Amazon Instant Video ruining the end of movies (1 Viewer)

As if I needed any more reasons NOT to support the complete elimination of physical media in favor of streaming:

I'm "one of those people" who watches a movie ALL THE WAY THROUGH, including the end credits. I think it's simply disrespecful not to, plus most of the time it's a good way to 'decompress' and reflect on the movie you've just seen, whether it's a masterpiece or just trash.


In November I heard that Amazon had started to put graphics up on the screen when the end credits started rolling. I had also heard Netflix had been doing this for a while, but had never seen that happen on any of my equipment. In fact I bought a Roku 1 precisely because it was the least-advanced of the current models and not likely to be able to do anything like that.


When watching one of the free TV episodes that Amazon routinely puts up, I was shocked that during the ending credits, a line of cover art popped up on my screen, giving me suggestions on what to watch next. Checking the end of the one MOVIE that I had in my "video library", which was via a code that was given to me a while ago, I saw that the same thing happened immediately when the end credits started there! Had I purchased any movies from Amazon Instant Video, they would now be played back the same way.


This is entirely unacceptable. If people want to stop watching a movie when the credits start, they can certainly do that, but if I leave a movie playing and don't hit any controls, it should play straight through to the end with NO intrusions of any sort. I was planning on getting Amazon Prime more for the access to movies than the free shipping but I certainly won't be doing that now. I emailed Amazon head Jeff Bezos on the matter- I'd heard that most of the time when he gets compliants from customers, he immediately forwards them to the people responsible with "????" in front of them- meaning basically "Fix this. Now." That doesn't seem to have happened with my letter.


This is just another reason not to collect movies this way- even the way they are played back can be messed with on the other end.

You can go back to the full screen end credits by clicking on your remote. I guess they figure the vast majority don't watch end credits but I agree at least there should be a user option to play them full screen automatically and not have to manually click to get redirected there. But since this is a la carte subscription viewing, much like TV, clicking a button to get to full screen end credits is nothing compared to watching butchered movies, especially with commercial interruptions. I believe we do get more spoiled over time with every tech advance that improves convenience.

I hate it too. Especially since they do it to movies I actually purchased on the site. I shouldn't have bumpers showing up on videos I bought.


Rumors are that Roku 2 XS players don't have this problem with the end credits. Does anybody have a Roku 2 XS and can confirm if this is true?

Roku 3 does it.

I don't mind as I'm on cellular internet. I would exit anyway, but yes...you can clear the screen. However, it does seem credits are sped up regardless(much like reruns of TV shows get theirs sped up).

My parents have the older, larger Roku and there are still no intrusions on that (they subscribe to Prime). I'm just shocked that Amazon would do this, as they've at least had an image of caring about their customers, and this is more likely to anger and annoy people than anything else. (I've never seen sped-up credits on any streaming service, those are only done for TV versions which are also cut for time and content, and I never watch those!)


Amazon has now been deleted from my Roku 1. If the majority of steaming services end up like cable TV, I won't have any further part of them.

Jesse Skeen said:

My parents have the older, larger Roku and there are still no intrusions on that (they subscribe to Prime). I'm just shocked that Amazon would do this, as they've at least had an image of caring about their customers, and this is more likely to anger and annoy people than anything else. (I've never seen sped-up credits on any streaming service, those are only done for TV versions which are also cut for time and content, and I never watch those!)

Amazon has now been deleted from my Roku 1. If the majority of steaming services end up like cable TV, I won't have any further part of them.

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which is yet another reason for me not to factor out physical media when i make a home video purchase.

Sadly, don't put it past them to put ads or something over end credits on physical media as well. Physical already carries previews before the movie, something digital doesn't have. The movie experience is under attack, I tells ya!

This is what I subscribed to Netflix and Hulu exactly to avoid.

I couldn't make it past ONE MINUTE of a free Hulu Plus trial- overlaying network logos on the shows is a deal-breaker in itself- if that didn't bug me I'd just watch them on TV. Their movies are commercial-free, but two I watched (one was a Criterion movie!) had the end credits broken into similar to how Amazon is doing. I wrote to Criterion urging them not to continue their partnership with Hulu, as Criterion has always been a company that respects presentation and Hulu clearly does not.

