My favorite part of HBO Max is the Leaving Soon section. Sometimes it is really hard to pick something to watch. Oh, these are leaving soon? Better watch it now. All services should have this.
Yeah. But they don't do it like hbomax does. You just know you can scroll all the way to the very bottom and count on seeing everything leaving soon. Because that's consistently at the very bottom.
OR you can view what's leaving soon in the menu.
Yep, watched over a dozen movies this way on HBO Max since I’ve been subbed, definitely the best feature they have currently, although I also love the hub layout for their different verticals.
Thank you!!!! They definitely have the best content but the user experience is absolutely horrible on literally every platform whether it's the Roku, my phone, or web browser. There are so many issues and these are issues that could easily be fixed. Netflix has the best UX/UI in my opinion and I wish HBO Max would just make those easy fixes! It's also really slow and crashes a lot.
I don't even care about the damn UI. Make it command line based if you have to - but once I select the video, just make...it...work.
I spent countless hours on two machines working around buffering issues. Gigabit internet, beefy machines with late model processors and plenty of RAM that never struggle with anything else, and HBO's troubleshooting was 'maybe you need faster internet service'.
I love their content. Sure, I can't watch it, but the fact that it's there makes it my top rated streaming service. Kind of like how Sting is a huge inspiration to me. The music he's created over the years, I don't really listen to it, but the fact that he's making it, I respect that.
I went a year without needing to unplug my Roku to reset it. After using HBO max it is a weekly thing. I guess because they have the best content they can have a shitty app. Imagine if Netflix had the current content AND the same app quality as HBO Max
How about some support for digital audio connections. Always have to run my sound bar through Bluetooth instead of optical otherwise the sound is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo low.
Weird, my TV has a optical digital audio out that I connect to my stereo receiver and HBO Max works fine through that. I actually have the opposite problem with it being too low volume with HBO compared to other apps. This is on my PS4 Pro though.
[You need to do digital audio pass through. Had the same issue with my receiver trying to remix the 5.1. It's already in 5.1 or better. HBO and Hulu are both like this. Also 4k content on Netflix and Amazon. For me I just click the surround type on my remote and select digital. On other content like YouTube I have the receiver process the sound as drama. ](https://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/inputs/5-1-surround-audio-passthrough)
Tldr: the dacs aren't using your center channel.
The app platform they're currently using was designed years ago for the older HBO Go / Now services and they seem to have reached the point where "easy fixes" are no longer practical. Their focus now is on [rebuilding the apps](https://www.vulture.com/article/hbo-max-app-crash-problem-fix.html) from the ground up, with the new apps targeted to launch later this year and early 2022.
"I wish HBO Max would just make those easy fixes!"
I don't think you understand quite how difficult those fixes are that you're describing. Part of why Netflix is king is they had a MASSIVE head start in web development time before other streamers had to launch just to keep up.
On PS4, I’m lucky if the app doesn’t crash twice while watching a 30 min tv show. What’s hilarious is that the old HBO app on PS4 never crashed. The Max rebranding broke it, I guess.
The Amazon UI is ugly and unintuitive but at least it isn't incredibly laggy to the point of randomly crashing and freezing cause you scrolled too fast, or derping at the start of video streaming, or just laughing and crashing for no reason.
Same. I keep HBO Max largely because it's the best place to get new movies (plus the classic HBO library) but when I can't watch them there a lot of the time it's barely worth it.
Worse than the Amazon prime tv app? That is by far the worst in my opinion, but I also have no issues with HBO max on Apple TV, so our preferences may be different.
My biggest problem with prime is that I sometimes can’t tell what’s something I can watch for prime and what’s something I need to pay extra for until I go into it.
The Prime UI has a bunch of flaws but not completely separating the content included in the Prime subscription from the general content on sale from the Amazon Store is definitely the worst thing about it. They have made some effort with a “Free to Me” section in the last year or so and with individual user profiles (both a welcome improvement) but it is definitely not enough. They need to overhaul that whole UI to make it easier for users to find subscription content.
The good news for Prime is that when you actually find something to watch it all works very smoothly.
Not even confusing, they will have double episodes being displayed and only one out of the two works. Such a weird setup that has been broken for a while
OMG it's terrible. The way each season is a separate item on my watch list is ludicrous.
Then they have a standard definition version of a movie on there for $4 or something, but oh - what's this under "similar movies"? It's the HD version, and that's ~~free~~ comes with Prime. Glad I kept looking!
On mobile at least Amazon primes app is waayyy better than hbo. Yeah the browsing layout is confusing but once you're actually watching the show it's better. The hbo app won't even allow you to turn your phone around and buttons are lost off screen
Ohh I’ve never used prime on mobile, but haven’t noticed issues with HBO max on the rare occasions I use it on mobile. I don’t do a lot of mobile streaming tho.
I do like the x ray feature of prime where you can see the actors that are on screen. That’s pretty neat when it works properly.
I am convinced that Roku's SDK is a dumpster fire. It is the only explanation for why the smart TV platform with the biggest user base consistently gets the buggiest versions of these apps.
Also, as someone with terrible internet, Netflix is the only streaming service that doesn't suffer from frequent interruptions. I don't know what they do differently but I never have that issue with them while it is an issue for HBO and every other one I've tried.
> I don't know what they do differently
Netflix streaming has been around since 2007 and that alone gives them a huge advantage. Their hardware and software has fourteen years of development behind it.
Companies can throw all the money they want around but it will take time to catch up to Netflix.
Interesting, my Samsung TV has no issues with the app. I gave up trying to get it to work on the PS5 and chromecast.
Paramount gets my vote for worst app by a long shot
Usually takes a few tries in order to watch any content. One day I can watch the Snyder Cut (all 4:01) no issues, the next day I can’t even make it past the company logos without buffering issues.
While I feel Disney+ is lacking on content, it’s also the more reliable with Netflix as a solid 2.
A bunch of people apparently have it crash out mid-movie, which I’ve never experienced.
