7 ms·

I’ll be glad to see all of these go, I’m sick to death of seeing something I want to watch on Prime only to have my hopes dashed as they want me to sign up for

I’ll be glad to see all of these go, I’m sick to death of seeing something I want to watch on Prime only to have my hopes dashed as they want me to sign up for HBO, Starz, The Great Courses (!) etc. subscriptions in the next menu.

drewg123 5y ago
I like the channels option. This way, I get to use one mediocre video app with a decent CDN behind it, rather than a terrible app with a terrible CDN.
- brundolf 5y ago
  I would reverse the descriptions. Prime Video is possibly the worst piece of software I've ever used; HBO Now (Go?) is only mediocre
  - bdcravens 5y ago
    The Disney Plus app on Fire is also very buggy.
    - drewg123 5y ago
      It seems to be buggy everywhere. I have the app on a Smart TV (LG 2019 OLED), and an Android TV (Nvidia Shield). One will often lock up, so we'll switch to the other. If I just had one device, I'd probably have just cancelled out of frustration.
      - bdcravens 5y ago
        I assume it's using the same codebase for all Android versions. Haven't tried it on an Apple TV.
  - drewg123 5y ago
    Their app gives a vastly different experience on different platforms. On a smart tv, its a dumpster fire. Slow, laggy, horrible play delay. On Amazon branded Fire* devices, its far better. And I love the X-Ray feature -- that's something I wish Netflix had.
    - brundolf 5y ago
      Gotcha. I've never owned a Fire device. My primary experience with both services was when I wanted to watch Game of Thrones a couple years ago. My girlfriend had already bought it on Amazon so I used that app on our smart TV for the first season or two. Every single interaction (even moving the menu cursor) took 1-3 seconds to register. It was miserable. I ended up subscribing to HBO and buying a PS4 media remote just so that I could stop using Amazon Video.
      - drewg123 5y ago
        I had the same experience on a ~2011 smart TV. I was shocked when I subscribed to Netflix, and their app actually worked fine on that TV. Responsive, low play delay, etc.
    - lsaferite 5y ago
      X-Ray is a killer feature. I was just telling my wife how much I wished other platforms had it. We stop shows ALL THE TIME to go look up actors and such. X-Ray makes that just a pause operation. I wonder if there's some patent that's preventing other providers from having the same feature.
  - handrous 5y ago
    Further, I hate Amazon's interface for managing channels, let alone Prime Video (which is also terrible—shit-tier streaming services most people have never heard of manage to do better). Like almost everything else they make, the UI is wildly not to my taste. I signed up for one exactly once, to watch Twin Peaks: The Return. I'd never do it again. Figuring out how to subscribe was a pain(!), figuring out how to cancel was a pain, and of course the video UI is awful.
    - drewg123 5y ago
      Apple TV does the same sort of channel thing. In general, I prefer the Prime Video app, as the playback interface has a 10s skip, and the video selection interface is less confusing. I honestly wish there was an open source player like Kodi that could be used to play back all these services, and could be customized to not suck.
      - handrous 5y ago
        > I honestly wish there was an open source player like Kodi that could be used to play back all these services, and could be customized to not suck. Heh, if there's a way to customize Kodi's UI to not suck, I've yet to find it after much trying, over many years. I think I may just disagree with some of the fundamentals of how they decided to make it work. My ideal would be a c. 2011 or 2012 Netflix UI, but fed by every source. Closest I've found to that is Jellyfin and piracy.
        drewg123 5y ago
        Thanks for letting me know about Jellyfin. I've been using Plex recently for video, and I hate it. It downright ignores files that it can't find metadata for, which drives me nuts. And I despise their push to login to use anything..
        handrous 5y ago
