General Discussion Streaming Frustrations (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

1. My bill for non-premium cable (no HBO or anything like that) prior to cutting the cord at the beginning of 2020 was nearly $200 a month - I think maybe $150 or $175? Whatever it was, it was more than $92.

2. There’s really no reason for most people to be subscribed to all streaming services all at the same time. It seems many people still look to make this more complicated/expensive than it needs to be. With cable, adding of dropping channels often involves minimum commitment periods, installation fees, disconnection fees, and having to wait for a technician to physically come to a location to adjust a setting. With a streaming service, you just go into the account settings and turn the subscription off.

I’ve had so many real-world conversations with genuinely smart people who make more complex decisions all the time who can’t wrap their head around the idea that if a show they like is only on Hulu or HBO Max for two months of the year, just subscribe for those two months.

Anecdotally, it seems possible to me that there are still a lot of people who have the cable mindset in a streaming world. They’re still using the old paradigm of thinking of themselves as a house that gets HBO vs one that doesn’t, instead of making the leap to thinking “when there’s something on HBO I want to watch, I subscribe, when there isn’t, I don’t.”

 

[Charles_Y]

I've been streaming since last fall on Netflix and Prime Video via my Roku stick +. I've noticed increasingly in the last month or so that Prime has been adding more and more "rental" titles that cost one an additional fee above one's prime service and less of those movies simply included in Prime. I've been reading that this "Prime Video" is more of an add-on service as an enticement to purchase digital titles and discs, rather than as a true streaming delivery platform like Netflix.

This is getting very upsetting in my view. More of the films I want to see have to be "rented" per title - it's getting to be like the old "video store days." I remember what those were like. Since, so much of what Netflix and Amazon offers to stream is produced or distributed by them, where can I go to see Hollywood product (small or large) or even independent not connected with these 2 companies? I suppose I could do searches on the Roku but that is only worthwhile when you know what you want - specific titles for the most part.

Talk about frustrating! I read a few years ago that people are ending up spending as much on the multiple streaming platforms combined as they did on just one cable service. The days of Netflix and their PRIOR disc based service (the apex of home video in my view) are over.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The issue with Amazon there is that they have two services both operating under the same name.

You’ve got Amazon Prime, the subscription streaming service that includes a wide variety of original and licensed content, that’s analogous to Netflix.

But then you also have Amazon Prime, the digital retailer that provides a la carte rentals, purchases and digital copy redemptions, analogous to iTunes or Vudu.

It’s a recipe for confusion.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I always thought of Amazon Prime as free fast shipping w/ other little bonuses/perks/value added, including the designated Prime-included video subscription service, not the other way around. IMHO, the video subscription part of Prime was *never* really worth the entire cost all by itself.

That's why I only activate my subscription when I really could use the value-added shipping service itself (and not always for the speed alone either). Even then, I don't use the included video service all that much whenever I do activate... because that service has always been kinda lame IMHO.

_Man_

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

We're watching Star Trek: Enterprise right now. It's on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and Paramount+. I'm watching it on Amazon so it feels like I'm getting more out of my Prime subscription.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It probably doesn’t matter but if it were me I might go to P+ for that, if only to give Paramount data that people are watching legacy Trek, in the hopes that enough people doing the same might move the needle on DS9/VOY remasterings. But it probably doesn’t matter.

 

[Malcolm R]

I've noticed increasingly in the last month or so that Prime has been adding more and more "rental" titles that cost one an additional fee above one's prime service and less of those movies simply included in Prime.

I noticed that recently. A number of titles that I placed on my Watchlist previously (they would have been free with Prime or they wouldn't be on my list) are now requiring an extra fee for rental or purchase.

 

[Mark-P]

Yeah, you guys are acting like Amazon is doing something new, when it’s completely business-as-usual. Titles rotate in and out of the subscription service all the time due to licensing agreements, and of course said titles continue to be available for sale or rental when they leave the subscription service.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

It probably doesn’t matter but if it were me I might go to P+ for that, if only to give Paramount data that people are watching legacy Trek, in the hopes that enough people doing the same might move the needle on DS9/VOY remasterings. But it probably doesn’t matter.

My limited experience with Paramount+ is the compression is terrible.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

My limited experience with Paramount+ is the compression is terrible.

I haven't really had any PQ issues w/ the handful shows and movies I've watched on CBS All Access (and then the rebranded Paramount+) though I don't recall anything being in 4K. Meanwhile, Amazon's PQ seems noticeably mediocre to me in many-to-most cases, but it could just be the specific titles I've tried (that I haven't bothered to try elsewhere). The P+ service and/or app (on Roku) remains a bit clunky, but generally substantially better than Amazon -- just about any paid service/app seems better than Amazon's, except the AppleTV app is completely broken for my Roku setup if I want original refresh/frame-rate (w/ 4K HDR), so doesn't say a whole lot.

_Man_

 

[EricSchulz]

Here’s something odd: I have the free versions of both the NBC app and Peacock app. Season three of Manifest has all three episodes (so far) available to stream for free with commercials on NBC yet Peacock only lets you stream the first episode for free, with episodes 2 and 3 for Peacock+ subscribers!

 

[Chip_HT]

Probably has to do with having cable/satellite credentials to unlock stuff on the NBC app.

At the beginning of the year, the owner of my local NBC station got into a pissing match with Verizon and I lost the station for over a week. Of course, it had to happen the one week my team was playing on Sunday Night Football (and magically got resolved about an hour before their playoff game kicked off the following week). I tried to stream the game through the NBC and NBC Sports apps, but neither would let me since I didn't have access to NBC on my cable system. I wondered quite often why antenna viewers got screwed over on the streaming side.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Probably has to do with having cable/satellite credentials to unlock stuff on the NBC app.

