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How many streaming services do you use? How many do you pay for? Which are you favorites?

I've decided to take a step back this weekend and evaluate my current streaming situation after noticing that I've been spending an inordinate amount of time trying to find something to watch every single time I turn on my TV.

Currently, I use:

Amazon Prime
Peacock premium/pro/plus whatever (the premium package with the added premium option of having no ads)
Netflix
Hulu plus or whatever, the no ads option
Disney+
Shudder

Tubi
Vudu (some of their library is free to stream with ads)
Showtime Now
HBO Go
Apple TV (free trial, was great for Mythic Quest but nothing else interests me on it)

I pay for the ones in bold.

I've decided to cut Peacock today. It's actually my most expensive streaming service, which is pretty ridiculous. Only got it so I could watch The Office Superfan episodes.

Recently picked up Shudder and that's probably the service I use most now. It's also, by far, the cheapest pay service ($4 something per month). Before that it was Tubi, which is a free streaming service (has a huge horror movie selection).

I'm actually surprised how shit Netflix is. It's probably the service I use the least amount. It really doesn't have much decent content on it. Will probably cut it next.

Sorry if this post came off as me rambling. I'm still having my morning coffee.

So what do you use? How many services do you pay for? Which do you find the best value? Which the worse?
 
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Kilau

Gold Member
Netflix (thanks to T-Mobile)
Apple TV (free)
HBO Max (free from AT&T fiber)
Disney+, got in that promo for 3 years at a reduced rate and all we watch is Bluey
 

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
I'm in Europe so I don't have US streaming options. Here's what I have:

- Disney+
- Amazon
- Apple TV (got 18 months free)
- Ziggo Go + HBO (part of my internet/cable subscription)
- Spotify

Canceled Netflix because it was more than twice as expensive as Disney+ but 99% of the content is rubbish. Plus I hated hated hated what Netflix did to The Witcher. Didn't want to support a company that made such a mockery out of the books/games. I'll only resub only (for a short while) when the next seasons of The Crown and Better Call Saul start.
 

Forsete

Member
Netflix and Amazon Prime (I got that for free* because I use a different Amazon service).

I only watch Netflix. Perhaps a few times a month. I also share it with my parents, they watch it way more than I do.
 
Amazon Prime
Peacock premium/pro/plus whatever (the premium package with the added premium option of having no ads)
Netflix
Hulu plus or whatever, the ad free option
Disney+
Shudder

Tubi
Vudu (some of their library is free to stream with ads)
Showtime Now
HBO Go
Apple TV (free trial, was great for Mythic Quest but nothing else interests me on it)

ice_cube_wtf.gif
 
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Star-Lord

Member
I should have specified I meant streaming video as I also pay for Apple Music. Isn't Apple Music and Spotify redundant? Or am I missing something?
My bad, I misread the OP.

I only have Apple Music as I got a three month trial when I bought my phone. I’ll probably stick with Spotify, though I do like Apple’s spacial audio.
 

paparazzo

Member
Disney+ - got 6 months for subbing to Amazon music for 1 month
Spotify - I tend to only sub when they do their 3 months for $10 deal
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
Pay for (or still in a free period):
  • Apple TV+: Their lineup of shows and movies really differentiate themselves from what's available on other services, but I don't find many of them good. A few comedies are great, they have one decent Tom Hanks film and several quality documentaries, but that's it

  • Disney+: It started out a little light, but as they began cranking out shows it became one of my favorites

  • Hulu+: I have the package that includes Disney+, ESPN, and some live sports. This was the first streaming service I ever used, way back when I downloaded it on my PS3. I really like it because I haven't had cable TV or an antenna since about 2009, so it's how I watch many current television shows

  • HBO Max: I am on the verge of dropping this. I basically only use it for Bill Maher, John Oliver, documentaries, and the odd WB movie that gets pushed to it thanks to the pandemic. They haven't made a really good serial show in years, and their movie catalog is the worst. Just a sea of old shitty movies

  • Netflix: Another I am on the verge of dropping. I'll just sub whenever a new season of a show I like comes out. The movies they produce tend to be mediocre or straight up hot garbage, and their algorithms remain hopelessly useless even after all these years

  • PBS Passport: I get this because I donate to my local PBS station each year (around $75). It has the absolute best documentaries and docuseries. the best daily and weekly news shows, all of the science and history stuff, culture and travel - just fantastic. Love it
Use, but don't pay or get it thanks to other services:
  • Movies Anywhere: This is a service set up by Disney if I am not mistaken. It allows one to connect any other streaming service to it and keeps all of the movies and TV shows, and digital versions of movies claimed by code, in one repository. I can download items for offline play, and the quality is very good. So all of my Amazon movies, Ultra Violet, Vudu, etc, all in one place

  • Peacock: A nice library of shows and movies that can be viewed for free with commercials. None of the shows look appealing enough for me to pay for premium though

  • Prime Video: I get it with Amazon Prime, which I use for about 90% of my non-grocery shopping. It's pretty good. Once in a while they pump out a very good show or movie. The interface, however, seems to be designed by some demon from hell who subsists on the frustration of humans

  • Tubi: Another service supported by commercials. It seems to have all of the TV shows and movies that cycle off the other services. So if something goes missing on Netflix or Hulu, I can often find it on Tubi
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
Netflix - paid for
Amazon Prime - paid for
Disney plus - one year free thanks to buying Mac stuff, not gonna pay for that
Bravia Core - free for a year - superb quality but will not pay for it
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Spotify
Netflix
Amazon Prime
Disney Plus
Gamepass
Now TV
BT Sport

I'll be purging Gamepass, Now TV, and Disney Plus this month.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Holy shit a lot of you have tons of subs.

