The OFFICIAL DISH / HBO Thread

[pattykay]

Was this directly through illegitimate means or due to internet providers free preview? I could have watched the first episode for free because I’m a subscriber to Xfinity’s internet but no other service. I chose not to. Choices would be to watch on a 22” pc screen, or hook my laptop to the 65”, for one episode?

What's wrong with a 22" screen? (One of my TV's is 24" and another one is smaller than that.)
Having said that, I have hooked my laptop to my large screen TV to watch just one special event at a time, usually fireworks shows from Seattle. So, I do that just a couple of times per year, on the 4th of July and New Year's Eve. It works well for me.

 

[mwdxer1]

Not exactly. I have 175mb service and Dish buffers 3 times a minute for 10 seconds. Netflix runs fine. My internet service has few other devices competing for bandwidth. Ready to drop HBO Now

Really? I have 100 down here and never have issues. Buffering I read about with some services, but the only times I have got to deal with it, when I have used some 3rd or 4th party streaming add on. Those are suspect. Do you get buffering with on demand content or just live streaming? I do not have a newer Dish receiver. I have an older vip211k and use the Roku and FireStick without issues. I do use my laptop and my son streams games, etc, but I never have any issues.

 

[Tommyy2]

Those millions of downloads were done using torrent downloads which is not quite legal.
Google it if you want more info.

 

[navychop]

“Not quite.”


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Bobby]

Not exactly. I have 175mb service and Dish buffers 3 times a minute for 10 seconds. Netflix runs fine. My internet service has few other devices competing for bandwidth. Ready to drop HBO Now

Are you accessing via wifi? If so I would recommend you hard wire whatever you are using to access HBO Now. I get absolutely no buffering via any of the four devices I access it with.

 

[Tampa8]

Why bring HBO back? Not worth it according to this article.

STUDY: 37% of Viewers Likely to Cancel Their HBO Subscription Following Game of Thrones Finale | Decision Data

I had not seen that report but I had alluded to it. To be clear if there is a decline or demise of HBO isn't because they are no longer on DISH, not being on DISH is part of the bigger picture.

You are assuming DISH wants them back, I am not assuming that. .........
With this the last season of Game of Thrones, I think DISH does not really care, nor do I believe HBO has as rosy a future at least not as we think of today's HBO. There is a good chance At&t has already decided not to concentrate on original programming, or at least not like we think of for HBO's original choices. That remains to be seen but some moves have been made that suggest that.

 

[omeletpants]

Are you accessing via wifi? If so I would recommend you hard wire whatever you are using to access HBO Now. I get absolutely no buffering via any of the four devices I access it with.

Acessing via wifi as a wired run is too far

I have no issue with on demand or streaming via my Hopper 3 or Netflix, just with HBO Now. My connection is stellar at 174mb with few devices and only 3 neighbors within 200 yards

 

[ncted]

Not exactly. I have 175mb service and Dish buffers 3 times a minute for 10 seconds. Netflix runs fine. My internet service has few other devices competing for bandwidth. Ready to drop HBO Now

How about Amazon? You can also subscribe to HBO via them, if you are a Prime member.

 

[mwdxer1]

How about Amazon? You can also subscribe to HBO via them, if you are a Prime member.

Now even Roku has the HBO channels on live streaming, as well as the Firestick.

 

[TalonDancer]

Not exactly. I have 175mb service and Dish buffers 3 times a minute for 10 seconds. Netflix runs fine. My internet service has few other devices competing for bandwidth. Ready to drop HBO Now

Buffering can be due to lots of reasons — including what servers & device/app you are using for streaming. The devices/apps and the streaming services aren’t created equal.

Even though we have a very slow 4mbs (yes, that’s 4 mega bits per second) line of sight wireless ISP — we stream 3-4 hours of 1080p video during prime time every night with almost no buffering, except at the start of streaming a program, while the service “buffers up”. This is because we almost exclusively stream via Amazon Prime with add on “channels” (e.g. HBO Now) via our Apple TV.

 

[mwdxer1]

Buffering can be due to lots of reasons — including what servers & device/app you are using for streaming. The devices/apps and the streaming services aren’t created equal.

Even though we have a very slow 4mbs (yes, that’s 4 mega bits per second) line of sight wireless ISP — we stream 3-4 hours of 1080p video during prime time every night with almost no buffering, except at the start of streaming a program, while the service “buffers up”. This is because we almost exclusively stream via Amazon Prime with add on “channels” (e.g. HBO Now) via our Apple TV.

That is fantastic. A speed of 3-4 I have told is not supposed to work for HD. A minimum of 5 is needed. That is great.

 

[TalonDancer]

That is fantastic. A speed of 3-4 I have told is not supposed to work for HD. A minimum of 5 is needed. That is great.

We’ve successfully streamed 1080p with only 2mbs bandwidth, with only occasional buffering. But it takes vigilance to eliminate any internal download competition. For example, I use Peak Hour 4 to monitor all of our internet traffic to make sure that none of our computer, phone, tablet, smart TV hardware is updating apps/OS etc. during prime time, when we are streaming.

FWIW the biggest variable in buffering for many households is the number of people sharing the internet connection. In our case, it is only two adults who watch the same stream together. So 100% of our very limited bandwidth is available for our prime time streaming.

 

[mwdxer1]

We’ve successfully streamed 1080p with only 2mbs bandwidth, with only occasional buffering. But it takes vigilance to eliminate any internal download competition. For example, I use Peak Hour 4 to monitor all of our internet traffic to make sure that none of our computer, phone, tablet, smart TV hardware is updating apps/OS etc. during prime time, when we are streaming.

FWIW the biggest variable in buffering for many households is the number of people sharing the internet connection. In our case, it is only two adults who watch the same stream together. So 100% of our very limited bandwidth is available for our prime time streaming.

I also live in a rural area and I am sure that helps. But my son can be downloading a game, watching Hulu and using his phone, and I can be watching a movie. I have 100 down but about 50 via wifi, but it is plenty. No buffering issues.

 

[the mack]

I have only 3.5 mbs comcast connection and stream hbo now and netflix with no buffering at all.

 

[TalonDancer]

For reference…
We streamed GoT live at 1080p last night via Amazon Prime + HBO Now to our Apple TV. Our bandwidth log shows that we downloaded 1GB during that hour. 4Mbps => 1.8GB/hour. So we had a comfortable cushion of nearly twice the bandwidth we needed, which explains why we had no buffering

 

[omeletpants]

I have only 3.5 mbs comcast connection

Party like it's 1999

 

[ncted]

Party like it's 1999

In 1999, I was beta testing 1.5Mbps DOCSIS 1.0 from Time Warner Cable.

 

[CyberSpock]

AT&T misses revenue estimates as it bleeds pay-TV subscribers

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using Tapatalk

 

[ChadT41]

Ha!

 

[DWS44]

In 1999, I was beta testing 1.5Mbps DOCSIS 1.0 from Time Warner Cable.

...and at the time, 1.5 felt like the fastest thing ever!