7 ms·

This is something I always wonder... Something that I really miss from TV on internet content (YouTube, movie streamings and so on) is turn it on and watching w

• carlosjobim 2y ago
  Why are you stressed about what to select, when it is guaranteed that any selection you make will be better than something a network would select for you to watch? Just pick anything.
  • butlike 2y ago
    Cause the energy spent paying attention to the show is non-zero, and ideally I get _some_ enrichment out of what I watch.
• Almondsetat 2y ago
  Why can't you pick randomly from your home page and let auto play do its thing?
  • lucasoshiro 2y ago
    The recommendation algorithms suggests things that are related to what I watched before. And I still need to choose one of the options that it recommends.
    • Almondsetat 2y ago
      They recently introduced an anonymous mode
  • Mathnerd314 2y ago
    Yeah, for me loading the homepage and clicking the top-left video is almost an automatic reflex at this point.
  • lukas099 2y ago
    I wish my YouTube recommendations were anywhere good enough to do this.
    • s1artibartfast 2y ago
      Agreed, my recommendations are extremely narrow. Usually videos from the same three content creators, and ones that I've already seen or in there chronological queue that I already plan to watch.
  • digging 2y ago
    This works pretty well for YT when it knows your preferences, but for streaming TV services like Netflix I find it's a box of chocolates full of shit. It's just going to be whatever is being "promoted" at the time and has the most widespread appeal, not something interesting.
  • deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
• asveikau 2y ago
  > Sometimes I only want to see something in the 15 minutes that I'm dining alone. I think the YouTube recommendation algorithm you get from opening the app or viewing the front page is good for this. They have a lot of random content and when the algorithm gets to know you, it will suggest things of interest that can be consumed this way.
  • Suppafly 2y ago
    I have so many subscriptions on youtube that the home recommendation is actually a quicker way to find something interesting if I have limited time, since the subscriptions are full of shorts and 'reruns' now where creators try to monetize old videos in new ways. The only issue is that my youtube is the one on the main tv, so sometimes the suggestions get messed up when my kids watch. Youtube probably has a really confusing set of conflicting beliefs about who I am.
    • asveikau 2y ago
      My kids mostly watch on tablets which are their own. On the TV, they have separate profiles on all the streaming apps. We don't do YouTube much on TV but when we do, I've always been sure to give them a different device that is not logged into my account. If I lend them a device to watch YouTube I usually do it in the browser in incognito.
  • cuanim 2y ago
    My youtube recommendations on my laptop are just short videos(all are below 3 mins with a few exceptions ;-;) I get so much better recommendations by using youtube tv but it sucks that they don't let us switch preferences. But well results in me spending less time on youtube so a win heh
  • butlike 2y ago
    YT is the best choice for something random for a small amount of time, but is absolutely maimed at the free-tier by 2 leading ads requiring 1+ user interactions to skip. I can't easily press 'skip' with a plate of pasta in one hand and a fork in another, and I don't want to watch two 2:30 leading ads, so I guess I'll just go somewhere else.
• Suppafly 2y ago
  The solution to a lot of those is to just have a goto show that you watch. Before netflix removed The Office, that is what I always did when wanting something to watch while eating a snack on the couch or to have noise on in the background. I'd just fire up netflix and resume whatever episode it was last one. We ditched cable forever ago, but I do find that I miss just watching 15 minutes of some random show like I used to. I usually forget about it until I'm at someone's house or a doctors office and catch a snippet of some random car show or cooking show.
  • lucasoshiro 2y ago
    > The solution to a lot of those is to just have a goto show that you watch. Cool! I have a list of movies to watch that I write from several recommendations sources, so I can try focus in watching instead of choosing. I can't say the same about music, I'm stuck for years hearing almost the same bands, which is kinda sad... > I usually forget about it until I'm at someone's house or a doctors office and catch a snippet of some random car show or cooking show. Another good point, watching something that I don't need to pay too much attention because I don't care about the subject, but can entertain me while I do other things... Here in Brazil that kind of shows that "we watch, we like but we don't know why" is a recurring joke, and we have three main ones: one about farming (Globo Rural), one about fishing (Pesca Alternativa) and one about trucks (Siga Bem Caminhoneiro)
    • Suppafly 2y ago
      >Here in Brazil that kind of shows that "we watch, we like but we don't know why" is a recurring joke, and we have three main ones: one about farming (Globo Rural), one about fishing (Pesca Alternativa) and one about trucks (Siga Bem Caminhoneiro) Are those public access type shows that are meant to be somewhat educational?
      • lucasoshiro 2y ago
        They are public access. Globo Rural for example is broadcasted every sunday morning. It's well produced, and its calm pace, its opening theme and the farming landscapes makes us feel good vibes. It fits perfectly the moment of waking up in the weekend, without having thinking about work and just chilling while we drink a coffee
• butlike 2y ago
  WHY is there not an "I'm feeling lucky" button for streaming services. Akin to "give me anything," though, I suspect the answer is the more time spent scrolling, the less data has to be streamed over the wire, so it's cheaper.
