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Amazon prime to get dramatic makeover on appletv

Gator5000e said:
I really, in the end, just want easy access to my list or my stuff or whatever the streaming provider calls it. In the current UI, Amazon’s My Stuff is in the top row to the far right. It should be a lot easier to get to. The new UI makes access to my stuff much easier to reach.
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I use a Fire TV Recast DVR to record OTA TV. It is hidden in Fire TV interface’s menus and a massive PITA to get to and use. Even worse than the streaming content. Two versions back it was upfront in the first row, now I have to fish for it. Amazon doesn’t have a clue about interface design, not that Apple is much better.
 
Apple doesn't have that annoying scrolling carousel of shows taking a good portion of the main screen though. But there are many others who are copying the same crap design including Google TV (the older Android TV is immune). Apple also lacks the 30-60 second unskippable ads when playing content curated on Amazon Prime.

After that 'new UI' that came to my Fire Sticks turned it into a laggy, inefficient mess, I shoved them both into a drawer. I got an Apple TV 2nd Generation that works perfectly, and an ONN Android TV dongle for the other, which has the older better launcher. I also got a Roku from 2016 on the kitchen TV, but Rokus haven't changed all that much and that's a good thing to me.

My older Apple TV and Blu-Ray disc player (a Samsung from 2013) both still sport the original, Amazon Instant Video UI, although the disc player has the icon updated to say 'Prime Video' it's still the old Instant Video UI. No ads, no clutter, no problems. At least with old devices I'm immune to these annoying and never-ending 'UI redesigns'. I think if they just stopped trying to change everything every two weeks and focused on fixing the bugs and keeping security up to date, then I'd be more likely to update my stuff. I'm just gettin' too old for all the redesigns. I want everything to be where I am used to, and not having anything change unless it's an improvement. Change for Change's sake is a bad idea.
 
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These crap interface designs are likely based on the same general concept that is used by grocery stores who rearrange their items quite often. If they move stuff around you have to hunt for them and in the process they hope you will find something different to purchase as well. Amazon is charging a lot for Prime, but they manage to still charge extra for a LOT of content, as does Apple. Personally I use the Search function more than anything rather than browse through 1000 items just to find one I want to watch. Most of the content is not anything I would care to watch, regardless of streaming service. It is like having 300 channels on cable but only a handful have good programming.
 
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IMO the redesigns are just their way to justify buying something new or to change **something** because hardware hasn't changed all that much in recent years. To give anyone the incentive to upgrade they have to do something to the UI or make a feature exclusive to the new model, or make it so frustrating to use (laggy mess) that you'd have to buy new hardware to fix it. Obviously their plan kinda backfired since I bought new hardware (well, used) but it wasn't from Amazon. It's either that or they're catering to the kiddos who love everything new and love constant change (I call them futurists. They're the ones who buy the newest phone each year and toss their old one into the garbage, and claim 'you're gonna get hacked!' to anyone who uses an OS that's out of support)

As for the grocery stores, you should see what Walmart is doing. They are making the interior about as bland as it's ever been, full on white, clinical look. Ours in one location now resembles a hospital look. It's bad enough flat design is a software thing, but it's creeping into logos and interior designs today.

Stuff like that makes me really miss Kmart. For all their faults, at least their interior remained stuck in 1982.
 
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Boyd01 said:
Apparently it is here now. Have not checked to see if my AppleTV's have auto-updated yet (and rarely watch Prime Video anyway)

www.macrumors.com

Amazon's Redesigned Prime Video App Now Available for Apple TV

Amazon today updated its Prime Video app for the Apple TV with a redesigned interface that looks similar to other streaming service apps. ...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com
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Yeah mine updated yesterday. The player is still as bad as it was, constantly freezing and crashing.
 
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ScrumpyDaniel said:
Yeah mine updated yesterday. The player is still as bad as it was, constantly freezing and crashing.
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I have not received the update yet (I´m from Spain).


Damn it. Hoped they switched back to the old native player of tvOS 14, which allowed X-Ray.