- Game Pass Ultimate doing the $1 for 3 years trick
- I share Netflix with my brother's family and the last time he asked me to pay up my half was 2-3 years ago

Any random shit I need to watch, I just find some free stream site that works. I dont listen to enough music to sub to a music plan. If I do, I just listen to free random online music sites or radio stations.
 

Vagswarm

Member
Thanks for reminding me! I just cancelled my Amazon Prime membership, and got $13 refunded. I only registered to get Battlefield 1 for free, lol.

Otherwise, none. Wasn't using Gamepass at all due to a crazy long backlog.
 

edbrat

Member
Amazon Prime because I like the free shipping. Had Netflix for 3 months and cancelled because there wasn't much I wanted to watch after I saw breaking bad, Netflix's own shows are fucking terrible and are the new corporate generic pap. Don't have any other streaming subs, I do have pay TV tho because I love watching sport.
 

Quasicat

Member
The only streaming I use is Plex. I used it so much that I paid for a lifetime Plex Pass. At first I barely used the Pass features, but now that I have kids, it’s nice to have parental controls.

Couple this with PlayOn, which is a stream recording service, I have access to everything I want to watch, including exclusives to other services.
 
Right now I have:

Game Pass Ultimate - only got a trial cause I wanted to try xCloud out on my iPad. unfortuantly there was way too much lag/latency to enjoy playing. also, i refuse to us the MS store on Windows so I'm not even gonna bother downloading games to my PC. when i get an Xbox Series X then i will sign up.

Spotify - been using it for ~13 years and pay £99 annually. normally it cost £119/year but i buy the gift code from Amazon for £99 so get 12 months for the price of 10. My Spotify ran out in April so for a few months I was using a 3 month Apple Music trial just to check it out. I was quite happy with it but only when listening on my iPhone/iPad. Apple still expects Windows users to either listen in the web player (which is a buggy mess) or download iTunes lol. If Apple ever bother to release a modern Apple Music app for Windows then I will give it a try again.

Netflix - since buying a 4K tv i now pay £13.99/month for the Premium subscription which of course gives 4K and HDR. i used to only pay for a month at a time whenever there was something i wanted to watch but i'm been subscribed for well over a year now. I have way too much stuff still to watch and more stuff is coming out over the next few months so I'll be subscribed for a while yet. If it dries up then I won't hesitate cancelling cause it's my most expensive subscription.

my Phone plan - i guess it's a subscription? £10/month for unlimited calls/texts and 11GB of 5G data. 11GB is way more than enough for me cause I probably only use <3GB/month (helps that 5G isn't available in my area). I could probably go down to the £8 plan which gives 3GB of 4G only data but i don't mind an extra £2/month cause it's nice to have that headroom and 5G will only become more common. when that happens i can go up to the 25GB data plan for an extra £5 or £10 extra for 100GB.

Ones i don't currently have but sometimes use:

Amazon Prime - sometimes they offer me a free trial (had loads of them) so i'll take them up on their offer. sometimes if i order something it makes more sense to sign up for Prime for faster delivery and anything beyond that is a bonus. i buy from Amazon a lot so it probably would make sense to subscribe but i don't bother. if there's something i want to watch (can't wait for Wheel of Time + LOTR) then i'll sign up for Prime Video which is a couple pound cheaper cause it doesn't include prime delivery.

Disney+ - so far i've only subscribed for Season 1 and 2 of The Mandalorian. I know it's Disney but they just don't really have much I want to watch. I hate Marvel so that doesn't do anything for me. Maybe in the future when there's a new Star Wars show or movie I'll join again.

Spotify
Netflix
Amazon Prime
Disney Plus
Gamepass
Now TV
BT Sport

I'll be purging Gamepass, Now TV, and Disney Plus this month.
can you sign up for BT Sport without having BT services (phone/tv/broadband)??

i want to watch the football but i'm not with BT. i was looking into getting their broadband but the fastest connection they can offer me is 50Mb/s which is 170Mb/s slower than what I got right now. have no need for a landline lol and not interested in the TV service (other than BT sport). i don't have TV with my current provider which I know i could BT sport on.
 
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IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Right now I have:

Game Pass Ultimate - only got a trial cause I wanted to try xCloud out on my iPad. unfortuantly there was way too much lag/latency to enjoy playing. also, i refuse to us the MS store on Windows so I'm not even gonna bother downloading games to my PC. when i get an Xbox Series X then i will sign up.