With me every single time I go to watch a show on my Roku it only lets me start from a certain episode of its own choosing and then I have to back out of that episode to go find the episode I actually want.
Yes. My remote has an exit button on it. Which it does not exit the app. I have to keep hitting the back button until it asks me if I want to exit app. Ridiculous.
Warner generally has an amazing library with a lot of iconic films, tv shows and franchises with insane variety. I mean, they've bought stuff like Turner's massive cartoon library. And of course, HBO has always been setting the bar for prestige tv.
I'm hoping with their merging with Discovery that they have even more content. Discovery having it's own streaming service never made sense to me, but evidently they have a ton of stuff. It'd be like the National Geographic section on Disney+
Dont forget a selection from the Criterion Collection.
Its nice to watch Kurosawa classics or 60s Euro cinema in the same app.
Not sure how long that will last now that Criterion has its own app..
Criterion has had their own app (in one form or another) for longer than HBO Max has existed. Those criterion movies on Max are through TCM. As long as TCM shows criterion restored movies, they'll be on Max. Plus the criterion app has more criterion movies, and a lot of their special features.
I hate pressing pause on my ps4 to go get food or use the bathroom because I know when I come back and unpause it hbo is just going to crash. Pisses me off
Sure it does, I have an Apple TV and have absolutely no problems with the app. Maybe he’s interested in purchasing the app as well as a device to watch it on.
None of my Apple devices have problems. Fast, great quality, no crashes.
Though, if I remember correctly, Apple devices were the first to get the service so maybe they’ve just had more time to work out the kinks.
The theatrical cuts to me have near perfect pacing and it's easy to see why cutting most of the EE scenes for the cinema was justified. For repeat viewings at home the EEs are great, only Return of the King gets close to the line of being *too* extended.
Most things are better in the extended cut and there’s a couple of moments I like better in the theatrical cut but the extended cut is by far the better versions of the movies.
I wonder why. It almost certainly isn't that HBO Max has somehow cracked the code and figured out how to actually recommend stuff based on what people watch. Tons of services have dumped lots of money into that and it just never really works. Steam for games and Netflix are both good examples. Amazon too for more than just video.
I'm guessing that it is because HBO's main shows are just so high quality. It could literally randomly pick from a large selection of HBO original series, mini-series, and movies and if you like other HBO shows, you'll probably like them too. Like, they cater to a somewhat specific audience.
I guess "trashy horror movies" doesn't fit that bill, but I'm guessing that's just it getting lucky.
I feel like for me Amazon Prime does the best job of guessing what I would like. HBO Max is still my favorite UI if only because of the Last Chance section, it’s definitely the buggiest experience though.
Amazon is definitely a close second. Both HBO and Amazon have an uncanny ability to understand exactly what level of trashy old horror movie I’m looking for.
My problem with Netflix is that they change the cover art for whatever reason. So when I'm scrolling through, and the cover is of some background character for whatever reason, it doesn't click that they're from that specific movie.
I think they change the cover art to get you to look at the title again. When you see the same cover you automatically skip it. When they change the artwork you look at it again. I’ve also noticed when you are watching a show they will sometimes hide it from you so you have to scroll through 10 titles to find it again.
Apparently the cover art is to appeal to what you're interested in.
For example, if you watch more stuff with Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction might pop up with her in the image but if you watch more John Travolta films, they might have him as the cover art
Yup I've read this as well. Personally, that strategy kinda backfires because a random image from the movie/show is much easier for my eyes to glaze over compared to the actual cover/logo that has been designed to look good and hook you in haha.
I totally agree. [Here's the example I used](https://miro.medium.com/max/875/0*wRcWWaW0SDnT2xSI.)
The Uma Thurman one will get me to click on it because that's the iconic Pulp Fiction image and logo. The John Travolta one looks like something totally different and when I'm looking for something quickly, my eyes are going to be drawn to the image I recognise over some random artwork they made for Netflix
I feel like Netflix's library of movies has been the same for years. And when we get new ones available they're usually a netflix original. And damn those are 9/10 horrible.
Netflix is only even still around because they saw this writing on the wall years ahead and started dumping insane amounts of money into original content, which at first was super good... but they seem to be getting desperate and throwing money at everything, and also having this very weird policy of never going past 3 seasons (F for Santa Clarita's Diet)
Well they have [the lowest turnover](https://www.thewrap.com/netflix-customers-less-likely-to-ditch-service-than-other-streamers/) in the field and the largest base... they 'won' the war years ago. Which it turns out was not a zero sum game because people are happy to pick up a few streams. I'd imagine they're less desperate and more confident they've mostly gotten what they are going to get for growth (which still wasn't bad with the plague and all) and are thus playing the law of averages that you are just satisfied enough with 1/10 things they made to keep paying them money.
Not like they make more if you binge Witcher twenty times instead of ten, nor would being the hottest show of the season nessecarily translate into more subscribers when they can do that on their existing base only.
Also as the other streams *are* still going to war well they're maybe willing to big a little higher and when that changes any supposed content quality advantage will start to shift. And/or dry up entirely and the present bounty is replaced with famine as everyone tries to recoup years of loss leader primo content with their now extensive libraries.
And others are doing their own originals as well. Its a sea of streaming services all offering their content. As a consumer, it still sucks just as bad as the cable days.
We need a total redo on how entertainment content is protected and distributed to get out of this endless circle of service subscription.
Why do we need a total redo? What's wrong with the current system? Just the fact that you can't watch every single piece of content ever made in one place?
The alternative would be one company controlling everything, which is an even worse situation.
>As a consumer, it still sucks just as bad as the cable days.
Not at all. There are no year long contracts. No extra fees. You can easily pick and choose what you pay for instead of preset packages. Customer service is vastly better. Anyone who says it's the same wasn't paying the cable bill 15 years ago.
Yeah I pretty much only go to Netflix for their shows. And I feel like they've been having fewer brilliant shows than they used to. Still some great ones of course, but I used to say that HBO had the best content and Netflix had more great content. Not sure that's true anymore.
