I've had HBO for a while and more and more i start to realise that this is an utter crap service. No I dont mean that they dont show movies in OAR, which i actually like. I mean, first they brag about how they show a new movie every saturday night garanteed, and then shamelessly show the same d-list movies over and over, month after month.

then this january, they raised their rates. All the 'good' movies that do primiere, do so on Cinemax, and then work over to HBO. Even after all this, i was still giving them a pass because as long as we got to see the movies, i could wait a few months for it to move over.

I was very excited when i read here that Star Wars was comming to HBO/Cinemax in HD and all that. So after months of patiently waiting, it does come to HBO, but with NO fanfare. Nothing. just a simple mention in their online schedules. Nevermind the fact that they didnt even give their paying customers the same convience of offering all 6 movies over HD ondemand like they did for Cinemax, but they didnt even make room on their schedule to show the movies, in HD, from beginning to end, on consequtive nights.

Instead they randomly placed the movies on their schedules at wierd times, and in no particular order. God i cant wait for them to end this stupid HDdvd/blu ray format war so I can be done begging premium services to get an HD movie fix...

Other than the lack of OAR and premiering all the 'good' movies on Cinemax (arg), I'm actually a fan of HBO. They show good movies (and virtually their whole schedule is HD, and in decent quality too), and I like the original series and the "Boxing After Dark" stuff, it looks great in HD. I can record stuff, so their somewhat odd schedule doesn't bother me a bit...

Rate hikes suck, but HBO is a good channel, they're my favorite pay-tv channels... I rate the free HDNet Movies higher overall.

Hmmm.....my HBO didn't go up.....guess its dependent on what the MSO wants to charge.

You have the final say as a paying customer. If you don't like what they have to offer simply cancel your service.

I like HBO. Lots of stuff in HD, plus cool shows like Bill Maher, Sopranos, CYE, etc.

all i'm saying is that if HBO is still their primiere service, why dont they at least try and make an effort to show the star wars movies in some semblance of a normal pattern. I havent seen those movies since i was a kid and i really wanted to see them. and now i cant because return of the jedi wont be on their schedule in HD till god knows when, while the other two are going to be on there plenty of times. its absolutely ludicrous. at the least, we should get the HD ondemand channel that cinemax got for its run of the trilogy.

'Deadwood'... over. 'Rome'... about to be over. When 'The Sopranos' is over... so will my HBO subscription.

all i'm saying is that if HBO is still their primiere service, why dont they at least try and make an effort to show the star wars movies in some semblance of a normal pattern. I havent seen those movies since i was a kid and i really wanted to see them. and now i cant because return of the jedi wont be on their schedule in HD till god knows when, while the other two are going to be on there plenty of times. its absolutely ludicrous. at the least, we should get the HD ondemand channel that cinemax got for its run of the trilogy.


Why don't you just drop HBO and get Cinemax?

I've had HBO for a while and more and more i start to realise that this is an utter crap service.Drop 'em and be done with it. You'll feel better in the morning.

'Deadwood'... over. 'Rome'... about to be over. When 'The Sopranos' is over... so will my HBO subscription.

I just may do the same, and I wonder if the day after the last Sopranos if there will be MASSIVE cancellations....

As long as HBO has Real Time with Bill Maher and HBO Championship Boxing/Boxing After Dark they'll have me as a customer. Everything else (particularly the awesome-beyond-words Sopranos) is gravy! :)

all i'm saying is that if HBO is still their primiere service, why dont they at least try and make an effort to show the star wars movies in some semblance of a normal pattern. I havent seen those movies since i was a kid and i really wanted to see them. and now i cant because return of the jedi wont be on their schedule in HD till god knows when, while the other two are going to be on there plenty of times. its absolutely ludicrous. at the least, we should get the HD ondemand channel that cinemax got for its run of the trilogy.
You should get a HD-DVR. Then you can watch the HBO movies on your own schedule and not's HBO. Once HD for VOD become more widespread, the movies are likely to show up on a HBO VOD line-up in most cable systems.

As for the movies showing up on Cinemax first, HBO started doing this, what, several years ago? They obviously want to encourage people to sign up for both HBO and Cinemax to get more monthly revenue. HBO has changed to emphasize their original series programming with movies shown around them while Cinemax gets the high profile movies first. I'm with Verizon FiosTV and currently signed up for only HBO. The monthly rate for HBO & Cinemax is a hefty $26/month which is more than basic analog cable in some places. I wish HBO was cheaper, but that is what they charge. I don't see it as treating customers badly, just pure business. If you don't like it, complain to HBO and if you still unhappy, drop HBO.

Once The Sopranos are over, and FiosTV is available here, I'll probably switch to Verizon and get the Movies package instead, which sounds like an awesome deal. While nothing good is ever on TMC, getting both Starz and Showtime together for a lower price than HBO is great.

Sure I'll miss the HBO exclusives and originals, but for the most part, I can get their stuff on DVD later. The only thing I'll miss is Real Time with Bill Maher.

As long as HBO has Real Time with Bill Maher and HBO Championship Boxing/Boxing After Dark they'll have me as a customer. Everything else (particularly the awesome-beyond-words Sopranos) is gravy! :)

I got tired of Maher. He's not funny, and doing nothing more than bashing the President over and over, week after week, is simply old and boring. And I lost interest in Boxing back when Mike Tyson was still the champ. Like I said, once The Sopranos are done, so am I.

While nothing good is ever on TMC, getting both Starz and Showtime together for a lower price than HBO is great.




Hmmmm.....

Cinemax is to HBO

as

TMC is to Showtime

If nothing is ever good on TMC, then nothing is ever good on Showtime - as they flip flop movies every month - just like HBO and Cinemax.

