Channel Issues & Questions

[Elijah_Baley]

"reddice" wrote:
Okay so force playing original trailers with violence and profanity when browsing is okay in your book.  Not me and once my Roku Premier and FTV gets this I am done with NF.

For me it is not OK but it is also not important.
 
Once an entertainment service reaches a certain level of irritation I remove the irritation by ceasing to use the service. No entertainment service is important enough to keep if it causes me too much pain to use and Netflix passed that threshold over a year ago.
 
Almost everything on Netflix can be viewed elsewhere except for the Netflix originals and those can be viewed in a marathon setting without running into much irritation. Because of that I catch up on Netflix original content that I am interested in by subscribing for a month every 6 or 12 months and focus my watching to avoid the factors I do not like. Then I cancel and use other, better for me, services at other times.
 
Mike and I have disagreed about several things but, in this case, it really is just entertainment and therefore is not worth putting oneself through pain just to be entertained. Unless that is your entertainment.
 
I have observed that there is so much content available from many many sources that none of them are worth the effort when they become more pain than fun.

[reddice]

I agree as Hulu has much content and original content well the only thing I cared about was the Series of Unfortunate Events series which won't come back until next year.  Everything else is either kiddie or mature.

[Tx91791]

I am really constantly annoyed with Netflix, but can't really do much about their frequent, really bad choices on how to do things. This one finally pushed me to call and complain. You know what? If I want the selection to play I know how to press play. I really don't want or need some programmer to pre-decide for me to start playing something when I'm just browsing and specifically don't want something to start playing. 

Hey Netflix, do you ever run this stuff by your customers first, or are you just sitting around collecting money and have nothing else to do but think of something stupid? Among other dumb issues, I really like how we told you we didn't want the streaming and DVD services to be separated so you dropped that plan, only to sneakily do it anyway, in a not-so-obviuos way.

[Bisync]

"reddice" wrote:
Okay so force playing original trailers with violence and profanity when browsing is okay in your book.  Not me and once my Roku Premier and FTV gets this I am done with NF.

Question: What does Netflix on your 2nd gen Fire TV do now after you stop on a title for a few seconds? Does it display a single static image or begin a rotating carousel of several still images from the title?

My first 2nd gen Fire TV used to display a carousel of images, but since December 2016, is stuck displaying one single image. I bought a second Fire TV (1 month old) to test with and it too only displays a single static image.

I even side loaded the Fire TV with the latest Android TV version of Netflix (4.02) which has the auto preview feature, but Netflix still only displayed a single static image. This makes me think that maybe the auto preview "feature" (and/or the old rotating image carousel) broke due to a bug introduced in an Amazon Fire OS update.

[mikeyts]

The three images thing disappeared from every Netflix platform that I have months ago--Roku, TiVo, Fire TV Stick, Xbox One S, Xbox 360, the app on this TV, etc.  Now they all display a single image, except for the Xbox One S and Xbox 360 which have been infected by the feature discussed in this thread.  Netflix explains it in this blog entry, which features this video:
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Thankfully I don't use my game consoles for Netflix. I like the feature in some ways but in some ways it's quite annoying.

At least on the embedded platforms the resident code does not determine which version of the UI you get; it's just an environment for the UI code to run in.  The actual UI is written in web authoring languages (principally Javascript I think) and is dynamically downloaded every time you run the app (except for platforms which have instant start--the apps on this TV, my TiVo, Roku Premiere and Fire TV Stick; they only load it once per system start or when you ask them to in the settings menu).  I don't know about the mobile apps and I haven't seen the version of the Android app that you're describing.  Netflix uses that architecture to try new features out on a subset of customers before giving them to everyone.

[Emissary35]

Best solution is just to cancel Netflix, their annoyances outnumber the positive things about the service in a staggering amount. Complaints to customer service do nothing, Netflix will not listen they'll keep these annoying feature while continuing to develop more. Their motto is to bloat their app with as much uselessness as possible so that it's so intrusive you can no longer enjoy the video experience. Their library of content is constantly shrinking too there is so much less to watch for movies and TV shows than there was a couple of years ago, Netflix no longer wants to pay studios for streaming licenses so they keep pumping out original content which only a small percentage of is worth watching. Hulu is a much better service and their apps are nowhere near as annoying with features like Netflix has. Netflix is a sinking ship, get out and stop giving them your money every month.

[mikebdoss]

"Emissary35" wrote:
Best solution is just to cancel Netflix, their annoyances outnumber the positive things about the service in a staggering amount. Complaints to customer service do nothing, Netflix will not listen they'll keep these annoying feature while continuing to develop more. Their motto is to bloat their app with as much uselessness as possible so that it's so intrusive you can no longer enjoy the video experience. Their library of content is constantly shrinking too there is so much less to watch for movies and TV shows than there was a couple of years ago, Netflix no longer wants to pay studios for streaming licenses so they keep pumping out original content which only a small percentage of is worth watching. Hulu is a much better service and their apps are nowhere near as annoying with features like Netflix has. Netflix is a sinking ship, get out and stop giving them your money every month.

Or, you know, let people decide for themselves if they like the service. It's still an amazing value for $10/month (as is Hulu). None of these "annoyances" happen during streaming, so it doesn't bother me. 

[mikeyts]

I don't think that Netflix adds any feature unless their testing it (with a random set of real customers) shows that it causes people to watch more.  They figure that they have 45 seconds from the time that you start the app until you give up looking and turn to other diversions.  They do everything they can to get you to watch something.  The more you watch, the higher its perceived value and the likelier you are to continue subscribing.

This is not a game where they dream up ways to annoy their customers--you don't get to where they are by doing that.  Anything they do will annoy somebody and adding switches to turn off features just complicates their code.  They realize that some people will be annoyed enough to cancel their subscriptions.  There will always be churn for a variety of reasons.

Hulu's so good that they have something less than 15% of Netflix's worldwide subscribership :roll:.  I subscribe to both and I use both all of the time.

[RickWJ324]

Hi... I just signed up for Neflix streaming for the first time, using it through my xfinity cable boxes.  I've been really annoyed by the postplay shrinking of credits as each show ends.  I've googled the issue and have found many people complaining about it.

I just ordered a Roku 2 XS and am wondering if the Netflix UI on that device will do this as well?  I'm hoping that an older device such as that will not have the postplay feature on it.  Sorry, I'm a total Roku nOOb and have never used one before.  If anyone here can confirm whether the Roku 2 XS will do this or not I would really appreciate it.

Thanks, Rick

[mikeyts]

"RickWJ324" wrote:
I just ordered a Roku 2 XS and am wondering if the Netflix UI on that device will do this as well?

Nope--it won't have any of the "annoying" new features:  no Post-play, no auto-start, no previews.  Also no profiles or kids mode.