Thinking of consolidating my subscriptions to Amazon channels. Thoughts/experiences?

[KidJoe]

I subscribe to Paramount+ through Amazon Channels, it works great, I can use either the Paramount+ app or Amazon Prime to watch/download. I'm thinking about moving some of my other subscriptions over.

HBOMax: Currently included with my cable plan, so I can use the HBOMax app. My understanding is, like Paramount+ if subscribed via Amazon Channels, you can still use the HBOMax app as well as watching through Amazon Prime/Channels. Is this correct?

Discovery+: Currently I subscribe to directly, so I use its app and the Streamfab Discovery+ downloader. Is anyone using Discovery+ subscribed via Amazon? I understand that way, you can't use the Discovery+ app.

Peacock: included with my cable package until June. My Understanding is Peacock is NOT available as an Amazon Channel. Has anyone found different?

When it comes to Paramount+, I find myself using the Paramount+ app to watch more than watching through Amazon. I still download with Streamfab via Amazon though.


I'm just curious how the experience with HBOMax and Discovery+ are through amazon? Can you easily find the shows you like? Is it as easy to navigate as their own apps?

[Mike_M]

1. I subscribe to Paramount+ through Amazon Channels, it works great, I can use either the Paramount+ app or Amazon Prime to watch/download. I'm thinking about moving some of my other subscriptions over.

2. HBOMax: Currently included with my cable plan, so I can use the HBOMax app. My understanding is, like Paramount+ if subscribed via Amazon Channels, you can still use the HBOMax app as well as watching through Amazon Prime/Channels. Is this correct?

3. Discovery+: Currently I subscribe to directly, so I use its app and the Streamfab Discovery+ downloader. Is anyone using Discovery+ subscribed via Amazon? I understand that way, you can't use the Discovery+ app.


I'm just curious how the experience with HBOMax and Discovery+ are through amazon? Can you easily find the shows you like? Is it as easy to navigate as their own apps?

Hi KidJoe,

1. The current subscription of Paramount+ Bundle (Paramount+/Showtime) at Paramount+ direct website is only two dollars more than what Amazon Prime charges for Paramount+ ($9.99). I don't think if you subscribe thru Amazon Prime with Paramount+ you get Showtime. Is this the case?

I'm waiting to see if they might bundle Paramount+ Channel with Showtime on Amazon before I subscribe thru Amazon for Para+ as a channel.

This leaves me two ways to download Paramount+/Showtime - either with StreamFab or The Competitor via Paramount+ direct website, but I also get Showtime.

2. HBOMax (commercial free) is currently being bundled with Cinemax on Amazon Prime for ~$23 with taxes. Because of the issues with StreamFab support for 1080p I went with this.

Once I subscribed to HBOMax/Cinemax bundle at Amazon Prime I went to HBOMax & signed in with provider choosing "Prime Video" and used my alternate email address (main one still had week left before HBOMax renewal).

You only have to do this one time.

This gives me 3 ways to do 1080p for HBO Max - The Competitor HBOMax Direct, The Competitor via Amazon HBO Channel and StreamFab via Amazon Prime HBO as Channel. Two ways for Cinemax - The Competitor/StreamFab via Amazon Prime.

But it also gives StreamFab an out to not work on making HBOMax direct website work at 1080 or throwing resources/money at getting HBOMax direct to work since users can go thru Amazon currently.

3. I subscribe thru Discovery+ thru Amazon and have been happy with it - I do think there has been a few instances of shows offered directly via Discovery+ that were not on Amazon after using Reelgood/Justwatch - but that was not an issue since I piggybacked off Dish Network to grab them. Someone else encounter this?

4. I also subscribed to the new Amazon bundle MGM+/Starz for ~$13 with taxes that Amazon is now offering.

One thing I don't like about Amazon is that it will offer you the same shows you actually get free with your subscriptions for a charge if you don't go thru the right menu such as Free for Me.

Amazon also sometimes splits shows into paths for different seasons, or has multiple listings that are not the free options you want. That makes it harder to find the one that's actually free with your subscriptions.

I've found myself just using Justwatch & Reelgood & then copying the link they provide to the free with my subscriptions into Amazon Prime the adding it to my watch list & downloading from my watch list, rather than sometimes searching on Amazon.

Mike

US - CST, No VPN, StreamFab Lifetime,

[KidJoe]

Currently I have....

HBOMax (included in cable, considering cancelling and subscribe separately) Peacock (included with cable until June then costs) $4.99
Paramount+ (Amazon Channel) $5.99
AppleTV+ (stand alone) $6.99
Discovery+ add free(stand alone - billed through Verizon) $6.99
Showtime & Starz (Amazon Channel) $14.99

along with...
Hulu (free with cell plan)
Disney+ (free with cell plan)
ESPN+ (free with cell plan)
Netflix (stand alone)

My Paramount+ was from a long time ago, before the price increases and hasn't changed since. (I just double checked)

I subscribed to Starz on Amazon by itself before they added a Starz with Showtime bundle option for a couple dollars more.

