Just an idea
Instead of working your ass off trying to integrate as many streaming apps as you can, why don't you just populate the home screen with data from TMDb and Trakt based on user login to those services. TMDb has metadata in a preferred language and Trakt can recommend shows based on user preference. Once the show is selected you can send the request to the preferred streaming service (Netflix, Stremio, Kodi, etc) I know you are focused around Plex but not everyone has a Plex server. This way you can get to so many users and the app be more popular. The look and feel is good as it is, minor touches here and there and you're done. I can see the sligh resemblance with Google TV launcher (and that is good). Just for you to think about it. Keep up the good work
Log in to comment and vote
Comments2
Jan 4, 2025
Paul Dhaliwal
Jan 4, 2025
Hello! There are a few issues with what you're suggesting:
1) One of the main aims of this project is to show recommendations based on media that people already have access to. For example, in the list of trending media, it does not show movies or shows unless it's already on your Plex server. There is no scenario where you would see something that is trending, click on it, and then be prompted to pay for a service you don't have. This would not be possible unless I am syncing data between X media platform and Dispatch.
2) Dispatch does not integrate directly with apps like netflix or other major streaming platforms, rather it integrates with Android TV's recommendations engine, which is populated by said apps themselves. The only current direct media integration within Dispatch is with Plex. Any recommendations you see in Dispatch for something like Netflix, for example, are all provided by the apps themselves and I have no control over what media they will be recommending. The deep links used to open a netflix recommendation on Dispatch's home page and launch directly to that media within the netflix app is only possible because these recommendations come with those deep links already constructed. I have no idea what they will be ahead of time.
3) Taking data from tmdb or any other online database and "sending the request to the preferred streaming service" is not as simple as it sounds. For example, netflix does not use tmdb ids, they use their own (as do all major platforms, including Plex). There is no mechanism to map Movie A from tmdb to Movie A in netflix, construct the required deep link, and then "send it to netflix". The only way to do this would be to scrape ALL internal links from netflix, which I will not be doing. There are services that do this, such as reelgood or justwatch, but they cost 10s of thousands of dollars per year for those links. This is how Plex is able to do it already, because they have partnered with one of those services (I can't remember which)