The user flow of both the iOS app and the Android TV app is really clunky. When I login to the app to watch a live stream, I’ll see the stream listed with a live icon, but when I select it, I get a message that I need to pay for the event.
In order to watch the event, I must select the Library tab, click the Purchased Tab, then click the Gizmoplex Member pass. At which point, I can select the current live stream and then I’m given access.
SOLUTION:
When I log into the app, I should just select the current livestream. The app should see that I’m a member with the correct permissions, and then start the stream. The same should occur when I watch the replay. It asks me if I want to rent the movie when I already have access rights to it.
I’m guessing there’s a reason for this, but it makes for a frustrating experience. Thank you!
Yeah, it’s a little clunky for sure but unfortunately the team is pretty limited in what they can do. All the apps are off-the-shelf solutions that they have very little control over.
Here’s a post from Ivan that explains more. It’s in reference to the Virtual Theater, but the reasoning is the same.
That makes sense. I didn’t realize it was a white label product which makes sense in retrospect.
Just some food for thought. I work for raywederlich.com and we developed a mobile application for customers to watch our videos. The app is open-source that takes contributions from the community. You can see it here:
The contributor just needs to have an active subscription to view videos on the app, but they can submit new features and bug fixes.
Being the MST3K community tends to have lots of high-tech folks, it might be worth investigating the idea of creating a community-developed app in something like Flutter.