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pavelbure

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 22, 2007
789
657
With hbo now do we get all of the hbo channels (family, comedy, zone, etc.) or is it just regular hbo ?
 
Don't think of it as a standard HBO channel. It is a streaming content service, and they have a pretty large library to choose from. Not sure what content originated on which particular HBO channel, however.
 
Don't think of it as a standard HBO channel. It is a streaming content service, and they have a pretty large library to choose from. Not sure what content originated on which particular HBO channel, however.

yeah its only streaming which is disappointing to me. so lets say you are a boxing fan, you will have to watch the fight in a day or two depending when they upload it for streaming. Sometimes they have live comedy shows or concerts and you wont be able to see them live (from what I have heard).
 
So it's more like a netflix for hbo content ? Do you even get a live hbo channel ?
 
So it's more like a netflix for hbo content ? Do you even get a live hbo channel ?

It is exactly like Netflix, just with HBO content instead. It's purely on-demand streaming. They put their series on the service within an hour of broadcasting it.
 
when using a US itunes account (FOR HBO NOW) and a random location. Where does the payment go when you use a US itunes gift card? To the random billing address in the US or my paypal account set in Australia?
I've already posted this question, but no one has got back to me.

How do people pay for subscription out of the US, especially for HBO NOW?
 
when using a US itunes account (FOR HBO NOW) and a random location. Where does the payment go when you use a US itunes gift card? To the random billing address in the US or my paypal account set in Australia?
I've already posted this question, but no one has got back to me.

How do people pay for subscription out of the US, especially for HBO NOW?

Ah, you mean how do you pay for a US iTunes gift card?

You buy them from an online reseller that buys them from Apple. We can't buy directly from Apple ourselves as that requires a US credit card. The resellers don't care whether you pay using paypal or your non-US credit card.
 
Ah, you mean how do you pay for a US iTunes gift card?

You buy them from an online reseller that buys them from Apple. We can't buy directly from Apple ourselves as that requires a US credit card. The resellers don't care whether you pay using paypal or your non-US credit card.

So once I purchase the US gift card from an Australian site using an Australian Paypal account, how do I then pay for the monthly subscription? And how do I garrentee the money isnt going the a random location set on my US itunes account? Sorry if I sound stupid, but this is my first time doing things.
 
So once I purchase the US gift card from an Australian site using an Australian Paypal account, how do I then pay for the monthly subscription? And how do I garrentee the money isnt going the a random location set on my US itunes account? Sorry if I sound stupid, but this is my first time doing things.

You need to buy gift cards regularly and top up your iTunes wallet balance with them. This is where your HBO subscription draws payment from each month so as long as there is $15 in the wallet when your subscription is due, you keep being a customer.

As for guaranteeing nothing ends up at the fictive US address, that's in the hands of the Australian site. If what they sell is advertised as a iTunes Gift card that they will Email you then all is well.

Basically there is nothing to worry about since it is only in the itunes account that the fictive address is used and you're not really buying anything from Apple. You're just buying a code from the Australian site. This code IS the money. You redeem it on the iTunes account and then your account balance is topped up. They won't send invoices or anything like that to the physical address. Everything is over email.
 
You'll want to buy from a reseller that will just e-mail you the redemption code. I suppose you could have them mail the iTunes card to you in Australia, but that would take time and postage. Just be careful that you find a reliable reseller. If you can't find a reseller in Australia, you can probably find one in the US that will take PayPal and e-mail you the code. Just make sure they have sold other codes and have good reviews before buying....and buy a small card first and if they work out for you then buy more from the same seller.

Then you will go to the iTunes store in iTunes or on your phone and log in with your US iTunes account....the one you set up with a random US address. You need to look for the "Redeem" link in the iTunes store. This enables you to enter the code and it will put a credit balance on your account. The money won't be sent to any physical location...it will just show up as available iTunes credit in your account...so you don't need to worry about it going anywhere you don't want. When you subscribe to HBO, they will take 14.99 per month (plus the US sales tax for whatever address you entered....you may want to pick a state with no sales tax..Alaska, Montana, New Hampshire, Delaware, or Oregon) from your credit balance. HBO will automatically renew each month as long as you have credit in your account. You can turn off Auto-resubscribe by looking for the "Manage your Subscriptions" link in the iTunes Store.

Hope that helps, mate! You'll also need some sort of US VPN setup for this to work....you should be able to get going on your free month of HBO before even buying the iTunes credit to make sure it's all working. Make sure your AppleTV is logged in with the US iTunes account and that any regional settings are set to US to make sure you get the HBO Now app on your ATV.
 
You'll want to buy from a reseller that will just e-mail you the redemption code. I suppose you could have them mail the iTunes card to you in Australia, but that would take time and postage. Just be careful that you find a reliable reseller.

