New 'Max' Streaming Service Launches, Replacing HBO Max

[Aves]

I'm with Spectrum and I have the ad free version.

I tried to play shazam with MAX on the Apple TV and the picture settings pushes Dolby Vision HDR

So it looks like 4K is available as well as Dolby audio, let's see it the price stays the same...

 

[zapmymac]

$20 if you want 4K. $16 if you don’t.

You’re coming out ahead of you already paid for both as previously both packages ad free were $22 a month.

And I’m only 6 months through my annual prepaid hbo plan (ad-free)… a small relief to my wallet.

 

[AgentOSX]

Still doesn’t work with a lot of people Geri g service though ATT. Their Max “helpline” is no help at all.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

Have you inflation adjusted those 2 year old prices? The way inflation has been the last 2 years that turns out to be rather significant, remember you will also get access to discovery content.

But does ANYONE actually want access to Discovery content?!!! Discovery is GARBAGE and 95% unscripted (‘Reality TV’) sh*t content. It isn’t worth $1 per month….ugh. I’m very unhappy, longtime HBO subscriber (via the App) and I have put up with HBO’s very crappy interface, slow movement, inability to properly fast forward or rewind in few second increments, the previous renamings and app replacements, and now this. I agree, we will probably see THIS app killed and replaced in another 9 months or so, once the dinosaur execs at Warner Discovery realize they’re bleeding subscribers (again).

 

[svish]

Expecting it to roll out quickly to all regions

 

[zapmymac]

Tv and iPad user: things properly updated kinda.

HBO Max pushed to update with one click, then killed HBO Max app on tvOS. MAX was properly installed and up and running with 4k/atmos (bitrate?)

My annual plan of a 4k/Atmos is now called legacy-ad free @ $104.99.

Come mid-summer to keep my 4k/Atmos/ad-free plan will ****ing double in price to $199.99 (ANNUAL PREPAID)

Holy **** Batman. $105–>$200 is crazy.

Now, if I can cancel my monthly Disco+ plan ($7 add-free) it kinda helps…not really. I’ll have to see if the g/f has her Food Network shows moved over??? I used to watch HGTV but it’s completely junk now.

In summary: MAX just lost an ANNUAL subscriber. Back to binging IF/WHEN anything good comes to town.

 

[michaelscarn]

I subscribe through Apple. Went to use HBO Max on Apple TV, a message said "HBO Max not available in your country" (US) and it did not automatically redirect, so I went ahead and downloaded the new app, deleted the old one, and surprisingly didn't have to log in again.

It says Legacy Ad-Free subscriber for $15.99. If that still includes 4K and Atmos, no complaints.

Not liking the new interface so far, although it would be much better if they put all the channels at the top as categories. I have ZERO interest in garbage Discovery programming, and do not want to waste time scrolling through stupid fake shows like Dr. Pimple Popper and House Hunters to find my old HBO Max content.

I can feel my IQ dropping just seeing the titles; 1000-lb Sisters, 90 Day Fiance, Sister Wives. Who watches these obviously staged shows? The Real Housewives is like Masterpiece Theatre compared to this garbage! Oh wait... they have My 600 Lb. Life, one of my guilty pleasures and an easy justification for having that second scoop of ice cream. Guess I am a Discovery viewer after all... 😳

 

[SnippetySnip]

Urgh. Frame rate matching and dynamic range matching doesn't work on the ATV4K box.
I'm cancelling if this isn't fixed quick.

 

[acctman]

Anyone with Ad support? Do they show a lot of ads? I have always had the ad free version but thinking about switching .

 

[Zimmy68]

I'm so confused, I'm hearing almost the same number of AT&T subs saying they are playing 4k content as those that don't.
I fire up Shazam 2 and all I get is Dolby Atmos. I fire up The Batman, only Dolby Atmos.
The stream looks like 1080p to me.

 

[acctman]

Do not change your Legacy Plan although Max does not list the features of it, I chatted with someone from support to see what features remain.

From Customer Support:
Since the Legacy Ad-free means that the customer has already a subscription before migrating to Max, the features for this is with 4k. But now, only the Ultimate Ad-free:

• Can stream4k UHD and Dolby Atmos (as available).
• Can stream on 4 devices at once
• Up to 100 offline downloads across device

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

But does ANYONE actually want access to Discovery content?!!! Discovery is GARBAGE and 95% unscripted (‘Reality TV’) sh*t content. It isn’t worth $1 per month….ugh. I’m very unhappy, longtime HBO subscriber (via the App) and I have put up with HBO’s very crappy interface, slow movement, inability to properly fast forward or rewind in few second increments, the previous renamings and app replacements, and now this. I agree, we will probably see THIS app killed and replaced in another 9 months or so, once the dinosaur execs at Warner Discovery realize they’re bleeding subscribers (again).

I (and 22 million other paid subscribers) to D+ disagree with you. Merging content with MAX will just increase the user base to D+. Also, Discovery channel is on many cable and streaming services and is surely watched (with ads) by millions more.

 

[jsalda]

Completely confuse customers and lose your trusted brand name. Great job, guys!

And totally disconnect the current app. My wife tried watching the old app and started complaining that something was wrong with the internet! Had to put on my IT hat and start diagnosing; Netflix works, Hulu works. Wait a #@!%# minute!! They disabled the app and are forcing us to download the new one on Day 1?? Total shenanigans.

