About streaming UIs

I’ve been using Jellyfin since… let’s look at my wiki, yes, found it: August 18, 2021. Two days ago, that was five years!

Anyway, I’m using it, because:

1. it is open source
2. it has no pro/full/paid version
3. it has no proprietary backend that handles accounts

If there’s one thing that people don’t seem to like about Jellyfin, it’s the UI. People complain it’s dated and has rough edges. There are even enhancements that make it look more modern and/or intuitive. Indeed, I don’t find that Jellyfin’s standard UI has really changed since 2021. Should it, though?

What I need from any UI, is to quickly find what I need, get the information that I need and then be able to select/use that. Most streaming UIs don’t do that very well. Netflix goes out of its way not to do that at all. After selecting my personal profile, the screen and my ears are filled with a trailer of a show I have no interest in. To silence it, I have to scroll way down, but I have to do that anyway to find what I actually wanted to watch. Still, everywhere around it there are shows Netflix wants me to watch, some of which I already have, and none of which I have ever indicated as much.

Netflix’ landing page

“Let’s say you’ve settled into your couch for the night and want to find a new show to get you hooked. When you turn on Netflix, head to the navigation bar (now located at the top of your screen) and explore My Netflix as a starting point.” -- A User Guide to Netflix’s New TV Experience

Thanks Netflix! An even better way to hide what I already decided I planned to watch before I even turned on my tv. Which is how I watch tv.

We don’t use many streaming services here, but our internet subscription includes Canal+, which lets me select my profile when entering their app. Somehow, it is worse than Netflix. There are some shows that I don’t know and scrolling right or down shows more of them, and some are repeated. Rows of “Best watched shows” try to make me watch them for the sole reason that others do so too. It feels like I’m browsing advertisements, instead of properly categorised collections. Some clickable pictures are bigger than others. It just looks like one endless mess of uninteresting crap. I know there are good shows there, they’re just impossible to find.

A Dutch Canal+ landing page I found online

I haven’t given the official YouTube UI any love lately, but it too seems to find suggesting new videos and channels more important than letting me focus on what I want to watch. This is one of the reasons that I use FreeTube. Nebula is different, and better. Its landing page too promotes new and Nebula-original videos in a large banner, but directly below are new videos of channels I subscribe to and below that there are videos I haven’t finished watching.

Access to entertainment should be that, access, not a barrier. I pay for this. Netflix and Canal+ know perfectly well what I’m following. Give me your suggestions after I finished that, or when I indicate I want something new, like by scrolling all the way past my shows. Or using a button.

Jellyfin’s landing page

Jellyfin’s UI may be outdated, at least it doesn’t get in my way. Finding what I want to watch is easy and quick. None of the interfaces above has me watching what I planned as fast as Jellyfin can do that. I can even customise what I need on the landing page and in what order. Why can’t I do that with Netflix or Canal+? Or YouTube? Perhaps Disney and Amazon let you do that, I wouldn’t know, but if they don’t, Jellyfin’s UI, in my view, is way ahead of any competition.