Physical already carries previews before the movie, something digital doesn't have. The movie experience is under attack, I tells ya!

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I'm just WAITING for them to start having forced trailers play before you can start an online movie, just like Hulu already forces you to sit through a few commercials before the show even starts!

I know a way to enable Amazon Instant Video compatible with any media players and portable devices, just remove the DRM protection from Amazon video would help.

Here is a recent email exchange I've had with Amazon about this- I had heard sending email directly to president Jeff Bezos would make him demand his employees fix any reasonable complaint, but I just received a condescending reply from his assistant. Here it is starting with my initial email:






Dear Mr. Bezos,
Several months ago I emailed you expressing my severe dissatisfaction with the way Amazon Instant Video on Roku devices began intruding on material. When viewing movies, a menu (or "Carousel" as your people call it) of suggested titles pops up on the screen as soon as the end credits start. As a dedicated movie watcher, I watch movies all the way through to the VERY END and having them interrupted like this is ENTIRELY unacceptable.
I had heard that emailing you at this address usually gets problems with Amazon fixed, but it obviously has not in this regard. I received a reply from one of your assistants a while ago, so it's possible you never even received the complaint. (I had also sent a PRINTED letter to you about this as well, along with a printout of an Amazon Customer Discussion Board thread where several other customers have complained about this very issue.) After receiving the response from your "assistant," I was angered enough to post this video (which you should have seen by now, but here is a link to it) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=9nVWoyFoV1k
Last week I received a notice that Amazon Instant Video was now supporting Disney Movies Anywhere, so I linked my account (containing several movies) with that and re-activated Amazon Instant Video on my Roku to test these movies, and was absolutely disgusted to see that Amazon is STILL putting this menu onscreen when the end credits begin- I see they have now added a "Press Back to Hide" message on it, but that is NOT an acceptable solution as the display has already RUINED the ending of the movie. In fact, I saw that on the movie "Wreck-It Ralph" the display comes onscreen during the movie's clever ending credits that includes animated graphics straight through to the end. I doubt seriously that Disney wants to encourage viewers to NOT watch those end credits. I saw that it also intrudes on the end credits of "The Avengers" which has not only an elaborate closing credits sequence but a scene at the very end of the credits- why would Amazon, whose success is owed very largely to movie fans who have bought millions of DVDs over the past 18 years, show this sort of disrespect to these movies and their viewers?
In my last contact I had said that I was just about to subscribe to Amazon Prime mainly for the online movie access, but this change has caused me to NOT subscribe and I have been making far fewer purchases from Amazon as well. I had hoped that my initial contact would put an end to this practice, but as it is still going several months later I can only conclude that Amazon does not respect the art of filmmaking nor its customers, and obviously is not the company I used to think it was. The Customer Discussion Boards continue to have additional complaints about this, but the consensus there is that nobody from Amazon even reads those. This also gives me yet another reason NOT to buy my movies "digitally" rather than on physical media, if these intrusions will be forced onto movies that I have bought and paid for. Had I purchased any from Amazon, I would have requested a refund by now.
Sincerely,
Jesse Skeen

RESPONSE:

Hello Jesse,
As you may remember, I’m Erin Cooper of Amazon.com’s Executive Customer Relations. Jeff Bezos received your email and asked me to respond on his behalf.
I understand you’re upset the recommended content that appears on your screen at the end of a video haven’t been removed, Jesse. As I mentioned in my previous email, we’re constantly looking for ways to improve our services and delight our customers, such as by suggesting other content they might enjoy based on other movies they’ve watched. I realize this isn’t the answer you were hoping for, Jesse, but this feature is intentional. I’m truly sorry for any disappointment this may cause you.
I’ve brought your message to the attention of our Amazon Instant Video team to ensure they understand how important this is for you. While I regret we’ve been unable to resolve this to your satisfaction, Jesse, we really don’t have any further insight to offer on this feature, and future inquiries on this matter won’t receive a response.
We appreciate your understanding.
Best regards,
Erin Cooper

