Ask HN: Scanning TV listings to show if there is something good to watch on TV?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6793576

by leoplct • 13 years ago

4 9 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

There are plenty of channels on TV and it's impossible to know if there is a good movie on some channel, or if it will be next hour.

You'd need such a thing?

napster3000• 13 years ago

Yes, it could be interesting.

gembird• 13 years ago

nope, completely waste of time, instead you should encourage people to watch less TV...

leoplct3• 13 years ago

I mean just movies and tv shows. No talk show or others tv programs. The same movies/tv shows that are on Netflix, but on tv broadcasting

IanDrake2• 13 years ago

At a time when TV watching is shifting to on-demand, I don't see a big market now or in the future for this. Writing non-essential software for laggards probably isn't a good business model.

Here's what I'd like, perhaps it exists already... One website to track all the streaming media available to me. I could tell it that I subscribe to Hulu Plus, Netflix, and have Amazon Prime. It would show me a merged list of what all my services offer, and most importantly have a UI that lets me REMOVE stuff I don't want to see and queue stuff I do want to see.

The problem is every time I go to Amazon, I'm offered the same tired movie/show lineup. So, to find something new to watch, I have to find it in lists of all the crap I have no interest in, same with Hulu. An aggregate UI would allow me to keep track of everything in one place.

leoplct3• 13 years ago

Hi IanDranke, thanks for your help. So, you mean that the "recommendation engine" of Amazaon/Hulu/Netflix are not good enough (because it shows always the same movies) and/or you'd want just a merged list (filtered by your interest)?

Update: For "merged list" I have found this: http://www.canistream.it/ Is that what you looking for??

IanDrake2• 13 years ago

No, they don't really go far enough to be useful. Look at the netflix movies on their site, then look at the amazon prime movies... there's overlap. I've already seen Flight, but now I have to see it's box image every time I look at a list of movies for each streaming service.

What would be better is a list of movies across all services, I see Flight, then I click, "I've already seen it", then I never have to see it again.

Or, I see Flight (and want to watch it), click it, then I'm presented with links to watch on Netflix, free for Amazon Prime, $3.99 on Amazon Instant, 4.99 on Vudu, etc...

A recommendation engine would be gravy. What I want is a global view of media available that lets me say, "Queue this to watch", "I've seen this and stop showing it to me", "I have no interest in see this". Then the movies it's showing me are new to me.

Basically, the problem is finding a needle in a haystack. You could rummage through the haystack, or you could remove the hay, straw by straw and say "Is this a needle"?

anywherenotes• 13 years ago

I like this idea, and I'd like to get notification when new movies become available if they fit what I like. I'd also like to mark movies I want to see which are not available yet (just came out to theaters), and have the system notify me when those movies arrive.

And finally I'd like to have groups of movies, so that I can have a group of my favorite movies, and a group of my kids' favorite movies, and not have everything mixed as amazon seems to do.

leoplct3• 13 years ago

Sounds interesting. I'll work about it

pasbesoin• 13 years ago

Ten years ago, maybe a bit less, there were a number of sites promulgated upon aggregating TV listings. Five years ago or so, they -- or the ones I was still aware of -- started disappearing behind page obfuscation and/or altogether. You might ask yourself and look into why.

In short, if it's a personal project, then go ahead and have fun. If it's a business idea, you'd better do some domain and market research before committing any significant resources -- pre-existing ventures appear to have exhausted themselves. Although with my avoidance of unnecessary Javascript and low use of mobile, perhaps I've just missed out on what they've become.

Ask HN: Scanning TV listings to show if there is something good to watch on TV?

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