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

[Irlandesa]

4 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

Hulu is doing the .99 per month for a year deal again for new subscribers and returning subscribers who haven't been subscribed in the past month. https://www.hulu.com/gma

Ha.  I should have dropped Hulu for a month to get this.

3 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Amazon Prime is doing something similar.  They have a bunch of Prime Channels they are offering for .99 for two months then up to regular price -- Starz, Showtime, BritBox, AMC+ Discovery+ and a few others for a limited time.  I decided to re-up my Paramount+ subscription for two months that I had let lapse several months ago.

Oooh.  Britbox. There's something on this I want to binge.

Only problem is that I now pay for Discovery+, Paramount+, Disney + and even Hulu because of trials I've been too lazy to cancel. 

[Anela]

5 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Amazon Prime is doing something similar.  They have a bunch of Prime Channels they are offering for .99 for two months then up to regular price -- Starz, Showtime, BritBox, AMC+ Discovery+ and a few others for a limited time.  I decided to re-up my Paramount+ subscription for two months that I had let lapse several months ago.

Thanks. I might try this again, although I was just thinking that I have too many going. 

2 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Ha.  I should have dropped Hulu for a month to get this.

Oooh.  Britbox. There's something on this I want to binge.

Only problem is that I now pay for Discovery+, Paramount+, Disney + and even Hulu because of trials I've been too lazy to cancel. 

Same. I still have Disney+ from a two-month free trial that started on New Year's Eve. I haven't even watched it for two months. 

[RealHousewife]

I normally only watch paid streaming service content at family or friends' houses. I watch enough Bravo and other shows that I figured it wasn't worth paying for anything else. I was planning to get Netflix, but I saw that Mad Men is no longer available. Annoying! 

[Anela]

I laughed when I saw a tweet from Roku, saying something about it being a great time to cut the cord. Yeah, and sign up every freaking streaming service, to replace what you were getting on cable. 

Edited December 9, 2021 by Anela

[Irlandesa]

4 hours ago, Anela said:

I laughed when I saw a tweet from Roku, saying something about it being a great time to cut the cord. Yeah, and sign up every freaking streaming service, to replace what you were getting on cable. 

Or evaluate the channels you what channels you watch the most and take a look at YouTube TV, Tubi, Hulu Live or any other streaming cable alternatives that are much cheaper, at least to me, than cable. 

And then supplement accordingly.  I'm going back and forth on whether or not I want to do that.  YouTUbe TV has a lot of the channels I watch but not everything during this holiday season. 

[DearEvette]

I am pretty happy with my streaming.  I find that I rarely watch tv live anymore but there are a few very good bootleg websites out there that will stream live channels, even premium cable channels.

Right now I have Hulu (no commercials) and Netflix which comes to about 25.00 a month.

HBO - Free with my phone plan. 

Amazon Prime - which I have had forever -- even before streaming.  But I don't have that because of their tv stuff, it is the free shipping, the free books I primarily use that for.  That comes to about 8.00 a month.

Various free apps -- I don't mind watching, say CW stuff the next day.  And they at least offer their entire catalog next day.

Temporarily I also have :

Appletv+ but it is free until sometime in June for me.  I will let it lapse because the only thing on it I like is Ted Lasso.

Paramount+ - which I got for .99 for two months.  I am ok with this as I am not a huge CBS fan but I will binge some stuff out of boredom.  I have already pre-cancelled.

--

So I come out way ahead $$ wise than when we had cable.  I have learned that I am just not interested in enough content elsewhere to want to spend the money on higher priced content.  I even had the Disney+ bundle with my Hulu (it was an additional 7.00) but I realized that I am not a big enough fan of Marvel and Star Wars to want to pay for it.  I made sure to watch Hamilton and Brandy's Cinderella again before I peaced out.  LOL.

 

[meowmommy]

3 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Or evaluate the channels you what channels you watch the most and take a look at YouTube TV, Tubi, Hulu Live or any other streaming cable alternatives that are much cheaper, at least to me, than cable. 

We took a hard look at switching to a streaming service at the beginning of 2020.  We did a YouTube TV trial, because of all the streaming services it had the most channels that I already watched, and it was clunky, at best.  I think the main thing, IIRC, I didn't like was that while they allowed unlimited saving of shows in their cloud DVR, there was no way to mark what you'd already watched and you couldn't delete what you'd just finished, so trying to follow something episodically could be very challenging.  Also, again IIRC, you couldn't find shows on the program guide on your TV going forward more than about a day and a half; you had to use the computer.  Maybe these things have changed.

