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7 Things to Know Before You Sign Up for HBO Max | HBO Max Review
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May 24, 2021
HBO MAX CHANGES: The Friends reunion and same day premieres of Warner Brothers films are two reasons why you may want to subscribe to HBO Max in 2021, but that's not all. The streaming service introduced a cheaper monthly plan to build its subscriber base in June 2021. In today's video, I share the 7 things to know before you sign up for HBO Max. Please like this video and subscribe to Michael Saves for more ways to save on streaming TV! Read my full HBO Max review at MichaelSaves.com: https://michaelsaves.com/streaming/hbo-max-review/ CHAPTERS: 0:00 Introduction 0:27 What Is HBO Max? 1:16 How Much Does HBO Max Cost? 2:06 Does HBO Max Offer a Free Trial? 3:28 What Do You Get With HBO Max? 5:01 How Is the User Experience With HBO Max? 6:41 How Do I Stream HBO Max? 7:34 Can My Family Share HBO Max? 8:17 HBO Max Pros and Cons Get the Michael Saves Streaming TV Spending Tracker: https://michaelsaves.com/streaming/spending-tracker/ How to Stream Everything You Want and Save Money: https://michaelsaves.com/streaming/streaming-tv-savings-tips/ The #1 Credit Card for Cash Back on Streaming TV: https://michaelsaves.com/credit-cards/best-credit-cards-streaming/
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0:00
hbo max bringing the stars of friends
0:02
together again
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plus new movies every month including
0:07
same-day premieres of warner brothers
0:09
films
0:09
for the rest of 2021 and a cheaper way
0:13
to stream hbo max
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but there is a catch hey what's up it's
0:17
michael welcome to my channel and in
0:19
today's video
0:20
the seven things that you need to know
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before you sign up for
0:24
hbo max let's get started number one
0:27
what is hbo max hbo max launched in may
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2020 so by now
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you may be familiar with how it works at
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first people were confused with the
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difference between
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hbo max and hbo so let me quickly go
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over
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the basics with hbo max you can stream
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everything
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from hbo but on top of that there are
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hbo max
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originals these are movies and shows
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that you will only find
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on the app and then a library of content
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from order media and it's a pretty good
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one
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too plus some licensed series
1:01
and movies now hbo max says that it is a
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streaming service for everyone from
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families with young children to adults
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i'm going to take a deeper dive
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into the content a little later on so
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you'll get a sense of its strengths
1:14
and its weaknesses number two how much
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does hbo max cost maybe this is the
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biggest hurdle for you because
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hbo max is not cheap its ad free plan
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is 14.99 a month which is more expensive
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than
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netflix standard and hulu with no ads
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and to be honest the price is the only
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reason why i don't subscribe to hbo max
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for 12 months out of the year
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instead it's one that i stop and start
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but there's this
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after a long wait hbo max debuts a
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cheaper option
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with ads at 9.99 a month a company
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executive said
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this plan will have the lightest ad load
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in
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the streaming industry now aside from
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the price and the
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ads the only difference between those
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two plans
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is that the cheaper one will not include
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the same day premieres
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of warner brothers films for the rest of
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2021.
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number three does hbo max offer a free
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trial
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so there are three points i want to make
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in this section first when you sign up
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for hbo max
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directly on its website or through the
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app there is no longer a free trial
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at launch there was a seven day free
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trial
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but there is still a way to try before
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you buy this is the watch free section
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where you can stream free episodes
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without a subscription
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now typically it is just the first
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episode but it's enough to tell
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if something catches your eye and second
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although there is no free trial
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directly with hbo max you can still get
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one when you sign up with a third party
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i signed up for hbo max through
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youtube tv and got seven days free and
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you can get the same
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deal when you sign up for hbo max
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through hulu
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one week free then the regular price and
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third
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you may get hbo max as a free perk with
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a tnt
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att's most expensive wireless plan
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unlimited
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elite comes with complementary access to
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hbo max
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and there's this some at t tv streaming
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plans
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include hbo max 2. so if you are on the
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fence and
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cost is a concern consider pausing or
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cancelling one of your other
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subscriptions like your netflix or your
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hulu
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and then trying hbo max if you don't
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like it you can always cancel it
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there are no contracts number four what
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do you get with
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hbo max so let's talk about content hbo
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max describes itself as
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all of hbo and so much more and that so
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much more part is what i want to focus
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on
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in this section because by now you
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probably already know what you think
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about
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regular hbo let's start with movies and
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the big gamble
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hbo max made here's the headline in case
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you missed it
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because of the pandemic hbo max decided
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to premiere
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all new warner brothers films the same
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day they hit
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theaters now this will not continue long
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term but it does last
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through 2021 and for many these warner
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brothers premieres alone
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justify the cost of a subscription now
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put the same day premieres aside and the
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library of
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movies on hbo max it is still one of its
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best features
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particularly action dramas and comedies
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but if you're not into movies
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the library of shows includes some big
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hits too
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hbo max is the place to stream friends
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the big bang theory
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the fresh prince of bel-air and many
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more too but then there are hbo max
