Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 130 posts

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#21

Post by thereisnospork »

cameldrv wrote: post #11
sarchertech wrote: post #3

I cannot for the life of me understand the rebrand. This has got to be some idiot exec who just wanted to put their stamp on things. One of those decisions that isn’t for the benefit of customers or shareholders—just the exec.

I think that the point of the rebrand was to eliminate the expectation that HBO shows would be available on HBO Max. For example, Westworld is no longer available on Max.

That's probably at least part of the official internal logic, but I can't help read that as 'removing a selling point for our service'. Even if shows were to disappear or rotate out, a la the Disney vault, why advertise it?

It feels like a lesser version of Netflix rebranding so they can spin off 'netflix originals' to other services. Losing recognition and good will to ???.

Besides, if they aren't going to hoard and leverage their portfolio to drive subscribers to their platform why are they even playing at being a streaming service?

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#22

Post by bqmjjx0kac »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #8
Kerbonut wrote: post #2

Who is Max? I really hate what HBO did here. I was very much liking the HBO Max era, and very much unimpressed with all of what’s happening now.

The rebranding of HBO Max to "Max" might be one of the stupidest rebrandings I've ever seen. And that's saying a lot, because I've never seen a good one to begin with. I can't fathom what led to that decision. They had a service which people liked, and was named after a channel which was synonymous with "quality TV". So they decided to throw that away, in favor of the most generic name to grace the world (until Elon…

Also, they chose to inconvenience the entire user base by forcing them to download another app and sign in over there.

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#23

Post by RajT88 »

ivraatiems wrote: post #20

Who here actually has and uses a 4K device? I still haven't gone higher than 1440p, and even on that, I don't mind if my content is 1080p. I rarely even notice. (I also hate >60 FPS, for what it's worth.)

I have a 4k TV with Max. I am not sure I can clock the difference.

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#24

Post by spondylosaurus »

IggleSniggle wrote: post #16
1letterunixname wrote: post #4

"Legacy" marketing wank. I signed up last year. They want 33% more ($150 -> $200) for absolute no value at all. A greedy profit-price spiral cash-grab is what it is. Canceling the day before the renewal and back to torrents I guess. https://auth.max.com/cancel-subscription

I haven't done it in over a decade. Is the bay still the way it's mostly done by casuals?

TPB's pretty rough/risky these days. For better alternatives, you can find megathreads on Reddit with vetted sources. Have yet to encounter any issues.

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#26

Post by RajT88 »

IggleSniggle wrote: post #16
1letterunixname wrote: post #4

"Legacy" marketing wank. I signed up last year. They want 33% more ($150 -> $200) for absolute no value at all. A greedy profit-price spiral cash-grab is what it is. Canceling the day before the renewal and back to torrents I guess. https://auth.max.com/cancel-subscription

I haven't done it in over a decade. Is the bay still the way it's mostly done by casuals?

There are a few non-registration sites which are better than the Bay. I do not see many 4k torrents on any of them.

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#27

Post by aodin »

mathieuh wrote: post #9

Baffles me why all these streaming companies are shooting themselves in the foot. For about 18 months there was a golden age where it was easier to pay for things than to pirate. Now we’re in a situation where it’s even /harder/ than it’s ever been. People will pay for media if it’s easy and a good experience. The barrier to piracy is non-existent these days and you actually get a far better experience.

> "One thing that we have learned is that piracy is not a pricing issue. It’s a service issue"

Gabe Newell of Valve, Oct 2011

[1] https://www.gamesradar.com/gabe-newell-piracy-issue-service-...

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#28

Post by BlackjackCF »

spondylosaurus wrote: post #15
mathieuh wrote: post #9

Baffles me why all these streaming companies are shooting themselves in the foot. For about 18 months there was a golden age where it was easier to pay for things than to pirate. Now we’re in a situation where it’s even /harder/ than it’s ever been. People will pay for media if it’s easy and a good experience. The barrier to piracy is non-existent these days and you actually get a far better experience.

For HBO/Max's foot-shooting specifically, David Zaslav is why. https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/can-...

Imagine being the person who took a rock solid brand like HBO and flushed it down the toilet…

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#29

Post by orev »

Racing0461 wrote: post #7

What is the point of these aritificial tiers and gating 4k? The marginal cost to go from 1080p to 4k is insignificant unless there are underlying licensing deals hbo can't get out of.

It’s really not that hard to follow from a product perspective. 4K is better, therefore it has more value that people would be willing to pay for.

The price of things (especially virtual goods) rarely has any relation to “marginal cost” to produce or distribute it. It only matters what people are willing to pay.

Re: Max is taking 4K away from its legacy ad-free subscribers

#30

Post by asutekku »

ivraatiems wrote: post #20

Who here actually has and uses a 4K device? I still haven't gone higher than 1440p, and even on that, I don't mind if my content is 1080p. I rarely even notice. (I also hate >60 FPS, for what it's worth.)

Most modern tvs are 4k these days and 1080p vs 4k is very visible in these
Post reply on HN