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HBO Now App Removed From 2nd and 3rd Generation Apple TV Models

pray2crom said:
it was taken out because HBO and apple have a licensing agreement and the fact apple wants people to buy newer apple tvs. HBO is not just removing its app from older apple tvs they have also been removing the app from many older "smart" TVs too. They don't want to support older platforms.
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Why should they and why would 2nd and 3rd gen Apple TV users not want to upgrade? Believe me I upgraded more than a year ago from the 3rd gen to the HD and I don’t regret it one moment!
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JosephAW said:
I'm waiting for Netflix to be pulled since they don't allow airplay.
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Why not upgrade? Newer Apple TVS are much nicer.
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mazz0 said:
God I miss that remote! Apply TV when from the best remote I've ever used to the worst, and that's no exaggeration in either direction :'(
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Somebody should make a Siri remote modelled after that one!
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No way! I like the Siri remote!
 
MauiPa said:
hahahaha. You just made that up. Presumably, HBO did not want to support 32 bit devices any longer. Strange that they couldn't keep their older software still running though. This was announced awhile ago, sheesh
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Also he is wrong, just wrong, so that is no good reason, not even a right reason
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where was my statement wrong? HBO simply doesn't want to support older platforms. Are you one of those people that reads a comment and makes up nonsense interpretations? Come on now....reading comprehension 101.
 
Techwatcher said:
If you're referring to HBO MAX then that's actually coming in 9 days, and I will automatically get that as part of my AT&T plan so I'm aware of what's happening. Even then that's no excuse unless they're getting rid of HBO Now/HBO Go completely.
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Actually, it is a reason not an excuse. HBO has stopped support for many devices even newer than the Apple TV 3 because they don't support h.265.

So, if HBO is now launching a new online service with 4k and HDR, they are going to be using this new codec. All three services get their video from the same source, and it would now need to either have double the storage or encode multiple codecs on the fly. Neither of which makes any sense to do when you can have one h.265 source that the streaming client can decide its resolution. I'm speculating here, but I'd imagine the infrastructure originally put in place for HBO Go and Now is being retired completely.
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konqerror said:
Actually you made that up. There's no binary app that runs on the 2nd and 3rd gen Apple TV. It takes is an XML template per page, just like a website. That's why every app has essentially the same UI. Apple modernized this on the 4th gen and called it TVML.

The issues are either the specific format of the Apple TV 2/3 versus usage, compression (lack of HEVC, lack of 1080 support on the 2nd gen, lack of 1080p60 on the 3rd gen), older DRM, inability to customize the UI for specific features or ads, or the fact that the UX is simply slow nowadays.
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Why is codec not listed in your issues list? It's the most likely by far.
 
HBO is officially retiring HBO Now across the board next week to replace it with HBO Max. On devices HBO Max will still be supporting, they're replacing HBO Now installations with HBO Max automatically.
 
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The narrative of wanting to give the best user experience has some merits, 720p and 5.1 surround sound at wireless N speeds aren't as good as airplay 4k in dolby Atmos. I expect it's mostly just sugar coating that they've abandoned their compatibility support for the sake of cost and convenience. But we may be able to read into this that they have forward thinking insights into the 5th generation models yet to be released. There be more of a story of how Apple TV's play with future homepods which are smaller and cheaper to be used as surround sound speakers in a 7.1.? configuration. A8 chips were used broadly in Homepods Iphones and Apple TV's, and Apple TV's are 5 years overdo. I predict that the next iphone release will use economies of scale to mass produce chips for a whole slew of updated Apple devices. as like a 5G throwdown. Maybe even reviving Airport routers, for a really potent Apple ecosystem that all runs various versions of ios on exactly the same chips. Maybe even an Apple Pi
 
Iconoclysm said:
Actually, it is a reason not an excuse. HBO has stopped support for many devices even newer than the Apple TV 3 because they don't support h.265.

So, if HBO is now launching a new online service with 4k and HDR, they are going to be using this new codec. All three services get their video from the same source, and it would now need to either have double the storage or encode multiple codecs on the fly. Neither of which makes any sense to do when you can have one h.265 source that the streaming client can decide its resolution. I'm speculating here, but I'd imagine the infrastructure originally put in place for HBO Go and Now is being retired completely.
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If that's the case then it makes sense, especially if they are retiring Go/Now completely (which seems to be the case).
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blackmoses said:
HBO is officially retiring HBO Now across the board next week to replace it with HBO Max. On devices HBO Max will still be supporting, they're replacing HBO Now installations with HBO Max automatically.
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Good.
 
Techwatcher said:
It’s a video streaming app. There’s no way any version of an Apple TV can’t handle it. This was taken off for no reason.
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ya,but nothing lasts forever.. If they kept it, many more support calls would have to assist. And usually business comes first, not customers.
 
I have an Apple TV 4K and it only offers HBO Max in the app store now. So now I have to cancel my Now subscription and sign up for Max? It’s the same damn service. This is ridiculous.
 
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