HBO Max HBO Max (Official Thread) (1 Viewer)

[Todd Erwin]

I never really understood why WB sold the right to Harry Potter. I can understand selling the theme park rights but, the movies? That's their Star Wars or Marvel.



Hairspray (2007) is in 5.1! The iTunes version that you can buy is still only in stereo.

They didn't sell the movies to Universal, it was a carriage/streaming rights issue, similar to what Disney had to do with Star Wars: The Force Awakens with STARZ. Warner had licensed the Harry potter films to Universal's cable/satellite channels USA and SyFy as exclusives, which prohibited Warner from making them available on HBO Max until a deal was reached.

 

[Cranston37+]

which prohibited Warner from making them available on HBO Max.

To make sure we're clear for everybody though - they are on HBO Max...

 

[Todd Erwin]

What a joke launch. I get an email yesterday saying my HBONOW App would auto update. It didn't and the HBOMAX is not available on Roku. I thought they had reached an agreement with Roku. Since around 30-35% streamers use Roku and another 10-15% use Amazon devices to stream I expect a huge amount of cancellations for this. I know I am heading over to cancel right now. I doubt I would have kept it very long anyways. Not enough to interest me that's why I cancelled HBONOW. I have Boomerang and as I suspected they are not adding anything Boomerang doesn't have. I am mainly interested in old movies and tv shows. The handful of old movies they have I already own. I didn't thing they would add many 50's -70's TV shows and it doesn't look like they added any. I will stick with Disney+ even if they don't add enough old content at least there was a lot more at launch.

I agree. There was an article on USA Today this morning indicating that Roku and Amazon have a combined market share of 33% of the streaming platform market, while Apple has 4% and Chromecast a measly 3%. I'm guessing smart TV manufacturers, smart phones, tablets, game consoles, and computers make up the remaining 60%? Still, that's a large audience to ignore at launch, especially for a media conglomerate like AT&T.

I have a feeling that it's AT&T that is being greedy, either refusing to give Roku and Amazon a commission on monthly subscriptions or wanting the companies to pay them for carrying the app. Having had to deal with AT&T recently with cancelling DirecTV last fall and my crappy 18 Mbps DSL service earlier this month, with the feeling that I was not valued as a customer, makes me curious to see where the new CEO will be taking them after the previous guy ran them into the ground, forcing customers to jump ship.

 

[Robert Crawford]

A very respectable launch.

Don't worry Tino, I don't "disagree" with you that it was a respectable launch. It's still a bummer about the Roku users not being able to use their devices though. Corporate greed is really something.

 

[Todd Erwin]

To make sure we're clear for everybody though - they are on HBO Max...

I have added "until a deal was reached" to the end of my post.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I agree. There was an article on USA Today this morning indicating that Roku and Amazon have a combined market share of 33% of the streaming platform market, while Apple has 4% and Chromecast a measly 3%. I'm guessing smart TV manufacturers, smart phones, tablets, game consoles, and computers make up the remaining 60%? Still, that's a large audience to ignore at launch, especially for a media conglomerate like AT&T.

I have a feeling that it's AT&T that is being greedy, either refusing to give Roku and Amazon a commission on monthly subscriptions or wanting the companies to pay them for carrying the app. Having had to deal with AT&T recently with cancelling DirecTV last fall and my crappy 18 Mbps DSL service earlier this month, with the feeling that I was not valued as a customer, makes me curious to see where the new CEO will be taking them after the previous guy ran them into the ground, forcing customers to jump ship.

I'm in total agreement!

 

[Chris Will]

They didn't sell the movies to Universal, it was a carriage/streaming rights issue, similar to what Disney had to do with Star Wars: The Force Awakens with STARZ. Warner had licensed the Harry potter films to Universal's cable/satellite channels USA and SyFy as exclusives, which prohibited Warner from making them available on HBO Max.

That's right, I don't know what I was thinking. When I read the article I read it as if they sold the complete rights to Universal. I blanked on "licensing" for streaming.

To make sure we're clear for everybody though - they are on HBO Max...

Yes, the article linked to early explains that they had to buy back the rights from Universal to make them available at launch.

 

[Chris Will]

I honestly didn't know you had to "strike" a deal with Roku. I thought it was more like the Apple TV where you build an app and then submit it to the Roku store. On Apple TV, it wasn't even a brand new app, it was just an update to the HBO Now app. Surprised it wasn't the same for the HBO Now app on Roku.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I honestly didn't know you had to "strike" a deal with Roku. I thought it was more like the Apple TV where you build an app and then submit it to the Roku store. On Apple TV, it wasn't even a brand new app, it was just an update to the HBO Now app. Surprised it wasn't the same for the HBO Now app on Roku.

It's always about money with these companies. Customers be damn!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

There's HBO Max Bad News If You Use Amazon Fire TV Or Roku

HBO Max may be launching today, but there's bad news if you're using two of the most popular platforms for streaming TV and movies at…

www.slashgear.com

 

[Robert Crawford]

There's HBO Max Bad News If You Use Amazon Fire TV Or Roku

HBO Max may be launching today, but there's bad news if you're using two of the most popular platforms for streaming TV and movies at…

www.slashgear.com

A damn shame!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Anybody that wants to watch "True Lies" in 2.35 and HD better do so now as it's leaving HBO Max on June 1st. The Abyss also in 2.35 ratio appears to be staying beyond June 1st. Also, it's the theatrical cut of the movie.

 

[Garysb]

Time to watch "The Normal Heart " on HBO MAX .

