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[Karsticles]

I just decided to try out HBO Go on my laptop, and this thing stutters and freezes all over the place. The framerate is generally poor, too, and sometimes the resolution drops. I regularly use this laptop to watch Netflix, so I know that's not the problem. Is there something I can do to fix this? Is there another way to watch it? I know the XBox has an HBO Go ap, but would it really be better? I also don't have Gold, and I bet it's behind a paywall...

Advice/experiences are welcome. Watching Game of Thrones, for reference.

 

[Rubenov]

Yeah I usually just close it out / open it again / refresh it until it works.

 

[Mushroomer25]

It's not bad from my experience. A little glitchy, but overall one of the better premium video players on the internet.

 

[phazedplasma]

I've used it tons of times. Have never had a good experience with it. Buffers a lot at low resolutions.

Netflix looks amazing and I can stream YouTube at 1080.

 

[Vyer]

I've used it on XBOX, iPhone and iPad and haven't had any problems (other than when it was getting slammed for the GoT premier).

 

[royalan]

The worst thing about HBO Go is that it seems to be using the same video player that "automatically detects optimal viewing resolution" that a lot of other major websites seem to be using these days.

Only it always fucking starts me out at the lowest fucking resolution possible, and I have a 2012 quad-core laptop and a super fast cable internet connection.

 

[Swig_]

I've never been happy with it. Quality is terrible, streaming is bad, the layout is really horrible. I rarely use it because of these things. That and they don't have a ps3 option.

 

[Blader]

It's bad. Especially if you're trying to watch something the night it airs, which is basically a 50 minute episode blown out to 2+ hours of bottomed out resolutions and buffering every 3 seconds.

 

[sangreal]

It's definitely not bad, but they need to add a secret menu to select bitrate like Netflix. Being stuck with terrible quality because of their shitty algorithm is annoying, and having to seek around or restart it to make it fix itself even moreso. When it works, it works great though.

Oh, and they really need to make it easier to watch a TV show in order. Having to place every episode in the watch list (which doesn't delete itself after the episode) is dumb

 

[JakkuFurosu]

I was just thinking this a few hours ago but figured there HAD to be a OLD threads already covering how bad HBO is now. The quality and stuttering just make all that worse.
It's originals are great (true blood,cathouse,boardwalk empire etc) but the moviies are fucking ass.
I liked the old HBO with new good movies.

I realize this a quality issue @OP but it was kinda odd this popped right after I was thinking all that

 

[Plasmid]

The quality is low, i never have HD unless i'm on my console.

 

[sangreal]

I was just thinking this a few hours ago but figured there HAD to be a OLD threads already covering how bad HBO is now.
It's originals are great (true blood,cathouse,boardwalk empire etc) but the moviies are fucking ass.
I liked the old HBO with new good movies

Well, this thread is about HBO Go, but I will agree with you that HBO's movie selection has been absolutely atrocious lately. I feel EPIX launching their own channel really hurt HBO's selection. EPIX has much better movies these days

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

I've actually had zero problems with it.

 

[Persona7]

The video quality is horrible.

 

[vas_a_morir]

At first, I read the thread title as a Caveman unhappy with the direction of HBO's programming.

 

[JakkuFurosu]

Well, this thread is about HBO Go, but I will agree with you that HBO's movie selection has been absolutely atrocious lately

yeah I just edited... It was a coincidence so i kinda raged off topic.

Id have more love for it if I ever get my Vita HBOgo app....not holding my breath though

 

[amnesiac]

It sucks. The video quality changes constantly. Looking for episodes sucks. Grey bars on 4:3 video WHY. I also find myself accidentally clicking the end of the stream since the minimize button is so close. But the content is great so I deal with it.

 

[EleventhDoctor]

Content wise it's stellar. Performance wise it's truly fucking awful. I always get substandard quality while Netflix quality is almost always top notch.

 

[mr stroke]

It works great for me outside of the ass video quality.

 

[Kettch]

It's horrible. I'll be watching something in HD just fine and then it'll take the initiative to adjust the video quality to a green crap colored 144p (or something) mess with no option to change it back. Really tempts me to just pirate Game of Thrones instead.

 

[zomaha]

a couple of days ago i noticed considerable buffering and just general poor performance, worse than it normally is.

 

[sappyday]

Content wise it's stellar. Performance wise it's truly fucking awful. I always get substandard quality while Netflix quality is almost always top notch.