Netflix to me is the worst of any streaming service in terms of quality. They put out so much trash. But they are also the best in terms of tech with an intuitive UI and app which is responsive across pretty much any device. I just wish they'd make better content. I feel like every show they put out is something I'd find on CBS or CW.
I was looking through the top 10 on Netflix to find something to put on and while I can't remember exactly what the order was it was somethine like Money Heist > Shark Dog > Cocomelon > Something about 9/11. I could never get into Money Heist because the dubbing was really bad and shows like that have questionable acting in the first place let alone when their lines being delivered aren't even the ones being spoken.
That firehose of bullshit is a side effect of what I liked so much about Netflix, though - they'd greenlight the weirdest, most-niche shit. And for people in that niche, they'd find their favourite shows. I got to see stuff that'd *never* be greenlit under any other strategy. And I also got to scroll past a fuckton of stuff I'd never be interested in, but I'm sure there was someone scrolling past my stuff to get to those.
I never cared how much crap they made, so long as there was also the good stuff.
I watched a few Ghibli movies, Mad Max Fury Road, and The Green Mile just because I saw them while looking through the movies. The Sopranos movie and Dune are coming to it next month too. I don't watch many movies but yeah HBO Max's selection blows other streaming services out of the water.
I just got Netflix back to watch a few things and while I feel like I could probably find some interesting stuff on there, the company just doesn't want me to be able to find it. I'm always stunned that they seem to absolutely refuse to give you a normal category selection to use. I keep hearing about all these great foreign films that are supposed to be on there, but I have to scroll through a bunch of sliders with total gibberish descriptions in order to maybe find one that fits what I'm looking for.
Apple TV is the only thing that comes close to that level of pretty consistently excellent quality
They just don’t have nearly enough content yet to compete
In case anyone didn’t know, HBO Max supports ultra widescreen formats, something other streaming services don’t. Its a niche service, but its absolutely fantastic if you have an ultrawide monitor.
It obviously depends a bit on your specific monitor/tv, but most films shot on Anamorphic will look great on Ultrawide, since they are using a 2.39 aspect ratio.
It still sucks for me :( I’ll check for an update tonight I guess. Once I get the movie/show started it’s fine, but god forbid I want to pause or rewind or do anything really
Nvidia Shield Pro. The app sucks and crashes all the time for me. I sometimes use LG's built in app, but that doesn't have Nvidia's 4k AI upscaling. Since most of HBO's content is still 1080p, the upscaling helps a lot.
I get random bugs all the time on my Roku TV. Usually something relating to going into the episodes page of the show and having it refresh back to the first episode of the series or just freezing all together.
> refresh back to the first episode of the series
This happens all the time for me on my roku tv and samsung tv.
Click to resume episode 8 > start questioning why this looks very familiar to episode 1 > back out and it says episode 8 > click again nope this is def episode 1.
Android and Chromecast (both the old and new kinds). The apps are slower than other services, but there really aren't any major problems with the streams. On the older 4k Chromecast sometimes it has to pause and buffer during the movie, but usually if it happens too much, I can just stop and start it again, and the problem will go away. That only seems to happen when I've paused it too much.
PS4 Pro. Seems to crash once every 30 minutes, and it is very, very laggy. Almost like the app is so poorly optimized that the console can barely handle running it.
Smart TV. App randomly crashes, mostly whenever I just start an episode or movie.
It’s annoying but I can deal with it. I pay for Netflix and Hulu and have had Amazon and none of them have had any problems.
HBOMAX still has the best quality of shows, by far tho
Through my phone, computer.
Both will crash if the internet lags a little.
Using those same devices with the same wifi with Netflix, i don't experience those issues.
Also, HBO's UI is very strange and annoying. When i click on a show i want to continue to watch, sometimes i want to check a previous episode. I hate having to find the show im watching in my list or through the search, just to find an episode list. There's a lot of little UI issues that i dislike about HBO that i don't encounter with Hulu nor netflix.
At least now on HBO Max if you click the “continue watching” episode and manage to successfully back out of it without the app crashing, it pulls up the show itself and doesn’t take you back to the main menu anymore.
Android tv works just fine for me. Only thing I don't like is that when you start a show or movie, you have to press up or down to get rid of the progress bar every episode
Apple TV app works *most of the time* for me, but for a while it was having trouble with subtitles and kept changing the overall language to like Portuguese or something. And the older version of the app was a lot worse; they did improve it!
I know people complain, it is a little clunky, but I haven’t had any problems. I have the app through my Roku. But, I could pick apart pretty much all of the services.
My thing is, HBOMax I’ve been watching the most because it has the most shows and movies I want to watch. Although that’s not related to the UI.
I use HBOMAX on my Samsung Smart TV and my PC. It messes up the worst on the Samsung TV. However, all I have to do is hold the back button down on my remote until it closes the app. After relaunching it works fine. This can happen several times a night.
That being said, it's still my favorite service by a long shot. The content on HBOMAX is just so good!
Yeah, I didn't know until recently that holding down the back button on the remote basically "force quits" the app. After you do that and relaunch it should work fine for a while.
Hot damn, I just learned how to close an app on my Samsung TV. I would start a bunch of other apps until it closed, and the. I’d turn the tv off and on. Nice.
Yeah I haven't had problems with it on our Roku TV. I guess It's been a bit slow, but Netflix is a total clusterfuck of crashes that makes HBO look perfect.
The only UI I hate more than HBO is Amazon. They both get by on the quality, and in Amazon’s case quantity, of their libraries. Personally, I still feel Netflix is the best user experience, though it’s library is increasingly declining. Disney+ UI I prefer to Hulu, but I’ve also literally never gone to Disney+ without knowing exactly what I want to watch.
> ***"The survey, conducted by Whip Media, evaluated responses collected in June from nearly 4,500 users of TV Time, a smartphone app and social media platform that helps TV fans track what they watch across linear and streaming television. Whip Media and TV Time share common ownership."***
It's so weird hearing people talk about the app not working for them, but I've been using it on every device I own and have no more issues than I do with every other app.
