It can get stuck thinking your really like a genre, and the recommendation engine can penalize you too much for too many likes or dislikes.
Now that the website is a bit more focused towards streaming-on-computer it's somewhat harder to browse and prepare a queue.
It feels that some content is cheaper to stream and it wants to present that content first, and also that they don't really want you to be aware of the size of the catalog either.
Tempting to go back to DVD plan for a while, really, which I would do if the US Post Office was remotely reliable. If only there was a way to rent-stream BlueRay/DVD ISOs securely to a Netflix app, and have their whole catalog legally available and not bifurcated into streaming and non-streaming, that would be really cool.
It would be even better if they fixed recommendations. If you do not use a web browser - ie use Roku, Chromecast, Android etc - then you cannot mark something as "not interested". So it keeps showing you the same thing over and over again, that you do not want to watch. Makes the service seem dumb and hostile. Don't get me started on them showing you stuff you already watched and don't need in the prime positions for recommendations - it is already watched.
Even more bizarre is how they predict how many stars you'll give something, which seems fairly good. And then go ahead and recommend items with few predicted stars.
I'm almost convinced that all their developers only use desktops and browsers, so they don't even realise what they do to those on other platforms.
> Even more bizarre is how they predict how many stars
> you'll give something, which seems fairly good. And then
> go ahead and recommend items with few predicted stars.
My other main gripe is when the stars are wrong (though as you say, not often) which is obviously untrue from your 'Taste Preferences'.
For example, despite spending ages filling out all the details, including specifying 'Never' to watching animated films, I'm still recommended them - and sometimes with 3 or more stars too.
I'm not convinced that the preferences data is considered at all.
To play the devils' advocate
* It's good for the user because their algorithm is not perfect and you might actually enjoy the 'few predicted stars' movie
* It's good for the algorithm because it allows fine-tuning in the cases of false-negatives and adds more data points
* having only high predicted stars in your list will probably move your Overton window on what's good/bad.
Here I was thinking the opposite, because their web interface seems pretty lackluster too.
* mail regularly misdelivered (1-2 piece of mail/month, including small packages that fit in the mailbox). Who knows what mail I've missed that went to someone else's house. * They won't deliver larger packages to my house (busy street), BUT the office remains ignorant of this despite regular visits and I usually have to get bumped up to a manager before they "find" my package after insisting it is on the truck. * ...But they do deliver packages on Sunday (When Amazon is paying them to) * Package slips aren't always given. Followup slips DEFINITELY don't happen.
After being happy with the USPS most of my life, I now have all my amazon packages delivered to a locker because it's easier to always have a small amount of inconvenience than have general convenience (UPS and FedEx to the house direct) mixed with extreme inconvenience (USPS making me wait longer to get the package, at hours that don't work well with a 9-5 work schedule)
Then, when you schedule a redelivery, they just don't redeliver it. If you call the post office, which I have to do at a secondary line I discovered (apparently for carriers), since their main line seems to be left off the hook or turned off, they will report that they have it there, and you can pick it up if you want.
I also end up with my weekly Science subscription usually arriving in pairs every two weeks. I'm not sure who is to blame for that one.
Also ... (i just noticed)
Australian Movies 5230 Belgian Movies 262 Korean Movies 5685 Latin American Movies 1613 Middle Eastern Movies 5875 New Zealand Movies
No Canada? No Canada comedy, no Canada movies, nothing? Belgian but not Canadian? Look to the end of your favorite shows. Look for the "Canadian film tax credit" statement before saying there aren't any canadian shows.
"Canadian Movies" via the Netflix Subgenre UI
One in particular IIRC is The Transporter series. I don't know how much more there is, but there's definitely more. I think Flashpoint is also on there, which IIRC is produced by a Canadian studio.
If you want to cover everything filmed in canada, that is a very very long list. X-Files, X-men, twilight, the latest godzilla ... it will take a while. But if you expand to to all "canadian content" then be ready for a shock. The first season of the new Doctor Who was a partial CBC production.
They structure their site so that you don't realize that they don't want to make you super happy—they just want to keep you barely happy.
Netflix's movie selection is really abysmal. After finally cutting the cord, going full-legal and all that. And then: "Hmm, I'd really like to watch movie X", and then you search for it on Netflix, thinking oh it's some relatively-semi-popular movie from half a decade ago, it should be on Netflix. But nope, they recommend you sign up for a DVD plan instead where you can get that movie. Don't even expect one of the "new blockbuster" movies on Netflix, not going to happen. For that have to fork out a pay-per-view amount of $$ on Amazon Prime/Google Play/Itunes.
Second: I don't see how this is the case ("...prevent users from realizing how light their catalog really is.". Looking at what they show me when I search or browse already makes the selection look anemic. Using a few of these codes helped me find stuff I didn't know was there.
Add to that that they haven't created an "add to my queue when new episodes come out" option and how shows have been on/off availability rapidly and Netflix isn't nearly as useful as it used to be.
I understand that if Netflix allowed filtering by star rating they might only list a few hundred 4 and 5 star movies across the whole service, but it'd be best to let the consumer decide how to deal with that fact rather than hiding everything in a giant pile of shit. I find their star ratings to be very close to accurate and this is the strength of the service. Unfortunately, their discovery UI is so horrific, it negates any strength Netflix has otherwise. If I know what I want to watch, Netflix is great, otherwise I prepare for half an hour of scrolling the same bullshit list of crap looking for anything decent and ultimately giving up.
Anyone know?
My other pet peeve with Netflix is the duplication of content across several of the home screen categories. Some are almost identical at times, just in different orders.
If you select one of the main genres on Netflix, almost all of them will then have a "sub-genre" picker which, as far as I can tell, includes most if not all of these.
Sure, this site lets you see them all at once without having to choose a parent genre first, but it doesn't seem like that big of deal.
What a missed opportunity.