmommy]

8 hours ago, Broderbits said:

I had the same problem with huge subtitles on an Acorn show on Roku and found out the following:

On your Roku remote, Navigate to Settings.

Select Accessibility.

Proceed to the Caption style.

Then, Text size. After this one, select your preferred text size.

I have no “Accessibility” option on any of my Rokus.  The only option under Settings is Autoplay on or off.  🫢

[Broderbits]

1 hour ago, meowmommy said:

I have no “Accessibility” option on any of my Rokus.  The only option under Settings is Autoplay on or off.

On the Home screen that's the only option under Settings?

[meowmommy]

16 minutes ago, Broderbits said:

On the Home screen that's the only option under Settings?

Yup.

[shapeshifter]

23 hours ago, meowmommy said:

I have no “Accessibility” option on any of my Rokus.  The only option under Settings is Autoplay on or off.  🫢

Go to Home,
then scroll up to Settings and click on it.
There should be a list of options on the right, including "Accessibility."

If not…?

Edited June 27 by shapeshifter

[meowmommy]

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Go to Home,
then scroll up to Settings and click on it.
There should be a list of options on the right, including "Accessibility."

I meant that using the Hulu app, I don't have an accessibility option on any of my Roku devices.  Believe me, I've been looking for it ever since I started subscribing.  The only setting Hulu allows me to adjust is whether or not I want autoplay (I don't).

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, meowmommy said:

I meant that using the Hulu app, I don't have an accessibility option on any of my Roku devices.  Believe me, I've been looking for it ever since I started subscribing.  The only setting Hulu allows me to adjust is whether or not I want autoplay (I don't).

I just tested it on my Roku TV on the Hulu app, and, yes, changing the text size for the Roku TV does change the text size for Hulu.

Or are you saying your Roku TV doesn’t have an Accessibility menu?

[meowmommy]

6 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I just tested it on my Roku TV on the Hulu app, and, yes, changing the text size for the Roku TV does change the text size for Hulu.

Or are you saying your Roku TV doesn’t have an Accessibility menu?

Ah, you are correct.  I changed the settings for the Roku and my Hulu captions are now smaller.  Of course, the captions on all my other apps are now teeny-tiny.  But at least I know it's an option.  Thanks.

Edited June 28 by meowmommy

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, meowmommy said:

Ah, you are correct.  I changed the settings for the Roku and my Hulu captions are now smaller.  Of course, the captions on all my other apps are now teeny-tiny.  But at least I know it's an option.  Thanks.

Excellent. Or, at least, as good as it gets.😉

I had forgotten about being annoyed by having to switch the caption size back and forth — especially because I would repeatedly forget until I had already jumped through the hoops to get to my Hulu show, and now had to go back out to Roku and "lather, rinse, repeat."
I think this may have only started in the last year? Maybe @Broderbits recalls?
If so, perhaps a software update will "fix" it?

Lately I'm only watching stuff on Hulu from across the room — or even from the bathtub, LOL — so the large, shouty-sized captioning is fine.

But when Only Murders In The Building starts up again at the end of August, I'm sure you'll hear me complaining about it.
[End of the?] First World problems.

[StatisticalOutlier]

For those of you who "stack" library cards for Kanopy and Hoopla:

Hoopla has Ken Burns's Vietnam series.  That makes me happy because I recorded it back when it first aired but didn't get around to watching it, and the machine died and took Vietnam with it.

I get four "borrows" on Hoopla through my library card.  Hoopla considers each of the ten episodes of Vietnam one borrow, even though it might be less than 1-1/2 hours, and they're episodes of a series, not standalone programs.  Grr.  I think that even the original presentation on PBS doubled up shorter episodes on one night, for a three-hour program.

There's no way for me to get cards from other libraries that would give me more "borrows" on Hoopla.  However, I could ask my friend to get a library card.  The question is, can I stack his library card with mine, on my Hoopla via a Roku device?  If it matters, we have the same street address (I use his address as my official residence because I travel fulltime). 

It's my understanding that I can stack MY library cards (assuming I could get more than one, which I can't), but can I stack someone else's library card with mine?

[meowmommy]

4 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

It's my understanding that I can stack MY library cards (assuming I could get more than one, which I can't), but can I stack someone else's library card with mine?

That's too bad.  Here in AZ, I have ten different library cards, although not all of them offer Hoopla and/or Kanopy. 

I don't know the answer to your question, but if your friend doesn't care about actually using the library card, couldn't you just sign out of your Hoopla account and sign in with his, add the shows you like, and keep watching?

[chitowngirl]

My Peacock subscription is currently $2.99/month, the rate I got from Xfinity when they stopped the free service. They are extending it 2 more months (Olympics! Yay!), then it will go to the $7.99/month rate. I’m cancelling it then. There is absolutely nothing I watch on Peacock except Poker Face that I just binged. If I cancel and they offer me a renewal incentive, $36/year (which is the $2.99 currently paying) is my line in the sand.

[StatisticalOutlier]

1 hour ago, meowmommy said:

Here in AZ, I have ten different library cards, although not all of them offer Hoopla and/or Kanopy. 

This is in Texas.  As I said upthread, it's probably a miracle they let us have libraries at all. 

1 hour ago, meowmommy said:

I don't know the answer to your question, but if your friend doesn't care about actually using the library card, couldn't you just sign out of your Hoopla account and sign in with his, add the shows you like, and keep watching?

He wouldn't use the library card himself.  But I don't know if I can have two versions of the Hoopla app on my Roku device--one for him and one for me.  The way it is now, I click on the Hoopla icon on my TV and it already knows who I am.

 

[AheadofStraight]

10 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

My Peacock subscription is currently $2.99/month, the rate I got from Xfinity when they stopped the free service. They are extending it 2 more months (Olympics! Yay!), then it will go to the $7.99/month rate. I’m cancelling it then. There is absolutely nothing I watch on Peacock except Poker Face that I just binged. If I cancel and they offer me a renewal incentive, $36/year (which is the $2.99 currently paying) is my line in the sand.

You could see if this offer is still available. I canceled mine and signed up for this with a different email.

https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/16493-to-subscribe-or-not-to-subscribe-that-is-the-question-paid-streaming-services/?do=findComment&comment=8386052