Amazon Prime TV: I had mentioned before how I was unhappy with the ads on Prime. After avoiding it over a month, I thought I'd take a look. I clicked on a horror movie. It wasn't even...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I had mentioned before how I was unhappy with the ads on Prime. After avoiding it over a month, I thought I'd take a look. I clicked on a horror movie. It wasn't even into the plot yet when an ad appeared. In the upper right corner, I saw "1/5." With nothing happening on the screen yet, they wanted me to sit there watching five commercials. There are so many streaming services that are free with commercials. I wish I could deduct the cost of Prime TV.

Commercials on streaming services are facing a big problem: too many services. With so many online services vying for ad money, ads are selling for bargain prices, so they are running more of them to get the income they want. For the time being, Netflix is ad-free, but how long will that last. I see this as similar to what's happened with software. I used to buy it and use it. Now, I have to subscribe and keep paying for the rest of my life.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

Agreed. We seem to be taking a giant leap backward to when rooftop antennas gave us about 7 stations and we had to watch 4 or 5 advertisement breaks for a one-hour show…except now we’re paying for the privilege of watching them. Same for YouTube where, even for a 3-minute video, they’ll now interrupt the middle of it with an ad.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

fourlocks wrote:

Agreed. We seem to be taking a giant leap backward to when rooftop antennas gave us about 7 stations and we had to watch 4 or 5 advertisement breaks for a one-hour show…except now we’re paying for the privilege of watching them. Same for YouTube where, even for a 3-minute video, they’ll now interrupt the middle of it with an ad.

When a YouTube ad is more than ten seconds, I click on Back and try again until I get under ten seconds. There seem to be more of the long ads now. All an advertiser needs is five seconds. Basically, just show the product in use.

Ollieboy

jerryc41 wrote:

I had mentioned before how I was unhappy with the ... (show quote)

This is the exact reason I record my shows to be watched later. Then I can skip all the ads.

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

Anybody remember when we all jumped on the cable TV bandwagon?
We were willing to pay extra so there were no commercials.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Ollieboy wrote:

This is the exact reason I record my shows to be watched later. Then I can skip all the ads.

With Spectrum, you have to use their Cloud recorder. Although I can fast-forward through commercials, the video does not show on the screen, so I have no idea when I am past the commercials.

therwol Loc: USA

jerryc41 wrote:

I had mentioned before how I was unhappy with the ... (show quote)

Just suck it up and pay $2.99 a month over your prime membership to watch ad free.

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

Ollieboy wrote:

This is the exact reason I record my shows to be watched later. Then I can skip all the ads.

I’ve been using TiVo since 2003. I don’t watch any live TV. Just SKIP through commercials.

whatdat Loc: Del Valle, Tx.

Ollieboy wrote:

This is the exact reason I record my shows to be watched later. Then I can skip all the ads.

Some sources are getting wise, though. I
have Direct TV and recently there have been a few channels that won’t let you fast forward or reverse, at least while watching live. I sometimes use ad time to read something by pausing to give the ad time to get through, then start the tv rolling again.

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

jerryc41 wrote:

I had mentioned before how I was unhappy with the ... (show quote)

No, you don't. Much editing software is still one-time purchase. I subscribe to NO recurring cost streams or software, and my life goes rolling on easily. It's also cheaper to just purchase on disk the 1 of 500 available movies that I would actually watch.

rwww80a Loc: Hampton, NH

I tried to record a PBS show to watch later in the week. NH PBS and ME PBS would not record. I was told you have to be a PBS member, even when watching on Comcast.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Fredrick wrote:

I’ve been using TiVo since 2003. I don’t watch any live TV. Just SKIP through commercials.

Spectrum doesn't allow Tivo anymore, and I have two of them. Some people can still use Tivo with Spectrum, but not for long. I could record anything with Tivo. Now, I'm limited to what's on the Spectrum service.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

therwol wrote:

Just suck it up and pay $2.99 a month over your prime membership to watch ad free.

$3 here, $10 there. Small amounts add up to large amounts. And then they raise their prices. I have enough to watch without Prime.

Ten years ago, Prime cost $99. I paid $150.12 the past two years. That's $139 plus tax. I save on the shipping postage, though. I placed 58 orders in the past three months.

Haenzel Loc: South Holland, The Netherlands

jerryc41 wrote:

$3 here, $10 there. Small amounts add up to large amounts. And then they raise their prices. I have enough to watch without Prime.

Ten years ago, Prime cost $99. I paid $150.12 the past two years. That's $139 plus tax. I save on the shipping postage, though. I placed 58 orders in the past three months.

Spending money to make it look you're saving money....hmm ;)

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

jerryc41 wrote:

Spectrum doesn't allow Tivo anymore, and I have two of them. Some people can still use Tivo with Spectrum, but not for long. I could record anything with Tivo. Now, I'm limited to what's on the Spectrum service.

Sorry to hear about Spectrum not allowing TiVo anymore. I just had an Xfinity technician in my house last week to solve a screen pixelation issue when using TiVo. Streaming was fine but not when watching TV with TiVo.

He resolved my issue, but also told me that Xfinity and companies like Spectrum are making advances to their service going into homes that TiVo can’t keep up with, speed wise with their products. He said the situation will only get worse over time unless TiVo makes some major changes.

Could be the reason why Spectrum is already not allowing TiVo and where it’s only a matter of time for Xfinity.