I just wanna watch a movie

luvflyin

luvflyin

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Luvflyin
So a commercial comes on TV. It’s a trailer for a movie. Then it says “available on” Hulu or Apple or HBO or Netflix or any other number of things I don’t even know WTF they are except for in theaters which AFO(ain’t effin open.) I’m ignorant about how this all works. Do I have to subscribe to every freakin Cable/satellite/whatever station thingy is out there? Is there some one stop option where I can get these movies
 
Oh it gets better. Even if you have a Hulu subscription, there are different Hulu packages. Like I wanted to watch a certain movie, and it's only available if I have the Hulu+live TV package, or the Hulu+sports package, or...
 
Get a smart tv or something like Amazon Prime. You can purchase HBO, Showtime, Starz, Netflix and many others for a few dollars per month...no commercials. Some free tv online/movies as well..but they will have commercials..but not as many as on network tv. I watch IMDb TV quite a bit..free with a few ads.
 
Go someplace where theaters are open. Texas comes to mind. Even some parts of (*gasp*) California.
 
luvflyin said:
So a commercial comes on TV. It’s a trailer for a movie. Then it says “available on” Hulu or Apple or HBO or Netflix or any other number of things I don’t even know WTF they are except for in theaters which AFO(ain’t effin open.) I’m ignorant about how this all works. Do I have to subscribe to every freakin Cable/satellite/whatever station thingy is out there? Is there some one stop option where I can get these movies
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One thing about these streaming services is that they are generally month-to-month, so you can cancel when you are done watching whatever it is that you were interested in. That's how I manage it. They also have free-trial periods for new subscribers, usually for seven days, but a few services offer longer. I got a three-month free trial from Apple TV Plus as a special deal for buying a Roku streaming device. (Their normal free trial is shorter than that.)
 
asicer said:
Go someplace where theaters are open. Texas comes to mind. Even some parts of (*gasp*) California.
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And California seems to be able to keep the water running. :D

We have had some power outages for wildfire prevention, though. (Not in my neighborhood, so far.)
 
luvflyin said:
Do I have to subscribe to every freakin Cable/satellite/whatever station thingy is out there?
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Kinda, if you want everything. Most folks realize they have to be selective in their subscriptions, at the cost of not being able to access everything they'd like...though as already noted, most of the streaming services do let you sign up and exit whenever you wish, without penalty. And there are some 'free' linked promotions out there. I got a year of Apple+ when I bought my iPhone, and before that we had a 6 months of Disney+, I think through our cellular provider.

But with the Balkanization of the streaming services, a lot of cable cutters are realizing it can end up costing more than they used to pay for Cable, if they subscribe to a lot of services.
 
We dropped cable TV a couple of years ago and went all streaming. One of our local cable/Internet providers offers gigabit fiber Internet for $60 a month, which we're on now.

What I don't like about streaming: Costs have gotten to the point that we're not saving near as much per month over what we were paying for our actual cable TV service cable in the first place. I think we're still paying a little less, but not much.

What I do like about streaming:
  1. While the content cost is approaching what we paid for basic cable (no movie channels), we pay no equipment rental fees. I bought some fairly cheap Fire TV Sticks for the TVs, and they stay in place no matter what we do.
  2. Our overall monthly spend is still much lower. No silly surcharges, franchise fees, recovery fees, "FCC fees", equipment rental fees, sales tax on the rental fees, yadda yadda yadda.
  3. For what we pay, we get a lot more. Amazon Prime carries a lot of movies, our streaming services all have content on demand so we can watch what we want whenever we want, as many times as we want.
  4. We have ZERO loyalty to any provider. There is no "stickiness". Nothing to watch on Hulu in between seasons of Handmaid's Tale or Killing Eve? Drop them. Ditto for Netflix, all the rest. Subscribe when you want, drop when you want, no contracts or equipment or hassle.
  5. TVs aren't tied to cable outlets now. Want to watch something in the garage or on the back yard deck? If there's wifi, there's TV.
  6. Regarding #4... I can cancel any service on line, no calling to argue with the cable company rep while they beg and plead and cajole us not to cancel and offer deals that just **** me off that they'll only make the offer once we threaten to leave.
I see stuff advertised all the time that I'd like to watch, but it's only available on a service we don't have. Usually it's not something I want to watch badly enough to subscribe to another service. Occasionally it is, so I'll subscribe, watch, then cancel.
 
