HBO Max Offer (and a big question)

[eddie willers]

I have wanted to get HBO Max since I am almost out of shows I like from Netflix and Amazon Prime. HBO Max has a large library that should keep me entertained for awhile.

However (you knew that was coming) I have held out hoping to be able to get it on my Amazon 4K Fire Stick. (I do not like AT&T playing hardball and not letting Amazon put it up as they did Disney+). I also don't want to leave my Fire Stick input to go to some clunky to use XBox 4K player.

So, I get a solicitation today (from Facebook) that, for a limited time, I could add HBO Max as an add-on to my current Hulu plan for for $11.99/month for the first year. So a good deal, right?

So my question is: I have the Hulu tile on my 4K Fire Stick. And it works fine there. So if I add on the HBO Max to Hulu, will it play through my Fire Stick? I have searched for most of the afternoon and can't get a definitive answer.

I'm hoping some of my fellow gear heads here can make that definitive answer.

TIA

 

[chiodo]

From reading about it on Hulu website you have to download the HBO Max App. So it won't work on your Firestick . There is a YouTube video on how to sideload HBO Max onto your Fireztick I don't know or trust how good it works.

Hulu with Max | Hulu

Watch your favorite HBO shows and movies on Hulu, then add Max to your Hulu account to watch timeless classics, family favorites, all new Max Originals, and more.

www.hulu.com

 

[TheLip]

From reading about it on Hulu website you have to download the HBO Max App. So it won't work on your Firestick . There is a YouTube video on how to sideload HBO Max onto your Fireztick I don't know or trust how good it works.

Hulu with Max | Hulu

Watch your favorite HBO shows and movies on Hulu, then add Max to your Hulu account to watch timeless classics, family favorites, all new Max Originals, and more.

www.hulu.com

I use HBO Max app on Firestick. It works fine, but they are blocking the app tile from showing up in the menus.

You must sideload as noted in the above post, but to launch the app you have to go to:
Settings>Applications>Manage Installed Applications>HBO Max>Launch Application

 

[pattykay]

I use HBO Max app on Firestick. It works fine, but they are blocking the app tile from showing up in the menus.

You must sideload as noted in the above post, but to launch the app you have to go to:
Settings>Applications>Manage Installed Applications>HBO Max>Launch Application

It makes me miss the days when I could simply say "Alexa, go to channel 300 on Dish." Sorry, just trying to make this relevant to the Dish forum, since that is where this thread was posted.

 

[johnr475]

I use HBO Max app on Firestick. It works fine, but they are blocking the app tile from showing up in the menus.

You must sideload as noted in the above post, but to launch the app you have to go to:
Settings>Applications>Manage Installed Applications>HBO Max>Launch Application

I sideloaded HBOMax on my firestick with no problems. Its not difficult to do. My tile is working properly. I just click on it and HBOMax opens.

 

[lparsons21]

I sideloaded HBOMax on my firestick with no problems. Its not difficult to do. My tile is working properly. I just click on it and HBOMax opens.

Yeah, me too. But the tile doesn’t say “HBO Max”, just HBO.

 

[Ronnie-]

Moved thread to cord cutters section.

 

[eddie willers]

Moved thread to cord cutters section.

Thanks to all that replied.
I think I got the answer. It is NO, not without hacking the Firestick in a way I'm not comfortable with.

 

[lparsons21]

Thanks to all that replied.
I think I got the answer. It is NO, not without hacking the Firestick in a way I'm not comfortable with.

These days the only streaming device that has apps for all the services is the AppleTV. All the rest are missing something without sideloading, and in the case of Roku even that isn’t doable.

 

[eddie willers]

These days the only streaming device that has apps for all the services is the AppleTV. All the rest are missing something without sideloading, and in the case of Roku even that isn’t doable.

Thanks.

Pondering now....

 

[mwdxer1]

I refuse to buy a different streaming device for everything, Fire TV & Roku along with a Chromecast is it. It is time HBO/Peacock and the rest to get onboard. They are losing a lot of viewers

 

[pattykay]

I refuse to buy a different streaming device for everything, Fire TV & Roku along with a Chromecast is it. It is time HBO/Peacock and the rest to get onboard. They are losing a lot of viewers

Similarly, I refuse to buy a different streaming service for everything (at the same time, anyway). Currently, I am alternating between Netflix and Hulu. When one service runs out of stuff I absolutely want to watch, I switch to another.