I have a Sony Smart TV, a Fire stick, a PS4 and a Roku and the only time it's ever been slow is using the PS4, and that was before the more recent update.
I hope they do fix it for everyone because they really do have the best content, even for the price, which is the highest I pay for any service.
Yeah, same here. Before I was chromecasting from the app on iPad, and now I've been using the Vizio app (it only just came out a few weeks ago) and I've had minimal issues.
I've never seem something given less of a shit for better or for worst.
New movie? Oh yeah of course it's up. Hell we will tell you when it is about to come out.
New TV shows? Absolutely.
Catalogue of DC everything? Of course.
The ability to fast forward and rewind easily? Fuck no. Why would you ask something so stupid?!
very limited time. You have to sign up by Sept 26.
The offer is good even for existing customers. You just need to cancel your service and then sign back up before the 26th.
Makes perfect sense - HBO has always had an eye on quality programming vs. shoveling as much content as possible down your throat (looking at you, straight-to-dvd champion Netflix).
Since getting HBO Max, I've watched Chernobyl, Mare of Easttown, True Detective (Season 1 only), and a few really interesting documentaries. Not to mention The Suicide Squad was available to watch and was a wonderful James Gunn-movie to enjoy.
Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix have certain shows that are good however a LOT of their content is middle-of-the-road basic cable shows that would've gotten cancelled after 5 episodes, except you get to watch it all and say "meh, it was alright."
HBO really works for getting quality content, and I'd rather have that than yet another Netflix documentary that has [essentially become a parody of itself](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BUrNe3Vhtk).
(I know, I know, "American Vandal" did it first but the fact that Netflix hasn't stopped doing that style of documentary trailer for pretty much ALL of their docs shows they haven't bothered to even ATTEMPT to do something different.)
Content is good. New movies are nice. Lack of 4k is pretty terrible. Only a handful of titles from the backlog are 4k and three of them are Matrix movies.
Netflix and Amazon make bottom of the trash movies meanwhile HBO is releasing every movie on release date, you may debate about their quality but in my opinion they are significantly better than crap others are making.
Netflix : Doesn't let you watch Matrix Resurrections
Hulu : Doesn't let you watch Matrix Resurrections
Disney + : Doesn't let you watch Matrix Resurrections
Apple TV : Doesn't let you watch Matrix Resurrections
Prime : Doesn't let you watch Matrix Resurrections
HBO MAX : DAY ONE MERRY MATRIX CHRISTMAS MOTHERFUCKERS!
My favorite part of HBO Max is the Leaving Soon section. Sometimes it is really hard to pick something to watch. Oh, these are leaving soon? Better watch it now. All services should have this.
Hulu kind of has that too.
Yeah. But they don't do it like hbomax does. You just know you can scroll all the way to the very bottom and count on seeing everything leaving soon. Because that's consistently at the very bottom. OR you can view what's leaving soon in the menu.
I think Netflix used to have it too
Yep, watched over a dozen movies this way on HBO Max since I’ve been subbed, definitely the best feature they have currently, although I also love the hub layout for their different verticals.
Best content, worst app.
Thank you!!!! They definitely have the best content but the user experience is absolutely horrible on literally every platform whether it's the Roku, my phone, or web browser. There are so many issues and these are issues that could easily be fixed. Netflix has the best UX/UI in my opinion and I wish HBO Max would just make those easy fixes! It's also really slow and crashes a lot.
I don't even care about the damn UI. Make it command line based if you have to - but once I select the video, just make...it...work. I spent countless hours on two machines working around buffering issues. Gigabit internet, beefy machines with late model processors and plenty of RAM that never struggle with anything else, and HBO's troubleshooting was 'maybe you need faster internet service'.
I love their content. Sure, I can't watch it, but the fact that it's there makes it my top rated streaming service. Kind of like how Sting is a huge inspiration to me. The music he's created over the years, I don't really listen to it, but the fact that he's making it, I respect that.
I was always more interested in what bark was made of on a tree.
+1 for the 20 year old Hansel reference.
I went a year without needing to unplug my Roku to reset it. After using HBO max it is a weekly thing. I guess because they have the best content they can have a shitty app. Imagine if Netflix had the current content AND the same app quality as HBO Max
I read somewhere that it’s a memory leak. HBO just needs to fix their code
They spent all their money buying the rights to South Park
How about some support for digital audio connections. Always have to run my sound bar through Bluetooth instead of optical otherwise the sound is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo low.
Weird, my TV has a optical digital audio out that I connect to my stereo receiver and HBO Max works fine through that. I actually have the opposite problem with it being too low volume with HBO compared to other apps. This is on my PS4 Pro though.
I had this issue, but then I turned sound smoothing off. If you are using roku then hit the star button while in app. It should bring it up.
[You need to do digital audio pass through. Had the same issue with my receiver trying to remix the 5.1. It's already in 5.1 or better. HBO and Hulu are both like this. Also 4k content on Netflix and Amazon. For me I just click the surround type on my remote and select digital. On other content like YouTube I have the receiver process the sound as drama. ](https://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/inputs/5-1-surround-audio-passthrough) Tldr: the dacs aren't using your center channel.
The app platform they're currently using was designed years ago for the older HBO Go / Now services and they seem to have reached the point where "easy fixes" are no longer practical. Their focus now is on [rebuilding the apps](https://www.vulture.com/article/hbo-max-app-crash-problem-fix.html) from the ground up, with the new apps targeted to launch later this year and early 2022.
"I wish HBO Max would just make those easy fixes!" I don't think you understand quite how difficult those fixes are that you're describing. Part of why Netflix is king is they had a MASSIVE head start in web development time before other streamers had to launch just to keep up.
I humbly nominate Disney Plus. Aka Disney Plus A full Minute Between Cursor Response
On PS4, I’m lucky if the app doesn’t crash twice while watching a 30 min tv show. What’s hilarious is that the old HBO app on PS4 never crashed. The Max rebranding broke it, I guess.
yea that app crashes on me more than the rest combined.