The current time scroll bar is atrocious.
 
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B/D said:
I have not received the update yet (I´m from Spain).


Damn it. Hoped they switched back to the old native player of tvOS 14, which allowed X-Ray.


The current time scroll bar is atrocious.
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Yep, I has hoping they'd revert back to the native player! The WWE Network has their own player as well and thats just as bad!
 
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I haven't seen one single 'redesign' that was an actual improvement. iOS 7+ was ugly, bland, Android 5+ is also ugly bland, and every 'modern' app assumes EGA is still the standard video resolution.

I'd rather cling to skeuo until I die myself; at least it's fun to use, and makes use of the screen. I lived through the 80s flat design phase, and was really glad it ended. Can't wait for the 'rehash' of it to end as well, then perhaps the proper holographic/Augmented Reality future can finally happen. 10+ years late, but happen either way.

Y'all can live with the remake of Tandy DeskMate and early Amiga WorkBench UI all you like if that's how you roll, but me I'm gonna live in the future as seen from 2010.
 
B/D said:
I have not received the update yet (I´m from Spain).


Damn it. Hoped they switched back to the old native player of tvOS 14, which allowed X-Ray.


The current time scroll bar is atrocious.
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X-Ray has been there for a while now, just swipe down on the remote during playback.
 
-Gonzo- said:
X-Ray has been there for a while now, just swipe down on the remote during playback.
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I know. My point was that they didnt need to switch to the new custom player, the native tvOS 14 A/V that they used already had X-Ray support.
 
As of last night I still haven't gotten the update although the app store says the.latest version was released yesterday. I deleted the app and reinstalled it and no update. Maybe when I get home tonight it will have been updated.
 
Gator5000e said:
As of last night I still haven't gotten the update although the app store says the.latest version was released yesterday. I deleted the app and reinstalled it and no update. Maybe when I get home tonight it will have been updated.
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The UI is enabled remotely. It will switch when they enable it for your account without an app update.
 
Almost 2:30 PM local time on Aug 12 and I haven’t got the update yet either. Doesn’t really matter to me though as I have a Fire TV Cube and use it for Prime Video.

BTW, since the latest tvOS update I’m having a few apps that are really acting up quite a bit, including Philo and BritBox.
 
nickdalzell1 said:
Ah yes, the ol'e 'server side update' for those who don't choose to update, we gonna update your UI anyway whether you like it or not! That's how Google does things too.
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From a development standpoint, server-side rollouts are much easier to manage and easier to revert when issues arise. For an app with as many users as Prime, I would hope they did it this way. Waiting on Google and Apple to approve a broken app would be a major issue.
 
Well, for those of us (like myself) who prefers the UI the way they've become accustomed to (such as me preferring skeuomorphic) the 'server side' updates ruin it since I would be forced into it whether I wanted to or not, and have no recourse even by downgrading the app.

So if any apps on any of my devices force a bland crappy flat UI I hate on me they get promptly uninstalled and I start finding alternatives.

I've also never seen any company or dev ever 'revert' whether it's server side or not. They tend to be very hostile to anyone complaining and stick to their guns and assume they and their shareholders are correct no matter what. Otherwise, Apple would have allowed users to undo the changes iOS 7 did to their iPhones. But we all know that was never going to happen.

Personally, I'd love to see companies return to caring about their customers and not their shareholders. I guess everything I learned in Economics in high school was a lie, since I was taught that customers demand and companies supply that demand. Where was the customer demand for losing headphone jacks, everything becoming subscription-based, and every UI being flattened? Where was the customer demand for an impractically large smartphone? Apple wasn't losing any sales over the 3.5" screen anyway, people would buy anything if they think they have to, and oftentimes just losing update support is all it takes. They will choose what's available, no matter the specs. Apple could have kept all the above and made tons of $$$ regardless.
 
Can't be any worse that it was....at least I don't see how. I will see if I have he update when I get home tonight.
 
Just updated this on my TV. It looks quite decent. But the section: "free with ads" - no thanks to that!
 
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