How to do a meta-search

Cafe Society
1

So, earlier today, I felt like a dramatization of an Agatha Christie novel. Was mostly in the mood for Marple, but would not have written off a good Poirot, or for that matter, something Christie-like, such as a Josephine Tey, or a British Hitchcock (The Lady Vanishes, for example), as well as pastiche, like the Margaret Rutherford movies.

I knew how to go to any PARTICULAR app, and search for Agatha Christie on the TV; I knew how to go to IMDB and search for every movie based on a Christie Novel or character. I could go to Amazon, and search for Agatha Christie, and probably Josephine Tey would pop up as well, as would any pastiche movies, and generally any “more wit, less gun” type vintage mysteries-- but only those available through Amazon.

I also know that I can search my cable provider, and get anything on any channel I receive, plus PPV, plus On Demand.

How, please, if such a thing exists, can I search up a category of movie, and all the sources where I can view such movies-- AT ONCE?

I have enhanced cable, Amazon Prime, and a few premium channels, plus a few a la carte, such as Acorn, and some apps, like Netflix, HBOMax, Hulu+, & Paramount+. I also am able to view YouTube on my TV.

I hate having to search every single channel individually for some category, and then deciding the second one was my best bet, but, hell, did I go alphabetically, or in order of appearance? Do I look on IMDb for a category, and find something I might want, then try to Google it up some place (and spend 3 hours watching Big Bang Theory reruns while I download 75% of a torrent)?

Please tell me that since 2005, when I first got broadband & Tivo, and was able to view movies on other-than-DVD/VHS, search systems have improved, and I was just so caught up in having a baby-toddler-elementary schooler, I did not notice.

He is in high school now, and spends a lot of time in his room with his door closed, so I can actually watch a movie that wasn’t made by Pixar-- help me!

2

Sounds like you need the app called Justwatch. You input the service providers you have and lets you search and know what is available.

3

Thank you! Never heard of that before! going to check it out before my day off tomorrow!

4

On the Home Screen of our Firestick if I do a search for a certain movie or tv show it tells me any and all streaming services where I can watch it, even if it’s a streaming service I don’t subscribe to- it happily gives me a subscribe link. I would think there’s a similar option for other streaming devices like Roku. I think native streaming search options on smart TVs may be less useful.

Not sure if it works as well searching for an overall topic or category, like “Agatha Christie”.

5

I personally just use Google to search for what I’m after, then open the links to the services I actually have.

6

This is one of the reasons I’m annoyed that TiVo seems to be dying (moreso than it in the past decade or so).
Tivo can stream directly from many of those platforms and with that, it could search them as well. It was nice to search for a show or movie or actor or director or whatever, and it would pull results in from everything I subscribed to. In my case, that was regular cable, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO max etc. As more of those streaming providers stopped working with tivo, it’s becoming less and less useful.

Can Roku or Android TV or any other streaming devices do something similar? I would have assumed they could but I only have an Android TV and don’t use it nearly often enough to have a full grasp of it’s features.

7

IMDb will tell you how to watch any title you bring up, and has become my go-to for determining how to find any particular show or movie (including whether something is currently available via any streaming service or only for rental).