        I run it in docker on my file-server machine, with an extremely lazy .sh file with always-restart enabled, so I just run once it and then it comes back up on reboot, too, nothing fancy, just manually change the version number on the image and restart it to upgrade once every few months. The built-in web interface is good, and though for a long time the Roku app was in a weird state where most videos would fail to play, it's mysteriously started working fine again, though I think it's still missing some features (collection browsing, as in grouping media as "the Jaws series" or "the MCU", notably, IIRC). Dunno how the other interfaces are, as those are the only ones I use. The Web UI is pretty good for correcting metadata guesses it gets wrong (a very capable, integrated, non-TV interface for managing media sources and metadata is something I really wish Kodi had). I haven't worked with it in a while but I think it's as easy as providing the correct TVDB or IMDB (or whatever) ID and letting it re-scrape that item. Somewhere on my probably-won't-ever-get-to-it list of projects is writing a Retroarch "core" with a very basic Jellyfin media browser, using the existing Mplayer core (probably having to re-package and wrap it with mine) to play the streams. That'd be perfect.
  - mywittyname 5y ago
    Can you stream 4k to the browser on your computer with Prime yet? The biggest reason I stopped using Prime was that content looked like crap on my 4k monitor due to some weird-ass DRM that doesn't even inhibit piracy, as proof by the fact that I just pirated the 4k version of the show I was watching instead.
  - Bedon292 5y ago
    Its interesting how different experiences are. I don't love Prime (I don't want to see the paid content, stop it) but it is still infinitely better than HBO Max. Which has to be the worst I have used across all platforms.
  - dylan604 5y ago
    I think it all comes down to which platform you are using the app. I hear all the time that HBO Max is a junk app, yet I've had relatively no issues when comparing it to Peacock or Paramount apps. I happen to use an Apple TV 4k for all of the apps. Anecdotally, the people that have complained about the HBO Max app were not on the same device. So maybe some devices get the B-team devs (but that's just not fair blame/description), or certain devices have a much more difficult environment to dev for or worse, they are trying to use a single "HTML5" JS app for multiple devices that's not as good as a native app for the device. I've been part of an app dev for a specific hardware device where they state HTML5 app, but then force you to use a specific set of JS libraries for that device. each device has it's own hardware limitations that may not treat certain JS the same as another.
    - Terretta 5y ago
      You like the UI on Apple TV 4K where since HBO Max uncoupled themselves, entering HBO app for HBO content pops up a “who is watching” ask every single time before letting the content play? There’s no way these product managers are using their own apps from normal consumer devices. Somewhere around the 18th time you don’t get to see your show until after you re-specify the same singular profile, you’d surely realize this doesn’t make sense.
      - dylan604 5y ago
        The who is watching is on netflix and prime as well. I do wish they would only present that if there are more than one profile, as it makes no sense if there's only one. However, that matters much less as long as the app works after that. For other apps, seeking crashes the app. Other apps get stuck in loading after hitting play. Other apps crash when loading more content into a carousel. Some apps start with a crappy low quality stream, and eventually work up to a better stream (where Netflix/Prime/HBO seem to never start that low). So yes, in my day-to-day usage, that "who's watching" is seen so rarely, it's not a big deal to me. It doesn't occur every time the app is launched.
        Terretta 5y ago
  - kgwxd 5y ago
    >HBO Now (Go?) Max :)
bdcravens 5y ago
I have an older friend who is severely financially restricted, and who isn't very technically savvy. I bought him a Fire TV so he'd have a ton of free online options in addition to the OTA channels. More than a few times he's gotten confused by something he thought was free. I wish they had a "free only" display mode.
- coredog64 5y ago
  There’s a “free to me” slider in the UI. It will show you content that’s ad supported as well as anything that is covered by Prime.
- Larrikin 5y ago
  Atleast Amazon has a decent amount of content. The Apple TV app feels like a scam. I don't think I've ever found watchable content if I didn't hear about the TV show through a review or a friend. It's a waste of time trying to browse.
- galkk 5y ago
  If you open "prime video" app there is a section "free to me" in top menu bar. Unfortunately, it also includes IMDBTv, that is loaded with ads, while technically also free