When I did the math of the cost of the streaming service plus the cost of the internet connection (which would have gone up if no longer bundled with cable), it was an OK deal but not a great deal.  But I actually took all my equipment to the cable store, ready to ditch it, and they offered me a sweetened pot to get me to stay, including all new equipment.  Of course, they had to lie and say all our shows that we'd put on the DVR were saved to the cloud.  Total prevarication.  And this year the DVR died and I brought it in for a replacement and they claimed at least my preferences would be saved.  Also a lie.  Had to reprogram it from scratch.

So we still have cable which is bundled with several premiums like HBO and Showtime, and then we have AP and Netflix, and we subscribe to Discovery+ through AP. 

I'm getting more frustrated with Netflix by the day, especially given how expensive it is.  The autoplay/preview drives me insane.  And I've already vented about how they've ruined the watchlist by sorting the way they want it, not the way I want it.  I'm about ready to do the one month off, one month on thing. 

We get Peacock for free with the cable and we get Paramount+ free through T-mobile, but I don't watch either one. 

I do wish Disney+ would offer a free trial just so I could see it.

[Bort]

28 minutes ago, meowmommy said:

I'm getting more frustrated with Netflix by the day, especially given how expensive it is.  The autoplay/preview drives me insane.

If you go into your Netflix account settings through the computer, you can turn off the auto play stuff. 

[meowmommy]

1 hour ago, kariyaki said:

If you go into your Netflix account settings through the computer, you can turn off the auto play stuff. 

Not so when you use a Roku.  I set my account on the day I opened it not to autoplay, but it does it anyway on my Roku TVs.  I have Googled and tried any number of workarounds, and they don't work.

[Mittengirl]

On 12/9/2021 at 4:32 PM, meowmommy said:

I do wish Disney+ would offer a free trial just so I could see it.

I signed up for the Disney+ $1.99 (I think) one month trial and will not be renewing it when it expires in a few days.  As a child of the ‘70’s, I was really looking forward to watching all of the old movies from that era and I was disappointed with how little was available.  I don’t know if they rotate what is available from month to month, but I’m too cheap to hang around to find out.

[ABay]

I just cancelled Netflix and upgraded to ad-free Hulu. If Netflix ever has something I want to watch, I'll re-up but probably not until the next series of Bake Off. Hulu with ads was so irritating--they would cut in during a scene, sometimes coming back at the wrong point and jumping the episode to the end. That also happened with the pre-Paramount+ CBS streaming service.

[peachmangosteen]

7 hours ago, ABay said:

Hulu with ads was so irritating--they would cut in during a scene, sometimes coming back at the wrong point and jumping the episode to the end.

OK so it's not just me then. I find this really irritating.

[SmithW6079]

The only paid streaming service I use is Hulu, which I got a couple of years ago because it was $1.99/month, and "The Orville" was going to start its third season. Of course, then 2020 happened, so everything got delayed and by the time the trail ran out, I had gotten used to it and had discovered several old and new shows that I enjoyed watching. 

However, I was just binging on "Crossing Swords," and holy smokes were the commercials annoying. I hadn't watched Hulu in a while, so all I remember is one or two commercials at breaks, but there were three or four at least, and the same ones each time. At least with YouTube (the free version, not the paid), you can skip at least one of the commercials after a few seconds (although YouTube's gotten really annoying too, with at least two commercials before a video starts and, depending on the channel, multiple ads through the video.

I still have cable, but I haven't been watching it that much. I spend a lot of evenings watching YouTube (free) because there are a number of channels that I like: current events, science, food, history, etc.

[meowmommy]

14 hours ago, ABay said:

Hulu with ads was so irritating--they would cut in during a scene, sometimes coming back at the wrong point and jumping the episode to the end.

We just let Hulu go after we finished the year of $1.99 a month.  I found that the ads cut at the right time if the original show had commercials, but not if they didn't.   I think we were watching Britain's Best Home Cook and Hulu would cut Mary Berry off in mid-sentence.  As if it was on some kind of automatic timer. 

I did notice, though, that for movies, they only ran a couple of commercials before the movie started and then ran the movie uninterrupted.  That was nice.  Just too bad they never had a decent selection.

4 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

I spend a lot of evenings watching YouTube (free) because there are a number of channels that I like: current events, science, food, history, etc.

I go on YouTube when I get interested in a new hobby and I want to learn more about it.  But I don't understand how to subscribe to channels when I watch it on TV.  The videos all seem to load at random.

