Paramount+ is the worst streaming UI in existence

Submitted by EchosEchosEchosEchos t3_114a4xh in television

I gotta rant about this. I didn't think it could possibly get worse. .. Always had a buggy UI that would freeze and dialogue would even get out of sync occasionally. I dealt with it like a really bad ninja movie dub,But now...now you can't even rewind. Try and rewind, and it goes to the beginning of whatever chapter you're in and starts the commercials from the beginning.... Pause for too long and it's the same.

There is no way this isn't by design! A show I really enjoy and was excited to watch each episode is now absolutely ruined by this garbage. I can't monetarily support shit like this, and am cancelling tomorrow.

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stupidcatname t1_j8vbhqx wrote

I haven't used it. But I also think OP never used Crave

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ijakinov t1_j8vbn6r wrote

Crave has garbage quality encodes too

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stupidcatname t1_j8vbyur wrote

I pay 20 a month for Crave with HBO, and I still pirate Last of Us so I can get 5.1

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Delicious-Tachyons t1_j8vnxy4 wrote

gotta love the shitty sound on Crave esp when hard of hearing and really need those channels to not be muddled down to "STEREO"

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Delicious-Tachyons t1_j8vnwjo wrote

my buddy whom i share with asked me today 'is this show only supposed to be in 720P because it sucked'.. apparently after that he tried a pirate stream and it was in glorious 4K.

I didn't notice because my TV is 14 years old and kinda modest.

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starsandbribes t1_j8vjjys wrote

I’m using Crave on Apple TV and not seeing an issue. Why is it hated so much?

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LightBluePen t1_j8xgc7x wrote

Crave is only good on Apple TV and that’s because Apple is pretty much doing the heavy lifting and providing most of the UI elements used in the app.

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ColonelSanders21 t1_j8xy3v5 wrote

It’s also to my knowledge one of the only platforms where Crave actually delivers a 4k image.

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speedr123 t1_j8ydtv2 wrote

That makes sense. It’s surprising to me how Paramount+ still manages to have absurdly terrible UI on Apple TV though

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Delicious-Tachyons t1_j93lihl wrote

watch any scene in a HD show where the camera is panning. Look for a stutter every second or so. It's shit. It can't maintain its framerate.

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ipeefreeli t1_j915oer wrote

Paramount+ blows Crave out of the water. I only used Crave when I got it for free with my cable package, even then, pirating shows was way better.

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Delicious-Tachyons t1_j93lkrq wrote

QUESTION: Are the new star trek shows on P+ because i hate crave so much due to piss poor stream qualities (sub-HD)

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[deleted] t1_j8vdz18 wrote

[deleted]

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HumanOrAlien t1_j8vn455 wrote

Prime has improved a lot after the new UI update but it still has some annoying issues.

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TimeForHugs t1_j8wihvr wrote

I really hate the new release movie poster things. They're larger than the usual show thumbnails and when you highlight it, it expands and takes up 1/4 of the screen. It pushes the other thumbnails out of sight. So you gotta move over, then that expands.

It's really annoying. It's as annoying as Netflix's autoplay. I just want to read the full description of a show. Every time I click I gotta hear the Netflix "Dun Dun!" over and over.

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Premislaus t1_j8w2s95 wrote

One thing I can compliment Amazon on is the X-ray feature. Makes learning who the characters are on a new show way easier.

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Shotgunsamurai42 t1_j8wtcu1 wrote

It's insane to me how many streaming services don't fundamentally understand that nobody wants to watch the last ten seconds of a show.

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onarainyafternoon t1_j8x1rvg wrote

A thing I also found frustrating when I used Paramount+ was the fact that episodes don't have descriptions under them. Makes picking through old Star Trek episodes an absolute chore because I've got no idea what I'm watching till about three minutes into the episode.

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Fallcious t1_j8vforg wrote

I was amused to see the next season of a show I was watching appear to be available on the app, but had non-responsive episodes. I realised after a few minutes of clicking them and waiting for something to happen that they must be placeholders for episodes that Prime has the license for elsewhere but not here.

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DisturbedNocturne t1_j8vo78i wrote

Oh yeah, my Google Chromecast had a movie I watched on Paramount+ show in my "Continue Watching" queue for like a month, and I couldn't figure out any way of removing it. Even making sure I played the movie to the very end didn't fix it.

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Cagney707 t1_j8vsfxp wrote

Crunchyrolls is worse

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Collier1505 t1_j8w62df wrote

Funimation is also up there.

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badgarok725 t1_j8xm4hr wrote

I used to think Funimation wasn't great (which it wasn't) until I used Crunchyroll recently. It's truly awful

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Khourieat t1_j8w95rx wrote

I dunno, it sounds way better than his description. My audio never falls out of sync or freezes...

