Netflix Test Puts a 'Shuffle Play' Button Right on Your Home Screen (techcrunch.com) 38
An anonymous reader shares a report: Don't know what you're in the mood to watch? Netflix's new "Shuffle" feature could help. The company confirms it's currently testing a feature that puts a big button labeled "Shuffle Play" right on the Netflix home screen, beneath your user profile icon. When pressed, Netflix will randomly play content it thinks you'll like. This could be a movie or show you're currently watching, something you've saved to your list or a title that's similar to something you've already watched, the company says. The new button is currently showing up on the Netflix app for TV devices, much to many users' surprise. Some users thought the addition could be fun or useful, while others just seem confused.
Really? (Score:3)
"This could be a movie or show you're currently watching,..."
We usually call that 'spoilers'.
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Obviously it wouldn't pick a random episode.
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I assumed it would; I believe they're trying to emulate "turning on TBS and watching whatever Seinfeld rerun is on".
FFS Slashdot has really hit the bottom. (Score:1)
Just no (Score:3)
Based on the usual list of suggestions Netflix offers me this will be a total failure.
The matching algorithm seems to miss the most important quality of any show the writing. It does action/drama/whatever, foreign/domestic, live/anime and all those other parameters but the matching algorithm does not seem to care one bit about the quality of the writing for the show.
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I saw this feature show up last night in my Netflix screen and I was very excited. I have long thought that this is a feature that was missing from streaming services in order to bring parity to traditional broadcast TV.
There are times when I just want the idiot box to entertain me instead of seeking out something based on an image or description.
Anyway, I tried it, and it appeared to pick things based on their recommendation engine, which, after years of honing, is actually pretty good.
My overall impressio
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My problem is there is no content on Netflix I want to watch. I'm just about to cancel again, after signing up a couple of months ago (again). All I ended up watching was a couple of series of Red Dwarf (again), which I could have watched on Kodi anyway.
I so want to find Netflix useful, but its just dire. I think I give it the benefit of the doubt now and again because it used to be good, back when I could VPN in and change country.
Maybe I'm just old and I've seen it all.
A Shuffle Button (Score:5, Funny)
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None of these?
BoJack Horseman
Stranger Things
Haunting of Hill House
Dark
Orange is the New Black
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Stranger things: like most Netflix shows [most of the other shows, you selected the best], starts well, kind of interesting, but after a few episodes something is not going well. Either it's too repetitive, they lengthen the takes (does Netflix pay by the minute). For instance, In S1E1, when the
News for nerds... (Score:3)
Why? (Score:4, Informative)
I can't imagine being so bored, stoned, drunk, stupid, whatever, that I'd push a shuffle play button on Netflix. They have some watchable content, but their suggested content is always complete dumpster-fire level garbage. Who's going to trust that button? All it will do is weight your watching habits to be more what they want you to watch, not what you want to watch.
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Boredom vs Quality (Score:1)
People don't watch TV because it's great entertainment. They watch because they're bored. Shuffle should be perfect for that.
A better feature (Score:1)
I don't know how many times i've found an interesting movie only to find that it was in another language that I don't understand.
Sure they are subtitled, but if I wanted to read i'd pick up a book - not the remote control.
Choose your garbage randomly (Score:2)
Really? I need them to now randomly stuff their old garbage, dirty socks, and recycling down my throat?
All I want from them is a button that says "Don't ever suggest this piece of crap to me again." They keep suggesting I watch the same junk, no matter how many times I reject it. Eventually, there is so much chaff, I can't find any wheat.
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This is what I want too.
If you don't know what to watch on TV (Score:4, Insightful)
Then don't watch TV.
Netflix is often right about what I want to watch (Score:2)
But not what I want to watch right now!
And sometimes they get it horribly wrong. Keep suggesting things to me and maybe I'll watch them. I could see this working for something like YouTube where a lot of videos are only a couple of minutes long, but 3-seasons of 10 episodes each?
Sorry, I'm still finishing up Ozark (and it's a sad testament to that series that I'm posting on /. rather than watching the rest of it right now).
And reviewing their choices of "Because you watched Ozark"....I see some things I'v
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They need to focus more on user-controllable sorting, finding and navigation and quit with all the engagement games which mostly seem to be about making their catalog bigger than it is. And it's still small enough that there's a ton of outright filler, low-budget, just-graduated-from-UCLA-film-school dreck that I feel only exists because some Netflix exec's kid made it and got Netflix to buy it. Like some of this stuff wouldn't exist on the direct to VHS market because its so bad nobody would front the $1
NOT..."stuff that matters" (Score:2)
An ariticle about how this is implemented, or which kind of servers are being used might be cool, but some random cool new feature on a web site that has nothing specifically to do with tech I don't even use is really not compelling.
What's next? (Score:2)
So this is more useful than a member rating? (Score:1)
Seems logical (Score:2)
Large portions of the population shuffle when they walk either because they're too lazy to lift their feet or they're wearing slippers, why not have the same, lazy function on a tv screen?
Catching up!! (Score:1)
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But at least you have good taste in Science Fiction!
Though I have to ask how you watch 110 minutes of content in one hour?
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It also seems to be a lot of work to watch two tv episodes a night, why not just put them on when you sit down?
So it can show you their pedo-erotic programming? (Score:1)
Cuties is the latest. [indiewire.com]
I've never had a Netflix account personally, but when I found out about Dancing Queen teaching little boys to cross-dress and twerk I talked my wife into canceling the account she had before we were married.
This article which has been syndicated in many places [newspunch.com] touches on the greater overall problem.
If you care about human trafficking and child abuse at all:
CANCEL YOUR NETFLIX
No more ratings!!!! (Score:2)
Fix Crap before Adding Misfeatures (Score:2)
One has to wonder why NetFlix can add new mis-features before fixing existing horrid mis-features like their "autoroll" crap that starts playing stuff when you open the menu to look and see the language instead of waiting for the user to select "play".
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They probably discovered that removing user agency in deciding when content actually plays, increases the likelihood of the user watching that selection by %5 or so, and therefore that is good modern design because users are more engaged with the content.
That it is incredibly irritating to %95 of users, who probably also hate unskippable ads on dvds for the same reason, probably was never taken into consideration.