My response back:




Dear Erin,
First of all it seems that Mr. Bezos is in fact not reading all of the email sent to his address, if I am not hearing directly from him. I had heard at least when his email address became public, he took all customer inquiries seriously and demanded that employees responsible for the complaint fixed it at once. Anybody with a respect for movies can see that this practice RUINS the ending of a movie- if you want to "suggest other content they might enjoy" they can do that all they want AFTER the movie is COMPLETELY over, or when a viewer hits a button, but automatically intruding on the end credits and often blocking additional scenes at the end is just ridiculous.
As you've said that "future inquiries on this matter won't receive a response," that speaks VOLUMES about what Amazon really thinks of its customers and I have no choice at this point but to cancel my Amazon card and make further purchases from other retailers. I also purchased an Amazon Fire tablet recently, but that will either be returned or sold if a return won't be accepted. Be assured that your response will be shared with everyone I know as well, including on discussion boards where this problem has been talked about. I was a loyal Amazon customer practically since it started, but this sort of contempt for your customers (and for the movies themselves you are streaming online) is 100% UNACCEPTABLE.
Sincerely,
Jesse Skeen

And an additional letter to Jeff Bezos, forwarding Ms. Cooper's response:







Dear Mr. Bezos,
I am forwarding this response from your assistant Erin Cooper. Her response is absolutely disgusting, offensive and if this is Amazon's general attitude towards its customers then I am going to stop doing business with Amazon completely. I expect a direct response from YOU, NOT one of your "assistants" explaining this, and if I do not hear from you within the next week (by Friday, September 25th) I will do the following:
Cancel my Amazon account and credit card, and make no further purchases of any sort from Amazon.com
Close all related accounts including Instant Video
Return, sell or destroy my recently-purchased Amazon Fire Tablet
It would be INCREDIBLY easy to at least include a setting on Amazon Instant Video that allows viewers to see content COMPLETE and UNINTERRUPTED- if you want to show us "suggestions of other content we might enjoy", you can do that all you like AFTER the movie is COMPLETELY OVER, not during the ending credits. What you are doing now shows an incredible disrespect for all of those who work on films, as well as your customers who truly appreciate movies and will likely spend the most money on them. For your company to smugly tell a customer that "future inquiries on this matter won’t receive a response" is again, disgusting and offensive and I will not do business with any company that shows that much disrespect for its paying customers.
Sincerely,
Jesse Skeen

For the record, I did NOT receive a reply to that last email. I have made good on my promises.

I find this annoying aswell, why not wait to the end or at least give the option to opt out. Really stupid, netflix does it and I have to dive for the remote to stop the countdown.

revgen said:

I hate it too. Especially since they do it to movies I actually purchased on the site. I shouldn't have bumpers showing up on videos I bought.

Rumors are that Roku 2 XS players don't have this problem with the end credits. Does anybody have a Roku 2 XS and can confirm if this is true?

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I have a Roku 2 XS. I just watched the HBO movie THE GATHERING STORM. I did not see anything amiss during the credit crawl, which I watched through to the end. So, I guess the rumors are true about that player.

I would prefer they didn't do it in the first place, but giving customers the option of turning it off with the push of a button, and responding multiple times in a professional matter to inquiries about it, means I have zero problems with Amazon.

And while I'm going to stop short of being critical of you because I can see how passionate you are about this, I just ask that you think if it's really necessary to post what this Erin Cooper thought was a private e-mail to you. HTF should be better than that...

If someone from ANY company is going to be that rude to me, they shouldn't complain when I share it with people. Someone on the Roku Forum said that she should be "dismissed" for addressing a customer like that. I worked in customer service for Tower's website before the company went under (and the website was sold to another company, which is still operating it but I don't know from where) and if I had offended any customer like that I would have at least been reprimanded for it.

I would prefer they didn't do it in the first place, but giving customers the option of turning it off with the push of a button, and responding multiple times in a professional matter to inquiries about it, means I have zero problems with Amazon.