[Guest]

On 12/10/2021 at 11:04 PM, Mittengirl said:

I signed up for the Disney+ $1.99 (I think) one month trial and will not be renewing it when it expires in a few days.  As a child of the ‘70’s, I was really looking forward to watching all of the old movies from that era and I was disappointed with how little was available.  I don’t know if they rotate what is available from month to month, but I’m too cheap to hang around to find out.

Disney+ doesn’t rotate content. Based on what I’ve read it’s a slow process converting the old movies to digital and some of it is too damaged to convert. 

[diet7up]

YouTube TV loses ABC, ESPN and other Disney channels after failing to reach deal.  Content affected by the lapsed agreement includes ABC-owned TV stations, ESPN networks and Disney channels. Freeform, the FX networks and National Geographic channels have also been removed. YouTube TV announced it would cut its monthly subscription rate by $15 while Disney content is off the air, going from $64.99 to $49.99.

[SunnyBeBe]

Has anyone else had severe buffering issues with HBO max?  I’ve read online that’s it’s quite common.  It’s so bad that it’s actually unwatchable.  I’m going to try some of the remedies I read online, but don’t hold much hope they’ll help.  I don’t have this problem with the other paid streaming services.  It too bad too, because I like their shows the most. No way I’ll keep paying for it like this though.  What a mess. 😫

[Irlandesa]

21 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Has anyone else had severe buffering issues with HBO max?  I’ve read online that’s it’s quite common.

Yes.  This drove me mad when I first got it.  It works for me on the Firestick. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

6 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Has anyone else had severe buffering issues with HBO max?  I’ve read online that’s it’s quite common.  It’s so bad that it’s actually unwatchable.  I’m going to try some of the remedies I read online, but don’t hold much hope they’ll help.  I don’t have this problem with the other paid streaming services.  It too bad too, because I like their shows the most. No way I’ll keep paying for it like this though.  What a mess. 😫

Nope.

[jah1986]

7 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Yes.  This drove me mad when I first got it.  It works for me on the Firestick. 

Yes, this weekend was the worst.  HBO really needs to do better.

[MaryMitch]

I think their app must use a lot of memory/resources. Maybe a design flaw, since I haven't had any problems with other streaming channels. I had problems just loading the HBOmax app on my Roku. I ended up getting a new Roku (moved the other one which was maybe 4 years old to a bedroom TV) and everything's been fine since.

[meowmommy]

9 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Has anyone else had severe buffering issues with HBO max?  I’ve read online that’s it’s quite common.  

Not really.  Occasionally it will hang when I'm starting a program and trying to skip the intro (and the only way to fix it is to leave the app and start over), but it never buffers in the middle of watching.

[SunnyBeBe]

Maybe, I’ll load HBO onto my Roku. It’s on my Firestick now.  Firestick has proven problematic for me.  I’ve had to resort to using Roku due to a couple of problems.  Watching live tv on the major networks is almost impossible on Firestick.  I can’t believe I bought 2 more on sale after Thanksgiving.  Lol. Oh well. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 minute ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Maybe, I’ll load HBO onto my Roku. It’s on my Firestick now.  Firestick has proven problematic for me.  I’ve had to resort to using Roku due to a couple of problems.  Watching live tv on the major networks is almost impossible on Firestick.  I can’t believe I bought 2 more on sale after Thanksgiving.  Lol. Oh well. 

That is really surprising. I’ve had my firestick for almost four years and have never had any problems. Well maybe one or two, but I just restarted it and that resolved the issue.

[SunnyBeBe]

11 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

That is really surprising. I’ve had my firestick for almost four years and have never had any problems. Well maybe one or two, but I just restarted it and that resolved the issue.

What do you mean by restarting?

[ABay]

For a while I had trouble with Netflix buffering and the only way to fix it was exit the app, as @meowmommy said about HBO Max.

[SunnyBeBe]

I know that if I try to watch NBC or CBS live on Firestick……it won’t let me. Says unavailable.  Shows I can watch.  But, if I switch to Roku, no problem.   

[GHScorpiosRule]

11 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

What do you mean by restarting?

If you go into the device settings, there is an option to restart. It’s like when you reboot your computer. You can call Amazon to have someone walk you through the process.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

That is really surprising. I’ve had my firestick for almost four years and have never had any problems. Well maybe one or two, but I just restarted it and that resolved the issue.

Same.   I should be careful not to jinx it but it's pretty reliable for me.

1 hour ago, SunnyBeBe said:

What do you mean by restarting?

@GHScorpiosRule taught me something new but what I do when it's being glitchy for me (usually related to YouTube TV) is unplug the power and plug it back in. 