GaryM said:
Kinda, if you want everything. Most folks realize they have to be selective in their subscriptions, at the cost of not being able to access everything they'd like...though as already noted, most of the streaming services do let you sign up and exit whenever you wish, without penalty. And there are some 'free' linked promotions out there. I got a year of Apple+ when I bought my iPhone, and before that we had a 6 months of Disney+, I think through our cellular provider.

But with the Balkanization of the streaming services, a lot of cable cutters are realizing it can end up costing more than they used to pay for Cable, if they subscribe to a lot of services.
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I'm definitely paying more than I used to, but I'm also getting more value out of it.

Managing the various subscriptions is a bit of a chore, but setting reminders in my phone helps me remember to cancel when I want to.
 
I use ROKU as my primary TV --> internet access point. I like that I can search for a specific movies and it show different viewing options. Some are free to me, some cost money. But after buying your ROKU box you will need to subscribe to a service. ROKU calls the different streaming providers channels. So for example; there is a channel labelled Netflix, and one for Amazon Prime, and one for PBS, etc. I have Prime (included with an Amazon Prime membership), I pay about $6/mo for Hulu - the munchkins watch this more than I do. I pay for PBS. There are many free "channels" that have adverts. My internet service provider is Comcast so I get free the NBC/Universal streaming service called Peacock+ which includes ESPN+ munchkin #4 watches this for Premier league games. Once or twice a month I'll buy a movie I want to see. My fixed cost is my internet service, my Hulu $6/mo, and my PBS @ $60/year. Live TV is available over the air with a digital antenna which was well under $50 but I haven't even put it up in my current home. I also spend money on F1 TV 'cause I like racing but that's a hobby expenditure not an entertainment expense in my book.
 
It's temporary gents. Sooner or later we'll decide the 'rona is in the rear view mirror and they'll open up the bars and theaters again. You can go see all the craptastic movies you like.
 
DaleB said:
We dropped cable TV a couple of years ago and went all streaming. One of our local cable/Internet providers offers gigabit fiber Internet for $60 a month, which we're on now.

What I don't like about streaming: Costs have gotten to the point that we're not saving near as much per month over what we were paying for our actual cable TV service cable in the first place. I think we're still paying a little less, but not much.

What I do like about streaming:
  1. While the content cost is approaching what we paid for basic cable (no movie channels), we pay no equipment rental fees. I bought some fairly cheap Fire TV Sticks for the TVs, and they stay in place no matter what we do.
  2. Our overall monthly spend is still much lower. No silly surcharges, franchise fees, recovery fees, "FCC fees", equipment rental fees, sales tax on the rental fees, yadda yadda yadda.
  3. For what we pay, we get a lot more. Amazon Prime carries a lot of movies, our streaming services all have content on demand so we can watch what we want whenever we want, as many times as we want.
  4. We have ZERO loyalty to any provider. There is no "stickiness". Nothing to watch on Hulu in between seasons of Handmaid's Tale or Killing Eve? Drop them. Ditto for Netflix, all the rest. Subscribe when you want, drop when you want, no contracts or equipment or hassle.
  5. TVs aren't tied to cable outlets now. Want to watch something in the garage or on the back yard deck? If there's wifi, there's TV.
  6. Regarding #4... I can cancel any service on line, no calling to argue with the cable company rep while they beg and plead and cajole us not to cancel and offer deals that just **** me off that they'll only make the offer once we threaten to leave.
I see stuff advertised all the time that I'd like to watch, but it's only available on a service we don't have. Usually it's not something I want to watch badly enough to subscribe to another service. Occasionally it is, so I'll subscribe, watch, then cancel.
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I had the AT&T TV streaming service for a few years, but the twenty-hour limit on their recording feature was a hassle, and their reliability problems were getting worse. So I spent a bunch of time comparing services and trying a few of them, and ended up with YouTube TV, because it has the news channels, has been pretty reliable, and has unlimited recording. (Recordings expire after nine months.) It's the same price as the AT&T service was.

