5 ms·

> For example Comcast has on demand, but once you watch a show you have to literally go back and search for the TV show name again before you can watch the next

by wtbob 10y ago

> For example Comcast has on demand, but once you watch a show you have to literally go back and search for the TV show name again before you can watch the next episode. Netflix and HBO are similarly terrible. There's no way for me to click on an actor's name and see all the films he's been in, nor navigate and see a studio's corpus. This sort of thing should be table stakes, but for some reason it's not.

thearn4 10y ago
My conspiracy theory lately has been that Netflix's search and basic UI is terrible on purpose, to make us not notice the shifts and declines in the streaming catalog quality. For the life of me I can't imagine why else they would ignore calls to improve it.
- 97s 10y ago
  I subscribe to netflix once a year and binge watch all my favorite shows during the holidays. I tried staying subscribed to them, but their UI is so bad I never know what is new and what isn't. Why can't they have a list of newly added shows that isn't a huge picture. I don't enjoy horizontal scrolling.
  - pcmaffey 10y ago
    Instantwatcher.com is your answer, with direct links to watch on netflix.
    - meowface 10y ago
      The sliders for dates and ratings are awesome. Now that's how you do a UI. And they're running this for free, while Amazon and Netflix are supposed to be spending billions on this.
    - 97s 10y ago
      Thanks for this. It is fantastic.
- ams6110 10y ago
  I'll just throw in Amazon Prime video as well. Why do all these companies have such horrible UI?
- snowmaker 10y ago
  It's not. It's just that most people do extremely simple searches. They experimented with more complex interfaces and while they please a minority of power-users, they reduce overall engagement by confusing the masses.
  - danieltillett 10y ago
    In other words they reimplemented network tv.
thirdsun 10y ago
My guess is that the general audience / user base simply doesn't care. It's similar to the experience I had when I had to look for a replacement for rdio, which was closing down last year. I was shocked to learn how inferior and lacking all other services were - yet rdio was the one that had to close shop. One of the most obvious issues is the fact that you can't filter/browse releases by label on any service but rdio. Being able to see a label's catalog and new releases is an essential feature for music enthusiasts, yet the general public apparently couldn't care less. It seems if you use these features, you're already part of a very niche crowd. I guess it's not too different from searching by actor or director on Netflix.
- MrBuddyCasino 10y ago
  On Spotify you can search for labels like this: label:Stax
  - thirdsun 10y ago
    I know, I discovered this a while ago. However it's clearly not really intended by Spotify's devs and not a great substitute for a proper implementation.
Joeri 10y ago
Netflix is a shining bastion of usability compared to the VOD services in my country. When replaying tv, the better one has unskippable ads (for only twice the price of netflix!), the worse one doesn't have a fast-forward and starts the replay ten minutes before the actual show. I think the problem is due to being tv companies to start with. They're not geared towards an interactive experience with viewers and have no idea how to provide it.
- majewsky 10y ago
  > They're not geared towards an interactive experience with viewers and have no idea how to provide it. This can't be the full answer. Starting an on-demand stream 10 minutes before the actual show is so mind-boggingly stupid that I cannot imagine incompetence to be the root cause. In other words, Hanlon's Razor does not apply, and malice on their part should be assumed.
  - mikekchar 10y ago
    My non-malice potential answer is that they are broadcast streaming to save bandwidth. They wait until either they have a certain number of people or 10 minutes elapses and then start showing it. They may not be realising that they never meet the required number and always wait 10 minutes.
web007 10y ago
These queries and "show me where I can find show X across broadcast, cable, on-demand, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu or other" are the reason I bought a Tivo. Their UX is still not what I'd like as far as efficiency, but they get the table stakes 100%.
yardie 10y ago
There's no way for me to click on an actor's name and see all the films he's been in Wow. I forgot you used to be able to do this in Netflix. Back in try days when they were slinging DVDs. This also worked on the Apple TV. But I. Don't have an ATV so I'm not able to verify its still that way. I'm using Netflix on a PS3. It's pretty but functionally useless.

by wtbob 10y ago

thearn4 10y ago

My conspiracy theory lately has been that Netflix's search and basic UI is terrible on purpose, to make us not notice the shifts and declines in the streaming catalog quality. For the life of me I can't imagine why else they would ignore calls to improve it.

97s 10y ago
I subscribe to netflix once a year and binge watch all my favorite shows during the holidays. I tried staying subscribed to them, but their UI is so bad I never know what is new and what isn't. Why can't they have a list of newly added shows that isn't a huge picture. I don't enjoy horizontal scrolling.
- pcmaffey 10y ago
  Instantwatcher.com is your answer, with direct links to watch on netflix.
  - meowface 10y ago
    The sliders for dates and ratings are awesome. Now that's how you do a UI. And they're running this for free, while Amazon and Netflix are supposed to be spending billions on this.
  - 97s 10y ago
    Thanks for this. It is fantastic.
ams6110 10y ago
I'll just throw in Amazon Prime video as well. Why do all these companies have such horrible UI?
snowmaker 10y ago
It's not. It's just that most people do extremely simple searches. They experimented with more complex interfaces and while they please a minority of power-users, they reduce overall engagement by confusing the masses.
- danieltillett 10y ago
  In other words they reimplemented network tv.

thirdsun 10y ago

My guess is that the general audience / user base simply doesn't care. It's similar to the experience I had when I had to look for a replacement for rdio, which was closing down last year. I was shocked to learn how inferior and lacking all other services were - yet rdio was the one that had to close shop. One of the most obvious issues is the fact that you can't filter/browse releases by label on any service but rdio. Being able to see a label's catalog and new releases is an essential feature for music enthusiasts, yet the general public apparently couldn't care less. It seems if you use these features, you're already part of a very niche crowd. I guess it's not too different from searching by actor or director on Netflix.

MrBuddyCasino 10y ago
On Spotify you can search for labels like this: label:Stax
- thirdsun 10y ago
  I know, I discovered this a while ago. However it's clearly not really intended by Spotify's devs and not a great substitute for a proper implementation.

Joeri 10y ago

Netflix is a shining bastion of usability compared to the VOD services in my country. When replaying tv, the better one has unskippable ads (for only twice the price of netflix!), the worse one doesn't have a fast-forward and starts the replay ten minutes before the actual show. I think the problem is due to being tv companies to start with. They're not geared towards an interactive experience with viewers and have no idea how to provide it.

majewsky 10y ago
> They're not geared towards an interactive experience with viewers and have no idea how to provide it. This can't be the full answer. Starting an on-demand stream 10 minutes before the actual show is so mind-boggingly stupid that I cannot imagine incompetence to be the root cause. In other words, Hanlon's Razor does not apply, and malice on their part should be assumed.
- mikekchar 10y ago
  My non-malice potential answer is that they are broadcast streaming to save bandwidth. They wait until either they have a certain number of people or 10 minutes elapses and then start showing it. They may not be realising that they never meet the required number and always wait 10 minutes.

web007 10y ago

These queries and "show me where I can find show X across broadcast, cable, on-demand, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu or other" are the reason I bought a Tivo. Their UX is still not what I'd like as far as efficiency, but they get the table stakes 100%.

yardie 10y ago

There's no way for me to click on an actor's name and see all the films he's been in Wow. I forgot you used to be able to do this in Netflix. Back in try days when they were slinging DVDs. This also worked on the Apple TV. But I. Don't have an ATV so I'm not able to verify its still that way. I'm using Netflix on a PS3. It's pretty but functionally useless.