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I have more or less the opposite opinion. Netflix's UI is terrible. Trying to decide what you want to see involves a full-text random search of your unindexed

I have more or less the opposite opinion. Netflix's UI is terrible. Trying to decide what you want to see involves a full-text random search of your unindexed brain, followed by a title-only search on Netflix, followed by finding out the title you want isn't there. Repeat ad infinitum. Quick! Say out loud, right now, the name of a movie you want to see! Say it! Not one in theaters! Not one that came out within the last year! Something older than a year, that you didn't see but want to. Come on, clock's ticking. I'll bet you didn't say a name. That's a HARD task for humans, dredging up some movie name that you've only seen a few times in your life. You certainly can't use, say, advertising or current events to find a movie, because Netflix doesn't have any current movies. For anyone outside the U.S. there isn't even a queue feature, so there's absolutely no way to save a movie idea that you have now for later watching except by writing it down on a post-it note and sticking it to the television. Oh, and don't think about using it to watch porn or anything, since you can't disable or get rid of the RECENTLY WATCHED section which will reveal your TV-watching habits to anyone who might ever sit down at your TV or computer. And don't bother to make it compatible with Linux; people who are technically inclined enough to use this new-fangled "streaming" only use Windows or Mac. Several websites offer better experiences than Netflix (combining Rotten Tomatoes ratings; showing lists of new stuff Netflix just got in; that sort of thing). Netflix does not seem interested in stealing their ideas.

jmduke 14y ago
Wow, um. I have three use cases for Netflix: 1. Binging through a TV show (my most common case.) In which case I know exactly what I'm looking for. 2. Trying to find something random to watch, in which case the suggested recommendations are usually pretty great. Their system of identifying subsets of movies is infinitely more preferable than a massive funnel. 3. The "Hey, I want to watch this movie, lets see if its on Netflix" method, which I can't imagine getting any simpler; type it in, if its there -- perfect. I can't really comment on the Linux thing, since I don't use Linux (hell, 95% of the time I'm watching on my iPad or 360, not an actual computer) but the porn thing is pretty ridiculous, IMO. Netflix isn't trying to compete in the porn business.
mnicole 14y ago
We use it over XBL and the biggest problem we face (outside of the search/lack of content issue) is that if someone so much as accidentally knicks the controller, drops it on the ground or accidentally presses a button while moving it, it makes a transition without verification. Most of the time, the button accidentally pressed either starts the movie from the beginning or begins rewinding/forwarding the content. This is pretty terrible UX to begin with, but then on the UI side, there's no marker where that action started taking place or an "undo" function. This happens at least once every time we use the XBOX version, so we've taken to unplugging the controller entirely to avoid it.
- macspoofing 14y ago
  Invest in the xbox remote control. Xbox 360 for me is about 80% Netflix, and I find having a dedicated remote control to be invaluable.
paupino_masano 14y ago
I perhaps use it in a different way - I more likely use it as a method of suggesting movies I might have never have discovered. I've seen so many foreign and independent movies of late that are REALLY good (and some which are admittedly really average to dreadful) - but the point is, I'd never have looked for them if not for the suggestion service. I don't believe Netflix has porn - and I may be an odd one out here, but I think that is a GOOD thing. If you want to get that sort of fix, there are plenty of other services to cater for that on the internet. It's not exactly something that needs a recommendation service either. My only qualm with the Netflix service is for a "tabular" view for browsing titles. Sometimes, scrolling to the right or left can be incredibly annoying. Also, ideally they'd move away from Silverlight, but in saying that it does seem to work for me (I'm using a Mac rather than Linux however).
deleted 14y ago
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rogerbinns 14y ago
Even if you can remember the titles it doesn't help. I signed up last year and cancelled a few months ago. The first few weeks I spent entering titles and being told that either they didn't exist (they did, Netflix just didn't have them) or you had to change to mail plan. As a simple example IMDB lists Keanu Reeves as being in 70 films. Netflix thinks he has only been in 6 and you couldn't name them. But Netflix didn't even remember my searches. Later on they added one of the (many) titles I had searched for, but because searches weren't remembered I only found out by accident.

jmduke 14y ago

Wow, um. I have three use cases for Netflix: 1. Binging through a TV show (my most common case.) In which case I know exactly what I'm looking for. 2. Trying to find something random to watch, in which case the suggested recommendations are usually pretty great. Their system of identifying subsets of movies is infinitely more preferable than a massive funnel. 3. The "Hey, I want to watch this movie, lets see if its on Netflix" method, which I can't imagine getting any simpler; type it in, if its there -- perfect. I can't really comment on the Linux thing, since I don't use Linux (hell, 95% of the time I'm watching on my iPad or 360, not an actual computer) but the porn thing is pretty ridiculous, IMO. Netflix isn't trying to compete in the porn business.

mnicole 14y ago

We use it over XBL and the biggest problem we face (outside of the search/lack of content issue) is that if someone so much as accidentally knicks the controller, drops it on the ground or accidentally presses a button while moving it, it makes a transition without verification. Most of the time, the button accidentally pressed either starts the movie from the beginning or begins rewinding/forwarding the content. This is pretty terrible UX to begin with, but then on the UI side, there's no marker where that action started taking place or an "undo" function. This happens at least once every time we use the XBOX version, so we've taken to unplugging the controller entirely to avoid it.

macspoofing 14y ago
Invest in the xbox remote control. Xbox 360 for me is about 80% Netflix, and I find having a dedicated remote control to be invaluable.

paupino_masano 14y ago

I perhaps use it in a different way - I more likely use it as a method of suggesting movies I might have never have discovered. I've seen so many foreign and independent movies of late that are REALLY good (and some which are admittedly really average to dreadful) - but the point is, I'd never have looked for them if not for the suggestion service. I don't believe Netflix has porn - and I may be an odd one out here, but I think that is a GOOD thing. If you want to get that sort of fix, there are plenty of other services to cater for that on the internet. It's not exactly something that needs a recommendation service either. My only qualm with the Netflix service is for a "tabular" view for browsing titles. Sometimes, scrolling to the right or left can be incredibly annoying. Also, ideally they'd move away from Silverlight, but in saying that it does seem to work for me (I'm using a Mac rather than Linux however).

deleted 14y ago

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rogerbinns 14y ago

Even if you can remember the titles it doesn't help. I signed up last year and cancelled a few months ago. The first few weeks I spent entering titles and being told that either they didn't exist (they did, Netflix just didn't have them) or you had to change to mail plan. As a simple example IMDB lists Keanu Reeves as being in 70 films. Netflix thinks he has only been in 6 and you couldn't name them. But Netflix didn't even remember my searches. Later on they added one of the (many) titles I had searched for, but because searches weren't remembered I only found out by accident.