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


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1 hour ago, krankydoodle said:

If you have Disney+, you should also cancel more than a month before the Black Friday deal. That's how I was deemed ineligible for the Hulu deal this year.

Good tip.  Figuring out how these work together is beyond my skills.  When I clicked on the link to accept the offer Hulu sent via email, the log-in screen said:  "Log in to Hulu with your MyDisney account. If you don't have one, you will be prompted to create one."

It's done that for some time now.  I don't have a MyDisney account.  I have my own internet domain and always set up unique email address for everything, and for hulu it's hulu@myowninternetdomain.com.  (For roku, it's roku@myowninternetcomain.com.)  I've never subscribed to Disney.

I forged ahead and used hulu@myowninternetdomain.com and it worked.  I guess my Hulu account is my MyDisney Account, even though I've never subscribed to Disney? 

Who the hell knows.  Anyway, all of this will work only if they maintain the requirement that a person not to have been a subscriber for 30 days, and don't change it to something longer.  But it's worth a shot.

 

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I'm not a fan of everything being labeled as "gaslighting" these days, but streaming is making me question reality.

I have access to Max now, and last night settled in to watch the latest season of Somebody Somewhere.  So I go to Max on my TV (via Roku) and find the screen for the show, and where you can click on which season to watch, and there are three seasons.  I go to Season 3, but the only episode is a trailer.  So I check Seasons 1 and 2 and they have all their episodes, so I navigate out of Max and go back in and there's still only the trailer for Season 3 and no episodes.

But I see up in the corner something about a new episode on Sunday, so I wonder if I happened to do this right before Season 3 starts.  So I go to the discussions here and there are six episodes being discussed; Season 3 started in October.

Grrrr.  So I do other stuff and later go to Max and check one. more. time. and there's the same screen, but this time when I go to Season 3 the episodes are there.

I know for 100% certain that those episodes were not there just an hour or so earlier, and I know that because I would have watched them.  And I wouldn't have watched the trailer if there were episodes to be seen.  They were not there.

But then they were.

I hate this.

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We still haven’t got rid of prime, that’s going to happen, but I went with the free music subscription, so that I could listen to Christmas albums. Now I’m hearing about an amazon strike.  I didn’t mean to cross a picket line, if I did.  
 

I’m going to do a YouTube tv free trial, so that I can try to watch Home Alone, with dad.  We haven’t watched any Christmas movies, he’s been too busy, and I found out that it’s on Disney plus, or cable.  

On 11/28/2024 at 10:12 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

Good tip.  Figuring out how these work together is beyond my skills.  When I clicked on the link to accept the offer Hulu sent via email, the log-in screen said:  "Log in to Hulu with your MyDisney account. If you don't have one, you will be prompted to create one."

It's done that for some time now.  I don't have a MyDisney account.  I have my own internet domain and always set up unique email address for everything, and for hulu it's hulu@myowninternetdomain.com.  (For roku, it's roku@myowninternetcomain.com.)  I've never subscribed to Disney.

I forged ahead and used hulu@myowninternetdomain.com and it worked.  I guess my Hulu account is my MyDisney Account, even though I've never subscribed to Disney? 

Who the hell knows.  Anyway, all of this will work only if they maintain the requirement that a person not to have been a subscriber for 30 days, and don't change it to something longer.  But it's worth a shot.

 

I have Hulu and max separately, but I’m thinking of trying the bundle. I don’t have Disney, but I did for a long time, amd they said I’d be saving 42%.

Edited by Anela
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On 12/6/2024 at 8:42 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

I'm not a fan of everything being labeled as "gaslighting" these days, but streaming is making me question reality.

I have access to Max now, and last night settled in to watch the latest season of Somebody Somewhere.  So I go to Max on my TV (via Roku) and find the screen for the show, and where you can click on which season to watch, and there are three seasons.  I go to Season 3, but the only episode is a trailer.  So I check Seasons 1 and 2 and they have all their episodes, so I navigate out of Max and go back in and there's still only the trailer for Season 3 and no episodes.

But I see up in the corner something about a new episode on Sunday, so I wonder if I happened to do this right before Season 3 starts.  So I go to the discussions here and there are six episodes being discussed; Season 3 started in October.

Grrrr.  So I do other stuff and later go to Max and check one. more. time. and there's the same screen, but this time when I go to Season 3 the episodes are there.

I know for 100% certain that those episodes were not there just an hour or so earlier, and I know that because I would have watched them.  And I wouldn't have watched the trailer if there were episodes to be seen.  They were not there.