1 hour ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I know that if I try to watch NBC or CBS live on Firestick……it won’t let me. Says unavailable.  Shows I can watch.  But, if I switch to Roku, no problem.   

How are you watching them?  Via an app?  I can watch those channels via YouTube TV without a problem but I haven't tried the apps.

[SunnyBeBe]

37 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

Same.   I should be careful not to jinx it but it's pretty reliable for me.

@GHScorpiosRule taught me something new but what I do when it's being glitchy for me (usually related to YouTube TV) is unplug the power and plug it back in. 

How are you watching them?  Via an app?  I can watch those channels via YouTube TV without a problem but I haven't tried the apps.

Yes.  I download the app and get access with my spectrum sign in. (Have cable tv account at my home. Use the apps at my vacation house.) It works fine for any channel I get on my cable lineup like TLC, Oxygen, CBS, etc.  But for live tv on those channels I have to go to Roku.  I have them there too. No problem on Roku.  I researched it once and read where other people had the same problem with the Firestick. 
 

I will try to reset it soon and see if that helps. I might also see if I have the same problem with my new Firesticks.  

Edited December 21, 2021 by SunnyBeBe

[Bastet]

My Fire stick was a really old one (maybe even first generation) that my parents had only used briefly when they first got Netflix and then stuck in a drawer for many years before remembering and giving it to me, and then I forgot about it for a few more years until last summer when between the pandemic and a sick cat, I was spending a lot more time watching my bedroom TV; I finally hooked it up so when there was nothing on (satellite) TV and I wasn't in the mood for any of my DVDs, there were additional options.

It worked perfectly fine for a while, then was intermittently glitchy for about a year, but always fixed by restarting it, and then one day a couple of months ago it just up and died - quit putting out a signal at all and could not be revived (it wasn't the HDMI port, the TV, or the USB cord - all of which worked with other devices - so it was the stick - which was just as dead in another port, on another TV, with another cord, etc.).  I got another old but not quite as old stick from someone off Freecycle (I don't watch enough streaming that I'd go buy a replacement; I have some free streaming services and then all my access to paid streaming comes via access to others' accounts), so we'll see how long that lasts.

It speaks to the disgraceful state of planned obsolescence we live in that I was impressed such an old stick worked that long (of course, it was only actually used for two relatively short periods of time, but it had to handle apps that were dramatically different and more plentiful than when it was manufactured).

Anyway, PlutoTV had quit working on the really old stick a while back, no matter how many restarts or even if I removed the app and then downloaded it anew.  Works just fine with the "new" old stick, though.  And there was something - IMDb TV? - that never worked on the old stick but does on the "new" one.  So sometimes there's just a problem on a particular device with a particular app.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Bastet

[SunnyBeBe]

I just looked back on this thread and I got the Firestick new in July of 2020.  The Roku tv too.  

[SunnyBeBe]

I just cancelled my Apple TV subscription.  As soon as Dexter:New Blood wraps up, I’m axing Showtime too.  

[RealHousewife]

Is Netflix still considered the gold standard, like the Spotify of TV? I know there are still a lot of good things on it, but I might actually prefer HBO Max or Hulu. As a Housewife fan, I might even prefer Peacock. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, RealHousewife said:

Is Netflix still considered the gold standard, like the Spotify of TV? I know there are still a lot of good things on it, but I might actually prefer HBO Max or Hulu. As a Housewife fan, I might even prefer Peacock. 

Yes. Considering how big of a lead Netflix had it will probably hold the top spot for awhile. I feel like HBO Max, Hulu and Peacock really have to improve the UI is they want to really challenge Netflix. 

[paulvdb]

Not all of them are available here in The Netherlands, but based on what I watch there is probably more on Netflix than all of the others combined.

[ABay]

There might be more on Netflix, but how much of it do you want to watch? I've dropped it and will probably resub when the next season of the Crown comes out, and hope they've added a couple of more things that interest me.

None of the streaming services has a decent interface. The main benefit to Prime's is that it's consistent across the additional channels you can add.

[paulvdb]

2 hours ago, ABay said:

There might be more on Netflix, but how much of it do you want to watch?

I was talking about shows that I actually watch. And more specifically about their original content. I don't care about how many shows the streamers might have that I don't watch and have no idea which one has the most total content.

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, ABay said:

There might be more on Netflix, but how much of it do you want to watch? I've dropped it and will probably resub when the next season of the Crown comes out, and hope they've added a couple of more things that interest me.