In addition to that, I'm juggling various on-demand services to watch things I'm interested in. I tried Amazon Prime because I wanted to watch The Expanse, and I got hooked on it because they have a lot of other series and movies that I'm interested in, including anything that's available from IMDB. I'm underwhelmed with Apple TV Plus, because it seems to be mostly a portal for pay-per-view stuff. I wanted the free trial because they have a few programs that are included free with the subscription, such as Greyhound and For All Mankind. I'll let it lapse when the free trial expires in a couple of weeks, but I'll start up again for a while after they come out with a new series based on Asimov's Foundation books later this year.

In addition to the search features on the individual streaming apps, the search features on the IMDB Web site and the Roku app are pretty good at finding which streaming service has specific series and movies that I'm looking for (although neither necessarily catches everything). If I can't find something I'm looking for, my county's library system has a very large collection of DVDs and blu-rays.
 
I get what you are saying, with every cable station now selling their exclusive streaming service. However it is kind of what the public has been asking for. No more paying for 400+ channels from the cable company, when you only wanted 2.

The traditional cable/satellite tv service model is toast, now that the networks are cutting the middle man and selling direct to viewers. The only middle person is the internet service provider. Used to be internet was an add-on to telephone or cable. Now it has replaced both!
 
Arnold said:
I use ROKU as my primary TV --> internet access point. I like that I can search for a specific movies and it show different viewing options. Some are free to me, some cost money. But after buying your ROKU box you will need to subscribe to a service. ROKU calls the different streaming providers channels. So for example; there is a channel labelled Netflix, and one for Amazon Prime, and one for PBS, etc. I have Prime (included with an Amazon Prime membership), I pay about $6/mo for Hulu - the munchkins watch this more than I do. I pay for PBS. There are many free "channels" that have adverts. My internet service provider is Comcast so I get free the NBC/Universal streaming service called Peacock+ which includes ESPN+ munchkin #4 watches this for Premier league games. Once or twice a month I'll buy a movie I want to see. My fixed cost is my internet service, my Hulu $6/mo, and my PBS @ $60/year. Live TV is available over the air with a digital antenna which was well under $50 but I haven't even put it up in my current home. I also spend money on F1 TV 'cause I like racing but that's a hobby expenditure not an entertainment expense in my book.
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I find that loading channels/apps on the Roku seems to give better results than loading them on the TV itself.
 
Palmpilot said:
I had the AT&T TV streaming service for a few years, but the twenty-hour limit on their recording feature was a hassle, and their reliability problems were getting worse. So I spent a bunch of time comparing services and trying a few of them, and ended up with YouTube TV, because it has the news channels, has been pretty reliable, and has unlimited recording. (Recordings expire after nine months.) It's the same price as the AT&T service was.

In addition to that, I'm juggling various on-demand services to watch things I'm interested in. I tried Amazon Prime because I wanted to watch The Expanse, and I got hooked on it because they have a lot of other series and movies that I'm interested in, including anything that's available from IMDB. I'm underwhelmed with Apple TV Plus, because it seems to be mostly a portal for pay-per-view stuff. I wanted the free trial because they have a few programs that are included free with the subscription, such as Greyhound and For All Mankind. I'll let it lapse when the free trial expires in a couple of weeks, but I'll start up again for a while after they come out with a new series based on Asimov's Foundation books later this year.
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Yeah, same here... we tried Hulu + Live TV for a while, but their inane lack of (and refusal to provide) a usable program guide made us switch away from them. "But we want to change the way you watch TV"... Sorry, I don't need someone to tell me how to watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it. YTTV isn't perfect -- it lacks History Channel, for one thing. That means I end up subscribing to Philo for a few months so my loving and long-suffering wife can watch Curse of Oak Island while it's on, then I drop it like a rock.

