Anyone else HATE the new Netflix interface?

glugglug

Diamond Member
Jun 9, 2002
5,340
1
81
Got the new Netflix app on my 360 this weekend. There are a few pluses, but really these are more bugfixes rather than interface improvements. Specifically, it no longer has a tendency to freeze when you first start streaming something like the previous one did the last few months (I guess they stopped maintaining compatibility with the server on it...), and it gets up to 720p quicker.

But so many things suck with the new interface, you really have to wonder if it went through basic usability testing.

  • The cover art for the currently selected video now occupies the upper 60% of the screen, leaving only 2 rows at the bottom to search for something to watch in. This is an absolutely obscene waste of space.
  • The individual item graphics being changed from DVD boxes to a wide 16:9 format so only 4 fit on a row exacerabates the issue above greatly. Before there were roughly 50 titles visible on the screen to select from before scrolling. Now there are 8. The information density is just awful.
  • Why did they change all the buttons being used away from the standards used for everything else? Moving a screen forward or backward is now REW/FF instead of skip buttons. Why not at least support both?
  • It is probably also the only XBOX 360 media app besides the DVD player to use the Display button instead of the Info button to display the current position, resolution, and audio mode. In the old interface (and on all other streaming apps, you can also briefly display this using the play button. No more.
  • The infinite horizontal wraparound when searching through titles is unintuitive, and gives no cue when you have wrapped through everything.
  • In the old interface, it was easy to quickly find a category as there were at least 5 or 6 on the screen above/below your current position fading in. In the new interface with only 2 rows shown at all, this is terrible.
  • Can no longer see synopsis of other episodes without stopping playback of the current one.
  • Looks like they got rid of voice control as well, not just motion based kinect gestures.
  • Still no 1080p. I suspect this is something MS has been preventing 3rd parties from doing since late 2011.


I think 2012/2013 in general will go down in infamy as the year of bad UI decisions:

  • Metro
  • Office 2013
  • VS 2012
  • iOS7
  • Unity as Ubuntu default
  • Gnome 3 (this being so terrible is why the switch to Unity!)
  • Linux imitating Apple's stupid disappearing scrollbars from OSX 10.7, and managing to make them even worse.
  • google maps navigation
  • g-mail compose window
  • Netflix UI

Seriously, has anybody's UI not gotten worse in the last 2 years?
 
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mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
17,501
12
0
I can't speak for the 360 app but the new PlayStation one is not much different than the old one IMO. I really wish you could customize the layout. One thing I like about Netflix on Apple TV is it actually lets you browse by genre, and separates TV shows and movies into different categories. Much easier to find new stuff rather than just stuff Netflix thinks you would like.
 

Subyman

Moderator <br> VC&G Forum
Mar 18, 2005
7,876
32
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I like it. I like how the picture changes between 3 screenshots at the top. Box art did nothing for me, so I'm happy to see screenshots getting more attention. I think it looks much better than a matrix of box art.

I don't understand the "HATE." Its only a UI change.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
I don't care for it much, but I also didn't care for the last one much either. Netflix interfaces are generally pretty awful.
 

Doppel

Lifer
Feb 5, 2011
13,306
3
0
Is unchanged on appletv, which is fine for me.

I can't believe the comment above--no categories?
 

mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
17,501
12
0
Is unchanged on appletv, which is fine for me.

I can't believe the comment above--no categories?

Netflix on the PlayStation gives you a lot of random categories. You get stuff like...

"Because you watched..."
"Spine tingling horror movies"
"Edgy dramas"

But it doesn't show all the genres available, which Apple TV always does. I can go into Apple TV and it gives me movies, I can click horror, and see a whole bunch of different horror categories, along with the entire list of movies available. The console apps don't do that.
 

Doppel

Lifer
Feb 5, 2011
13,306
3
0
Netflix on the PlayStation gives you a lot of random categories. You get stuff like...

"Because you watched..."
"Spine tingling horror movies"
"Edgy dramas"

But it doesn't show all the genres available, which Apple TV always does. I can go into Apple TV and it gives me movies, I can click horror, and see a whole bunch of different horror categories, along with the entire list of movies available. The console apps don't do that.

:thumbsdown::thumbsdown::thumbsdown:
 

Subyman

Moderator <br> VC&G Forum
Mar 18, 2005
7,876
32
86
Netflix on the PlayStation gives you a lot of random categories. You get stuff like...

"Because you watched..."
"Spine tingling horror movies"
"Edgy dramas"

But it doesn't show all the genres available, which Apple TV always does. I can go into Apple TV and it gives me movies, I can click horror, and see a whole bunch of different horror categories, along with the entire list of movies available. The console apps don't do that.

I think that does need to be worked with. I miss the one where you could go to "categories" and pick one instead of having to slog through everything.
 

glugglug

Diamond Member
Jun 9, 2002
5,340
1
81
I saw the XBone Netflix interface today on Gizmodo. OMG am I thankful they didn't update us to that! WOW, just WOW.

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