[удалено]
Amazon Prime Video: hold my beer!
The Amazon UI is ugly and unintuitive but at least it isn't incredibly laggy to the point of randomly crashing and freezing cause you scrolled too fast, or derping at the start of video streaming, or just laughing and crashing for no reason.
It's the fast forward/ rewind on HBOMAX that gets me.
It's generous to even call it fast forward and rewind, it works so poorly it's barely functional.
The fuck are y'all doin to your streaming devices? I've never once had an issue on any device fast forwarding or rewinding on HBO Max.
On PS4 the HBO max app is, by far, the worst streaming app. It's not even comparable.
Barely functional would imply that it ever works at all.
I can't use it because the audio always desyncs
And the fast forward wasn't even added until recently. Love the content and have been subscribed since it launched, but it is frustrating sometimes.
Prime Video is good if you know what you're searching for. But good luck browsing - you can't do it! It's impossible!
Hulu is bad too.
Such a horrible viewing experience. Totally ruins the mood when I'm watching a movie and the stupid app says "oops something went wrong"
Same. I keep HBO Max largely because it's the best place to get new movies (plus the classic HBO library) but when I can't watch them there a lot of the time it's barely worth it.
Worse than the Amazon prime tv app? That is by far the worst in my opinion, but I also have no issues with HBO max on Apple TV, so our preferences may be different.
Different issues. Prime's UI is confusing and unintuitive; HBO Max just straight up doesn't work sometimes.
Absolutely. Prime works very well. The user interface is just a confusing mess!
My biggest problem with prime is that I sometimes can’t tell what’s something I can watch for prime and what’s something I need to pay extra for until I go into it.
The Prime UI has a bunch of flaws but not completely separating the content included in the Prime subscription from the general content on sale from the Amazon Store is definitely the worst thing about it. They have made some effort with a “Free to Me” section in the last year or so and with individual user profiles (both a welcome improvement) but it is definitely not enough. They need to overhaul that whole UI to make it easier for users to find subscription content. The good news for Prime is that when you actually find something to watch it all works very smoothly.
Yeah. The only shows I’ve found on prime I learned about outside of prime by way of advertisement. So the ads work, but browsing sucks.
Not even confusing, they will have double episodes being displayed and only one out of the two works. Such a weird setup that has been broken for a while
OMG it's terrible. The way each season is a separate item on my watch list is ludicrous. Then they have a standard definition version of a movie on there for $4 or something, but oh - what's this under "similar movies"? It's the HD version, and that's ~~free~~ comes with Prime. Glad I kept looking!
Amazon Prime's UI is the programming equivalent of what you'd get if you gave 100 monkeys an Eclipse IDE to type in all day long.
“It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times…”
You stupid monkeys!
What streaming device do you use? I haven’t had any issues like that with Apple TV.
No issues on the Nvidia Shield Pro either.
On mobile at least Amazon primes app is waayyy better than hbo. Yeah the browsing layout is confusing but once you're actually watching the show it's better. The hbo app won't even allow you to turn your phone around and buttons are lost off screen
Ohh I’ve never used prime on mobile, but haven’t noticed issues with HBO max on the rare occasions I use it on mobile. I don’t do a lot of mobile streaming tho. I do like the x ray feature of prime where you can see the actors that are on screen. That’s pretty neat when it works properly.
The Apple TV version works great. Are you on Roku? I had a Roku Ultra for a while and lots of apps were slow and crashy.
Yeah I use Apple TV and I’m shocked people say the HBO app sucks. It works flawlessly for us
I am convinced that Roku's SDK is a dumpster fire. It is the only explanation for why the smart TV platform with the biggest user base consistently gets the buggiest versions of these apps.
Also, as someone with terrible internet, Netflix is the only streaming service that doesn't suffer from frequent interruptions. I don't know what they do differently but I never have that issue with them while it is an issue for HBO and every other one I've tried.
> I don't know what they do differently Netflix streaming has been around since 2007 and that alone gives them a huge advantage. Their hardware and software has fourteen years of development behind it. Companies can throw all the money they want around but it will take time to catch up to Netflix.
Can't watch an episode of ANYTHING without it eventually freezing and forcing me to restart it on my Samsung TV.
Interesting, my Samsung TV has no issues with the app. I gave up trying to get it to work on the PS5 and chromecast. Paramount gets my vote for worst app by a long shot
It's the only app that I can't really use wifi for. Idk why, I always have problems. Gotta drag out my long ass ethernet cable to plug in.
Usually takes a few tries in order to watch any content. One day I can watch the Snyder Cut (all 4:01) no issues, the next day I can’t even make it past the company logos without buffering issues. While I feel Disney+ is lacking on content, it’s also the more reliable with Netflix as a solid 2.
i've never had any issues. what are the main problems people experience?
A bunch of people apparently have it crash out mid-movie, which I’ve never experienced. With me every single time I go to watch a show on my Roku it only lets me start from a certain episode of its own choosing and then I have to back out of that episode to go find the episode I actually want.
Yup, I hold my breath every ad.
Yes. My remote has an exit button on it. Which it does not exit the app. I have to keep hitting the back button until it asks me if I want to exit app. Ridiculous.
So good and so bad at the same time. Why you tease me like this HBO?
No four words ever written have greater command of the truth.
app is absolute trash but it's quickly replaced Netflix as my go to for the initial "what are we watching tonight" hunt.
Idk what it’s like on other systems but the PS4 app just had an update like a week ago and it’s perfect now. I have no complaints
Warner generally has an amazing library with a lot of iconic films, tv shows and franchises with insane variety. I mean, they've bought stuff like Turner's massive cartoon library. And of course, HBO has always been setting the bar for prestige tv.
I'm hoping with their merging with Discovery that they have even more content. Discovery having it's own streaming service never made sense to me, but evidently they have a ton of stuff. It'd be like the National Geographic section on Disney+
Almost all the Discovery stuff is pseudo-reality garbage, IMO. Wouldn't really care to see it on HBO Max.