I don't think these services will fail as some are predicting, but I do hope that their next quarterly meetings show a drop that is concurrent to them implementing these new penny-squeezing strategies and they realize that they are alienating users. Then it's up to an executive who has a brain and some clout to say "Hey, let's take a look at what may have caused this."

 

[nsayer]

So we have an HBO subscription through our cable subscription and we have D+. Is this now a super-set? Should/can we turn off D+ now and not miss anything?

 

[jimmysalg]

Are you sure? My TV indicates a resolution of 2160p when watching “4K” titles in the MAX library.

...thats just what account info said. See image

 

[Zimmy68]

I tried something I read on Reddit that seemed to work for me.
If you AirPlay from your iPhone, it will display in Dolby Vision/Atmos on the AppleTV for some reason.
I'm thinking they need to wire out the kinks of the AppleTV app.

 

[tivoboy]

Same for me. It says ad free plan and it's playing in 4k. So it seems AT&T users get the Ultimate plan. On Apple TV the Max app doesn't play in 4k but on my fire stick and native tv app it does.

I think anyone with any ad free plan gets what WILL be Ultimate, but for only the next six months, then it will revert back to no 4K, fewer downloads and simultaneous streams.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

Well, except for all the ones they've been busy deleting over the last six months.

Yeah, and that really sucked. I didn’t get to watch the second season of Beforeigners before they removed it from HBO ‘Max’!

 

[FriendlyMackle]

Tv and iPad user: things properly updated kinda.

HBO Max pushed to update with one click, then killed HBO Max app on tvOS. MAX was properly installed and up and running with 4k/atmos (bitrate?)

My annual plan of a 4k/Atmos is now called legacy-ad free @ $104.99.

Come mid-summer to keep my 4k/Atmos/ad-free plan will ****ing double in price to $199.99 (ANNUAL PREPAID)

Holy **** Batman. $105–>$200 is crazy.

Now, if I can cancel my monthly Disco+ plan ($7 add-free) it kinda helps…not really. I’ll have to see if the g/f has her Food Network shows moved over??? I used to watch HGT

V but it’s completely junk now.

In summary: MAX just lost an ANNUAL subscriber. Back to binging IF/WHEN anything good comes to town.

Exactly. I have been keeping my HBO Max service year-round, but I’m going to start cancelling for 4-6 months per year. That’s generally what the amount of content that HBO makes will fill. I can handle ‘waiting’ a few months for any interesting series.

And part of the reason that I did keep it year-round for the past year is that they offered me a 50% discount on the ad-free service for one year. I forget why. So I’ve kept the full price service for the past several months, with the plan to discontinue it around now.

I really don’t like seeing all of the ‘Discovery’ garbage programming mixed in with the much higher (actual) quality HBO original programming (and some imported UK programming) and feature films.

I remember Discovery when it first launched, and there was actual educational and documentary material on that channel. I really don’t need 12 varieties of home improvement, 30x varieties of housewives of whatever city, or ‘insert-problem-addiction-horror/love story here’ shows. I object to paying one cent for any Disc content.

And despite the claims that HBO was losing money—it only ‘lost’ money after the TWO mergers of ATT and now Discovery. The corporate idiots poured all of that debt onto Warner/HBO and their various properties. They’ve set themselves up to fail, and that’s entirely their own problem.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

I (and 22 million other paid subscribers) to D+ disagree with you. Merging content with MAX will just increase the user base to D+. Also, Discovery channel is on many cable and streaming services and is surely watched (with ads) by millions more.

I disconnected from cable TV back in 2008. I‘ve just done streaming (and prior to that Netflix‘s dvd subscription!) and purchases of series that I want to watch. So I have not had to subscribe to any unwanted channels in roughly 15 years. I don’t intend to be pressured back into doing so for ‘savings’ on something I would never want.

Good for you if you enjoy D+ programming—and I mean that. ’Reality’ or unscripted content as the industry calls it, very much bothers me for the same reason producers and network executives love this type of content: it is CHEAP. Cheaply made, with mostly unpaid participants (so they are working for ‘free’ in order to be part of the show), and some paid hosts or ’celebrities’ of questionable fame.

And while I’m sure there are some good programs interspersed with the overall catalog, again, I don’t think that this is something people should have to pay for. They’re marketing to you every product (placement) featured, as well as the clothing, venues, locations, etc.

And, the more that people are willing to watch and even pay for this type of programming, the more it will eat away at ‘real’ scripted tv series and even movies. Because scripted done right costs so much more.

Mind you, scripted series do not need to cost $20-$100 million per episode. Nothing needs to cost that much.

 

[CarlJ]

I remember Discovery when it first launched, and there was actual educational and documentary material on that channel.

There was a time when my favorite channels were the History Channel and Discovery. Before they descended into reality TV hell and dropped all the documentaries.

 

[bn-7bc]

But does ANYONE actually want access to Discovery content?!!! Discovery is GARBAGE and 95% unscripted (‘Reality TV’) sh*t content. It isn’t worth $1 per month….ugh. I’m very unhappy, longtime HBO subscriber (via the App) and I have put up with HBO’s very crappy interface, slow movement, inability to properly fast forward or rewind in few second increments, the previous renamings and app replacements, and now this. I agree, we will probably see THIS app killed and replaced in another 9 months or so, once the dinosaur execs at Warner Discovery realize they’re bleeding subscribers (again).

Well thst depends is this discoverys entier cataloge including wharever was on any of their channels when they where aktually goid, in that case, Deffenetly at least imho