Why are video streaming user interfaces s so bad, and why can't I...

[commasense]

…use one interface of my choosing on all of them?

Back in the “bad old days” when we still used physical media, like BDs, DVDs, videotapes, and LaserDiscs, we had complete and very precise control over the media: we could advance frame-by-frame (in most of them) or jump from chapter to chapter. And in whatever device you used, hitting FF or REW behaved the same way, no matter what program you were watching.

Now, in the wonderful world of streaming, every channel has its own interface, and we only have the roughest control of where in the program we are. Hit the FF or REW button on one and you move a few seconds. On another channel the same button push moves you halfway through the show. AFAIK, there are no chapter markers on any, or any way to move exactly 30 seconds, or any other specific interval.

The search function is different on each one. On some it’s an alphabetic grid, on others its a different alpha grid, and on yet others it’s a QWERTY layout. The captioning button is in a different place in each one. And so on and on.

WTF?

Why can’t I select among any number of competing UIs, the way I can select a keyboard app for my phone, and let that same app interface with *all *of the streaming channels’ back ends to give me something like the control and consistency I have when I play DVDs? (I will leave out of this discussion the question of buffering delays, although why couldn’t our devices, in theory, download the whole show into volatile memory, so we weren’t at the mercy of the head-end servers and our local Internet connection speed?)

Obviously, as with practically every question in the world, the real answer ultimately comes down to money. Presumably, each channel has designed its UI to meet its specific needs, which are primarily financial, not based on customer satisfaction. And undoubtedly there would be concerns about security and hacking.

But does anyone here know enough about the technology of streaming head ends to tell me whether, in theory, at least, there could be the sort of universal UI on the client side that would let users have a consistent interface and level of control across multiple streaming channels?

[adaher]

One pet peeve of mine is no way to just view everything on Hulu and Netflix. It’s probably due to the size of the libraries, and I can get that service elsewhere(reelgood.com lets you just look at a list of what they have), but I like how Disney, CBS, and HBO let me just browse the entire collection alphabetically.

[naita]

@commasense

But does anyone here know enough about the technology of streaming head ends to tell me whether, in theory, at least, there could be the sort of universal UI on the client side that would let users have a consistent interface and level of control across multiple streaming channels?

That depends on what you mean by “in theory, at least”. There’s nothing preventing all the streaming providers of including an API for programmers creating a non-branded UI, but I don’t think those APIs exist today. (I’m not in the business of creating streaming platforms though.)

Making you open their app and see all the other stuff they have on offer is part of the whole business-model though, so I don’t see this being a thing any time soon. And a joint UI that still gave each streaming provider that kind of exposure seems improbable to me.

[Telemark]

@commasense

Back in the “bad old days” when we still used physical media, like BDs, DVDs, videotapes, and LaserDiscs, we had complete and very precise control over the media: we could advance frame-by-frame (in most of them) or jump from chapter to chapter. And in whatever device you used, hitting FF or REW behaved the same way, no matter what program you were watching.

Not really, we didn’t. It took a while for competing standards to narrow down and even then there were outliers. You couldn’t do exactly the same thing on DVDs as you could on videotapes (once the BetaMax vs VHS settled down), and IIRC there were always competing formats of LaserDiscs that had different features. Even with media, you needed to format floppies for different OSs.

Standards are great once a technology is stable. Streaming services are still in the massive growth stage and while standards would make adoption easier it would also slow down development of new features, products, and performance.

And honestly, what significant differences are you seeing? We have the On Demand services from Xfinity, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and a Roku box. All we need is two remotes (and I believe we can now get rid of our Roku and do everything through our Xfinity service). Moving 10 vs 30 seconds, and the speed of FF and REW are pretty minor differences that are pretty easy to adjust to. It’s an annoyance for sure, but pretty minor IMO. The bigger problem to me is the searching features are all fairly arcane. Hopefully that is better addressed by the voice remote, which is what I suspect will be the answer to your question eventually. We’ll avoid most UIs and use AI to interpret what we want.