'Deadwood'... over. 'Rome'... about to be over. When 'The Sopranos' is over... so will my HBO subscription.

I hear ya man. maybe just get it for 3 months when entourage is on, but that's about it

I got tired of Maher. He's not funny, and doing nothing more than bashing the President over and over, week after week, is simply old and boring. And I lost interest in Boxing back when Mike Tyson was still the champ. Like I said, once The Sopranos are done, so am I.

Maybe our Commander in Chief deserves to be taken down a couple of notches from his Throne by a comedian that, unlikely the wishy-washy late night talk show hosts on network TV, isn't afraid to take sides and wear his biases on his/her sleeve. As for boxing, the quality production of HBO Boxing (including Larry Merchant and Jim Lampley) makes me watch their fights whether the fighters are famous or not because more often than not the fights turn out to be good to excellent. Four words for you: Gotti vs. Ward trilogy. And just hearing ringside score keeper Harold Lederman say JIM!!! on every broadcast is worth the HBO subscription price alone! :)

No love for "Big Love"? Entourage will be back soon, and given HBO's track record of original programming, I'm sure they'll come up with something good to replace Sopranos and Rome. I can't remember a Sunday evening when I haven't watched an orginal program on Sunday nights, going back to 1st and 10.

I got tired of Maher. He's not funny, and doing nothing more than bashing the President over and over, week after week, is simply old and boring. And I lost interest in Boxing back when Mike Tyson was still the champ. Like I said, once The Sopranos are done, so am I.

and bashing the president never gets old? Maher is great, some of his guests have sucked lately, what the hell was the CEO of Hewlett Packard doing on the panel.

ex-ceo of HP.

i think bill maher is worth the $11, and i sure enjoyed this past friday nite's show.

okay, for everyone who's telling me to get a DVR is missing the simple and obvious point of my rant: I shouldnt have to get a DVR. For their premier service, one should expect whatever Cinemax gets, HBO would get too, that should include the HD Ondemand movie service for those star wars episodes. Hell even on their regular Ondemand schedule all 6 star wars flicks arent even on there. Thats my point and that alone. Of course I could pay for a DVR. Of course I could give Lucas a million billion dollars and license a copy of the reels for myself too...

Considering the bitrate of the Ondemand stuff, I really don't see why you are bitching. If you had it, you would be bitching about how bad it looked.

If you wanted it at a better bitrate, a DVR (or a DVHS) is the only solution.

....what the hell was the CEO of Hewlett Packard doing on the panel.

Pushing her new book, of course.

HBO and Showtime both have to many original shows in their schedules imo. I guess its great if you like most of the shows but when you don't it's horrible. Instead of a new movie on Saturdays Showtime gives me back to back showings of The L Word. I dropped HBO last month because they don't show enough movies.

DEADWOOD

*sigh*

I miss Al.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f31PLcCXD0U

Sure I'll miss the HBO exclusives and originals, but for the most part, I can get their stuff on DVD later.

If you enjoy watching in SD.

HBO and Showtime both have to many original shows in their schedules imo. I guess its great if you like most of the shows but when you don't it's horrible. Instead of a new movie on Saturdays Showtime gives me back to back showings of The L Word. I dropped HBO last month because they don't show enough movies.


Why don't you try Starz? They only show movies.

If you enjoy watching in SD.

If you are watching on D*, there is very little difference unfortunately...

okay, for everyone who's telling me to get a DVR is missing the simple and obvious point of my rant: I shouldnt have to get a DVR.
...
...
If you wanted it at a better bitrate, a DVR (or a DVHS) is the only solution.
I don't think you could ever find a DVR user that regrets having it. I can't imagine being locked in to their schedule, watching their commercials. With a DVR, the entire satellite schedule becomes an on demand library.

and bashing the president never gets old? Maher is great, some of his guests have sucked lately, what the hell was the CEO of Hewlett Packard doing on the panel.

The point is, is that Maher's a One Trick Pony. He used to make some gesture of being thoughtful, and put together a panel with broad points of view. Lately, he simply comes across as a mean, crazy loon, and stacks his panel to the far left. BORING! And I would say the same thing if the Maher and his show was heavy to the Right as well. In my oppinion, if you're going to be a political humorist, you need to be an equal opportunity offender. If not, then you simply become offensive, and lose all entertainment value.

The point is, is that Maher's a One Trick Pony. He used to make some gesture of being thoughtful, and put together a panel with broad points of view. Lately, he simply comes across as a mean, crazy loon, and stacks his panel to the far left. BORING! And I would say the same thing if the Maher and his show was heavy to the Right as well. In my oppinion, if you're going to be a political humorist, you need to be an equal opportunity offender. If not, then you simply become offensive, and lose all entertainment value.

Disagree with many of these points. Granted Bill is left of center but he's equally adept at skewering the pompous of the left as well as those from the right. In that, he sets himself apart from right-wing talk show hosts who are unfailingly, and without exception, "homers". In fact, he's always trying to get pundits from the right to join his panel but they generally prefer a more softball-laden atmosphere.

If Bill seems likes he jumps on the Bushies a lot in the last few years, it's only because they've provided him all his material on a silver platter. Of course, Bill's not alone in that position, either, among comedians these days. He's just one of the most direct in terms of calling a spade a spade, and there are few who are more clever about doing it. And his "New Rules", which end each week's show, are always side-splittingly funny.

Disagree with many of these points.

Well then, I guess that's why you're still watching Maher, and I'm not. Like I said, once The Sopranos are done, so am I (with HBO).

Political discussions are not allowed.