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

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

#61

Post by mlinhares »

jquery wrote: post #42
spondylosaurus wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was another really good New Yorker piece recently about Howard Schultz (the Starbucks CEO responsible for elevating the company into the juggernaut chain it is today) and his insistence on rolling out these Oleato drinks that are literally just coffee with olive oil drizzled in. Granted, I don't think Oleato is enough to kill Starbucks, but my takeaway of the whole thing was that sometimes these C-suite guys en…

I don't know anything about Oleato, but some people swear by the coffee+MCT oil (bulletproof coffee) combo. I see several brands at Whole Foods that are basically this (Super Coffee and others). Oleato doesn't sound too far off from that, and looking it up, it looks intriguing. But reading more about it, seems they put way too much oil in the coffee. Super Coffee has 3 grams of MCT oil, I'm seeing Oleato with 34 gram…

Trouble here is that “Some people” isn’t the public for Starbucks, they have to cater for a wide swath of the population for them to make sense as a business the way they have shops all over the place.

So trying to convince people to drink something bitter adding something else that is also bitter, like olive oil, is something only someone completely disconnected from reality would do. The super rich are definitely lost to the rest of the world.

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

#62

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

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 can't believe Marketing didn't raise a huge fuss; the other day I wanted to look up pricing and some other information about the service, and it's exactly as hard as you might imagine to google for a service named "Max".

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

#64

Post by jrflowers »

MisterBastahrd wrote: post #46
spondylosaurus wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was another really good New Yorker piece recently about Howard Schultz (the Starbucks CEO responsible for elevating the company into the juggernaut chain it is today) and his insistence on rolling out these Oleato drinks that are literally just coffee with olive oil drizzled in. Granted, I don't think Oleato is enough to kill Starbucks, but my takeaway of the whole thing was that sometimes these C-suite guys en…

What a better way to give your customers the shits than to drizzle oil in coffee.

Coffee + oil + magnesium citrate + sennosides = Maximizing spatial awareness in record time.

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

#65

Post by miki123211 »

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.

Not if your main devices are a smartphone and a smart TV, maybe a gaming console or a TV stick, which is the case for most people these days. Outside of the tech bubble, many people barely ever use a computer, especially outside of work.

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

#66

Post by throwaway914 »

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…

HBO Max to Max is the stupidest rebranding in terms of quality change. Twitter to X is the stupidest rebranding in terms of market valuation.

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

#67

Post by arcticbull »

mdasen wrote: post #51
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.

It's not that baffling. For a time, they were trying to grow their subscriber base and luring them in with low prices. Now that they have their subscriber base, they want to get back to the revenue they were getting before. Realistically, entertainment companies weren't going to accept lower revenue than they previously had for their product. As the industry transitions from physical media and cable TV to streaming,…

> It isn't harder to pay than to pirate. It's just getting more expensive.

No, it's harder too. Shows I want to watch bounce between the various silos of un-indexed content, without notice, as licenses shift and expire. Each silo behind their own separate paywalls. New ones pop up and shut down. Their feature matrix changes. They introduce geo restrictions, device restrictions, they force you to sign in from your 'home location' every few weeks to keep features like live TV running. Of course they'll charge you even if you don't, because you've been traveling for a while, in a geo where you can't even access the content you're paying for in the first place.

I don't care about the money, within reason. I care about being able to sit down and watch the show I want, in 4K, with Dolby whatever whatever. Without having to think about it. I'm trying to relax here dammit, lol.

This isn't about Max wanting a few extra dollars, it's just a price hike. We'd whine if they moved the price point up in the same way we're whining they kept the price the same but de-contented it. That's not the part that sucks.

Chasing down which of the 11 streaming services has the TV show you want to watch on a Mario-esque "the princess is in another castle" adventure sucks. When you find it, being greeted with a message saying that you've changed IP address too many times this year so better luck next year sucks. Then trying to figure out why it looks like it was filmed with a potato because you missed the email saying unless you act now and pay more, you're only getting 480p - sucks.

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

#68

Post by wmf »

wilg wrote: post #55

Y'all would be shocked if you knew how many new and upcoming blockbuster movies are mastered at 2K even though you can buy them in 4K or watch them in IMAX.

Yeah, it's pretty sleazy that movies were shot on 2K Alexa and then upscaled to 4K. If your movie isn't 4K, just let it be what it is. Don't sell me a 4K Blu-ray with upscaled content.

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

#69

Post by fbdab103 »

deckar01 wrote: post #50
strangesmells02 wrote: post #14

Does anyone care about 4k? Ive been using either 720 or 1080p for years and never had an issue

The Dolby Atmos/Vision standards also provide HDR, dynamic brightness, and surround sound. People spend thousands of dollars on home theater setups to meet those standards. Max has almost completely stopped producing cinematic content, so I can’t imagine the upsell making much sense.

If you are spending thousands of dollars on a home theater, surely streaming was a no go from the start? Blueray is the only available option which has a chance of delivering the optimal experience.

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

#70

Post by owenpalmer »

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.

I've often pondered the idea of a pirating site that lets you donate to specific individuals/teams of the production. For example, if you particularly liked the movie's animation but hated the writing, your donation would be sent to the animators. Basically a cinema meritocracy.
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