On May 27th, 2020 HBO launched their new updated direct to consumer subscription streaming service called HBO Max. It replaces the HBO Now service. The cost for now remains the same. HBO Now was $14.99 (US) per month and HBO Max is also $14.99 (US) per month.

We’ve been using the service for the last month and we’ll go through all of the features, content and what makes it different from HBO Now as well as other similar services.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max - March 2021

Setting Up HBO Max

First thing we did was deleted the old HBO Now app from our Apple TV and signed into the app store to download the new HBO Max app.

Downloading HBO Max from the Apple TV App Store

Upon download we opened the app to find the typical log in screen allowing us the choice to subscribe, sign in or restore the purchase via iTunes.

As we already had a current active subscription to HBO Now, selecting restoring the purchase instantly signed us in to the service. Unfortunately it didn’t retain all our viewing history or our watchlist selections.

One of the new features we were presented with which was missing from HBO Now was the ability to set up user profiles. As of now you can choose up to 5 different profiles.

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You have the choice to set up profiles with classifications as either adult or child profiles. You can also choose a different coloured circles as well as custom naming them. We were surprised that HBO doesn’t offer a selection of branded character icons like Netflix and Disney+ offers especially considering all the iconic shows the service includes (Game of Thrones, The Wire, Watchmen, etc.)

HBO has typically been home to a lot of adult content but recently they have added a ton of content for kids as well. HBO Max offers strong parental control options like many other services

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UPDATE - In March 2021 HBO Max added a new feature to the profiles, allowing you to add HBO Max branded images to the profiles. You can also upload your own profile picture if you want. This is something that is new and never been done on another service.

After setting up all of the profiles we got a weird message.

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It’s odd because as you’ll see further down in our review you can certainly sort the content by HBO content only so I’m not sure why you would ever want only HBO content.

And that was it. We were all set up and ready explore the full service via the home screen.

Right now, you can't use HBO Max on Roku or Amazon Fire devices, but the app is available on a wide selection of other devices. It's available on Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac and Apple TV), Android TV devices, Chromebooks, Google Chromecast and Chromecast built-in devices like Vizio TVs, the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and recent Samsung Smart TVs.

Navigating HBO Max

From the home screen of HBO Max in the top right corner of the app you can bring up the main navigation menu. This allows you to jump around between movies, series via different sub categories. It’s a long scrolling menu.

HBO Now’s menu was similar but didn’t have as many options. The ability to sort content by various options is nice. This also allows you to see some of the content that is front and centre in the new service including content from DC, TCM, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and others.

There is also a search feature on HBO Max which is pretty standard and works well. You can search by title, actor or director.

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HBO Max - Search - Steven Spielberg GIF.gif

Of course you can also search by other terms, when we typed in Canada it was surprising to see some Canadian content on the service, although we’re not sure why Westworld shows up,

HBO Max Content

One of the biggest additions to HBO Max is the content itself. HBO Now was always a fairly rich streaming service since it included every season of HBO’s series commercial free as well as a rotation of a large selection of movies on a monthly basis, but with HBO Max we’ve seen the addition of some content that may appeal to some.

HBO Max’s library is now a mix of past and present original HBO content that you’ve come to enjoy like:

Game of Thrones, Barry, Veep, Sex in the City, Big Little Lies, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Curb your Enthusiasm, Flight of the Conchords, The Plot Against America, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, Insecure and the list goes on and on.

It also now includes films and TV from Warner Bros.’ 100-year content collection, New Line, DC, CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, Looney Tunes, a curated selection of classic films in partnership with TCM, and more.

TV Series

HBO Max has a huge selection of TV series, below you can see all of the series that are available as on the launch on May 27th, 2020. TV series are divided up by lots of categories including Action, Comedy, Crime, Documentaries, Drama, Fantasy/Sci-fi, Horror, International, Kids, Music, Latino, News/Talk, Reality, Sports and Suspense.

Here are all the series from A-Z available on HBO Max on launch day (May 27, 2020)

The big addition are HBO Max originals. There were 6 series at launch: Craftopia, Legendary, Looney Tunes Cartoons, Love Life, The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo and On the Record and more have been added since the initial launch of the service.

There is a whole host of other series though here are just some of them.

6 Seasons of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Kids Content

Surprisingly HBO Max has a fair amount of family friendly content in fact they have a whole content section dedicated to it.

There is also plenty of Comedy Central TV shows.

HBO Max Movies

HBO Max says it will feature a library of more than 2,000 films within the first year. You can see all the movies that were available on launch day in the video below.

Here are all the movies from A- Z available on HBO Max on launch day (May 27, 2020)

Movies are divided up by lots of categories including Originals, Kids, Action, Comedy, Crime, Documentaries, Drama, Fantasy/Sci-fi, Horror, International, Music, Latino, Romance, Sports, Suspense and Shorts.

One of the main draws of HBO Max supposedly was its access to the Warner movie library which includes all the DC properties.

Currently though while newer DC films like Aquaman (2018), Batman v Superman (2016), Green Lantern (2011), Joker (2019), Justice League (2017), Shazam! (2019), Suicide Squad (2016) and Wonder Woman (2017) are there the three Christopher Nolan helmed Batman were missing at launch but have since been added.

If you want your fix of Batman you can however watch Batman (1989), Batman Returns (2012), Batman & Robin (1997) and Batman Forever (1995).

There are also some Batman animated features. HBO Max has indicated that it will release Zack Snyder’s Director’s Cut of the Justice League (2017) at some point in 2021.

Most movies have a simple summary along with the ability to add them to your watchlist as well as a cast and crew option.

One thing that is missing that I’ve grown accustom to with other streaming services is the ability to watch the movies trailer. I’ve found this helpful when you are browsing and looking to watch something new that you may have not seen.

HBO Max has the option to download movies and shows to your mobile device so you can watch offline. HBO Max also offers a way to keep track of the devices that have signed into your account. This is helpful if you think someone might be using your account without your permission.

The service doesn't have 4K HDR capability yet which was one of the major knocks against HBO Now.

Ultimately HBO Max simply expands what HBO Now use to be for the same price. In Canada Crave owns the rights to the HBO content but they never really get all of the HBO content and with HBO Max it’s the same.

Crave will add some of the HBO Max movies but not all of them. Crave’s movie library has always been a mix of some HBO movies as well as a selection of Showtime and Starz movies but they always seem to be about a week or more behind. So when HBO Max adds a new movie to their catalogue it will show up on Crave a week or so later.

Crave has most of the bigger HBO shows but they don’t have everything. You can read our Crave review for more examples.

HBO Max is a great service and one we’ll continue to subscribe to and one that is well worth the cost especially now with the expanded library.

As always we will follow up after 6 months on how the service continues to evolve, so stay tuned.

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The HBO Max Review