But then they were.

I hate this.

I want to see season 3.  So….guess I’ll have to get MAX.  

On 12/19/2024 at 3:54 PM, Anela said:

Now I’m hearing about an amazon strike.  I didn’t mean to cross a picket line, if I did.  
 

I get emails from the union and the most recent one I saw said they are NOT asking people to boycott right now, that they want to save that for later, if they don't get results from the strike and need another lever to pull to increase the pressure. They said that a boycott will be most effective if everyone starts it at the same time, so wait til they say "go!"

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Amazon workers have unionized at a number of their warehouses, but Amazon has refused to negotiate with them. The current strike is the Teamsters who do deliveries for them.

If you want to get updates, you can sign up for the email news offered by "The Labor Force" at https://thelaborforce.org/about/ 

Scroll down until you get to the form for "sign me up for updates" (it's a lot of scrolling to get there). 

 

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17 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I want to see season 3.  So….guess I’ll have to get MAX.  

FWIW, Season 3 is the final season of Somebody Somewhere, but they didn't know it when they filmed it.  I love(d) that show.

You missed the Max Black Friday deal, but a very short Max subscription would be enough for Somebody Somewhere; the whole season is only about 4 hours.  I've seen movies longer than that, sitting in a theater seat.

Actually, if I had to get a short subscription, I'd wait until all of the new season's episodes of The Gilded Age are up, and plan to watch all of that and all of Somebody Somewhere in short order.  But I'm pretty strategic--last summer I chose not to watch any of the new season of Hacks because I realized my six-month cheap subscription would expire before the last episode. 

 

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I've been waiting to get a one month MAX sub tiil all the Somebody, Somewhere eps were out, plus I'm hoping to catch a few Last Week Tonight, so I'm waiting til that is airing new eps again. I am not sure what else they have, but I don't like period dramas (they always make me feel depressed; I hate everything about the eras of Europe inevitably portrayed). Is Hacks on MAx? I liked the earlier seasons, so that's something else to look forward to.

"Hacks on Max" sounds like Dr. Seuss. Now that I've thought it, I'm going to have trouble watching the show without laughing for the wrong reason.

Edited by possibilities
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Not sure how up on bundles people are but I got the original Disney Hulu (no ads) and ESPN+ bundle. In looking at my bills I am paying $19.98 and $12.00 (for some reason they come out on different days).

Is there a better bundle out there for those 3 services that would be less than the total $31.98 per month I am paying now?

 

15 minutes ago, Unclejosh said:

Not sure how up on bundles people are but I got the original Disney Hulu (no ads) and ESPN+ bundle. In looking at my bills I am paying $19.98 and $12.00 (for some reason they come out on different days).

Is there a better bundle out there for those 3 services that would be less than the total $31.98 per month I am paying now?

 

I'm confused as to why you're paying 2 separate times. Is it the total added together for the whole thing or 2 different things? Makes no sense why you would pay twice for the same thing.

We have the same bundle as you with the ESPN+ but they have another bundle with Max replacing ESPN+. Their price for the bundle with ESPN+ and no ads can be had for 27.99 but the way they do their pricing is very confusing & I'm no expert.

I'm sure they make it confusing deliberately just to confuse people as nothing can be simple anymore.

Edited by Shrek
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10 minutes ago, Unclejosh said:

because i added no ads later. 

I think it was originally 7.00 for Disney and then Hulu no adds was 12.99. So it was 19.99 total originally or something like that.

 

Got it. So yes there is better out there, I just saw the same package for $26.99 so maybe call them & see if they'll give you the same deal.

Edited by Shrek
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You can get ad supported Peacock for $1.99 per month for 3 months with code NEWYEAR25.

Quote

Limited time offer. Subject to early termination. Excludes current Peacock Premium and Premium Plus subscribers. After offer ends, each month you will be charged $7.99 (or the then-current retail price) plus tax until you cancel. Cancel anytime. Additional eligibility restrictions and terms apply.

 

Roku now has a dedicated Match Game channel with Gene Rayburn's 7 seasons. 
I'm confused about the episode order and wondering if it will get straightened out eventually. Does anyone know if that's par for the course with new Roku channels featuring long-running series of this sort? 
There seemed to be no more than one brief commercial per show, but I haven't gotten very far. 

Is this the right thread for this? 

Edited by shapeshifter
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2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Is this the right thread for this? 