At the beginning of the year, the owner of my local NBC station got into a pissing match with Verizon and I lost the station for over a week. Of course, it had to happen the one week my team was playing on Sunday Night Football (and magically got resolved about an hour before their playoff game kicked off the following week). I tried to stream the game through the NBC and NBC Sports apps, but neither would let me since I didn't have access to NBC on my cable system. I wondered quite often why antenna viewers got screwed over on the streaming side.

After thinking about it for a while, there is really no need for an antenna subscriber to stream it over the internet as they are streaming it over the air to their TV. My guess is they figure you are already streaming it for free, why give you a value added service for free?

 

[Adam Gregorich]

We cut the cord 2 years ago. We have Prime Video (wouldn't pay extra for it, but its included in Prime), Peacock + (not sure if I would renew), Netflix, Hulu commercial free, Paramount +, HBO Max, Disney+ and Discovery+

Currently Hulu and Discovery+ are the most used, followed by Paramount+, Disney+ and Netflix followed by Peacock+ and Amazon.

We had been getting Netflix through T-Mobile, but we just switched carriers so we have to decide if that is worth paying for.
I think we would be better off sticking with Hulu, Disney+ and Discovery year round and rotating the others in and out for fresh options.

 

[Todd Erwin]

We cut the cord 2 years ago. We have Prime Video (wouldn't pay extra for it, but its included in Prime), Peacock + (not sure if I would renew), Netflix, Hulu commercial free, Paramount +, HBO Max, Disney+ and Discovery+

Currently Hulu and Discovery+ are the most used, followed by Paramount+, Disney+ and Netflix followed by Peacock+ and Amazon.

We had been getting Netflix through T-Mobile, but we just switched carriers so we have to decide if that is worth paying for.
I think we would be better off sticking with Hulu, Disney+ and Discovery year round and rotating the others in and out for fresh options.

Downgraded Netflix to HD when they hiked their price, but considering dropping it since we rarely watch it anymore.

Currently subscribed to Disney+ (which we watch a LOT), Paramount+ (ad-free, and try to watch our CBS shows there rather than off the Recast DVR), Prime Video (rarely watched), and Hulu (Black Friday $1.99/month special).

I've browsed Peacock but most of what I might watch is currently still on Hulu (current NBC shows, but those will eventually go away I think when Disney completes their acquisition from Comcast).

 

[JohnRice]

I've browsed Peacock but most of what I might watch is currently still on Hulu (current NBC shows, but those will eventually go away I think when Disney completes their acquisition from Comcast).

One thing I noticed is that the show Zoe's Extraordinary Playlist dropped the first season from Hulu when the second season started. I didn't expect that and didn't watch the first season until it was too late.

 

[Todd Erwin]

One thing I noticed is that the show Zoe's Extraordinary Playlist dropped the first season from Hulu when the second season started. I didn't expect that and didn't watch the first season until it was too late.

I've noticed that happening more often on NBC and FOX network shows as Disney continues to buy out Comcast's and News Corp's stakes in Hulu. As I've said before, Hulu will evolve into a much different service as Disney eventually takes full ownership.

 

[Mark-P]

Well, here's a new bummer. I picked up Pollyanna on sale at iTunes for $4.99. The only reason I decided to augment my Blu-ray with a digital purchase, is because the lovingly restored Blu-ray didn't include the 5.1 remix. Now with the various digital retailers it's expected that they all won't have the newest transfer, but with Disney titles, you can usually count on the Movies Anywhere app to have the latest and the greatest. So of course iTunes, Vudu, and Amazon all have the older transfer, but MA does indeed have the new transfer and also the 5.1 sound, but ALL THE TEXT IS MISSING from the opening titles! However one digital service, FandangoNow has the new transfer with the title text intact, but who wants to have to watch it there? Anyway I notified Movies Anywhere of the error on their platform. We'll see if they care enough to fix it.

 

[Mark-P]

Well, here's a new bummer. I picked up Pollyanna on sale at iTunes for $4.99. The only reason I decided to augment my Blu-ray with a digital purchase, is because the lovingly restored Blu-ray didn't include the 5.1 remix. Now with the various digital retailers it's expected that they all won't have the newest transfer, but with Disney titles, you can usually count on the Movies Anywhere app to have the latest and the greatest. So of course iTunes, Vudu, and Amazon all have the older transfer, but MA does indeed have the new transfer and also the 5.1 sound, but ALL THE TEXT IS MISSING from the opening titles! However one digital service, FandangoNow has the new transfer with the title text intact, but who wants to have to watch it there? Anyway I notified Movies Anywhere of the error on their platform. We'll see if they care enough to fix it.

I guess they DO care. Within hours of me contacting them, they sent 2 responses:

Hello Mark,

Thank you for letting us know about the missing text in the title Pollyanna!

I have tested this issue on our end and I can confirm that the opening text in indeed missing from the title. Good catch!

We appreciate you bringing our attention to this issue and I will be passing along this information to our team for further investigation.

If you have any further questions or concerns please don't hesitate to reach out.

Thank you again and have a great day!

Kindly,



Skylar,
Movies Anywhere Customer Care

​

Hey Mark, Thank you so much for informing us about the missing text in the title "Pollyanna". We have informed our team and they will be working with the Disney studio on a fix. While we can't provide a time estimate at how long this will take, we recommend checking back on the movie in the future. Please let us know if there is anything else we can assist you with. Kindest regards, Lacy, Movies Anywhere Customer Care

 

[Todd Erwin]

I got the same response from them when I contacted them two months ago about the wrong aspect ratio for Silverado. Sony has yet to send them a corrected version.