You've confirmed what I thought about HBO max. That is good.

What's in Discovery+, if it's easy enough to find in Amazon's menus that would be fine. I'll have to see if they have a trial period. Before I end and switch.

Is there a way in Amazon to see all the Amazon channel pricing? Now that you mention the HBO/Cinemax and Starz/MGM+ bundles on Prime, I wonder if I can reshuffle things to save some money or get more for the same

[corey75]

I have tried all of those services and here are my results:

HBO will work on both Amazon and the HBO module if subscribed through on Amazon. It will NOT work on Amazon if you subscribe through HBO or any other outlet outside of them including cable companies with their bundling or subscriptions.

Paramount... same deal as HBO description. You can use Amazon to login through the Paramount module.

Discovery doesn't work on different platforms outside of the one you subscribe to. So if you get Discovery on Amazon, it will only work with Amazon and not the Discovery module. If you get Discovery through them directly, it will work only on the Discovery module and will NOT work on Amazon.

The downfall with discovery is if you order through Amazon, then the Discovery module won't work and if you order through Discovery, then Amazon module won't work. If you don't download more than 100 videos/day then I guess you could get it all through Amazon and use that module to share with Discovery downloads. At least you have the option to use either/or with HBO and Paramount. If you used up all 100 videos/day in Amazon, then you could pull up the HBO downloader to grab more stuff and same with Paramount. You could flip/flop as needed.

[Mike_M]

[QUOTE=corey75;n423459

The downfall with discovery is if you order through Amazon, then the Discovery module won't work and if you order through Discovery, then Amazon module won't work. If you don't download more than 100 videos/day then I guess you could get it all through Amazon and use that module to share with Discovery downloads. At least you have the option to use either/or with HBO and Paramount. If you used up all 100 videos/day in Amazon, then you could pull up the HBO downloader to grab more stuff and same with Paramount. You could flip/flop as needed.[/QUOTE]

Corey75,

Nice breakdown.

xxxxx

I also am wary of the day Amazon might change & mess up a lot of services I subscribe to and having HBOMax & Paramount+ still accessible via their direct websites in that case if you subscribe thru Amazon is nice.

StreamFab should increase the number of downloads for Amazon, since many of us depend on it for several streaming services and series.

Especially with HBOMax direct website being sub 1080p now and StreamFab saying it's DRM is a hurdle for them.

Mike

US - CST, No VPN, StreamFab Lifetime,

[KidJoe]

I'm not so worried about the 100 per day (per account) limit on Amazon using StreamFab. I have the other app too. But even then, I have the "historic" shows, movies, etc. that I want, so lately its been a few things here or there. I rarely even hit 25 per day TOTAL across all the services I subscribe to.

Having the OPTION to use either or, like in the case of HBOMax and Paramount, is great incase the specific downloaders fail.

BUT the other thing I'm looking at is from a watching perspective... My wife doesn't always go into Plex...And there are plenty of 4K titles on Amazon now. So If I subscribe to "everything" through Amazon Channels, she can still just go to one place (amazon) to watch it, or if we don't have to the 4K disc to rip and add to Plex, we can just go to Amazon.

[KidJoe]

Ok, time to revisit due to the combination of HBOMax and Discovery+ into Max (the Discovery+ content I watch is in Max), and the recent announcement of Paramount+ absorbing Showtime...

Currently I have:

HBOMax (included in cable)	$ 15.99
Peacock (included with cable until June)	$ 4.99
Discovery+ add free(stand alone - Verizon)	$6.99
Showtime (Cable + Amazon Channel)	$14.99
Starz (Cable + Amazon channel)	$0.00
Paramount+ (Amazon Channel)	$5.99
AppleTV+ (stand alone)	$6.99
Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ (Verizon perk)	$0.00
total	$39.95

Looks like I can change to:

HBOMax (change to Prime Channel If 4K)	$19.99
Peacock (Not free after June)	$4.99
Discovery+ add free(not needed/MAX)	N/A
Starz and MGM+ bundle (Amazon channel)	$11.99
Paramount+ and Showtime (Amazon Channel)	$11.99
AppleTV+ (stand alone)	$6.99
Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ (Verizon perk)	$0.00
	$35.96

I'd get the same content, add MGM+, and get 4K MAX (since it looks like comcrap/Xfinity will only offer the 1080p Ad and Ad-free subscriptions) and come out a little cheaper.

Then only Disney Bundle, Peacock, AppleTV+ would be needing their own downloader (since they would be not in Amazon).