Technically, no, since this is for paid streaming services and the Roku channel is free.  When I complained about Pluto as contrasted with Tubi, I posted in the thread about where to legally view things for free.  But free streaming services have been mentioned in here, too; I don't think anyone cares.

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(edited)
16 hours ago, Bastet said:

Technically, no, since this is for paid streaming services and the Roku channel is free.  When I complained about Pluto as contrasted with Tubi, I posted in the thread about where to legally view things for free.  But free streaming services have been mentioned in here, too; I don't think anyone cares.

Thank you! I can never remember the cutesy names of some of these threads like "The Free & Legal To View Online Resource Thread: Where To See Your Favorite Shows," even when the title made perfect sense to me when the thread began.

Edited by shapeshifter
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(edited)

On the free Apple TV+ this weekend, how does that work?  When I had DirecTV and HBO had a free preview, HBO would be broadcasting if I tuned in that channel.  I've never done this with streaming.

I have a dumb TV and a Roku, and have the Apple+ app on my Roku without a subscription.  Once the free preview starts, will I just be able to click on whatever show and start watching?  I think I get something like a "subscribe to watch" screen if I do that now.

Edit:  I just went to the Apple app on my Roku and it won't let me go any further than the opening screen without logging in; I'm guessing that if the free preview is happening, I'll get a screen that mimics what I'd get if I log in?

I have a device on which I can record programs, so I want to start "watching" as soon as possible.

Edited by StatisticalOutlier
(edited)

Does anyone know if the tvs like Roku, Fire tv, TLC, etc. (I have a Fire tv and a Roku tv) are able to receive regular cable?  I’m shopping for my parents.  I use only streaming providers like Prime, Netflix, Hulu, etc and not a paid cable service.  I doubt they will use more than their Spectrum cable.  I just wanted to confirm there are no quirks with any of these brands and regular cable.  I have previously bought them tvs by Sony, Phillips, and Vizio, which are more expensive.  

Edited by SunnyBeBe
49 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Does anyone know if the tvs like Roku, Fire tv, TLC, etc. (I have a Fire tv and a Roku tv) are able to receive regular cable?  I’m shopping for my parents.  I use only streaming providers like Prime, Netflix, Hulu, etc and not a paid cable service.  I doubt they will use more than their Spectrum cable.  I just wanted to confirm there are no quirks with any of these brands and regular cable.  I have previously bought them tvs by Sony, Phillips, and Vizio, which are more expensive.  

It's hard to find a TV today that's not "smart". There should be an input setting for at least one HDMI cable which would connect to your cable service or DVD player.

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26 minutes ago, MaryMitch said:

It's hard to find a TV today that's not "smart". There should be an input setting for at least one HDMI cable which would connect to your cable service or DVD player.

Right.  I feel it will have proper input source options, just wanted to confirm it will process regular cable shows.  I’m going with it.
 

Not as many sales as I was expecting after Christmas.  I should have purchased it earlier.  

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2 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Does anyone know if the tvs like Roku, Fire tv, TLC, etc. (I have a Fire tv and a Roku tv) are able to receive regular cable?  I’m shopping for my parents.  I use only streaming providers like Prime, Netflix, Hulu, etc and not a paid cable service.  I doubt they will use more than their Spectrum cable.  I just wanted to confirm there are no quirks with any of these brands and regular cable.  I have previously bought them tvs by Sony, Phillips, and Vizio, which are more expensive.  

Yes

3 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Does anyone know if the tvs like Roku, Fire tv, TLC, etc. (I have a Fire tv and a Roku tv) are able to receive regular cable?  I’m shopping for my parents.  I use only streaming providers like Prime, Netflix, Hulu, etc and not a paid cable service.  I doubt they will use more than their Spectrum cable.  I just wanted to confirm there are no quirks with any of these brands and regular cable.  I have previously bought them tvs by Sony, Phillips, and Vizio, which are more expensive.  

This is not what you asked but you reminded me of something I discovered with my Vizio smart TV.  I've had it a few years, and I've had an antenna hooked up to the coax input.  I didn't use it very much, but I did make sure it worked, rescanned the channels occasionally, etc.  At some point it got a software update that basically disabled the whole TV function.  Now instead of setting it to the "TV" input and having it behave like a, well, TV (using the remote that came with it to flip through the channels), it funneled the OTA signal into a format that looks like one of the free streaming apps.  In fact it's iffy whether the basic TV reception will work if the internet's out.

I can live with it (like I have a choice, short of buying a different brand of TV), but it's annoying that they changed the functionality of the TV input long after I'd bought it.