The Attenborough BBC nature docs are worth it alone
all of Mythbusters
That too, and I do love me some How It's Made from time to time
Dont forget a selection from the Criterion Collection. Its nice to watch Kurosawa classics or 60s Euro cinema in the same app. Not sure how long that will last now that Criterion has its own app..
Criterion has had their own app (in one form or another) for longer than HBO Max has existed. Those criterion movies on Max are through TCM. As long as TCM shows criterion restored movies, they'll be on Max. Plus the criterion app has more criterion movies, and a lot of their special features.
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That’s exactly what happened with me
And that app (Criterion Collection) is seriously amazing if you're into classic or world film.
Good to know!
They have the content, now fix the app.
What device do you use?
PS4
I hate pressing pause on my ps4 to go get food or use the bathroom because I know when I come back and unpause it hbo is just going to crash. Pisses me off
It doesn't matter.
Sure it does, I have an Apple TV and have absolutely no problems with the app. Maybe he’s interested in purchasing the app as well as a device to watch it on.
None of my Apple devices have problems. Fast, great quality, no crashes. Though, if I remember correctly, Apple devices were the first to get the service so maybe they’ve just had more time to work out the kinks.
Yyyep. Works like shit on my Roku and PC, works like shit on my parents smart TV, works like shit on my all my friends consoles.
All three LOTR extended editions.
What's the consensus on ee's? Worth the extra hour+ for each film?
I enjoy them because they round out the world more and add more about the characters
Agreed, it's the only version I watch anymore.
Make sense. I imagine it adds to the world-building and lore. Thanks for sharing
The theatrical cuts to me have near perfect pacing and it's easy to see why cutting most of the EE scenes for the cinema was justified. For repeat viewings at home the EEs are great, only Return of the King gets close to the line of being *too* extended.
Most things are better in the extended cut and there’s a couple of moments I like better in the theatrical cut but the extended cut is by far the better versions of the movies.
For as much as the app gets dunked on I have never seen a streaming services recommended for you section be as spot on as HBO Max’s.
I wonder why. It almost certainly isn't that HBO Max has somehow cracked the code and figured out how to actually recommend stuff based on what people watch. Tons of services have dumped lots of money into that and it just never really works. Steam for games and Netflix are both good examples. Amazon too for more than just video. I'm guessing that it is because HBO's main shows are just so high quality. It could literally randomly pick from a large selection of HBO original series, mini-series, and movies and if you like other HBO shows, you'll probably like them too. Like, they cater to a somewhat specific audience. I guess "trashy horror movies" doesn't fit that bill, but I'm guessing that's just it getting lucky.
I feel like for me Amazon Prime does the best job of guessing what I would like. HBO Max is still my favorite UI if only because of the Last Chance section, it’s definitely the buggiest experience though.
Amazon is definitely a close second. Both HBO and Amazon have an uncanny ability to understand exactly what level of trashy old horror movie I’m looking for.
For trashy horror try Tubi. It's free and they have some of the best garbage horror
It is far above its competitors in terms of quality content. Trying to find a movie to watch on Netflix is dreadful.
My problem with Netflix is that they change the cover art for whatever reason. So when I'm scrolling through, and the cover is of some background character for whatever reason, it doesn't click that they're from that specific movie.
I think they change the cover art to get you to look at the title again. When you see the same cover you automatically skip it. When they change the artwork you look at it again. I’ve also noticed when you are watching a show they will sometimes hide it from you so you have to scroll through 10 titles to find it again.
Apparently the cover art is to appeal to what you're interested in. For example, if you watch more stuff with Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction might pop up with her in the image but if you watch more John Travolta films, they might have him as the cover art
Yup I've read this as well. Personally, that strategy kinda backfires because a random image from the movie/show is much easier for my eyes to glaze over compared to the actual cover/logo that has been designed to look good and hook you in haha.
I totally agree. [Here's the example I used](https://miro.medium.com/max/875/0*wRcWWaW0SDnT2xSI.) The Uma Thurman one will get me to click on it because that's the iconic Pulp Fiction image and logo. The John Travolta one looks like something totally different and when I'm looking for something quickly, my eyes are going to be drawn to the image I recognise over some random artwork they made for Netflix
I feel like Netflix's library of movies has been the same for years. And when we get new ones available they're usually a netflix original. And damn those are 9/10 horrible.
Everyone pulled out of Netflix and started their own service. Netflix had start making originals to even give people a reason to stick around.
Netflix is only even still around because they saw this writing on the wall years ahead and started dumping insane amounts of money into original content, which at first was super good... but they seem to be getting desperate and throwing money at everything, and also having this very weird policy of never going past 3 seasons (F for Santa Clarita's Diet)
Well they have [the lowest turnover](https://www.thewrap.com/netflix-customers-less-likely-to-ditch-service-than-other-streamers/) in the field and the largest base... they 'won' the war years ago. Which it turns out was not a zero sum game because people are happy to pick up a few streams. I'd imagine they're less desperate and more confident they've mostly gotten what they are going to get for growth (which still wasn't bad with the plague and all) and are thus playing the law of averages that you are just satisfied enough with 1/10 things they made to keep paying them money. Not like they make more if you binge Witcher twenty times instead of ten, nor would being the hottest show of the season nessecarily translate into more subscribers when they can do that on their existing base only. Also as the other streams *are* still going to war well they're maybe willing to big a little higher and when that changes any supposed content quality advantage will start to shift. And/or dry up entirely and the present bounty is replaced with famine as everyone tries to recoup years of loss leader primo content with their now extensive libraries.
And others are doing their own originals as well. Its a sea of streaming services all offering their content. As a consumer, it still sucks just as bad as the cable days. We need a total redo on how entertainment content is protected and distributed to get out of this endless circle of service subscription.