Do you use both? My first question after reading his title was if it was worse than Crunchyroll!

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Gemela12 t1_j8wu0au wrote

Paramount is horrible. It wont play anything unless my devices have surround system on. Not all devices have surround.... No one in the help center knows why the system is working on me like that.

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Khourieat t1_j8wuadf wrote

Yeah the Crunchyroll experience is really bad, but at the end of the day it still plays whatever I tell it to.

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rcanhestro t1_j8wg098 wrote

Amazon Prime says hello.

the fact they separate seasons as technically different shows is infuriating.

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mundane_coconut47 t1_j94fu3i wrote

Amazon has gotten better. Paramount Plus is literally unusable at times. At one point it wouldn't let me scroll to reach the newer survivor seasons. Only worked on my phone.

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YouandWhoseArmy t1_j8weo8n wrote

HBO go was starting the next episode 30 seconds before the last episode ended….

Hard to beat that.

Hulus interface is by far the best. I can’t figure out why it just isn’t ripped off.

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hujambo11 t1_j8yf4sx wrote

>Hulus interface is by far the best.

Someone get this man to a hospital.

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across-the-board t1_j90s5a9 wrote

So many streaming services put what you’re watching into a tiny window so they can show ads, sometimes before the episode is finished. AppleTV does that. Leave the video full screen and don’t make it hard to see what might be the climax of the episode.

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PRIMAWESOME t1_j8v5unx wrote

In Australia you watch Paramount+ through either Apple TV or Amazon Prime. So assuming it doesn't bother being its own thing in other countries, maybe that's why it's so shit?

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darkeyes13 t1_j8vtwub wrote

I'm in Australia and I have a standalone P+ app on my TV.

Still a shit app, but we're not limited to only getting it through Apple TV or Amazon Prime.

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PRIMAWESOME t1_j8vvewt wrote

Fair enough, must be on Smart TVs and other devices. I thought it was just one of those merged with another streaming service like HBO or Peacock.

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starsandbribes t1_j8vjp69 wrote

Are you sure the standalone app isn’t also available on top of those two options? You get the standalone and joined subs in most countries.

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PRIMAWESOME t1_j8vvmur wrote

Seems to be a separate app on some devices like Smart TVs, so is available.

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pschernek t1_j8wwxmi wrote

it is through apple tv+, not sure about amazon.

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Cyan-ranger t1_j8w3t12 wrote

There’s a stand alone ios app for it in Australia as well

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Ground6H t1_j8vb7e4 wrote

If you want it sub via Amazon Prime and go thru their (still kinda shitty but not as shitty) UI. It's still bad cause Amazon's separate season garbage, but it's better than the app.

When the Trek shows just started on Paramount+ the subreddit was full of people complaining that the app wouldn't let them easily cancel their sub. It was pretty much always recommended to never use the app. Sad that it still hasn't improved after all these years.

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thesagaconts t1_j8vc4qk wrote

Amazon’s second season shit drives me crazy.

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Ground6H t1_j8vfg0i wrote

It's actually impressive they've kept this horrific UI around so long.

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Dagon_Targaryen t1_j8wug55 wrote

I feel like you guys haven’t used Amazon in a long time. The UI was updated at least a year ago if not more. It looks nothing like the UI they had for forever and TV shows display all seasons. It’s not great but it’s been updated significantly.

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Ground6H t1_j8wviw1 wrote

For me it's still separate, but yes a bit easier to get to. My SO was slow to finish Lower Decks so we only just finished it last month. On some of the TV apps though it's still offering up random seasons instead of the show so they've updated some and not others in my experience.

Though they still have the insane problem of the various movies at different resolutions are completely separate and not advertised as such at all. (Why have non-hd version when you have HD?? It makes no sense)

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EchosEchosEchosEchos OP t1_j8vdfkg wrote

I'm subscribed directly through Paramount itself, and downloaded Paramount's direct streaming app on the fire platform. Sub is really easy to cancel, so can't complain about that.

Last time I subbed was the last episode of Mayor of Kingstown.

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Ground6H t1_j8vff5a wrote

Nice, glad they fixed that. This was like Discovery Season 1 era of Paramount+.

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ContinentalOp_RG t1_j8w3y6d wrote

Agree 100%. I got it mostly to watch soccer and the screen regularly stutters, buffers, goes to technicolor snow and just drops the feed altogether. It's probably better than a year or so ago but still garbage. And the link for "live" NFL football on Sundays usually goes to reruns of CBS Sunday morning programming.

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_Meece_ t1_j8vhuky wrote

Can you get it via Amazon? I was the same when using the actual app, but using it via Amazon isn't too bad.