Moral of the story - if you're getting a smart TV that you want to be able to use with an OTA antenna, make sure you know how the brand you're looking at handles it.

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6 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

This is not what you asked but you reminded me of something I discovered with my Vizio smart TV.  I've had it a few years, and I've had an antenna hooked up to the coax input.  I didn't use it very much, but I did make sure it worked, rescanned the channels occasionally, etc.  At some point it got a software update that basically disabled the whole TV function.  Now instead of setting it to the "TV" input and having it behave like a, well, TV (using the remote that came with it to flip through the channels), it funneled the OTA signal into a format that looks like one of the free streaming apps.  In fact it's iffy whether the basic TV reception will work if the internet's out.

I can live with it (like I have a choice, short of buying a different brand of TV), but it's annoying that they changed the functionality of the TV input long after I'd bought it.

Moral of the story - if you're getting a smart TV that you want to be able to use with an OTA antenna, make sure you know how the brand you're looking at handles it.

Good to know.  Theirs is cable, but through their wifi.  It’s a hybrid I suppose. They downsized to this Select Bundle where you pick certain channels.  But, it’s still considered cable. And, they are planning to return to regular cable.  The costs for the good deal I got them last year has slowly eroded and now their cost is the same it was when they switched. Plus, it’s more complicated to navigate for them.   

I really don’t want any surprises.  They have a Vizio now that’s on the blink. So, I might avoid that one for now. I’m not sure if it’s the cable box or the tv that’s the problem.  I need a couple of hours to troubleshoot and haven’t had that lately.  
 

 

1 minute ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I really don’t want any surprises.  They have a Vizio now that’s on the blink. So, I might avoid that one for now. I’m not sure if it’s the cable box or the tv that’s the problem.  I need a couple of hours to troubleshoot and haven’t had that lately.  

Just getting a recently manufactured TV should almost guarantee it will work with the current popular methods of viewing (cable, Roku, OTA antenna, etc.). 
Just don't get something that's on sale really cheap.
I wish the cheap TV I bought for my bedroom a few years ago had bluetooth capability to pair with hearing devices — something your parents will likely want sooner or later.
I didn't even know to look for that capability, or I could've had it for just a little bit more.
The huge TV my son-in-law gave me was very expensive when it was manufactured in 2017, but it doesn't have bluetooth either.
Yes, I could buy bluetooth speaker to plug into the TV, but I haven't.  Longer story.

So maybe don't get something so expensive that if they want to upgrade in a few years to some as-yet-unknown technological capability, you will wish you hadn't spent so much now?
I don't know.
Back in the 80s, my Dad, who was in sales literally his entire life, advised me when I was shopping for a vacuum cleaner to not get the cheapest or the most expensive. I still keep that in the back of my mind when shopping.
But my son-in-law prefers to buy the best he can afford, which makes sense too.

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I bought a cheap tv from Walmart on a black Friday about 8 years ago & it's still working perfectly fine. Cost is no measure of reliability when it comes to today's consumer electronics like tvs as there are only a few companies making them & then sticking on a label for whoever is buying them that day. If they last anywhere near 5 years now I consider it a win as nothing is made to last anymore.

I have 3 tvs and 2 of them had exactly the same remotes despite supposedly being from 2 different companies so I wouldn't get to worries about cheapness. 

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30 minutes ago, Shrek said:

I bought a cheap tv from Walmart on a black Friday about 8 years ago & it's still working perfectly fine. Cost is no measure of reliability when it comes to today's consumer electronics like tvs as there are only a few companies making them & then sticking on a label for whoever is buying them that day. If they last anywhere near 5 years now I consider it a win as nothing is made to last anymore.

I have 3 tvs and 2 of them had exactly the same remotes despite supposedly being from 2 different companies so I wouldn't get to worries about cheapness. 

Yes, but do they have bluetooth capabilities for hearing aids?

55 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Yes, but do they have bluetooth capabilities for hearing aids?

I was just talking about the reliability v cost aspect & that one was no guarantee of the other.

But as you asked, I know for sure the tv from 8 years ago doesn't, very much doubt either of the others do as it wasn't something I was looking for in a tv at the time. But it is certainly something I will take into consideration when I next buy a tv as age is quickly catching up with me now.

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(edited)
2 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

My dad has hearing aids, but he refuses to wear them. My mom may need them soon.  

