7 ms·

> serving several thousand VODs and that problem is solved You're kidding right? You think this problem is solved? Try using HBO. A tech company is any compan

by websap 5y ago

> serving several thousand VODs and that problem is solved You're kidding right? You think this problem is solved? Try using HBO. A tech company is any company that understands it can leverage technology effectively to run a more efficient organization. They treat tech as the way to solve problems rather than throwing people at the problem.

tapoxi 5y ago
Could you clarify? I subscribe to HBO Max and it works fine.
- cletus 5y ago
  I wonder if that commenter meant HBO Go? HBO tech has had an interesting history. First came HBO Go. This was the online streaming for those with HBO as part of a standard cable package. Apparently it was built on a .Net stack and had huge problems. HBO Now is the service created for standalone sales of streaming. Apparently it had a completely different tech stack because of issues with HBO Go. Apparently it came from the same people who did the streaming services for MLB (Major League Baseball)> In my experience it was very good. HBO Max is the expanded and updated content ecosystem that came with the merger. I don't know what the tech stack here is. I suspect it's just incremental changes to HBO Now but that's just a guess. Perhaps the commenter was referring to HBO Go's problems as evidence that serving VODs isn't "solved". To clarify, I mean "solved for Netflix".
  - jen20 5y ago
    The UI of HBO Max on an Apple TV is entirely befitting of AT&T - it makes me want to watch anything else because of how bad scrolling is because they insist on using their own crapware instead of the platform-native software.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - kristjansson 5y ago
      Chalk up DirectTV NOW/ATT TV/DirectTV Stream (all the same product) as a victim of that too. Scroll interactions take multiple seconds to register, click activates elements other than the one indicated as selected by the UI, just an overall shitshow. But they’re the only OTT streamer that carries the Lakers and Dodgers channels, so alas…
      - bradknowles 5y ago
        Oh, if only I could outright kill all sports channels and sports content. Or at least permanently hide all sports-related content on all devices I own. I pay for the Hulu+/Disney+ combo that does not include ESPN, because I don’t want to pay for ESPN. Even if that triple combo was cheaper, I’d still pay for the combo that doesn’t include ESPN.
    - mikeryan 5y ago
      Warner Bros and therefore HBO Max bought a company called You.i that built their own React Native Rendering engine for low end OTT devices I don't know if they use that engine for mobile or the native RN engines. Last I heard their whole ecosystem is now based on this. But if there's scrolling issues and some others, its likely because they're literally trying to run one codebase across everything including OTT devices. https://www.youi.tv/ https://www.youi.tv/
  - mulmen 5y ago
    This is the marketing equivalent of a leaky abstraction.
  - southphillyman 5y ago
    HBO Max performance seems to be platform/tv dependent. It works fine on my Ipad but is absolutely dreadful on my Samsung televisions. Super slow and crashes every single time when viewing content that is 30+ minutes.
- websap 5y ago
  HBO Max, continuous crashes, recommendation algorithm, massive latency even above the fold, I've learned the failure modes and I know how to fix this. This in on a modern Roku TV, released 8 months ago. 0 problems like this from Netflix.
flerchin 5y ago
You're kidding right? Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Instant Video, CBS All-Access, whatever, they all do basically the same thing, and the only differentiator for my parents is the content.
- tomrod 5y ago
  And UI and price.
- burntoutfire 5y ago
  And bugs. Haven't encountered any in Netflix yet, while HBO Go's are annoying.
bumby 5y ago
>any company that understands it can leverage technology effectively to run a more efficient organization. This feels like too broad of a generalization to be a useful definition. I could make the case any hospital or logistics or <insert business here> is a tech company by this. Tech seems too ubiquitous for this to be an effective definition. I haven't given it much thought, but maybe "a company with a business moat hinging mostly on its unique technology or ability to use technology" would be a better definition. E.g., Walmart could still be a (less) successful business without an online presence but Amazon couldn't.
jerf 5y ago
It's solved by Netflix. Doesn't mean it's solved by anyone else, though there are also quite a few other companies that have it "solved" for their level of usage, even if they couldn't flip the switch tomorrow to become Netflix. "Solved" also doesn't mean there aren't people maintaining it or working on it or getting woken up at night by pages to keep it going. It just means, they've got a handle on it and when the Netflix executive team meets to discuss the business, they aren't spending much time discussing the question of whether or not they can stream video to their customers.
- cletus 5y ago
  Exactly this. It doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement. Others have pointed to UI issues, for example. It just means the state of the tech probably isn't the top of mind for the C-team and the board.
  - websap 5y ago
    Nope, there are 2 parts of this problem: 1. What do customers perceive. 2. What does it cost to run this software for Netflix - Companies are continuously trying to improve this while maintaining or improving 1. Being done, is not what a tech company ever thinks of. Look at all the innovation coming out of Netflix as OSS products and blog posts.