I just hate how they don't have unique pictures for each TV show episode. Same title card on everything.

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ButtholeCandies t1_j8z60p0 wrote

I am a huge Star Trek nerd and Paramount+ should be an easy sell for someone like me. Old episodes from TNG and DS9 were my most watched on Netflix. Wonderful background noise for me while I do other things.

Commercials. Everywhere. Even on the supposed premium ad-free plan.

Nothing more infuriating than watching a 30 year old show with god damn commercial breaks that feature everything you hated about Network TV.

Shows audio balance forces you to turn the volume up. Commercial break plays and they are unbelievably loud. So now I have to be on top of when the commercial break is going to hit so my speaker doesn't pop and I don't wake up the neighbors and my girlfriend.

If you pause during the commercial because you are about to go deaf and can't see straight anymore because the general wants to sell my car insurance, it fucks up most of the time and I have to restart the whole fuckin show, fast forward, and sit through that commercial shit again.

You pause the fuckin show to read something on screen. THEY OVERLAY ANOTHER AD.

This is the only service I don't use out of principle. I was one of the people defending Picard online for the last two seasons. Watched each episode on premiere night. Not signing up for Season 3 and it has nothing to do with their content, everything to do with the fact that I feel like I'm being bent over and told to fuck myself in every way they could find because they think their customers are just here to be fucked and won't go anywhere.

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MovieGuyMike t1_j8vxn52 wrote

I still think it’s hilarious that Paramount’s best show at the moment, Yellowstone, is only available for streaming on Peacock. But the spin-offs are on Paramount+.

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f0gax t1_j8y8e6f wrote

AMC+ my dude.

Paramount may not be great, but AMC+ is way worse.

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ronearc t1_j8yrnoz wrote

It's incredibly disappointing when you can unethically obtain "free" versions of shows or movies that offer a higher quality viewing experience than you would obtain by paying for the same content.

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anasui1 t1_j8ysp02 wrote

Apple for me, it's truly dreadful and crashes every single time. At least P+ is super smooth, at least on my tv

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MadeByTango t1_j8wgw0a wrote

> Try and rewind, and it goes to the beginning of whatever chapter you're in and starts the commercials from the beginning.... Pause for too long and it's the same.

You viewing the ad is the priority, not you viewing the content

That’s why I don’t support these services with paid+ads, asking us to remove an annoyance they inserted. “Our product sucks now, pay us to improve it” is insane...

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ShevanelFlip t1_j8whd27 wrote

I hate that if any accounts have child settings on you have to enter the pin number after every episode of whatever you are watching.

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VelvetElvis t1_j8x7bi3 wrote

I get it as a Prime addon. Amazon's UI is somehow better and their streaming experience has always been pretty good.

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Donald_J_Putin t1_j8x7zei wrote

Works fine on Plex. Just set up season passes with Sonarr and have the files downloaded to your computer.

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smileymn t1_j8xj80t wrote

One of many reasons why I pirate shows, can’t deal with streaming tech BS not working

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blurplethenurple t1_j8xk7jh wrote

No one ever tried to use the Funimation streaming service based on the answers in this thread.

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lC3 t1_j8xkz3o wrote

Funimation was awful / glitchy, and they cancelled my free trial early then kept charging me for months afterward despite my inability to login and watch stuff. It took a while for customer support to actually cancel the subsciption.

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GareksApprentice t1_j8y94wi wrote

Seems like having a badly run streaming app is the norm rather than the exception.

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EchosEchosEchosEchos OP t1_j8yj2h1 wrote

I know, right... and you can't tell me that (at least) one network somebody wasn't scrolling through this forum while on the shitter today, looking to see what reception an episode of their show got.

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DoomPurveyor t1_j8ygyj2 wrote

MGM+ is worse. Only free trialed to watch Billy the Kid.. but holy hell, feels like an intern whipped this up in a few hours or something. HBOgo had a better ui over a decade ago.

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ellipsesdotdotdot t1_j8ymor7 wrote

Disney plus is really bad too. All these platforms should poach some Netflix staff.

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Reasonable-HB678 t1_j8vx4ui wrote

There's a certain MTV show that they seem to think I watched. But, despite having not watched one episode, it's under my currently watching list. They don't have the option to remove it, it seems.

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Cyyyyk t1_j8wqsrs wrote

That statement proves that you have never used AppleTV+

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EchosEchosEchosEchos OP t1_j8x774q wrote

I have apple TV. It's chatGPT compared to this thing.

For real though. Shudder has the best of every UI

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cablelegs t1_j8wxerf wrote

Agree, OP. But there are a few out there that are trash. How does these apps survive testing?

