Video Player
Apple’s own video player delivers a delightful user experience. Though it took a little bit of getting used to when it was first introduced a few years ago, it has become an invaluable asset to tvOS. Since its debut, the video playback experience across the company’s suite of apps has added flair and familiarity to a user interface that can be customized to its given scenario.
While playback and scrubbing controls remain consistent across tvOS, the rest of Apple’s video player is highly customizable. Workout controls in Fitness, favoriting a video in Apple Music, and the native Up Next queue in the TV app are all solid examples of what can be achieved when the tools available are used well. Unfortunately, most streaming apps have moved away from the concept of user interface familiarity and gone down a different route.
There still are notable holdouts that continue to use filtered versions of the native Up Next queue to recommend content from their apps, with Showtime and Hulu being the biggest names. Furthermore, while the playback function of the video player is still used by the majority of Apple’s streaming partners inside their own apps, the interface varies from service to service, and that can prove frustrating to users.
I’m unsure what the resistance is from popular streaming apps to use the tools offered by Apple. After all, by going down their own paths and dismissing tools already in place, media companies are affecting customers using all manner of screens and limiting access to system features. Features such as Siri Remote scrubbing, native options for audio tracks and subtitles, Picture in Picture, Enhance Dialogue and Reduce Loud Sounds, as well as other features. Plus, in giving up these familiar functionalities, streamers are giving up the potential to tap into a customer base all but forgotten in the streaming revolution: people over 65.
My grandparents are a typical example of how the thought of learning multiple user interfaces to be entertained is still something very few in their age bracket will entertain. Even when I’m away, they will happily watch a show on Apple TV+ due to the familiarity of the first-party video player interface, but when presented with anything else – and a lack of easy-to-find audio and caption options – they’d rather switch back to cable.
From an OS perspective, the lack of live TV integrations within the video player (beyond sports) also represents a key missing element to the overall TV experience preferred by many.
Some Video Player Suggestions
With just one major notable addition for video this year in the form of support for Dolby Vision’s latest 8.1 expanded HDR profile, I asked myself what is missing from Apple’s first-party video player today.
One item that immediately sprang to mind (and may even help Apple’s own content aspirations) would be the ability to choose different cuts of films directly from within the video player and, more importantly, to view different presentation formats.
Disney+ started offering the IMAX Enhanced format earlier this year, including a version of DTS surround sound. With theatrical IMAX releases planned for highly-anticipated Apple’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ and ’Napoleon’ over the coming months and with the imminent arrival of Apple Vision Pro, such an addition makes perfect sense.
Film aficionados of a certain age who remember the introduction of DVD will also remember a time of picture-in-picture presentations that let viewers see the making of particular movie scenes. Apple’s own Picture in Picture feature has been criminally underused since its debut, and a similar feature in the age of streaming is long overdue. Other picture-in-picture features currently missing that would improve viewing experiences and open up the video player to further adoption are picture-in-picture ASL for TV content and Apple Music concerts.
On Mac, Live Captions allow users to easily follow the audio in any app, such as FaceTime or Podcasts, and in live conversations around you. Should the feature ever arrive on tvOS, it could potentially change how the hard of hearing consume live broadcasts and video on demand not formatted for closed captioning. If, like me, you’ve been waiting for action from the BBC to integrate subtitles on its publicly funded iPlayer app for Apple TV (like it does on iOS) after a seven-year-old excuse, this may be our final hope.
Lastly, as much fun as I’m currently having with Multi-View, it never made much sense to me why Apple locked the feature to sports that only it distributes. In fact, it never made much sense as to why multi-view was ever locked down to sports. I want to live in a world where Apple TV enables me to watch a live rocket launch, a blink-182 concert, Friday Night Baseball, and the news all at the same time.
