General Discussion Streaming Frustrations, Part 2 (2 Viewers)

[DaveF]

I've run into this with my sister and brother-in-law. They continue to pay for AT&T DSL Internet service at a higher price than what they could get broadband from another provider in their area. Their bandwidth is so poor that they cannot stream anything. Whenever I push them to switch, they claim they cannot because they are using AT&T email addresses for their businesses. It's not that difficult to switch an email address, but they will not do it -- and they may not have to anyway, as they have AT&T as their cell provider. They've also experienced numerous Internet outages with the DSL service, which impacts their businesses (both of them work from home). I finally gave up.

This is why people should own their own domain name and email address, especially if that’s your business identify.

 

[Todd Erwin]

This is why people should own their own domain name and email address, especially if that’s your business identify.

Agreed, although I have run into situations where my personal domain was not accepted for a personal account with Apple or Sony Rewards, for example.

 

[DaveF]

Agreed, although I have run into situations where my personal domain was not accepted for a personal account with Apple or Sony Rewards, for example.

That's a bummer. I've had a my own personal, one-email address domain for 20-some years and used it exclusively for sign ups for over a decade years now, including as my ID for all major tech brands like Apple, Sony, Amazon, Google, all my financial institutions, and etc. No problems.

My experience, which might be tech cargo cult, is it matters what registrar one uses for small domains, to help ensure things run better and less likely to be associated with spam. But, could also be just plain bad luck.

 

[AlexF]

So, picked up the two Avatar 4K December releases.

Here in Canada, the code takes us to the Cineplex store from the Disney site.

When you are sent to that site, it gives an error. Disney acknowledges this, but doesn't seem to care.

You have to search for the film, then choose to redeem, then enter a code.

The one code gives me an internal error and Disney says that it's Cineplex' problem, Cineplex says that it's a known internal issue and doesn't fix stuff.

The other code? Well, I have the theatrical version of Avatar. No extras, neither of the extended versions.

And on a REALLY crappy streaming system that maxes out at 1080p.

This whole digital redemption industry in Canada makes the US crap seem like you guys have it all together. Sigh.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

This whole digital redemption industry in Canada makes the US crap seem like you guys have it all together. Sigh.

Well it was either good digital movie code redemption or a functional healthcare system.

 

[AlexF]

Decent article on the Funimation/Crunchyroll merger that's taking peoples' digital copies away.

Sony is erasing digital libraries that were supposed to be accessible “forever”

Casualties afoot as Sony merges Funimation with 2021-acquired Crunchyroll.

arstechnica.com

 

[Todd Erwin]

Something very odd is going on with older Paramount films on Vudu. Movies like Tin Star and Hannie Caulder were once available for purchase in HDX, but are now only available on Vudu in SD. Even more strange, Tin Star shows as available in HDX, but according to one of the mods on Vudu Forums who works closely with Tech Support, that is only if you want to RENT that title, claiming that is at the direction of Paramount. Yeah, right... despite the fact that these movies are available for purchase in HD at other digital retailers like Apple TV and Prime Video.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Something very odd is going on with older Paramount films on Vudu. Movies like Tin Star and Hannie Caulder were once available for purchase in HDX, but are now only available on Vudu in SD. Even more strange, Tin Star shows as available in HDX, but according to one of the mods on Vudu Forums who works closely with Tech Support, that is only if you want to RENT that title, claiming that is at the direction of Paramount. Yeah, right... despite the fact that these movies are available for purchase in HD at other digital retailers like Apple TV and Prime Video.

No sooner than I posted the above statement, Vudu has corrected The Tin Star so that it can be purchased once again in HDX, but for a higher price of $12.99 (apparently the $5 sale price only applies to SD).

 

[Robert Crawford]

No sooner than I posted the above statement, Vudu has corrected The Tin Star so that it can be purchased once again in HDX, but for a higher price of $12.99 (apparently the $5 sale price only applies to SD).