  • randomdata 2y ago
    More likely it is the inverse: Selecting a random video at scale is the costly problem. You can certainly fake it as a workaround. For example, you'll notice that "I'm feeling lucky" on Google simply follows the first search result. Streaming services could take what is already computed as the first result on the "Home" page and use that, for example. But at that point why not just click on the first video? Unlike Google, which doesn't give you much until you enter a search query, all of the streaming services I know of have already given you your "lucky" matches by the time a "I'm feeling lucky button" could be presented. Two buttons side-by-side that do the exact same thing doesn't offer much.
    • janalsncm 2y ago
      Users probably don’t want a random video, they want a video which is from the smaller subset of videos they were already likely to enjoy. The reason that might be preferable to just clicking the first result is that the second actually involves a choice since you’ve seen the second item.
      • randomdata 2y ago
        You're going to see the second item no matter what, unless streaming services give up showing any videos on initial interaction. But I expect that really is the best user interface for most users.
    • autoexec 2y ago
      > More likely it is the inverse: Selecting a random video at scale is the costly problem. if that feature existed it would never be a random video from all the available videos. It'd be a random-seeming video from a carefully curated selection of videos that youtube wants to push at certain users, and in some cases were paid to promote. Users wouldn't know and wouldn't care anyway because they pushed a button and got content without thinking.
• rubslopes 2y ago
  I hadn't watched actual television for years. Then, in a visit to my parents house, I randomly got to watch a band in a talkshow that later became a band that I love.
• archon810 2y ago
  What I am really missing is a "Play random episode" or "Randomize episodes" button on TV shows. I want to just flip on Seinfeld or Family Guy and watch random episodes, not in order. Such a missed opportunity for Netflix, etc.
  • ksynwa 2y ago
    Jellyfin has this. Very nice feature for comedy shows.
  • Cthulhu_ 2y ago
    Part of that is because of the trend from the past few years (ever since Lost I believe but there's probably previous like soap operas) that TV shows are continuous. But even the 90's TV shows would have some continuity, referencing previous events. That said, I've been rewatching Star Trek DS9 (and may do so with Stargate as well) and the main overarching plot beats often happen at the start and end of a season, the episodes in between can often be randomised.
• langcss 2y ago
  Sitcoms solve this. Just watch your favourite one again.
  • slig 2y ago
    For Seinfeld fans, there's one site streaming it 24/7: WatchSeinfeld.net.
• xk_id 2y ago
  How strange, I’m the complete opposite. I’d never go back to letting corporates dictate how I engage with content; I even avoid recommender algorithms for the same reason. Being able to choose is so valuable to me.
  • llm_trw 2y ago
    >I’d never go back to letting corporates dictate how I engage with content You do realize that the search function is literally that?
    • throwaway290 2y ago
      The entire way those platforms work is literally that. Ironically TV didn't dictate how to engage with content because there was not much. Compared to comment sections algorithmically boosting trolls to make you compulsively comment
  • lying4fun 2y ago
    I’m both, at times I don’t want to choose, at times I want full control. I didn’t have TV for years (was pushing a decade), but ~2months ago I got myself an analog antenna that has local channels and it’s been a blast: I caught some olympic games, watched Euro cup, couple of movies (I caught “Decision to leave” from my watchlist——tremendous movie), I saw some Anthony Bourdain shows and now I know who the guy is and i enjoyed the show, saw a documentary on war in my country, watched some live streams of city council meetings… Also, I wanted to say this somewhere in this thread I’m not trying to sell tv to you, you caught a stray bullet, but also I’m sharing that I watched it with a different curiosity after so long of not having it, and did have a great time just with those 17 channels of uncurated content, which was the main motivation——to have uncurated content
  • autoexec 2y ago
    Exactly. I go out of my way to try to make sure that the content is consume is "pulled" and not "pushed" as much as possible. I'm happy to take genuine recommendations from actual people, but I don't care what companies want me to see or listen to, and I resent it when they limit my options to try to force my hand.
• sircastor 2y ago
  I miss channel surfing (a little). But from when the cable box was a dumb pipe and the picture would switch near instantaneously. The 3 seconds between channels in the last couple of decades was super obnoxious to me.
  • Cthulhu_ 2y ago
    Yeah, digital TV feels like a step back in that regard, but on the other hand it makes you reconsider switching / browsing channels. And of course the advantage is higher image quality and more channels.
• dicknuckle 2y ago
  Get Plex. There's a ton of free live streaming channels for a ton of tastes and genres. Some of them I think to myself "This should have been a steaming channel years ago".
  • notpushkin 2y ago
    Why do you need Plex for that?