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originals there's a mix of content here
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but quite a few reality and non-fiction
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series
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also the friends reunion streaming in
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late may 2021 highly anticipated and
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delayed a year
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because of covid no i think hbo max is
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primarily
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a service for adults but it does have a
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respectable collection of kids content
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from the cartoon network sesame workshop
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and looney tunes
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i just don't think you'll want to cancel
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your disney plus subscription
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for this number five how is the user
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experience with hbo max
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hbo max has a great layout maybe the
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best in streaming and it has made a lot
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of improvements
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since it first launched so i'm going to
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swing around the camera and show you
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on my tv when you first open the app you
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select a profile you can add up to five
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profiles per account
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including kid profiles with parental
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controls
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i'm going to use the adult profile and
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this is the home screen
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you see the featured content you can
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click play and go directly to it or
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more info for a longer summary and other
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episodes if it is part of a series
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continue watching is right below the
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featured series or movie
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and if you're just getting started you
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will not see this here but as soon as
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you start streaming
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this area will populate below that is my
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list
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and when i first signed up i spent about
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15 minutes browsing the recommendations
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and adding things to my list
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to add something to your list just
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choose a title
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navigate to the plus symbol and select
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it at the very bottom of the home screen
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you will see
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hbmx hubs but there is also a shortcut
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to this area from
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the navigation on the far left and that
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left navigation also includes shortcuts
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to search
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home movies series and browse a few
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other things i like when you select a
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movie or series
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you will see the option to skip intro in
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the lower
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right corner and fast forwarding on my
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roku is great i can see the point that
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i'm skipping to
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and when you finish an episode in a
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series the next one will automatically
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play
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now there is no way to turn this off so
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that can be either a good thing or a bad
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thing depending on the person
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if you don't want to keep watching you
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will have to press pause or stop
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number six how do i stream hbo max
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you can stream hbo max on your phone
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tablet computer or to a tv set as long
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as you've got a supported device like
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the roku
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i'm using today and here is a list of
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the supported devices for streaming to a
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tv set
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in addition to roku you see amazon fire
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tv android tv
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apple tv and even some newer samsung
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smart tvs
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now you will need a high speed internet
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connection to stream
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hbo max says on its website that you'll
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need a minimum download speed of 5
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megabits per second
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to stream hd video but 50 megabits per
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second for streaming 4k
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content is recommended and when you are
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connected to wi-fi
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you can download shows and movies for
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offline viewing
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right from the hbo max app on a phone or
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tablet
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just tap the download icon which is the
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arrow that points down
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number seven can my family share hbo max
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hbo max can be streamed on up to three
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devices at the same time
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but go over that limit and you may get
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an error message about
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too many streams as i mentioned earlier
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there are up to
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five user profiles per account and you
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can see here on hbo max's website
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those multiple profiles are intended for
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your immediate
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family or household the keyword there
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immediate and those separate profiles
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let everyone in the house have their own
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continue watching and my list and the
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kid profiles are very useful since
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so much of the content on hbo max is
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geared toward
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adults you can easily filter what kids
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watch
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using the parental controls and now pros
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and cons
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as far as i'm concerned the major
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downside of hbo max
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is that monthly price 14.99 a month
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without ads
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but i do give hbo max credit for
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launching the ad supported plan
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and as far as the pros let's recap the
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same day premieres of warner brothers
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films for the rest of 2021
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that tops my list and it's followed by
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the library of movies and tv shows
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including high quality hbo content the
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service has a premium feel
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with a solid user experience you can
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discover
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new content and get back to what you've
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already been following
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with ease so if hbo max is not in your
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streaming rotation
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i recommend that you try it out for a
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month or two
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a lot of people consider it to be the
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best streaming service out there today
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and while you're testing it out you can
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pause or cancel your existing services
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like netflix or hulu to help you stick
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to your streaming budget
9:15
i have developed the michael saves
9:17
streaming tv spending tracker
9:19
it's free and you will find a link below
9:21
thanks for watching and i'll see you
9:23
next time