It’s $4.99 on iTunes.

 

[JohnRice]

This is why people should own their own domain name and email address, especially if that’s your business identify.

So true. I've had domains for at least 25 years. It's so simple, and if you have a business, you look a lot more legitimate. I've suggested it to others many times, and not one has done it.

Agreed, although I have run into situations where my personal domain was not accepted for a personal account with Apple or Sony Rewards, for example.

Weird, because that has never happened to me.

 

[TonyD]

How about a tutorial on how to get one of these easy to get domains?

 

[JohnRice]

How about a tutorial on how to get one of these easy to get domains?

It's easy, though it's not free. I use GoDaddy to register domains. I don't use them for hosting, but I do believe they have inexpensive options for that as well as email. They also have easy site building software. I'm sure they have tutorials.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Weird, because that has never happened to me.

I have had my business email addresses denied by both Apple and Sony Rewards multiple times, as recently as two months ago by Apple.

 

[JohnRice]

I have had my business email addresses denied by both Apple and Sony Rewards multiple times, as recently as two months ago by Apple.

My #1 suspicion is that there are spammers on your hosting service, and everyone is being blocked.

 

[Todd Erwin]

My #1 suspicion is that there are spammers on your hosting service, and everyone is being blocked.

I use GoDaddy for domain registration and Deluxe for web and email hosting.

 

[JohnRice]

I use GoDaddy for domain registration and Deluxe for web and email hosting.

It shouldn't have anything to do with GoDaddy, since they're only the domain registration. What does it say when it's rejected?

 

[DaveF]

How about a tutorial on how to get one of these easy to get domains?

Register a domain name

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Find the perfect domain name for your idea at Hover. All domains come with industry-leading customer support and free WHOIS privacy. Name your passion today!

www.hover.com

Sign up for email hosting

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Purchase a domain and email address to start sending more personal and professional emails. Get a mailbox with lots of storage from Hover today!

www.hover.com

I’ve used Hover for 10+ years, after transferring from godaddy which I used for some years prior.

There are other ways to get email hosting, including with Apple One subscription, or simple forwarding to existing email address like Gmail or whatever.

 

[Todd Erwin]

It shouldn't have anything to do with GoDaddy, since they're only the domain registration. What does it say when it's rejected?

I don’t recall, but I ended up just creating a new gmail.

 

[Mark-P]

So here's a new one (apologize if it has already been discussed, but I don't think it has), since Amazon switched to Prime/with commercials, I now have issues with original frame rate on my Apple TV box. Thankfully all the titles in my Amazon library that are "purchased" still play back with original frame rate (usually 24 fps or 60 hz), however Prime subscription content that originally was 24 fps now plays back at 30 fps in order to accommodate the commercials so that your display doesn't have to resync frame rates every time there is a commercial. I discovered this because I wanted to watch Saltburn. Amazon's converting 24 fps to 30 fps looks terrible with noticeable jerkiness. So what I have to do is turn off "match frame rate" on my Apple TV Box and then Prime content will play back at 60 hz which looks much better. I imagine if I were to upgrade my Prime subscription to the commercial-free version I would get back the original frame rates on Prime content.

Update:
Okay, it turns out it's not quite as bad as what I initially posted because there were actually two things affecting this problem. First, yes it is true that Amazon Prime w/commercials is not passing through 24 fps but rather 60 Hz. However the 30 fps with jerkiness I was getting was not from Amazon, but the Apple TV box. My box needed a reboot and for me to verify a format (4K HDR @ 60 hz). The ATV box was downgrading Amazon's 4K HDR 60 Hz to 4K HDR 30 fps because it didn't think my display could handle 4K HDR 60 hz. Now I get everything good without disabling "match frame rate" but of course at 60 hz, not 24 fps for Prime content.

 

[dpippel]

Could Amazon possibly eff this up any more than they already have? It's rather pathetic.