Ask HN: Scanning TV listings to show if there is something good to watch on TV?
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?
You'd need such a thing?
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.
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.
Update: For "merged list" I have found this: http://www.canistream.it/ Is that what you looking for??
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"?
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.