 

[dishdude]

Android TV for me. I'm done with Roku and Amazon devices.

 

[ncted]

I got an AppleTV 4k for our living room. If I just wanted to watch something that wasn't available on the Firestick or Roku without "hacking", I would pick up a cheap Chromecast.

 

[NashGuy]

Thanks to all that replied.
I think I got the answer. It is NO, not without hacking the Firestick in a way I'm not comfortable with.

If you add an HBO Max subscription to Hulu (or YouTube TV), only the core HBO content will show up in that app. (Same way that if you add an HBO subscription to your Comcast cable TV, only the core HBO content shows up on your cable box.) For all the additional "Max" content, you must use the HBO Max app (which has all of the service's content, including the HBO stuff).

An option you might want to know about is the upcoming new streaming device from Google. It will be announced on Sept. 30 and is rumored to cost $50. It'll support 4K, Dolby Vision and have a voice remote. It will run Android TV apps, including HBO Max and Peacock (both still officially missing from Fire TV).

It may or may not be worth it to you to spend $50 to gain the additional HBO Max (and free Peacock) content. I've had HBO Max since its launch back in May and have been surprised how much I watch it versus regular HBO in the past. I probably spend 60% of my time in the app on HBO content and the other 40% on Max content.

Also note that if you sign up for HBO Max by Sept. 25 (this coming Friday), you can get a promo deal to pay $12/mo for the first year instead of the regular $15/mo.

Learn about the HBO Max Save for 12 Offer that ended on September 25, 2020.

help.hbomax.com

From what I've read, you should be able to use the HBO Max login you create at HBOMax.com to log into the HBO app on your Fire TV device. (The old HBO Now and HBO Go apps were removed from Fire TV and Roku a couple months back and replaced with a new placeholder app simply named "HBO".) But that app only includes the core HBO content, not the other Max content that is also included in the new HBO Max app.

 

[ncted]

From what I've read, you should be able to use the HBO Max login you create at HBOMax.com to log into the HBO app on your Fire TV device.

As long as it is a paid account, this appears to be the case. If you are using your AT&T credentials from your unlimited wireless or Gig Internet service, very few people have been able to get it to work. Few enough that either they are lying, or they just got lucky.

 

[NashGuy]

As long as it is a paid account, this appears to be the case. If you are using your AT&T credentials from your unlimited wireless or Gig Internet service, very few people have been able to get it to work. Few enough that either they are lying, or they just got lucky.

Interesting. Weird that AT&T is making that exception. (Or not, given how complicated they like to make things.)

At any rate, I know that my HBO Max login works with the new "HBO" app on Roku and, based on what I've read, believe it will work with the HBO app on Fire TV too.

If anyone is in doubt, I guess they could do the regular $15/mo sign up for HBO Max, which includes a free 7-day trial, and then see if that login worked with the HBO app on Fire TV/Roku. If so, they could cancel and sign up with a different email address (and credit card?) for the $12/mo promo for HBO Max, which doesn't include the free 7-day trial.

 

[NashGuy]

I got an AppleTV 4k for our living room. If I just wanted to watch something that wasn't available on the Firestick or Roku without "hacking", I would pick up a cheap Chromecast.

Agreed. Although come Oct., the choice will be between the original Chromecast (HD only, no remote, no on-screen UI) for $30 and the new Chromecast with Google TV (4K, Dolby Vision, voice remote, nice on-screen UI), probably for $50. If that ends up being the price, I don't think there will be all that many folks for whom the original version makes sense.

 

[Jimbo]

Android TV for me. I'm done with Roku and Amazon devices.

I use to use Roku, but not that my Sony OLED has the Android OS, I am able to load anything i need from the Google Play option right to the TV, so I no longer use the Roku.

 

[Juan]

I use to use Roku, but not that my Sony OLED has the Android OS, I am able to load anything i need from the Google Play option right to the TV, so I no longer use the Roku.

The problem with that solution that eventually Sony will stop updating the app