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> "Think about your own Netflix experience and how frustrating it is — how long it takes you to find a film that you want to watch," says Cakarel. "It doesn't w

by cwyers 11y ago

> "Think about your own Netflix experience and how frustrating it is — how long it takes you to find a film that you want to watch," says Cakarel. "It doesn't work. It categorically doesn't work." I don't really think this describes my Netflix experience well enough to be "categorically" true.

throwaway7767 11y ago
Netflix recommendations work really well for some people, not so much for others. Even after using it for a few months, I found the success rate not much better than just trawling through imdb new releases lists. Yet a lot of my friends say they the recommendations are pretty spot-on and usually something they enjoy.
- uxcn 11y ago
  Netflix recommendations have essentially never worked for me. It occasionally identifies a category I might be interested in, but essentially drops the ball on actual content. I think the best film I've seen recommended in a genre was Charlie Victor Romeo. There are still some excellent movies (Primer, Metropolis, Ronin, Barton Fink, The Man Who Wasn't There, etc...), particularly classics. And the documentaries are probably under appreciated (Genius on Hold, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, both Cosmos, etc...). So, someone is probably paying attention. I have to randomly search for specific things from time to time though. Sometimes sites like https://reddit.com/r/bestofnetflix https://reddit.com/r/bestofnetflix help. One of the bigger problems I've noticed is that some movies tend to be cut short though. It's almost never a director's cut.
jon-wood 11y ago
In reply to throwaway7767, who I can't seem to reply to directly, I think recommendations depend how thorough people are about using unique accounts for each user in the house. I ended up just creating an Everyone profile after being asked once too often why Netflix wasn't keeping track of where people had got to in a series, and the recommendations now are utter garbage, as you'd expect when looking for the intersection of Breaking Bad, Period Dramas, and Fireman Sam. I have a feeling they'd be much better if each person's tastes were segregated.
arebop 11y ago
The www.netflixprize.com data from 2009 is quantitative evidence about whether the recommender works (it is much better than random). I'm open to the idea that a curated collection might delight more people, but in my experience and based on this data, I can't agree that Netflix's algorithm is useless. Personally I find it's the unavailability of streaming content that makes Netflix frustrating.

by cwyers 11y ago

throwaway7767 11y ago

Netflix recommendations work really well for some people, not so much for others. Even after using it for a few months, I found the success rate not much better than just trawling through imdb new releases lists. Yet a lot of my friends say they the recommendations are pretty spot-on and usually something they enjoy.

uxcn 11y ago
Netflix recommendations have essentially never worked for me. It occasionally identifies a category I might be interested in, but essentially drops the ball on actual content. I think the best film I've seen recommended in a genre was Charlie Victor Romeo. There are still some excellent movies (Primer, Metropolis, Ronin, Barton Fink, The Man Who Wasn't There, etc...), particularly classics. And the documentaries are probably under appreciated (Genius on Hold, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, both Cosmos, etc...). So, someone is probably paying attention. I have to randomly search for specific things from time to time though. Sometimes sites like https://reddit.com/r/bestofnetflix https://reddit.com/r/bestofnetflix help. One of the bigger problems I've noticed is that some movies tend to be cut short though. It's almost never a director's cut.

jon-wood 11y ago

In reply to throwaway7767, who I can't seem to reply to directly, I think recommendations depend how thorough people are about using unique accounts for each user in the house. I ended up just creating an Everyone profile after being asked once too often why Netflix wasn't keeping track of where people had got to in a series, and the recommendations now are utter garbage, as you'd expect when looking for the intersection of Breaking Bad, Period Dramas, and Fireman Sam. I have a feeling they'd be much better if each person's tastes were segregated.

arebop 11y ago

The www.netflixprize.com data from 2009 is quantitative evidence about whether the recommender works (it is much better than random). I'm open to the idea that a curated collection might delight more people, but in my experience and based on this data, I can't agree that Netflix's algorithm is useless. Personally I find it's the unavailability of streaming content that makes Netflix frustrating.