u/FoolishProphet_2336

I’d bet a lot of people would be surprised to learn that they aren’t getting 4K HBO, and I think this confusion is on purpose.

HBO has exactly one plan that lets you watch 4K. It’s their “premium” plan and you have to subscribe directly from them. There are no bundles or 3rd party channels that stream 4K, even when those bundles include other 4K content.

They are happy to give the appearance that you can stream in 4K and they show 4K badges (and audio, HDR, etc.) on movies regardless of whether your plan includes it. This is entirely unique to HBO. For every other streamer the badges indicate what’s actually going to player with your account on that device, yet HBO instead provides their best-possible badges with a fine-print disclaimer that what you will actually get “depends on your plan”.

But does your plan include it? Good luck getting HBO to answer that question. Their apps and web portal will only name your plan, and it’s up to you to search their marketing for what that plan actually covers. If you choose to bundle with Disney and choose Disney’s own 4K they mumble about the details so you can assume (incorrectly) that HBO will also be 4K.

In fact, apart from the movie looking sub-par it seems HBO really doesn’t want you to know what you are getting. HBO’s apps will not show you what quality is being played, nor will they give you any way to select a particular quality. HBO only asserts that they will stream in the “best possible” quality for your plan and device.

Are they doing that? They offer no way to check. In fact in all of their help pages for 4K problems HBO offers zero ways to confirm a movie is playing in 4K, only the vague assertion that if you get the right plan and the right equipment a movie “should” play in 4K.

Im trying to see how this is just some unintentional marketing confusion and not a deliberate campaign to confuse consumers. HBO is well know to have a sub-par 4K library, and comparable plans from competitors include 4K. It’s expensive to deliver content in 4K yet HBO’s pricing strategy seems to pretend this gap doesn’t exist. And the fact there’s no way for a consumer to check that they are getting what they paid for, or being unsure what they are supposed to be getting, seems calculated.

Just bought this guitar. Got it home and showed my wife. She noticed what looked like a thin strip of cellophane tape next to the neck and poked at it thinking it was packing material. two long thin splinters of wood fell off, one landing in the sound hole.

At this point I’m thinking I should probably just return it, but it was on clearance and is a fair bit better than what I was otherwise going to get.

Does this look serious? I don’t know if this is just a trivial fix or if I should be running to the store first thing in the morning to demand a refund.

It’s a Taylor 912ce through guitar center so I’m not sure if Taylor warranty comes into play or if I’m just going to get accused of taking a chisel to my guitar or something. I can’t imagine what would cause this damage on the first place.

Just brought home my new 912ce from guitar center. I was showing my wife and she noticed something that looked like loose cellophane tape next to the neck. She gave it a gentle prod and two big splinters fell off, one landing in the sound hole. I can see it in there but I’m having no luck fishing it out.

I can’t imagine what would cause this, particularly on a new high-end guitar. It doesn’t look like an impact, more like a flaw when installing the neck. Definitely more than a surface scratch. Honestly I don’t know how serious this is.

I’m thinking I should probably go for a refund. However I got a good deal as a clearance model (not used or damaged) and maybe i should try instead to get a warranty repair? Or am I being foolish even thinking about this?

Thinking of returning this. Went into guitar center for an advertised K14CE for $3,100 and really liked it, looked great, sounded great, and had a cool three-piece koa-wood back. However I came to realize it was not a 'CE' but a 1998 'C' with an aftermarket piezo pickup. I challenged the staff and they said something very suspect to the effect that "there wasn't a C with a pickup in the database so we listed it as a CE."

This kinda blew my mind. Instead of listing it truthfully as a modified '98 K14C, they made up a listing using the actual description of the CE, including the wrong face wood (the listed koa but it is clearly cedar).

The pickup, as far as I can tell, is a cheap piezo with a nine-volt battery inside and zero controls anywhere inside or outside the body, so a complete unknown. Why someone would add this to a higher-end guitar I don't understand. I looked for comparables on the used market and found ones much more expensive with proper electronics or much cheaper without the three-piece back and cedar top.

I ended up taking it as is, but I'm having serious misgivings, not just because of Guitar Center pulling some very fishy business, but also because the guitar is older than I had expected and has a completely unknown pickup added.

Is this a bad idea to keep? I suspect it's overpriced/false advertising and worried the mystery electronics make this poison if I ever try and resell it.