Before I got a hearing aid, I bought a (cheap) portable speaker so I could hear the TV louder if I was in the bath. My older iphone did connect to the Roku TV through the internet and then (in theory) connected the phone to bluetooth speaker, but it was very hit-and-miss and very frustrating, so I stopped using it. 
However, thanks to this discussion, I just got the bluetooth speaker out again, and I can now use it with my new iPhone to play the TV audio loud in the bath or anywhere. 

That said, I would not expect most people to want to use their phones to interface with a non-bluetooth TV to connect to a bluetooth device, be it a speaker or a hearing aid. 

A quick look at Amazon indicates that cheap TVs still do not have bluetooth.

And by now I imagine @SunnyBeBe has bought her folks a TV. 🤣
 

But, yes, @Shrek, with regards to reliability, I've had cheap TVs last decades. Thank goodness my daughter took my little tube TV to college and left it there.

Edited by shapeshifter
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I changed my Hulu/Disney+/ESPN+ bundle to one with Max instead, only for Max to pull The West Wing, which is why I got it in the first place as I finally wanted to watch that this year. The only way to watch for now would be if I canceled my bundle/downgraded to Disney and Hulu and then re-subbed separately to Max through Prime. Or I could just buy the first season on Prime for $30…or hope the show resurfaces on Max or elsewhere.  

I think I’ll just wait and see for now. 

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2 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I’m working on the old one!  Lol. I’m still going to get a new one though.  I was going to order it online today, but decided it might be fun to go inside the store and actually look around.  I haven’t browsed an electronic section in a store in about a year!  

TVs might be on sale closer to Super Bowl Sunday

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On 1/1/2025 at 12:31 PM, Shrek said:

Cost is no measure of reliability when it comes to today's consumer electronics like tvs as there are only a few companies making them & then sticking on a label for whoever is buying them that day.

But it might be a measure of quality. 

Several years ago we needed a new dumb TV and went shopping.  There were only a very few available, and we bought one that was something like 40" for something like $150 and were shocked at how poor the picture quality was.  We thought it was impossible to get a TV with poor picture quality these days, and were wrong, and returned it.

In Apple TV news, I just went to the app on my TV with a Roku device and it says I have a 3-month free trial (and $9.99/month after that) included with my Roku.  Nothing about the free preview this weekend, and the message about 3 months free wasn't shown when I went to the app a few days ago.  (This is one of the things I hate about streaming.) 

The thing is, a Roku device is $17.99 at Best Buy right now, so it's cheaper to get a new Roku than it is to pay for Apple TV if you're wanting three months.

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2 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I recently bought a new Firestick.  I’ve bought quite a few.  After a while they seem to stop working. My nephew uses one he says is more than 5 years old. 

Many moons ago, my parents got Netflix in order to watch some show (Longmire?) that had moved there, and they got a Fire stick to do it.  They didn't like something about it, and wound up replacing it not terribly long after with a Roku stick.  They gave me the Fire, must have been around 2015, but I didn't bother with streaming until 2020 when I needed a lot more stuff to watch.  It worked for a couple of years and then just up and died -- so, about seven years, but not being used at all for most of that.  I got a slightly newer old one (probably no newer than 2017) off Freecycle, and that's still going with close to nightly use. <knock on wood>

That Roku they got back around 2015 was moved to their bedroom TV when they got a smart TV in their living room, and it's still working going on ten years, with sporadic use. <knock on wood>

Planned obsolescence is so wasteful and annoying.  I'm not a "good ol' days" person, but "they don't make 'em like they used to" is true, particularly with electronic and/or mechanical things.

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(edited)

Spectrum repairman came yesterday (1 cable box not working) and I talked to him about getting my parent’s the new tv.  We talked about several issues including cable costs.  He says they can reduce costs by turning in the cable boxes and using wifi connection instead, but there’s a tech thing to setting it up. Gave me his cell number to call him when we’re ready.  Said ok to call him on Sunday.  (Is this a new service by Spectrum? Lol).  Anyway, we need Roku tv to do it this way. So, that makes it easy. Now I know to get them Roku tv.  
 

My new year’s plan is to figure out all the streaming apps I’m paying for and downsize.  I haven’t watched Hulu in several months.  

Edited by SunnyBeBe
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On 12/30/2024 at 9:02 AM, BetterButter said:

It's not working for me.  I get the usual "sign in or subscribe" page. 

I had a feeling there would be a problem.  When I had DirecTV and HBO would have a free weekend, it would just start working on my TV at the designated time, and stop working at the designated end, but streaming is exactly the opposite of just providing something to "everyone."

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