I figured Apple TV was going to be mostly a way to sell more stuff. Amazon Prime is slowly moving in that direction, unfortunately, but we mostly have Prime for other reasons anyway, and they do have a bunch of movies and series we like.
 
DaleB said:
Yeah, same here... we tried Hulu + Live TV for a while, but their inane lack of (and refusal to provide) a usable program guide made us switch away from them. "But we want to change the way you watch TV"... Sorry, I don't need someone to tell me how to watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it. YTTV isn't perfect -- it lacks History Channel, for one thing. That means I end up subscribing to Philo for a few months so my loving and long-suffering wife can watch Curse of Oak Island while it's on, then I drop it like a rock.

I figured Apple TV was going to be mostly a way to sell more stuff. Amazon Prime is slowly moving in that direction, unfortunately, but we mostly have Prime for other reasons anyway, and they do have a bunch of movies and series we like.
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I forgot about the History Channel. I see that I had marked it as lower priority on the comparison sheet I made when I was shopping for live TV services last Fall. I used to find a lot more stuff that interested me on that channel. Fubo Family has it, and I almost went with that instead of YouTube TV, but I ended up concluding that the latter was more reliable.
 
The whole industry is stuck on the same old model: pay for a lot of crap you don't want for the few things you do want. And then use that to jack up prices. In the cable industry it is: we'll let you have ESPN but you have to carry Disney as part of the basic package on your system too. In the streaming world, it's: you can get HGTV on streaming, but you have to buy the full Discovery Plus package including the Pig Royalty show. Squeal like a pig.

I tried Sling TV in the early days, it was OK, but enough bandwidth issues on their end that I gave it up. I tried DircecTVNow and gave it up after ATT bought it and reneged on the "take this in the beta stage and keep the price for life" by close to doubling the cost.

I keep cable/satellite's bloated package for one reason and one reason only: baseball. Our local MLB team only makes the games available via cable/satellite. There has been no streaming at all in the franchise area. This year they add streaming (to phones/tablets only, no RoKu) but ONLY if you are a cable/satellite subscriber. They wouldn't even allow it on DirecTV Now/ATT Now even though it was/is a fat package. If I move, as planned to NC or elsewhere, I should be able to get it with the MLB TV package. Should. But games that the teams in that franchise area play against this team will be blacked out. The cable companies love it because it pushes subscriptions and higher fees and the MLB teams love it because they can get higher fees to the cable company.
 
We definitely pay way less. I guess it’s largely because we don’t have HBO, Showtime, or the other “premium” subscriptions. For most of the year, I think our total is something like $20-25 a month. Now if I allocated the Prime membership, it would be closer to $35 a month. My last DirectTV bill was $140 a month and included no premium channels. What I really like about streaming is no commercials. I find it hard to watch network tv where there is 8 minutes of programming followed by 15 minutes of commercials. Streaming does make watching some sports difficult. So for March Madness, I get Sling for a month and I am golden.
 
My wife serves as my IT Dept - I have no idea how to find stuff on TV anymore.
Glad I don’t watch much these days.
 
Google "watch [Name of movie] online for free."

Eventually, you will find a link to the bootleg movie, for free, without registering.

That's what I have heard, anyway... :rolleyes:
 
YouTube. Done whatever you want and more.
 
Many years ago when I was in college, when digital video was just becoming something useful, I stumbled upon a video of a movie that was just being released in theaters. I thought how neat, I could see it before anyone else, Japanese sub-titles and all!

It was only when the credits started rolling and people stood up and walked past the camera did I realize the source of the video. :eek:
 
Okay, here’s what sucks about cord cutting. We are in an AirBNB right now. All the Roku TV’s here are stream only, so recently reading this thread I went to the History Channel for free viewing. Cars that made America caught my eye. Decent show, I can deal with the first couple commercial breaks of three 25 second ads. But eventually you get to 5 ad breaks, and no kidding 3 to 4 of the 5 ads are exactly the same for a Nissan vehicle. F U History Channel.
 
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