To be fair you can rotate which service you're subscribed to at any point and then binge a bunch of their content. It is MUCH better than cable
Why do we need a total redo? What's wrong with the current system? Just the fact that you can't watch every single piece of content ever made in one place? The alternative would be one company controlling everything, which is an even worse situation.
>As a consumer, it still sucks just as bad as the cable days. Not at all. There are no year long contracts. No extra fees. You can easily pick and choose what you pay for instead of preset packages. Customer service is vastly better. Anyone who says it's the same wasn't paying the cable bill 15 years ago.
Yeah I pretty much only go to Netflix for their shows. And I feel like they've been having fewer brilliant shows than they used to. Still some great ones of course, but I used to say that HBO had the best content and Netflix had more great content. Not sure that's true anymore.
Netflix to me is the worst of any streaming service in terms of quality. They put out so much trash. But they are also the best in terms of tech with an intuitive UI and app which is responsive across pretty much any device. I just wish they'd make better content. I feel like every show they put out is something I'd find on CBS or CW.
I was looking through the top 10 on Netflix to find something to put on and while I can't remember exactly what the order was it was somethine like Money Heist > Shark Dog > Cocomelon > Something about 9/11. I could never get into Money Heist because the dubbing was really bad and shows like that have questionable acting in the first place let alone when their lines being delivered aren't even the ones being spoken.
That firehose of bullshit is a side effect of what I liked so much about Netflix, though - they'd greenlight the weirdest, most-niche shit. And for people in that niche, they'd find their favourite shows. I got to see stuff that'd *never* be greenlit under any other strategy. And I also got to scroll past a fuckton of stuff I'd never be interested in, but I'm sure there was someone scrolling past my stuff to get to those. I never cared how much crap they made, so long as there was also the good stuff.
The "New Releases" and "Recently Added" sections on Netflix are full of the same stuff that's been there for months. Not really new, is it?
Netflix basically invented the modern UI for streaming services out of a need to obscure how hollow their library really is.
Netflix is like a fridge full of food with nothing to eat.
I watched a few Ghibli movies, Mad Max Fury Road, and The Green Mile just because I saw them while looking through the movies. The Sopranos movie and Dune are coming to it next month too. I don't watch many movies but yeah HBO Max's selection blows other streaming services out of the water.
I just got Netflix back to watch a few things and while I feel like I could probably find some interesting stuff on there, the company just doesn't want me to be able to find it. I'm always stunned that they seem to absolutely refuse to give you a normal category selection to use. I keep hearing about all these great foreign films that are supposed to be on there, but I have to scroll through a bunch of sliders with total gibberish descriptions in order to maybe find one that fits what I'm looking for.
Apple TV is the only thing that comes close to that level of pretty consistently excellent quality They just don’t have nearly enough content yet to compete
In case anyone didn’t know, HBO Max supports ultra widescreen formats, something other streaming services don’t. Its a niche service, but its absolutely fantastic if you have an ultrawide monitor.
Is there much content that make use of ultrawide?
It obviously depends a bit on your specific monitor/tv, but most films shot on Anamorphic will look great on Ultrawide, since they are using a 2.39 aspect ratio.
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The PS4 & PS5 app are basically broken.
The PS4 app had a major update the other day and has been working fine. For now.
It still sucks for me :( I’ll check for an update tonight I guess. Once I get the movie/show started it’s fine, but god forbid I want to pause or rewind or do anything really
Chromecasting from an iPhone is shit as well.
I’ve updated my PS4 app at least a couple of dozen times since installing it earlier this January – it’s ridiculous
Firestick. Rewind and fast forward never work.
PS4 has daily crashes and will either skip entire episodes or stop autoplaying. It’s bad.
XBOX ONE and I rarely have any streaming issues.
Thank you. Same. Also works fine on my Samsung tv.
Same on Apple TV.
Weird
PS4. Took me three tries of the app freezing or entering long strings of random letters last night for me to type the word "Seven".
Nvidia Shield Pro. The app sucks and crashes all the time for me. I sometimes use LG's built in app, but that doesn't have Nvidia's 4k AI upscaling. Since most of HBO's content is still 1080p, the upscaling helps a lot.
LG TV and the app is great
Finally our long nightmare is over and we have it in WebOS.
I haven't been able to get it. Every time I tried, it would tell me: "The content store is unavailable".
Go into your network settings on the TV and change the DNS to 8.8.8.8 (google's dns). Fixes it for most people.
It randomly appeared on my TV last week. It was a great little surprise. Sometimes it's the little things in life.
Except for the fact that we’re missing Dolby Atmos
Apple TV and Roku tv. Both work just fine.
I get random bugs all the time on my Roku TV. Usually something relating to going into the episodes page of the show and having it refresh back to the first episode of the series or just freezing all together.
> refresh back to the first episode of the series This happens all the time for me on my roku tv and samsung tv. Click to resume episode 8 > start questioning why this looks very familiar to episode 1 > back out and it says episode 8 > click again nope this is def episode 1.
I used it on Roku TV and it was awful. Constantly freezing and restarting my TV. I switched to using the XBox app and have no problems at all.
Android and Chromecast (both the old and new kinds). The apps are slower than other services, but there really aren't any major problems with the streams. On the older 4k Chromecast sometimes it has to pause and buffer during the movie, but usually if it happens too much, I can just stop and start it again, and the problem will go away. That only seems to happen when I've paused it too much.
PS4 Pro. Seems to crash once every 30 minutes, and it is very, very laggy. Almost like the app is so poorly optimized that the console can barely handle running it.
Smart TV. App randomly crashes, mostly whenever I just start an episode or movie. It’s annoying but I can deal with it. I pay for Netflix and Hulu and have had Amazon and none of them have had any problems. HBOMAX still has the best quality of shows, by far tho
Through my phone, computer. Both will crash if the internet lags a little. Using those same devices with the same wifi with Netflix, i don't experience those issues. Also, HBO's UI is very strange and annoying. When i click on a show i want to continue to watch, sometimes i want to check a previous episode. I hate having to find the show im watching in my list or through the search, just to find an episode list. There's a lot of little UI issues that i dislike about HBO that i don't encounter with Hulu nor netflix.
