CBS All Access to be rebranded

[Bob Jersey]

'Cause the company has far more content under a lot more brands than just The Eye...

Till then, the service celebrates getting onto xfinity!

https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/viacomcbs-cbs-all-access-rebrand-summer-1234600528/ (link)

B

[PGage]

For a couple of reasons I subscribe to almost all of the streaming services. I am interested in an analysis and comparative evaluation of the functionality and friendliness of the various options. I have my own subjective sense, but I am having trouble systematically explaining to myself what it is I like and don’t like about them. 

I’m not even sure what the most important categories are, but they include something like: ease of searching for and selecting programs, ease of getting back to previously viewed series (I particularly dislike Hulu for this), moving forward and backward with a program, and continuing to the next program (including option of skipping closing credits of current episode and opening credits of next).

My subjective sense is that I still like the feel of Netflix the best (though I don’t really like the current menu system, which I feel makes it harder for me to look through older films) and really dislike CBS Access and Hulu, but not sure if that would hold up to a systematic review.

Does anyone either have their own analysis of this, or familiar with a good review of these kinds of things available on the internet?

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[Kevin M.]

Until I started dating my future wife, I did not use or subscribe to any streaming service. Well, I did use Hulu when it first came out, but that was years ago. As I’ve stated previously, I spent literally years digitizing my VHS and DVD collection onto an external drive. It is organized in two main folders, movies and television, and subdivided into genres (drama, sitcom, talk shows, etc). The shows themselves are each in their own folder, numbered according to season and episode sequence with the episode title if it has one (“West Wing 101 Pilot”). If I buy new media (either on DVD or iTunes), it gets added to the external drive in the same way (and yes I have a backup drive). It is, in my opinion, absolutely perfect organization.

That said, my fiancée and I watch a lot of stuff at her house. She subscribes to nearly all the streaming services (as well as cable/satellite... don’t ask me why). I also now get Disney+ free for a year through my Verizon phone service, and I paid for the CBS streaming service because Susan wanted to watch the Picard series. So I’ve had several months learning to use each of the streaming services... I despise them. I despise them so, so very much. 

I despise their recommendations. I despise that the same movies and shows can be classified as comedies, action, drama, trending, popular, things you (I) might like, etc. I despise the previews that play when you scroll through the menus. I despise that the older shows and films rarely if ever appear unless you search for them by the exact title using an always clunky typing mechanism. I despise the auto-play-next-episode feature built into most services. I despise that shows that still have commercials only seem to have one single sponsor and one single ad for that sponsor played over and over and over again. I despise the “are you still watching?” pop-up that basically judges you for binge watching. I despise them all, each and every one, with a fervor that borders on excessive. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a longtime believer that what we used to call “a la carte” would be better, and that we’d all be better off directing money only into shows or networks or studios that we actually wanted to support, instead of cable sending our money to entities we don’t like and punishing us with channels we don’t want. And I should be grateful that we seem to be committed to heading that direction. But as each service tries to brand itself and tries to create an engaging user experience, I’m left just wanting my external drive that has the media I like in a simple (alphabetized!) order. If I want to know more about a series or an episode or a cast member, I can go to IMDB. I don’t need pomp and circumstance. I just want to watch what I want to watch. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYKw%3DAqCBNCmVFc_eETHQV5eXcmqwkshXRMZw8mt-uLnUg%40mail.gmail.com.

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Steve Timko]

On Thu, May 7, 2020 at 8:59 AM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

My subjective sense is that I still like the feel of Netflix the best (though I don’t really like the current menu system, which I feel makes it harder for me to look through older films) and really dislike CBS Access and Hulu, but not sure if that would hold up to a systematic review.

Does anyone either have their own analysis of this, or familiar with a good review of these kinds of things available on the internet?

 

Tangentially related, one problem I have with the free CBS streaming is that it is unreliable. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for something that doesn't work.

I watch  Colbert the next morning on my smartphone. A common problem is that the commercial at the beginning plays just fine but as soon as the show starts, the audio may stream fine, or perhaps stutter, but the show video is just a green or blue splotch. I have to go watch the show clips instead.

Maybe the streaming quality miraculously improves when you pay, but I have no confidence in CBS to reliably stream programs. This happens only with CBS.

[Doug Eastick]

I was just caught off guard by the opening line. I didn't read the From very carefully and had to do a double take.  :)

Dear author... Welcome to the 2000's and the pain of GUIs of platforms and recommendation bullshit. Netflix wants me to watch all their content, while my Motorola DVR from cable company has GUI from 2001.

On Thu., May 7, 2020, 11:37 p.m. Kevin M., <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:

Until I started dating my future wife, I ...

[Marti Lawrence]

We get ad-supported Hulu as a perk of our cell phone contract.  I like a lot of their content, but the interface is just horrible.  It is very difficult to search and it sometimes hangs up in the middle of a program, and we have to jump out of the app and re-start. This is through the app on our television, accessed through Comcast Xfinity, if that makes a difference.

We have Netflix and Amazon Prime, and both are smoother and easier to use.

~Marti

:

[stannc]

But a lot of the Viacom content is already distributed free on their other streaming platform, Pluto. How many streaming services can one company have, unless they’re AT&T?

[Bob Jersey]

After Kev mentioned Why Women Kill, I noticed that most (not Paramount) of the mentioned nets have items available... but the movies haven't gotten there yet.

Moi, May 7th: