Does Android TV support Netflix in global search results yet?

by gtg465x2

So I'm trying to decide between the new Apple TV and nVidia Shield TV. I have both Hulu and Netflix subscriptions and love that when you use voice search to search for a show or movie, the new Apple TV will show you all the places you can watch that show or movie. See how the following linked screenshot shows that New Girl is available from iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu, and you can choose where you want to watch it. http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2015/11/appletv_search_new_girl-100625364-large.png

This is HUGE to me. My wife and I watch a lot of shows and always forget which ones we watch on Netflix and which are on Hulu, and I don't want to have to open each app to find out. Also, if we're going to watch a movie, I would like to see if it's available in Hulu or Netflix before paying to rent it.

Oddly, I have watched just about every review of nVidia Shield TV on YouTube and not a single person has just tried to use global voice search to pull up a show. They always ask voice search for the weather or something stupid that there is no point doing on a TV.

After a bunch of research, it looks like Android TV does support a feature like this, but the apps have to support the global voice search API or their content won't be pulled up when you use global voice search. And as of earlier this year, it looked like the Hulu app on Android TV supported this and its results showed up in global search, but the Netflix app didn't.

My question is, what is the current status? Does global search on Android TV still not show you Netflix results at this time? And if it does, can someone provide a screenshot or photo so I can see how that interface compares to the Apple TV screenshot I linked?

Thanks a bunch, and sorry for being so long winded.

Andrroid

Short answer: no

Check out this article: http://www.techhive.com/article/3006532/streaming-media/here-s-how-google-wants-to-make-android-tv-worth-caring-about.html

“Without going into any more details, it’s something we’re working with them really, really closely on, both for search and for recommendations, and so it's something to keep an eye on,” Chang said.

“I think whenever it comes to the user experience, they are obviously a little bit more careful leveraging specific platform capabilities if they can’t scale it across multiple platforms,” he said.

vectorzulu

It's in the works. Meanwhile you can send feedback to Netflix by chat, more voices might bring the feature in faster.

getcashmoney

Google's voice search is better than Apple's by a long shot. Watch Technobuffalos review of the apple TV. The Shield is also much more future proof. From my understanding the API for voice search is much more open for Android TV so more developers will support it.

TheSubversive

Fucking Netflix is weird. They were dropped, inexplicably, from the TV SideView app's recommended results too, not sure about search as I just started using the app and haven't searched anything on it.

They apparently have no problem with Apple though. Not only does the new Apple TV come with Netflix in the search but, and this might be the difference for you, you can tell Siri things "Rewind 20 minutes" or "Fast Forward 20 seconds" or even ask it things like "what did he just say" and it'll rewind Netflix 10 seconds and briefly turn on closed captioning. It's really cool.

And for what it's worth, I have both a new Apple TV and a new Sony TV that came with AndroidTV built in. Both are great but I see the Apple TV expanding exponentially faster than the Android TV. There are new apps every day for the Apple TV.