RIP

Writer and AIDS activist Larry Kramer dies at 84
Mr. Kramer used relentless, often antagonizing tactics to goad public officials, scientists and fellow gay rights proponents to stanch the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. He founded Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the first organization to offer support and advocacy for AIDS patients, and his plays “The Normal Heart” and “The Destiny of Me” were among the first artistic productions to focus directly on the AIDS crisis and put it in the public eye. He died Wednesday of pneumonia, said an official of Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

 

[Randy Korstick]

I agree. There was an article on USA Today this morning indicating that Roku and Amazon have a combined market share of 33% of the streaming platform market, while Apple has 4% and Chromecast a measly 3%. I'm guessing smart TV manufacturers, smart phones, tablets, game consoles, and computers make up the remaining 60%? Still, that's a large audience to ignore at launch, especially for a media conglomerate like AT&T.

I have a feeling that it's AT&T that is being greedy, either refusing to give Roku and Amazon a commission on monthly subscriptions or wanting the companies to pay them for carrying the app. Having had to deal with AT&T recently with cancelling DirecTV last fall and my crappy 18 Mbps DSL service earlier this month, with the feeling that I was not valued as a customer, makes me curious to see where the new CEO will be taking them after the previous guy ran them into the ground, forcing customers to jump ship.

I don't think this will be resolved anytime soon. They never should have launched with that much of their potential business unable to use it. If this was close to being resolved they would have just delayed the launch a bit. I think their support is going to be flooded with complaints and calls the next 2-3 weeks by Roku and Amazon users complaining that they can't use it. The average person does not follow this stuff in detail and would assume that it would work on major devices like Roku and Amazon. As a former HBONOW customer I was led to believe this by the emails they sent me.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I don't think this will be resolved anytime soon. They never should have launched with that much of their potential business unable to use it. If this was close to being resolved they would have just delayed the launch a bit. I think their support is going to be flooded with complaints and calls the next 2-3 weeks by Roku and Amazon users complaining that they can't use it. The average person does not follow this stuff in detail and would assume that it would work on major devices like Roku and Amazon. As a former HBONOW customer I was led to believe this by the emails they sent me.

Well, I disagree with you there about not launching now. I'm sure they're well aware that such complaints will flood them.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

My first glance at this app wasn't anything special. The color scheme for the logo on Apple TV looks similar to Movies Anywhere. Once you're inside the app, it looks pretty similar to the HBO Now app I was using previously. Maybe a silly complaint, but being such a high profile launch, I was expecting to be blown away by the interface.

I checked out some movie selections and was left again with a lukewarm impression. 2001: a space odyssey does not have the overture and plays in 2.0 sound. Gone With The Wind is the same way. 1989 Batman appears to be the old transfer and again 2.0 sound only. How The West Was Won had the overture, but was 2.0 audio only.

Looking through the list of DC programming was disappointing. The only Salkind produced "Super" movie was "Supergirl." At least it had 5.1 audio.

It's disappointing that in 2020, with a premium service, these companies can't provide the highest quality, most complete masters. It still comes down to subscribing to HBO for the original programming and leaving the movie watching to other services. Hopefully they will improve the library and add 4k and Atmos and support Roku and Amazon. As of now, they're just not competitive.

 

[justarandomstan]

Huh? The only thing they sold was the rights for them to air on NBC. All 8 movies are on HBO Max.

Wrong, NBC had both broadcast and streaming rights to the series until 2025. Warner had to renegotiate the contract in order to be able to have the films on the service from Day 1.

They were apparently negotiating up until very recently and managed to come to an agreement.

 

[Lord Dalek]

My first glance at this app wasn't anything special. The color scheme for the logo on Apple TV looks similar to Movies Anywhere. Once you're inside the app, it looks pretty similar to the HBO Now app I was using previously. Maybe a silly complaint, but being such a high profile launch, I was expecting to be blown away by the interface.

I checked out some movie selections and was left again with a lukewarm impression. 2001: a space odyssey does not have the overture and plays in 2.0 sound. Gone With The Wind is the same way. 1989 Batman appears to be the old transfer and again 2.0 sound only. How The West Was Won had the overture, but was 2.0 audio only.

Looking through the list of DC programming was disappointing. The only Salkind produced "Super" movie was "Supergirl." At least it had 5.1 audio.

It's disappointing that in 2020, with a premium service, these companies can't provide the highest quality, most complete masters. It still comes down to subscribing to HBO for the original programming and leaving the movie watching to other services. Hopefully they will improve the library and add 4k and Atmos and support Roku and Amazon. As of now, they're just not competitive.

I don't know if Batman being 2.0 only is a DC Universe thing (its definitely a TCM/Criterion one) since I never subscribed to that service and Doom Patrol is in in 5,1. That being said, I'm pretty sure it IS the newer transfer as it played in 1.85:1 over my Chromecast as opposed to 1.78.

BTW did I mention how much I hate using my Chromecast? This is about as asinine as Hulu only being in 2.0 on my Roku.

 

[Cranston37+]

Wrong, NBC had both broadcast and streaming rights to the series until 2025. Warner had to renegotiate the contract in order to be able to have the films on the service from Day 1.

They were apparently negotiating up until very recently and managed to come to an agreement.

I never said anything otherwise!

Chris had said Warners sold the full movie rights and all my response said was that they had only sold broadcast rights. I then added that HP was indeed going to be on Max because I had just heard the news about the agreement having been reached and thought the man might want to know.

What can you possibly see as wrong about that and how is that any different from what you just wrote? What's with the aggressiveness today?

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

I don't know if Batman being 2.0 only is a DC Universe thing (its definitely a TCM/Criterion one) since I never subscribed to that service and Doom Patrol is in in 5,1. That being said, I'm pretty sure it IS the newer transfer as it played in 1.85:1 over my Chromecast as opposed to 1.78.

So is it the new picture transfer with the original sound mix? Maybe HBO Max is totally worth it!