Netflix Wants PS3 Users to "Let Max Be Your Guide"

[StewShearerOld]

Netflix Wants PS3 Users to "Let Max Be Your Guide"


Netflix's Max will help indecisive viewers choose their content.

These days there are nearly limitless options for entertainment. Heck, with just a wireless device and Netflix you can pretty much count on never having to be alone with your thoughts ever again. After all, who needs self-contemplation when you have all the various Star Treks at your finger tips? The problem that often arises from having so much entertainment, however, is choosing what to watch. Someday the history books will likely commit pages to the countless hours people wasted picking movies for their Instant Queues.

Perhaps recognizing the dangerous indecisiveness of its users, Netflix is endeavoring to make the process of choosing all the easier. Today, in a blog post, it announced the introduction of Max, a new feature debuting on PS3s designed to help viewers find content. "Max, rumored to be the child of Siri and HAL 9000, asks a few questions about your mood or movie and TV show tastes to arrive at a suggestion, of course based on your tastes and taking advantage of the Netflix algorithms that predict what you'd enjoy watching," said Todd Yellin, vice president of product innovation at Netflix.

A video accompanying the announcement demonstrated Max in action, using several different methods to suggest content. In the first users were asked to choose a genre and then rate several related films/shows. After a few brief computations Max then picked a piece of content it found to be a good fit. In the "Celebrity Mood Ring" option, users had to pick between a pair of actors. Depending on whom they chose Max would make a decision. A similar option will ask users to pick between random, highly specific content tags. Finally, "Max's Mystery Call" simply selects something for you based on your previous viewing habits.

While Max will likely be a useful tool for many people, there's just unsettling about putting your choices in the hands of a piece of software. Sure, the PS3 is aging and probably not powerful enough to be the foundation of a machine insurrection, but with next-gen consoles on the horizon, it may be only a matter of time before Max becomes self-aware and starts selecting our dooms instead of our movies.

Source: <a href=http://ims.themis-media.com/module/96/ims_news/add_news>Netflix


Permalink

 

[cidbahamut]

Indecisiveness about what to watch on Netflix comes from their streaming selection being absolutely terrible, not because we lack some gimmicky AI telling us what to watch. They should be putting resources into expanding their selection, not wasting money on crap like this.

 

[XMark]

Indecisiveness about what to watch on Netflix comes from their streaming selection being absolutely terrible, not because we lack some gimmicky AI telling us what to watch. They should be putting resources into expanding their selection, not wasting money on crap like this.

This goes double for anyone in Canada, since we get a vastly reduced selection of titles in comparison to the US version due to licensing issues.

 

[bearlotz]

While Max will likely be a useful tool for many people, there's just unsettling about putting your choices in the hands of a piece of software.

Doesn't Netflix already track what you've previously viewed and make recommendations on the top of the page? And it has you rate the movies/shows you've already watched and adjusts accordingly right now. I'm not sure if this is necessarily any more or less disturbing than what they already do, to say nothing of Google, Youtube, Apple, or the American government (hey hey, topical jokes). For real though, they're basically just putting a fresh coat of paint on an existing algorithm and trying to associate it with Siri in order to...well, I'm not really sure what their end-game was on this to be honest.

 

[klaynexas3]

Give me a random button, and I'll be just as fine. It's perfect, how else can you watch stupid and ridiculous animes if you actually see the title? How will I find the next Queen's Blade without it?

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I also recommend that they not work on gimmicks like this. I've never found any use in suggestions since:

1.) If I'm going on Netflix, I already have decided the type of movie or TV show I want to watch, if not already the exact one.
2.) Beyond number 1, if I'm not quite sure, it's not that hard to take five or ten minutes to decide. I mean seriously, how impatient with deciding does on have to be to let a computer calculation program decide what to watch. If you are that pressed for time, you obviously don't have the time to be watching anything.
3.) The suggestions, the vast majority of the time, end up being things or watched, or things that aren't related to my interests, though it somehow thinks they are.

Like the first comment, I suggest they work on their selection. There are some categories that have only around forty or so selections, when out in the world there are tens of thousands. With their selection lists, I usually end up with many one or two watchable programs, then I end up reverting to watching shows I've watched before because there is nothing left to watch. I also would like them to try and at least hold on to the items on their service for far longer than they have been. I've had a few run-ins with finding series that I had watched not more than a few months ago, no longer available.

It doesn't help them either that Warner Bros. is going to start up it's own service, which means that Netflix will lose anything that is Warner Bros. on the service. I have a bad feeling that Netflix will end up dead in a few years or so when other companies do the same as Warner Bros. then we will be stuck with several subs from different ones, which will mean paying more than we did with Netflix.

 

[Lightknight]

Ah, yet another download to sit through when I get home? *sigh*

Doesn't all of Netflix function this way? Sorting all my most viewed genres to the top and then recommending movies based on my already established preferences? Maybe I'd have to be less decisive to understand why this is a good or bad thing?

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

Max won't do anything for me, largely because the moment I want to watch something it's taken off streaming. Netflix is boasting about it's limitless options, but recently everything has been way sub-par. Except for Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers (which just came on last week ).

My point being that Max may intimately know my tastes, but when your entire bucket is pretty much filled with crap best case scenario is to recommend slightly better sh*t. Either stop taking off all the classic TV shows I can't get anywhere else or try getting rights to play current seasons of running shows.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

They should really try improving the console versions of Netflix version. I have it on Wii U and PS3, and both show barely any of the films in any category because there's no seperate genre sections. So if it's not on the front page selection and you don't know it's there then you won't know anything about it.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Give me a random button, and I'll be just as fine. It's perfect, how else can you watch stupid and ridiculous animes if you actually see the title? How will I find the next Queen's Blade without it?