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I shouldn't have to "push a button" when I'm deeply engrossed in a movie- those who want to stop watching at the credits should have to push buttons instead (and if you do absolutely nothing, the credits will play through to the end with the menu on the screen- what good is that?) It's even more insulting that they would do this on movies you've BOUGHT- would you really be happy with paying $20 or so for a movie and having it do that every time you watched it? And who's to say they won't add MORE intrusions if people are OK with this? I certainly don't think the last response was "professional" either. Amazon calls itself "Earth's most customer-centric company" but this is anything BUT customer-centric.


Netflix does not intrude on my Roku 1, but I also have a Roku Stick and I am appalled at what they do. I'm planning on visiting their headquarters to talk to someone about that, since I'm relatively close to them. This is how their system works, which I find absolutely disgusting: http://techblog.netflix.com/2015/04/extracting-contextual-information-from.html


I can see it being useful for people who "binge-watch" TV episodes and want to skip the openings and closings, but I even watch those in their entirety (the credits and recaps usually serve as a good transition between episodes) and that should not be forced on every user. (You can disable the auto-play but it will still crunch the end credits, which makes absolutely no sense.)

I'm not sure why there is this much venom(I think the name of the Amazon employee should be redacted).

I think this is DEVICE SPECIFIC.

Amazon IV on my G Pad doesn't do this. On its display, mirrored with ChromeCast, mirrored with R-cast or via Slimport.

Not tried on my G3.

AIV on my Lenovo does this, but it is simple(and very quick) to remove it.

Only on the Roku(RF remote causing the delay?) is this a hassle.

Jesse Skeen said:

For the record, I did NOT receive a reply to that last email. I have made good on my promises.

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I appreciate your passion regarding this.

schan1269 said:

I'm not sure why there is this much venom(I think the name of the Amazon employee should be redacted).
I think this is DEVICE SPECIFIC.
Amazon IV on my G Pad doesn't do this. On its display, mirrored with ChromeCast, mirrored with R-cast or via Slimport.
Not tried on my G3.
AIV on my Lenovo does this, but it is simple(and very quick) to remove it.
Only on the Roku(RF remote causing the delay?) is this a hassle.

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Does it on my Roku 3, Sony Blu, and my Panasonic Blu. Problem is *where* they pop it on, in many cases it's literally 1 second after a fade out - The End - where you're still hearing the last scene. Netflix as well.

I'm not sure why there is this much venom(I think the name of the Amazon employee should be redacted).

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1) It's completely unacceptable to interrupt any content I've PAID FOR like this. I've never understood people who stop watching when the end credits start, they are part of the movie and should be treated as such. If people don't want to see them there's nothing stopping them from picking up the remote at that point, but don't assume that I DON'T want to watch something all the way through if I don't hit any buttons while it's playing.


2) The response I received was EXTREMELY rude- you don't brush off a customer complaint with "future inquiries on this matter won’t receive a response." Having worked customer service I've heard incredibly ridiculous demands from customers (usually trying to get free merchandise), and even THEN the laws of business say you should not be overtly rude to them- if their request is truly ridiculous you explain clearly why they can't be accommodated and try to offer them the best thing that IS possible. I'm not the first or only person to complain about this either, and it has cost them several Prime memberships.


It seems the "[email protected]" email address does not reach Jeff Bezos directly anyways- which begs the question, why tell people that it DOES? If he can't read every email customers send, why not just say that? I don't know why companies even HAVE ways to give feedback when they won't do anything about it. Amazon has certainly PRETENDED to care about its customers in the past- I was impressed a few years ago when I rented a movie in HD quality, but the internet service I had at the time wasn't sufficient and it played in SD instead. No problem I thought, but the day after they AUTOMATICALLY credited me the price difference because they had seen I did not get to watch the movie in HD. Even just last week when I was prompted to write again, I had watched a free preview clip of an upcoming TV show, where the display came on during the last 15 seconds while things were still going on. I got an email asking me how my "viewing experience" was, and of course I told them that the menu interrupted it but based on previous experience I doubted they would actually fix that.