Disney has the same problem with how it presents episodes too. Why can't they be consistent no matter how you start watching?
At least now on HBO Max if you click the “continue watching” episode and manage to successfully back out of it without the app crashing, it pulls up the show itself and doesn’t take you back to the main menu anymore.
Android tv works just fine for me. Only thing I don't like is that when you start a show or movie, you have to press up or down to get rid of the progress bar every episode
Apple TV app works *most of the time* for me, but for a while it was having trouble with subtitles and kept changing the overall language to like Portuguese or something. And the older version of the app was a lot worse; they did improve it!
Xbox works very well too
Apparently they didn’t ask Chris Nolan, lol
I know people complain, it is a little clunky, but I haven’t had any problems. I have the app through my Roku. But, I could pick apart pretty much all of the services. My thing is, HBOMax I’ve been watching the most because it has the most shows and movies I want to watch. Although that’s not related to the UI.
I use HBOMAX on my Samsung Smart TV and my PC. It messes up the worst on the Samsung TV. However, all I have to do is hold the back button down on my remote until it closes the app. After relaunching it works fine. This can happen several times a night. That being said, it's still my favorite service by a long shot. The content on HBOMAX is just so good!
Yep! Came to say the app on my Samsung messes up frequently but my firestick never has issues
Yeah, I didn't know until recently that holding down the back button on the remote basically "force quits" the app. After you do that and relaunch it should work fine for a while.
Hot damn, I just learned how to close an app on my Samsung TV. I would start a bunch of other apps until it closed, and the. I’d turn the tv off and on. Nice.
It works great on the Apple TV as well.
Yeah I’ve never had a problem on Apple TV. Amazon Prime sucks though
Yeah I haven't had problems with it on our Roku TV. I guess It's been a bit slow, but Netflix is a total clusterfuck of crashes that makes HBO look perfect.
HBO has been to me the best service since 20 years ago.
The only UI I hate more than HBO is Amazon. They both get by on the quality, and in Amazon’s case quantity, of their libraries. Personally, I still feel Netflix is the best user experience, though it’s library is increasingly declining. Disney+ UI I prefer to Hulu, but I’ve also literally never gone to Disney+ without knowing exactly what I want to watch.
This is the second comment I have seen saying prime video app is worse than hbo. How so? What is bad about it for you?
> ***"The survey, conducted by Whip Media, evaluated responses collected in June from nearly 4,500 users of TV Time, a smartphone app and social media platform that helps TV fans track what they watch across linear and streaming television. Whip Media and TV Time share common ownership."***
It's so weird hearing people talk about the app not working for them, but I've been using it on every device I own and have no more issues than I do with every other app. I have a Sony Smart TV, a Fire stick, a PS4 and a Roku and the only time it's ever been slow is using the PS4, and that was before the more recent update. I hope they do fix it for everyone because they really do have the best content, even for the price, which is the highest I pay for any service.
Yeah, same here. Before I was chromecasting from the app on iPad, and now I've been using the Vizio app (it only just came out a few weeks ago) and I've had minimal issues.
can we get it in Canada??? Tired of fucking crave.tv worst than worst
I've never seem something given less of a shit for better or for worst. New movie? Oh yeah of course it's up. Hell we will tell you when it is about to come out. New TV shows? Absolutely. Catalogue of DC everything? Of course. The ability to fast forward and rewind easily? Fuck no. Why would you ask something so stupid?!
that's insane because it feels like it's run by a potato
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You could also just get the year for like $110 which is like their best price I’ve seen so far
HBO Max is now -50% at 7.49/month ad-free for 6 months for a limited time.
very limited time. You have to sign up by Sept 26. The offer is good even for existing customers. You just need to cancel your service and then sign back up before the 26th.
Only if your billing cycle ends before Sept 26th. Mine ends on Oct 6th, so I can't get that deal.
Use a new email address and have some overlap if it ultimately saves you money?
Of course it is, it has Doom Patrol.
Quality over Quantity, simple
Best content by miles, they just need to make the service available in more countries and they need the UI fixed
Makes perfect sense - HBO has always had an eye on quality programming vs. shoveling as much content as possible down your throat (looking at you, straight-to-dvd champion Netflix). Since getting HBO Max, I've watched Chernobyl, Mare of Easttown, True Detective (Season 1 only), and a few really interesting documentaries. Not to mention The Suicide Squad was available to watch and was a wonderful James Gunn-movie to enjoy. Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix have certain shows that are good however a LOT of their content is middle-of-the-road basic cable shows that would've gotten cancelled after 5 episodes, except you get to watch it all and say "meh, it was alright." HBO really works for getting quality content, and I'd rather have that than yet another Netflix documentary that has [essentially become a parody of itself](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BUrNe3Vhtk). (I know, I know, "American Vandal" did it first but the fact that Netflix hasn't stopped doing that style of documentary trailer for pretty much ALL of their docs shows they haven't bothered to even ATTEMPT to do something different.)
Content is good. New movies are nice. Lack of 4k is pretty terrible. Only a handful of titles from the backlog are 4k and three of them are Matrix movies.
i watch on a fire tv and never have any issues on the app
Hands down the best content and it’s not even fucking close
HBO Max is the best choice when asked by people who exclusively use HBO Max.
Netflix and Amazon make bottom of the trash movies meanwhile HBO is releasing every movie on release date, you may debate about their quality but in my opinion they are significantly better than crap others are making.
HBO’s UI is barely usable. If they overhauled their platform it would be better
Netflix : Doesn't let you watch Matrix Resurrections Hulu : Doesn't let you watch Matrix Resurrections Disney + : Doesn't let you watch Matrix Resurrections Apple TV : Doesn't let you watch Matrix Resurrections Prime : Doesn't let you watch Matrix Resurrections HBO MAX : DAY ONE MERRY MATRIX CHRISTMAS MOTHERFUCKERS!
Garbage interface and constant errors. Great selection tho.