6 ms·

I regularly use Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon and I disagree on the far superior UI experience. Amazon and Hulu have done a great job in recent days and I think ha

by jly 10y ago

I regularly use Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon and I disagree on the far superior UI experience. Amazon and Hulu have done a great job in recent days and I think has Netflix currently has the worst UI experience, at least on Apple TV. The Netflix app does a poor job of highlighting their original content separately from others (recently I searched for a complete list of Netflix Originals and could not find it on the app - the list I did find was incomplete). I also don't like how they organize content, or more specifically the lack of organization options. For example, it's very difficult to view only movies or TV shows - something I'd expect to be a common use case and Hulu makes very easy. Content-wise I think Netflix is doing an amazing job, even if I cannot come close to keeping up. They're doing so well, it's harder and harder to track their originals you might be interested in.

pavanky 10y ago
That is strange, on android (and android tv) there is a dedicated row for netflix originals and it is usually at the top. There is also a netflix originals section when you want to look up movies / tv shows by category.
cwyers 10y ago
The Amazon UI on Xbox One is just awful, in my opinion. It seems like they are trying to compromise between being an avenue to watch your purchased videos and watching your Prime content and doing neither well. And the best part is, you can't buy anything through it, so if you want to watch a movie that you haven't already bought or isn't on Prime, you have to pull out your smartphone. Oy.
dragonshed 10y ago
At this point I'm still thankful Netflix and Hulu even have an Apple TV app - Amazon still hasn't made one for viewing video.
dec0dedab0de 10y ago
Amazon's technique of mixing prime, and pay content is clearly a dark pattern. The way they display each season as it's own item is just annoying. On the other hand I actually like Hulu's interface better than Netflix. Really I wish they would agree on a standard streaming API, to enable 3rd parties to create UIs. Right now I find myself opening up multiple apps searching Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and Crackle to find something specific.
- brightball 10y ago
  TiVo does a great job of unifying the search experience (including cable as well).
- JaphyRyder 10y ago
  http://instantwatcher.com/ http://instantwatcher.com/
archagon 10y ago
I recently spent two frustrating hours trying to get my Amazon rental to play in HD. Their player is atrocious! (Eventually, I got it to work in Safari... somehow. Chrome wouldn't do it, and there was no feedback as to why.)
- kn0where 10y ago
  Possibly related to how Netflix streams in Chrome are 720p because Chrome doesn't support a certain level of DRM crap that Safari and Edge do?
  - archagon 10y ago
    It wasn't even 720p — it just stayed in SD for no reason! Mousing over the greyed out HD icon provided no information. Also, I had to fast-forward to the end of the movie on my laptop because it couldn't tell when I was switching to my iPad and vice versa. Meanwhile, Netflix works consistently on all my systems with no issues.
rewrew 10y ago
I prefer everything about Netflix's user experience on all devices EXCEPT the auto-play trailers on Roku. They are the worst invention in the history of UI! 1) It took me forever to realize they weren't the episode/movie starting. 2) I now have to rush instead of leisurely browse through the menu (unless I turn the sound off) 3) ULTIMATE SIN: There's no setting to turn them off! I actually dread going to Netflix now on my Roku and sometimes go to Amazon first (gah!) just to avoid that one aspect.
- ConceptJunkie 10y ago
  Worse, when you're browsing Netflix titles they now start playing (literally) random music when a show is highlighted for more than about 3 seconds. The music is very generic and is not related to the show in any way, except that it superficially resembles the style of the show (e.g., drama, comedy, horror, etc.). It's an incredibly stupid feature that serves no purpose other than noise pollution.
nodesocket 10y ago
The Apple TV UI is the worst since they have to stay within the Apple world. The Samsung TV NetFlix interface is vastly superior.
beausy 10y ago
Amazon on Roku has a terrible UI. It can't suggest content well, it doesn't make it obvious what you've already watched, the descriptions are useless dribble which is surprising when Amazon owns IMDB. You watch a single kung-fu movie and your action movie suggestions get overwhelmed with kung-fu flicks. The separation between Prime and Amazon Video is easy once figured out in the app, but for casual users its a frustrating experience when the video they thought was included with prime is not.

by jly 10y ago

pavanky 10y ago

That is strange, on android (and android tv) there is a dedicated row for netflix originals and it is usually at the top. There is also a netflix originals section when you want to look up movies / tv shows by category.

cwyers 10y ago

The Amazon UI on Xbox One is just awful, in my opinion. It seems like they are trying to compromise between being an avenue to watch your purchased videos and watching your Prime content and doing neither well. And the best part is, you can't buy anything through it, so if you want to watch a movie that you haven't already bought or isn't on Prime, you have to pull out your smartphone. Oy.

dragonshed 10y ago

At this point I'm still thankful Netflix and Hulu even have an Apple TV app - Amazon still hasn't made one for viewing video.

dec0dedab0de 10y ago

Amazon's technique of mixing prime, and pay content is clearly a dark pattern. The way they display each season as it's own item is just annoying. On the other hand I actually like Hulu's interface better than Netflix. Really I wish they would agree on a standard streaming API, to enable 3rd parties to create UIs. Right now I find myself opening up multiple apps searching Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and Crackle to find something specific.

brightball 10y ago
TiVo does a great job of unifying the search experience (including cable as well).
JaphyRyder 10y ago
http://instantwatcher.com/ http://instantwatcher.com/

archagon 10y ago

I recently spent two frustrating hours trying to get my Amazon rental to play in HD. Their player is atrocious! (Eventually, I got it to work in Safari... somehow. Chrome wouldn't do it, and there was no feedback as to why.)

kn0where 10y ago
Possibly related to how Netflix streams in Chrome are 720p because Chrome doesn't support a certain level of DRM crap that Safari and Edge do?
- archagon 10y ago
  It wasn't even 720p — it just stayed in SD for no reason! Mousing over the greyed out HD icon provided no information. Also, I had to fast-forward to the end of the movie on my laptop because it couldn't tell when I was switching to my iPad and vice versa. Meanwhile, Netflix works consistently on all my systems with no issues.

rewrew 10y ago

I prefer everything about Netflix's user experience on all devices EXCEPT the auto-play trailers on Roku. They are the worst invention in the history of UI! 1) It took me forever to realize they weren't the episode/movie starting. 2) I now have to rush instead of leisurely browse through the menu (unless I turn the sound off) 3) ULTIMATE SIN: There's no setting to turn them off! I actually dread going to Netflix now on my Roku and sometimes go to Amazon first (gah!) just to avoid that one aspect.

ConceptJunkie 10y ago
Worse, when you're browsing Netflix titles they now start playing (literally) random music when a show is highlighted for more than about 3 seconds. The music is very generic and is not related to the show in any way, except that it superficially resembles the style of the show (e.g., drama, comedy, horror, etc.). It's an incredibly stupid feature that serves no purpose other than noise pollution.

nodesocket 10y ago

The Apple TV UI is the worst since they have to stay within the Apple world. The Samsung TV NetFlix interface is vastly superior.

beausy 10y ago

Amazon on Roku has a terrible UI. It can't suggest content well, it doesn't make it obvious what you've already watched, the descriptions are useless dribble which is surprising when Amazon owns IMDB. You watch a single kung-fu movie and your action movie suggestions get overwhelmed with kung-fu flicks. The separation between Prime and Amazon Video is easy once figured out in the app, but for casual users its a frustrating experience when the video they thought was included with prime is not.