None of the streaming services has a decent interface. The main benefit to Prime's is that it's consistent across the additional channels you can add.

I guess it depends.  That's why I have so many services.  I probably watch Netflix the most but it doesn't have everything which is why I've added other services.  I just need to be better about canceling them once I watch what I want to watch.

Netflix used to have everything but alas....

[ABay]

Ah. I was speaking generally, not in direct response to your post, @paulvdb. I meant it to be rhetorical.

Edited December 23, 2021 by ABay

[Guest]

15 hours ago, ABay said:

There might be more on Netflix, but how much of it do you want to watch? I've dropped it and will probably resub when the next season of the Crown comes out, and hope they've added a couple of more things that interest me.

For me, quite a lot. Netflix is the one I pick when I’m not sure what I want to watch. I just find that their home screen presents me with more options that I might find interesting. I also really like Play Something and the top 10 list when I have no clue what I want.

Netflix’s strength is the sheer volume of original content so I often use it like I used to flip through channels on cable. I know I’ll find something to put on that is decent but doesn’t require my full attention. I use the others when I want to watch a specific movie or show. Plus whenever I cancel it they release something that gets so much buzz I end up resubscribing. 

15 hours ago, ABay said:

None of the streaming services has a decent interface. The main benefit to Prime's is that it's consistent across the additional channels you can add.

I actually do think Netflix has a decent interface or at least it appears good in comparison. HBO Max is awful despite having really good content. It’s slow, glitchy and they show me only what they want to promote. The For You list is almost comically unconnected to the types of things I watch.

Hulu has many of the same problems. In what world is Only Murders in the Building a good recommendation because I watched Masked Singer. It’s a great show and absolutely should be recommended but putting it in that category is ridiculous.

Peacock is difficult to navigate and they barely just added preview when you fast forward.

I actually find the Disney+ interface easy to navigate but their content is still so niche that I only watch when I know exactly what I want to watch. 

Edited December 24, 2021 by Guest

[RealHousewife]

When I try to scroll to the bottom of dramas, HBO Max freezes up, like somewhere in movies starting with S. Does this happen to anyone else? 

[GHScorpiosRule]

11 hours ago, RealHousewife said:

When I try to scroll to the bottom of dramas, HBO Max freezes up, like somewhere in movies starting with S. Does this happen to anyone else? 

Nope.

[Guest]

I am so irritated with HBO Max. Their subtitles are the worst. In the past they weren’t synced with the audio track. The last few times I wanted to use them they won’t show up. I am trying to watch a French documentary and can’t understand any of the narration and part of the interviews. I know the subtitles are there because when I bring up the progress bar they show up. So if I want to understand what is being said I have bring it back up every 5 freaking seconds. This has been happening for months. Why does this app have so many problems?

[SunnyBeBe]

I was having horrible problems with HBOmax until this week.  I’m not sure  why it has corrected itself.  They could return at anytime though.  I also have issues with Amazon Prime.  

[AimingforYoko]

Netflix raising subscription prices in U.S. and Canada.

[peachmangosteen]

Fucking hell!

[SunnyBeBe]

I just laugh at all these streaming options.  They are pathetic for the most part. The writing is horrendous on a lot of their original series.   And forget their interface and functionality.  I feel I’m dealing with how an app might behave in 1982.  
 

So, I’ve canceled Appletv, Showtime and Reelnow.  Next on my list is HBOmax.  Will do that as soon as And Just Like That and Euphoria wrap up.  I do pay for Amazon Prime, because I like the free delivery on packages.  And, I pay for Amazon Music Unlimited because I’m a huge music fan.  I also pay for Hulu….don’t use it much though.  I am considering Netflix again…..I got bored with it last year.  

[meowmommy]

2 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I am considering Netflix again…..I got bored with it last year.  

I am considering it, too.  Just not worth it.  And they didn't even have the courtesy to notify their customers of the price increase.  I'm thinking of going a month on, a month or two off.

[SunnyBeBe]

It doesn’t sound like much, but I have to consider how much it would be if I add all of the apps up, plus the internet cost.
 

 And then I have to search and search to find something that is interesting.  I find a lot of old movies that I’ve seen before or new movies that I don’t care for.  I have no interest in space flicks or Harry Potter. Little interest in Disney movies for kids.  I like quality films and series. If I do find a good one on Amazon…..it’ for sale or rent!  It’s insulting.  Lol. If they aren’t raising the quality of their product, they can’t justify the price increase, imo.  I guess I’ll keep shuffling the apps month to month.  

Edited January 22, 2022 by SunnyBeBe