Then you will go to the iTunes store in iTunes or on your phone and log in with your US iTunes account....the one you set up with a random US address. You need to look for the "Redeem" link in the iTunes store. This enables you to enter the code and it will put a credit balance on your account. The money won't be sent to any physical location...it will just show up as available iTunes credit in your account...so you don't need to worry about it going anywhere you don't want. When you subscribe to HBO, they will take 14.99 per month (plus the US sales tax for whatever address you entered....you may want to pick a state with no sales tax..Alaska, Montana, New Hampshire, Delaware, or Oregon) from your credit balance. HBO will automatically renew each month as long as you have credit in your account. You can turn off Auto-resubscribe by looking for the "Manage your Subscriptions" link in the iTunes Store.

Hope that helps, mate! You'll also need some sort of US VPN setup for this to work....you should be able to get going on your free month of HBO before even buying the iTunes credit to make sure it's all working. Make sure your AppleTV is logged in with the US iTunes account and that any regional settings are set to US to make sure you get the HBO Now app on your ATV.

Thank you so much for the help :) I've sorted out the VPN, for now everything is a trial.
 
Hope that helps, mate! You'll also need some sort of US VPN setup for this to work....you should be able to get going on your free month of HBO before even buying the iTunes credit to make sure it's all working.

I actually could not find any way of getting the trial going without having a payment option on my US iTunes account. Effectively meaning I need to buy a gift card to test the service.

If it hadn't been for that then I would have loved to test the service. I wanted to find out if picture and sound quality was the same as HBO Nordic. Oh well, I'll stick with Nordic then. Looks/sounds fine and it's cheaper than Now at $11 (and has a bit more content).
 
Thank you so much for the help :) I've sorted out the VPN, for now everything is a trial.

No Problem! I lived in Australia from 2006-2010. When I was there it was impossible to find internet service that wasn't capped with a certain level of data usage. Has that changed? Otherwise I'd think HBO Go is going to eat up your data pretty quick. I had an Optus plan that had 20GB data with an extra 60GB available at night....I think from midnight to 7am. I would have to make sure all of my Mac and iOS updates happened at night and download all of my podcasts then too!
 
No Problem! I lived in Australia from 2006-2010. When I was there it was impossible to find internet service that wasn't capped with a certain level of data usage. Has that changed? Otherwise I'd think HBO Go is going to eat up your data pretty quick. I had an Optus plan that had 20GB data with an extra 60GB available at night....I think from midnight to 7am. I would have to make sure all of my Mac and iOS updates happened at night and download all of my podcasts then too!

Things seem to be running pretty smoothly (touch wood) at the moment. Im with Telstra on a 200GB plan so I think i might have enough to watch a few of the good shows on Apple TV.
Also, is game of thrones season 5 going to be showing on HBO NOW? (the whole reason I did this :) )
 
Things seem to be running pretty smoothly (touch wood) at the moment. Im with Telstra on a 200GB plan so I think i might have enough to watch a few of the good shows on Apple TV.
Also, is game of thrones season 5 going to be showing on HBO NOW? (the whole reason I did this :) )

So strange to me that all the plans there were/are capped data. Only country I ever saw this in.

I guess it remains to be seen how well it copes with so many more users. But as long as you aren't watching early Monday afternoon your time (when it's just released here) you may be OK.
 
when using a US itunes account (FOR HBO NOW) and a random location. Where does the payment go when you use a US itunes gift card? To the random billing address in the US or my paypal account set in Australia?
I've already posted this question, but no one has got back to me.

How do people pay for subscription out of the US, especially for HBO NOW?

You will be billed from US iTunes so the billing address will be your US address.
I pay by my fund in US account.
 
So strange to me that all the plans there were/are capped data. Only country I ever saw this in.

I guess it remains to be seen how well it copes with so many more users. But as long as you aren't watching early Monday afternoon your time (when it's just released here) you may be OK.

Yes, I would need to wait a few days before I can view GOT, season 5 Ep1 on HBO NOW. Like I said before, I hope while Im watching is does not drop in quality and drop out :O So far most of the content i've watched as been consistent.
 
Subscription question...

I havent found any information on the HBO NOW subscription - is it month to month or annual and can one terminate at any time similar to Netflix?
 
For $14.99, the HBO CEO said you get all content of HBO like the cable and the satellite does in the Apple Event announcement.
 
Has anyone gotten the app to work?

I originally signed up via downloading the app on my 4S running iOS 8.2. But I have never been successful in getting the app to work. It works fine on my Apple TV, once I chose Restore ITunes purchase. When I do the same in the app, I get a constant loop of, after entering my name, email, zipcode, and password, that says "something went wrong" and to try again, while at the same time sending me both welcome to HBO NOW, and Account Information Updated, emails.

But, still no access to the app.
 
I originally signed up via downloading the app on my 4S running iOS 8.2. But I have never been successful in getting the app to work. It works fine on my Apple TV, once I chose Restore ITunes purchase. When I do the same in the app, I get a constant loop of, after entering my name, email, zipcode, and password, that says "something went wrong" and to try again, while at the same time sending me both welcome to HBO NOW, and Account Information Updated, emails.

But, still no access to the app.

If you already have the account created, you should be able to just log in to the app on your phone (no need to enter name, zip, etc), there is a log in option.

If you haven't, try creating the account on your apple tv, and then just use that account to login on your phone.
 
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