by websap 5y ago

tapoxi 5y ago

Could you clarify? I subscribe to HBO Max and it works fine.

cletus 5y ago
I wonder if that commenter meant HBO Go? HBO tech has had an interesting history. First came HBO Go. This was the online streaming for those with HBO as part of a standard cable package. Apparently it was built on a .Net stack and had huge problems. HBO Now is the service created for standalone sales of streaming. Apparently it had a completely different tech stack because of issues with HBO Go. Apparently it came from the same people who did the streaming services for MLB (Major League Baseball)> In my experience it was very good. HBO Max is the expanded and updated content ecosystem that came with the merger. I don't know what the tech stack here is. I suspect it's just incremental changes to HBO Now but that's just a guess. Perhaps the commenter was referring to HBO Go's problems as evidence that serving VODs isn't "solved". To clarify, I mean "solved for Netflix".
- jen20 5y ago
  The UI of HBO Max on an Apple TV is entirely befitting of AT&T - it makes me want to watch anything else because of how bad scrolling is because they insist on using their own crapware instead of the platform-native software.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - kristjansson 5y ago
    Chalk up DirectTV NOW/ATT TV/DirectTV Stream (all the same product) as a victim of that too. Scroll interactions take multiple seconds to register, click activates elements other than the one indicated as selected by the UI, just an overall shitshow. But they’re the only OTT streamer that carries the Lakers and Dodgers channels, so alas…
    - bradknowles 5y ago
      Oh, if only I could outright kill all sports channels and sports content. Or at least permanently hide all sports-related content on all devices I own. I pay for the Hulu+/Disney+ combo that does not include ESPN, because I don’t want to pay for ESPN. Even if that triple combo was cheaper, I’d still pay for the combo that doesn’t include ESPN.
  - mikeryan 5y ago
    Warner Bros and therefore HBO Max bought a company called You.i that built their own React Native Rendering engine for low end OTT devices I don't know if they use that engine for mobile or the native RN engines. Last I heard their whole ecosystem is now based on this. But if there's scrolling issues and some others, its likely because they're literally trying to run one codebase across everything including OTT devices. https://www.youi.tv/ https://www.youi.tv/
- mulmen 5y ago
  This is the marketing equivalent of a leaky abstraction.
- southphillyman 5y ago
  HBO Max performance seems to be platform/tv dependent. It works fine on my Ipad but is absolutely dreadful on my Samsung televisions. Super slow and crashes every single time when viewing content that is 30+ minutes.
websap 5y ago
HBO Max, continuous crashes, recommendation algorithm, massive latency even above the fold, I've learned the failure modes and I know how to fix this. This in on a modern Roku TV, released 8 months ago. 0 problems like this from Netflix.

flerchin 5y ago

You're kidding right? Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Instant Video, CBS All-Access, whatever, they all do basically the same thing, and the only differentiator for my parents is the content.

tomrod 5y ago
And UI and price.
burntoutfire 5y ago
And bugs. Haven't encountered any in Netflix yet, while HBO Go's are annoying.

bumby 5y ago

>any company that understands it can leverage technology effectively to run a more efficient organization. This feels like too broad of a generalization to be a useful definition. I could make the case any hospital or logistics or <insert business here> is a tech company by this. Tech seems too ubiquitous for this to be an effective definition. I haven't given it much thought, but maybe "a company with a business moat hinging mostly on its unique technology or ability to use technology" would be a better definition. E.g., Walmart could still be a (less) successful business without an online presence but Amazon couldn't.

jerf 5y ago

It's solved by Netflix. Doesn't mean it's solved by anyone else, though there are also quite a few other companies that have it "solved" for their level of usage, even if they couldn't flip the switch tomorrow to become Netflix. "Solved" also doesn't mean there aren't people maintaining it or working on it or getting woken up at night by pages to keep it going. It just means, they've got a handle on it and when the Netflix executive team meets to discuss the business, they aren't spending much time discussing the question of whether or not they can stream video to their customers.

cletus 5y ago
Exactly this. It doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement. Others have pointed to UI issues, for example. It just means the state of the tech probably isn't the top of mind for the C-team and the board.
- websap 5y ago
  Nope, there are 2 parts of this problem: 1. What do customers perceive. 2. What does it cost to run this software for Netflix - Companies are continuously trying to improve this while maintaining or improving 1. Being done, is not what a tech company ever thinks of. Look at all the innovation coming out of Netflix as OSS products and blog posts.