Spotify - been using it for ~13 years and pay £99 annually. normally it cost £119/year but i buy the gift code from Amazon for £99 so get 12 months for the price of 10. My Spotify ran out in April so for a few months I was using a 3 month Apple Music trial just to check it out. I was quite happy with it but only when listening on my iPhone/iPad. Apple still expects Windows users to either listen in the web player (which is a buggy mess) or download iTunes lol. If Apple ever bother to release a modern Apple Music app for Windows then I will give it a try again.

Netflix - since buying a 4K tv i now pay £13.99/month for the Premium subscription which of course gives 4K and HDR. i used to only pay for a month at a time whenever there was something i wanted to watch but i'm been subscribed for well over a year now. I have way too much stuff still to watch and more stuff is coming out over the next few months so I'll be subscribed for a while yet. If it dries up then I won't hesitate cancelling cause it's my most expensive subscription.

my Phone plan - i guess it's a subscription? £10/month for unlimited calls/texts and 11GB of 5G data. 11GB is way more than enough for me cause I probably only use <3GB/month (helps that 5G isn't available in my area). I could probably go down to the £8 plan which gives 3GB of 4G only data but i don't mind an extra £2/month cause it's nice to have that headroom and 5G will only become more common. when that happens i can go up to the 25GB data plan for an extra £5 or £10 extra for 100GB.

Ones i don't currently have but sometimes use:

Amazon Prime - sometimes they offer me a free trial (had loads of them) so i'll take them up on their offer. sometimes if i order something it makes more sense to sign up for Prime for faster delivery and anything beyond that is a bonus. i buy from Amazon a lot so it probably would make sense to subscribe but i don't bother. if there's something i want to watch (can't wait for Wheel of Time + LOTR) then i'll sign up for Prime Video which is a couple pound cheaper cause it doesn't include prime delivery.

Disney+ - so far i've only subscribed for Season 1 and 2 of The Mandalorian. I know it's Disney but they just don't really have much I want to watch. I hate Marvel so that doesn't do anything for me. Maybe in the future when there's a new Star Wars show or movie I'll join again.


can you sign up for BT Sport without having BT services (phone/tv/broadband)??

i want to watch the football but i'm not with BT. i was looking into getting their broadband but the fastest connection they can offer me is 50Mb/s which is 170Mb/s slower than what I got right now. have no need for a landline lol and not interested in the TV service (other than BT sport). i don't have TV with my current provider which I know i could BT sport on.

Sure.

 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Amazon, Hulu basic, and HBO. Both of the latter are about to get dropped though I love HBO for all the DC animated content. I'll probably do apple for a month then Netflix when Witcher hits. Maybe sneak paramount in there for Yellowstone.

Quite frankly the streaming universe is pretty bad. Maybe it's covid but I think it's the combo of talent spread too thin and algorithmic story/cast decisions.

Please let LOTR save me :p
 

Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
I use Netflix and Hulu.

Never really saw the use of having any others since YouTube exists.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Permanent:
Netflix
Hulu (with ads)
Prime
Disney+
NordVPN (for UK shows)

Through cable:
HBO+
Showtime anytime
Peacock (with ads)
Bunch of other stuff I don't watch

Current low cost trials:
AMC+ add on in prime
Starz add on in Hulu
 
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sol_bad

Member
Amazon Prime
Azuki
Crunchyroll
Disney+
Funimation
Marvrl Unlimited
Netflix
Shonen Jump

Do comic and manga subscriptions count?
 
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Rockondevil

Gold Member
Pay for Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime and Stan.
I maybe use them once a month each, if that. My wife and son use them, probably Disney mostly for my son and Stan mostly for the wife.
 

Nitty_Grimes

Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
I fucked both Netflix and Disney off the other week. Got Prime for delivery so just that for now.

Edit: oh hang on, have Apple One sub so Apple TV and Apple Music still.
 
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BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
I forgot about Pluto TV, another "live" streaming service supported by ads. They have a rather broad spectrum of categories, and even gaming channels like IGN Shows, GameSpot Shows, etc. They have a few major sports channels which I found surprising given how much they tend to guard their stuff.
 
Pay for:
Apple Music
PS+
Nintendo Online
Gamepass

Use:
Netflix
Amazon
Hulu
Disney +

Favorites:
Gamepass
 
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Rest

All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
None. TV is fucking free, why would I pay for that shit.
 

Cohetedor

Member
Only a few

Peacock premium- free with internet provider.
Discovery + ad free
Fubotv - for live tv, doesn't charge extra for 4k streams like YouTubeTv
 

TransTrender

Gold Member
How many streaming services do you use?
Netflix
Discovery Plus
Spotify
Sirius XM

How many do you pay for?
Netflix
SiriusXM

Which are you favorites?
None really.
The constant carving up of content still leads me to alternative methods of getting content.

Spotify only works when I have some sort of internet connection and that's not happening in most of the scenarios that I want to use it.

SiriusXM has some really shit ass sound quality. The only reason I put up with it is because it works when there's no internet and there's no radio coverage.
 
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