Animes, that is a laugh. That relates to my comment above. Netflix just is not where to go to find anime, because like I mentioned, it is one of the genres that has only 40 or so to chose from. It also relates to my previous comment because two animes I watched on it last year are not on it anymore(Baccano!, and Spice and Wolf).

Hulu apparently got a hold of Baccano!, which is sad because that means if I want to re-watch it, I'll have to sit through annoying commercials, which every year or so gets bumped up in the number one has to watch to watch their show. I remember when it was two to three 15 to 30 second commercials in every hour show, now we are up to nine or more and some commercials end up being a minute to a minute and a half long. Sooner or later, there will be just as much commercial time on Internet show streaming that it will be like TV. Then well end up buying TiVo like computer programs and we'll end up recording our shows and fast forwarding though the commercial(doubt that would work, but it is a scary/funny while stupid thought).

 

[gentlemanghost]

....I have not seen something this useless and annoying in a long time. Netflix, are you TRYING to drive away customers?

And the other posters are correct. Instead of using your "ill-gotten gains" to increase your library, you have "researched" the asinine factor

I would have preferred Max Headroom

 

[faefrost]

You know, if this is at least somewhat limited in scope to your more immediate viewing session I might actually like it. I normally hate these sorts of things. But the ability to tell Netflix "I'm in the mood for something actiony and mindless but no Tom Cruise" could be a useful tool.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Then well end up buying TiVo like computer programs and we'll end up recording our shows and fast forwarding though the commercial(doubt that would work, but it is a scary/funny while stupid thought).

Fraps. You're thinking of fraps. Or any screen capture software. Start fraps, run your show, and watch the recording later fast forward through the ads.

I agree though, there's not enough anime and other shows on Netflix which is why I stopped subscribing. Not to mention none of its available until after a show or movie is on dvd. I'll probably make a few streaming accounts, but even paying for 2 of 3 services would be cheaper and more useful than cable. I wish Netflix would make a come back but I won't hold my breath

 

[rezboyjoey]

Am I going to have to play devil's advocate here and say that I might actually like this? I don't use their current suggestion system very often since my diverse taste in their programing leads to some weird suggestions (No Netflix, just because I marathoned every episode of Dexter's Laboratory and Johnny Bravo and am now halfway through Courage the Cowardly Dog does not mean I want to watch My Little Pony). That combined with my actual non-Netflix induced indecisiveness I might actually get some miles out of this.

I'm not saying it isn't going to suck horribly. Heck let's be honest, it probably will. But on the off chance it ends up working it could be cool.

 

[Alar]

Indecisiveness about what to watch on Netflix comes from their streaming selection being absolutely terrible, not because we lack some gimmicky AI telling us what to watch. They should be putting resources into expanding their selection, not wasting money on crap like this.

Yes! More selections, please. And can you give us some of the damn movies you have on the 'mail only' version? I'm not asking for ALL of them, but some of them would be nice.

 

[JamesBr]

I don't see the point of this. Do people really get caught up not knowing what to watch so badly that they need a program to make suggestions?

On an related note: If I piss it off enough though, will it suggest Mad Max?

 

[Something Amyss]

While Max will likely be a useful tool for many people, there's just unsettling about putting your choices in the hands of a piece of software. Sure, the PS3 is aging and probably not powerful enough to be the foundation of a machine insurrection, but with next-gen consoles on the horizon, it may be only a matter of time before Max becomes self-aware and starts selecting our dooms instead of our movies.

Hey, if an alien species that may or may not be the Borg can patch up one of our aging space probes and turn it into a borderline God destined to meet its creator, I think there's plenty of hope for the Playstation Apocalypse.

...Though even the Borg may not be able to handle the complexity of Sony's proprietary hardware.

But quips aside, I like the idea of suggesting things to watch. Normally, I know what I'm going for but sometimes I'm just in the mood to watch something and not sure what. This could potentially stop me from turning off the TV and reading a book.

...And nobody wants that.

The major down side I see here is that Netflix already kind of sucks with their recommendation channels. Well, sort of. It's uncannily accurate with their top ten recs for me. It's just a shame that top ten is usually 100% stuff not only that I've already seen, but seen on Netflix and rated 4 or 5 stars.

That and the Sonypocalypse, but I for one welcome our new console overlords.

 

[Something Amyss]

Yes! More selections, please. And can you give us some of the damn movies you have on the 'mail only' version? I'm not asking for ALL of them, but some of them would be nice.

Given the licensing needs, you're unlikely to see it without a fairly substantial increase in the price of the streaming plan.

I don't see the point of this. Do people really get caught up not knowing what to watch so badly that they need a program to make suggestions?

On an related note: If I piss it off enough though, will it suggest Mad Max?

This is a very real phenomenon that impacts most elements of life. Especially commercial ones. Too many options, even bad ones, overwhelm most people.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Somehow I see this apocalypse coming as a mixture between the Robot Chicken TiVO episode and terminator. Except instead of a nuclear holocaust we all become hypnotized by Max into wasting away on our couches/beds/what-have-you.
Death by media. Hulu+ will merge with it to become an unstoppable juggernaut of movies, TV Shows and resurrected "I wish they'd never cancelled" shows. If Firefly becomes a Netflix "Original" we're all doomed.