drewg123 5y ago

I like the channels option. This way, I get to use one mediocre video app with a decent CDN behind it, rather than a terrible app with a terrible CDN.

brundolf 5y ago
I would reverse the descriptions. Prime Video is possibly the worst piece of software I've ever used; HBO Now (Go?) is only mediocre
- bdcravens 5y ago
  The Disney Plus app on Fire is also very buggy.
  - drewg123 5y ago
    It seems to be buggy everywhere. I have the app on a Smart TV (LG 2019 OLED), and an Android TV (Nvidia Shield). One will often lock up, so we'll switch to the other. If I just had one device, I'd probably have just cancelled out of frustration.
    - bdcravens 5y ago
      I assume it's using the same codebase for all Android versions. Haven't tried it on an Apple TV.
- drewg123 5y ago
  Their app gives a vastly different experience on different platforms. On a smart tv, its a dumpster fire. Slow, laggy, horrible play delay. On Amazon branded Fire* devices, its far better. And I love the X-Ray feature -- that's something I wish Netflix had.
  - brundolf 5y ago
    Gotcha. I've never owned a Fire device. My primary experience with both services was when I wanted to watch Game of Thrones a couple years ago. My girlfriend had already bought it on Amazon so I used that app on our smart TV for the first season or two. Every single interaction (even moving the menu cursor) took 1-3 seconds to register. It was miserable. I ended up subscribing to HBO and buying a PS4 media remote just so that I could stop using Amazon Video.
    - drewg123 5y ago
      I had the same experience on a ~2011 smart TV. I was shocked when I subscribed to Netflix, and their app actually worked fine on that TV. Responsive, low play delay, etc.
  - lsaferite 5y ago
    X-Ray is a killer feature. I was just telling my wife how much I wished other platforms had it. We stop shows ALL THE TIME to go look up actors and such. X-Ray makes that just a pause operation. I wonder if there's some patent that's preventing other providers from having the same feature.
- handrous 5y ago
  Further, I hate Amazon's interface for managing channels, let alone Prime Video (which is also terrible—shit-tier streaming services most people have never heard of manage to do better). Like almost everything else they make, the UI is wildly not to my taste. I signed up for one exactly once, to watch Twin Peaks: The Return. I'd never do it again. Figuring out how to subscribe was a pain(!), figuring out how to cancel was a pain, and of course the video UI is awful.
  - drewg123 5y ago
    Apple TV does the same sort of channel thing. In general, I prefer the Prime Video app, as the playback interface has a 10s skip, and the video selection interface is less confusing. I honestly wish there was an open source player like Kodi that could be used to play back all these services, and could be customized to not suck.
    - handrous 5y ago
      > I honestly wish there was an open source player like Kodi that could be used to play back all these services, and could be customized to not suck. Heh, if there's a way to customize Kodi's UI to not suck, I've yet to find it after much trying, over many years. I think I may just disagree with some of the fundamentals of how they decided to make it work. My ideal would be a c. 2011 or 2012 Netflix UI, but fed by every source. Closest I've found to that is Jellyfin and piracy.
      - drewg123 5y ago
        Thanks for letting me know about Jellyfin. I've been using Plex recently for video, and I hate it. It downright ignores files that it can't find metadata for, which drives me nuts. And I despise their push to login to use anything..
        handrous 5y ago
        I run it in docker on my file-server machine, with an extremely lazy .sh file with always-restart enabled, so I just run once it and then it comes back up on reboot, too, nothing fancy, just manually change the version number on the image and restart it to upgrade once every few months. The built-in web interface is good, and though for a long time the Roku app was in a weird state where most videos would fail to play, it's mysteriously started working fine again, though I think it's still missing some features (collection browsing, as in grouping media as "the Jaws series" or "the MCU", notably, IIRC). Dunno how the other interfaces are, as those are the only ones I use. The Web UI is pretty good for correcting metadata guesses it gets wrong (a very capable, integrated, non-TV interface for managing media sources and metadata is something I really wish Kodi had). I haven't worked with it in a while but I think it's as easy as providing the correct TVDB or IMDB (or whatever) ID and letting it re-scrape that item. Somewhere on my probably-won't-ever-get-to-it list of projects is writing a Retroarch "core" with a very basic Jellyfin media browser, using the existing Mplayer core (probably having to re-package and wrap it with mine) to play the streams. That'd be perfect.
- mywittyname 5y ago
  Can you stream 4k to the browser on your computer with Prime yet? The biggest reason I stopped using Prime was that content looked like crap on my 4k monitor due to some weird-ass DRM that doesn't even inhibit piracy, as proof by the fact that I just pirated the 4k version of the show I was watching instead.
- Bedon292 5y ago
  Its interesting how different experiences are. I don't love Prime (I don't want to see the paid content, stop it) but it is still infinitely better than HBO Max. Which has to be the worst I have used across all platforms.
- dylan604 5y ago
  I think it all comes down to which platform you are using the app. I hear all the time that HBO Max is a junk app, yet I've had relatively no issues when comparing it to Peacock or Paramount apps. I happen to use an Apple TV 4k for all of the apps. Anecdotally, the people that have complained about the HBO Max app were not on the same device. So maybe some devices get the B-team devs (but that's just not fair blame/description), or certain devices have a much more difficult environment to dev for or worse, they are trying to use a single "HTML5" JS app for multiple devices that's not as good as a native app for the device. I've been part of an app dev for a specific hardware device where they state HTML5 app, but then force you to use a specific set of JS libraries for that device. each device has it's own hardware limitations that may not treat certain JS the same as another.
  - Terretta 5y ago
    You like the UI on Apple TV 4K where since HBO Max uncoupled themselves, entering HBO app for HBO content pops up a “who is watching” ask every single time before letting the content play? There’s no way these product managers are using their own apps from normal consumer devices. Somewhere around the 18th time you don’t get to see your show until after you re-specify the same singular profile, you’d surely realize this doesn’t make sense.
    - dylan604 5y ago
      The who is watching is on netflix and prime as well. I do wish they would only present that if there are more than one profile, as it makes no sense if there's only one. However, that matters much less as long as the app works after that. For other apps, seeking crashes the app. Other apps get stuck in loading after hitting play. Other apps crash when loading more content into a carousel. Some apps start with a crappy low quality stream, and eventually work up to a better stream (where Netflix/Prime/HBO seem to never start that low). So yes, in my day-to-day usage, that "who's watching" is seen so rarely, it's not a big deal to me. It doesn't occur every time the app is launched.
      - Terretta 5y ago
- kgwxd 5y ago
  >HBO Now (Go?) Max :)

bdcravens 5y ago

I have an older friend who is severely financially restricted, and who isn't very technically savvy. I bought him a Fire TV so he'd have a ton of free online options in addition to the OTA channels. More than a few times he's gotten confused by something he thought was free. I wish they had a "free only" display mode.

coredog64 5y ago
There’s a “free to me” slider in the UI. It will show you content that’s ad supported as well as anything that is covered by Prime.
Larrikin 5y ago
Atleast Amazon has a decent amount of content. The Apple TV app feels like a scam. I don't think I've ever found watchable content if I didn't hear about the TV show through a review or a friend. It's a waste of time trying to browse.
galkk 5y ago
If you open "prime video" app there is a section "free to me" in top menu bar. Unfortunately, it also includes IMDBTv, that is loaded with ads, while technically also free