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PowRightInTheBalls t1_j8x1ele wrote

Agreed, but I gotta give credit for not just choosing to unpause whenever it wants like Peacock does, can't tell you how many times I've paused to run to the store or do chores and come back to it having progressed 2+ episodes.

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GingerAle_s t1_j8x29f8 wrote

They were the only way I could watch certain NFL games because they were blacked out on Sunday Ticket, and I didn't have basic TV, and their feed would almost never get to 1080p and my internet isn't bad or anything. Terrible app experience.

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TheRappture t1_j8x6005 wrote

I only use it for soccer and it’s so annoying that I usually have to work semi-hard to get to the games. Additionally, it’s insane to me that there is still no PS5 app.

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WakandaNowAndThen t1_j8xdo82 wrote

I've had poor experiences on the Fire stick app, but not nearly as bad as you describe. It's definitely the worst one I use, but I think Prime is worse. It baffles me that Netflix was so functional 12 years ago and nobody has yet to meet that in terms of UI.

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EchosEchosEchosEchos OP t1_j91qej0 wrote

And I have zero problems with prime, shudder, YouTube (except those goddamn movie recap spoiler channels that it thinks I want to watch... Where they ruin the entire plot of the movie in the video thumbnail and a couple word overlays)

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myassholealt t1_j8y7uq5 wrote

And it was even worse in the early days of CBS All Access. I couldn't get trough a single episode of a 30 minute show on my PS4 without it freezing and/or crashing.

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rhymes_with_candy t1_j8yey9i wrote

I signed up a few years ago to watch the first season of Picard. Their PS4 and Xbox apps were completely broken. You would launch the app and no content would load in but you could still sort of click through the menus. Customer support kept telling me an update was coming to fix them but it never happened.

When the app did sort of work right it would freeze during ad breaks most of the time. Causing me to relaunch it over and over until it started halfway working again.

It wasn't just me and I have no idea how they could feel okay with putting out versions of their app that broken and taking people's money for them. They do have some shows I want to watch but I refuse to deal with them anymore.

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Almighty_Push91 t1_j8zygdv wrote

The only thing I don't like about it, is that you can't delete shows/movies from your watch history without fast forwarding through it to the end. Sometimes I just get bored watching a show and I don't want it there anymore 🤷🏿‍♂️

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aeywaka t1_j91f6cc wrote

Peacock is farrrr worse

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starsandbribes t1_j8vjs2f wrote

I just hate that it doesn’t even list quality or specs. No signs for HD, SD, 4K (though I don’t think 4K is even out for Paramount in Canada or UK anyway)

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nickicole365 t1_j8w416q wrote

I don't mind Paramountplus, Amazon Prime Video is the one I hate.

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Roook36 t1_j8wi6fg wrote

I don't think I've used a single streaming app that didn't bug out anytime I need to fast forward or rewind.

The CW app is the worst for me. Fortunately after this season of Superman and Lois I can't imagine any reason I'll ever need to use it again

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XuX24 t1_j8wito3 wrote

And they wonder why people don't stay with them. Having a good app is a must in this times.

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NeoNoireWerewolf t1_j8wxv12 wrote

What are you watching it on? It was the worst streaming service I’ve ever seen on the PS4 app. The app for my smart TV more or less works fine, though. One workaround is subscribe to it as an Amazon channel if you have Prime.

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DC4MVP t1_j8wz9aa wrote

My folks have DirecTV Stream and it's 10x worse than the next worse service.

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Mrestrepo011 t1_j8x01ux wrote

On ps5 the app just does not work for me

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vanker t1_j8xwi15 wrote

It’s pretty bad, but it’s still pretty new. Amazon Prime and HBO Max have no excuse to be as bad as they are, UI-wise.

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guark t1_j8z379u wrote

I agree Paramount+ can be extremely annoying. It's a shame it has all my favorite reality shows on it.

Right now I can't even watch anything because it constantly gives me error 111, and everything I have done to try and fix it hasn't worked.

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BillMeeks t1_j9f3yyu wrote

It also refuses to save where I am in a series, meaning I have to e-mail myself a screenshot when I'm done watching a show or movie so I can find my place later. If my partner wasn't so into aspects of the catalog I would've cancelled months ago. So frustrating.

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Artistic-Time-3034 t1_j8vf7qu wrote

Yes it pretty shitty. But don’t be dramatic mijo.

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EchosEchosEchosEchos OP t1_j8vhhqg wrote

Dramatic? You tap the back/rewind and your starting over, but only after you watch the same four minutes of commercials you just saw

This is a paid service. It shouldn't be the equivalent of a budget ass, bottom shelf, early 90's, no rewind button having walkman.

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