This. I'm still waiting for it to come to the PS3 but HBO for some reason doesn't want it to.

 

[JakkuFurosu]

Really tempts me to just pirate Game of Thrones instead.

Yeah dancing that line sucksass.
I wanna watch Breaking bad S5 on my PC but Comcast, on low settings which i can easily handle HD, is stuttering so bad im tempted as well.

 

[fallengorn]

I never have consistent service with it. Sometimes I good quality throughout a show/movie, other times it drops in and out of quality or needs to buffer every few minutes.

 

[A Pretty Panda]

I tried to watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes and I think it was running at 10p

 

[kingocfs]

It's always worked fine for me.

 

[ohhthegore]

This. I'm still waiting for it to come to the PS3 but HBO for some reason doesn't want it to.

Fuck me too, me and the wifey want to finally start watching Game of Thrones

 

[hateradio]

The things I don't like about it:

• No automatic next episode
• No automatic next episode
• No automatic next episode

 

[DigitalOp]

I dont seem to have an issues. Only thing that blows for me is not having a choice to change resolution. Sometimes its fine but it doesn't seem HD at its best..

 

[devious.one]

I rewatched the entirety of GoT season 1/2 a couple months ago on it, never noticed any problems.

 

[Remmy2112]

I have issues where if I do anything on the internet other than, say, chat with someone in steam I run the risk of HBO Go's resolution dropping from orbit. And this is on a good connection too. Same issue with Max Go, but they are the same type of player. Showtime Anytime never plays content in HD for me either, but StarzPlay works just fine pretty much all the time.

 

[soundscream]

Works great on my Xbox and Roku, HD streams and my ISP speed isnt that great.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Works wonderfully over my iPhone AirPlay mirroring to my AppleTV.

On my laptop with a 450Mbps connection to my router, it stutters and buffers like crazy.

 

[gregor7777]

Works great for me as long as I don't try and watch an episode when it first airs. If I wait an hour or so it's smooth sailing and crisp HD.

 

[LosDaddie]

Works great on X360. Always streams HD and 5.1. I really like the GUI on it, too.

Really tempts me to just pirate Game of Thrones instead.

Oh yeah, bro, totally.

 

[smr00]

I stopped using it and just started using comcast on-demand.

Poorly designed/made service. It's a piece of shit.

 

[injurai]

Watching Game of Thrones, for reference.

buy it digitally on Amazon and stream from them

 

[jon bones]

it's certainly not as well coded as Netflix but it's a great value added for hbo subscribers.

if they offered it for 16 / month a la carte and optimized the site a bit, they could really see some cash

 

[Van Owen]

I only really have problems when you try streaming a new episode of GoT the night it airs. Always craps out.

But this past week I've been getting random errors in Firefox in IE that don't allow me to play video. Cleared my cache and cookies but it does nothing. Still works in Chrome though.

Fucking pisses me off.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

I've been using it on a Roku to watch The Wire. The streaming quality is fine, but my biggest problem is that it automatically defaults to "List Newest Episodes First". So when I want to watch season 2 episode 5 for example, I first have to see the screenshot and description of the final episode of the show, then slowly scroll back to season 2, then I get to see the screen shot and description of the season 2 finale, then slowly scroll back to episode 5. I've already been spoiled on things just from an accidental glance when scrolling back through seasons/episodes.

 

[Cornballer]

It's been fine for me whenever I've used it, but I'm typically digging through the back catalog at odd hours rather than trying to watch GoT when it first airs.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

I use it all the time, but the streaming quality is shit, no subtitles, and navigation is a chore on both PC and Xbox. Strangely, the phone app seems to work best.

 

[Karsticles]

buy it digitally on Amazon and stream from them

Too expensive.

It sucks. The video quality changes constantly. Looking for episodes sucks. Grey bars on 4:3 video WHY. I also find myself accidentally clicking the end of the stream since the minimize button is so close. But the content is great so I deal with it.

I think the video instability is the big problem. It goes to like 420p, upgrades to 720p, then tries for 1080p, and chokes out. So it freezes and drops back to 420p, and just keeps cycling like that. If I could just set it at 720p, it would be fine.

 

[RBH]

I've been using HBO Go on Apple TV the past couple days, and I like it alot more compared to the app on the Roku.