With the option of using StreamFab's downloaders for the Max, and Paramount+ (assuming Paramount+ w/Showtime via Prime allows logging into the stand alone Paramount+ app like it does now),

Unfortunately there are no separate Starz or MGM+ downloader currently, so they would cut into my Amazon daily quota.

[Cats4U]

and the recent announcement of Paramount+ absorbing Showtime...

You sort of glossed over this announcement. I hadn't read about it going up to $11.99. I sure hope Paramount+ holds to their agreement when they offered the discount to $7.99 back in October 2022. At the time they said the offer price was good for as long as you were subscribed to it. On that offer I moved from Paramount+ on Amazon to direct Paramount+/Showtime.

[jimc115]

KidJoe...if you are subscribing as part of your cable package $15.99 for HBO...you'll get ad free and 4K.

[KidJoe]

KidJoe...if you are subscribing as part of your cable package $15.99 for HBO...you'll get ad free and 4K.

I was going by this -> https://help.max.com/us/Answer/Detail/000002544 and https://help.max.com/us/Answer/Detail/000002547 which lists Xfinity (Comcast) as a selection of "with ads" or "ad-free" which looks to me like I'm limited to only those choices... So no option for Ultimate Ad-Free plan (the plan with 4k).

My understanding was that for a limited time, while they are changing things over, I'll still get access to 4K with my plan, but eventually that will go away unless I change to the Ultimate Ad-Free plan (the only one that includes 4K content)

[Chameleon]

I need to ask one question, if everybody is keeping all these subscriptions, why do you even download anything? Just play your videos from the provider, and that it, why have a collection? When the biggest collection is on the provider. My understanding was that you download what you want to use for that month and then stop your sub and save a few €, then enable the subscription when you want to catch up with your new episodes.

[jpp72]

I need to ask one question, if everybody is keeping all these subscriptions, why do you even download anything? Just play your videos from the provider, and that it, why have a collection? When the biggest collection is on the provider. My understanding was that you download what you want to use for that month and then stop your sub and save a few €, then enable the subscription when you want to catch up with your new episodes.

I personally have the subscriptions to get the show/movie in the the resolution/bitrate i prefer and also to get the subtitles in the language i want. The "scene" usually has a bitrate that is overkill, is in H264, and has subs in all languages. Downloading with StreamFab saves me having to remux to remove the unwanted subs or convert to get H265.

I also download because as we have all seen, we are at the mercy of the streaming platform's whims when they decide they will remove a bunch of content. I even do the same for Youtube. I download Youtube videos i love just in case it gets removed for whatever reason. It has happened quite often and i was glad i downloaded it before they removed it.

[jpp72]

Oh and i also prefer the Kodi player where i can do slow-mo, jump to specific times, create bookmarks to specific scenes, style my subtitles and a bunch of other things.

The library aspect is also very nice where i get way more metadata and they are all linked where i can get the movie info, and select the director and it will pull up all their movies and show me the ones i have and others i don't.

Here's a few screens from my Kodi library/interface:













As you can see, i am currently watching Halt and Catch Fire. A show from 2014. I downloaded the H265 version with English subtitles from AMC+'s Amazon Channel. The scene version had no subtitles and my wife got me into watching everything with subtitles and i now prefer it like this. I can style them to be very small and choose my color, font, shadow, background, etc...

If AMC decides to pull it, i can still finish it on my timeline and not binge it because it will be removed soon. May not even have the time to binge anyway...

[KidJoe]

I need to ask one question, if everybody is keeping all these subscriptions, why do you even download anything? Just play your videos from the provider, and that it, why have a collection? When the biggest collection is on the provider. My understanding was that you download what you want to use for that month and then stop your sub and save a few €, then enable the subscription when you want to catch up with your new episodes.

I guess that is fine if/when you know what you are looking for and know what is available, when and from where. I'm more of a browser, looking through the lists until I find something that I might want to watch, then I watch it. Or I see something older that I haven't seen in a while, and tag/download it.

But I have ad supported subscriptions for some of the services (Paramount+ and Discovery+), so downloading with Streamfab removes the ads.

Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ bundle is included for FREE with my Verizon plan, so no need to cancel/re-subscribe. Plus since StreamFab can only download from Disney+ at 720p, I like watching newer movies at 4K/DV w/Atmos.

HBO/HBOMax is included in my cable package. Again, no need to cancel/re-subscribe, but I couldn't if I wanted to. (I'd have to change the entire package).

AppleTV+ is limited to 360p downloads, which is fine for archiving, and watching IF/WHEN the remove the programs/movies, but while they are available i'll watch on AppleTV+

And of course Amazon Prime I have for the shipping and other perks.

BTW, what skin is that for Kodi?

[jpp72]

BTW, what skin is that for Kodi?

Aeon Nox: SiLVO

The next up widget for TV Shows uses the Embuary Helper Script

All other widgets use the Library Data Provider.