Movies & TV App for Windows 10 Gets a Fun UI Refresh

Movies & TV App for Windows 10 Gets a Fun UI Refresh

We’re just weeks away from the release of the Creators Update, but Microsoft continues to screw around with the Windows 10 in-box apps. The latest example: A fun new UI refresh for the Movies & TV app.

If you’re familiar with the company’s previous shenanigans around this app and Groove, I have good news this time: This new update is available to Windows 10 Insiders in the Fast ring and the Slow ring right now. You don’t have to play around with your ring settings and hope you get the update.

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What awaits is an interesting new look and feel that departs from the look and feel of so many other Windows 10 in-box apps. I wonder if this new look will be applied to Groove in the future as well.

As before, there are three main views to the app. But this time around they’re different. Instead of Movies, TV, and Videos, as before, now we get Explore, Purchased and Personal.

Explore is new. This view provides a front-end to new content you can buy or rent in Windows Store, but also free videos like movie trailers and

Explore is new. This view provides a front-end to new content you can buy or rent in Windows Store, but also free videos like movie trailers and 360-degree videos.

It’s perfect for that Windows Mixed Reality headset you’ve been eyeing, but it also works with any Creators Update-based PC; just drag the video with your finger or mouse.

The new Purchased view replaces the previous Movies and TV views. It shows movies by default, but you can use the Media type filter to switch to a TV view.

Personal replaces Videos and shows you any non-protected videos you’ve downloaded to your PC, as before.

I like it.

Small update: Groove has a new intro animation/movie, and I bet this app is updated to the new look and feel soon.

 

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Conversation 33 comments

  • skane2600

    08 March, 2017 - 11:06 am

    <p>I suspect that very few people will ever buy or rent movies or TV shows through MS. </p><p><br></p><p>Since my response got erased (again), I'll comment through editing this one: I got a lot of downvotes. If there's evidence that MS's service is competitive with Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, or iTunes, I'd like to see it. I never claimed that nobody used the service. Some people bought the Zune too, that didn't mean it was successful.</p>

    • xapache

      08 March, 2017 - 11:36 am

      <blockquote><a href="#89180"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>I bet I've already bought lots from them and it works perfectly in Windows 10 today.&nbsp; Enjoy downloading to my SB before I travel – works great.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

    • Vuppe

      08 March, 2017 - 11:44 am

      <blockquote><a href="#89180"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>I do it all the time. Best way to get movies onto my Surface for train/plane. </p>

    • skane2600

      08 March, 2017 - 12:06 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#89180">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>Such a negative reaction to my comment. If there's evidence that MS's service is competitive with Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, or iTunes I'd like to see it.</p>

    • Jeff Jones

      08 March, 2017 - 12:26 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#89180">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>I agree. they still have the cross platform problem that they also have with Edge. Until they can get apps on iOS and Android it's better to go with Google, Vudu, or maybe Amazon.</p>

    • Dan

      08 March, 2017 - 3:38 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#89180">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>I'd agree with you. Its an afterthought service and doesn't compete with industry leaders.</p>

    • Winner

      08 March, 2017 - 6:44 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#89180"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>IMHO Microsoft is never going to be a large player in this market. They floundered around while others got way ahead of the game. And then with the OS challenges, most affluent people use Macs for their home and media. And most non-affluent people pirate or don't use media at all.</p>

    • NazmusLabs

      09 March, 2017 - 12:51 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#89180"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>As for renting, it doen't matter what service you use. If a movie is on sale on Microsoft's service, why WOULDN'T you rent it if the service is available on the device you want to use (if it isn't then it's a different case)</p>

  • gregsedwards

    Premium Member
    08 March, 2017 - 11:10 am

    <p>So much to ❤ here. I'm currently holding off on Insider builds on my family PCs, but I may jump back into the slow ring just to get these. Thanks for the heads up!</p>

  • mdb17

    08 March, 2017 - 11:31 am

    <p>Some versions of Groove have the been updated with a UI that more closely matches the Movies and TV one. &nbsp;</p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      08 March, 2017 - 12:40 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#89186"><em>In reply to mdb17:</em></a></blockquote><p>What version number?</p>

      • mdb17

        09 March, 2017 - 11:08 am

        <blockquote><a href="#89218"><em>In reply to jimchamplin:</em></a></blockquote><p>10.17021.1027.0 has the new pivot controls</p>

  • kenhes

    08 March, 2017 - 11:50 am

    <p>FYI You have a duplicate paragraph:</p><p>Explore is new. This view provides a front-end to new content you can buy or rent in Windows Store, but also free videos like movie trailers and</p>

  • Sebastian Ambrose Hilton

    08 March, 2017 - 11:57 am

    <p>i wonder why the change wasn't their whole thing about hamburger menus and now it looks like it is going backwards to windows 8 days except minus the big blocks (tiles). Maybe not enough people was buying their movies and tv shows and so they adopted this new look to give an easier access to tv shows and movies</p>

  • kcarson97404

    Premium Member
    08 March, 2017 - 12:02 pm

    <p>Generally I've always liked the Movies and TV app, and especially so on XBox. It's only problem is that it is not available on other platforms. Microsoft really needs to put this app on Android, iOS, Roku, etc. if it wants this platform to really take off. Otherwise, i will continue to buy my movies from Amazon. </p>

    • Chris_Kez

      Premium Member
      08 March, 2017 - 3:03 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#89202">In reply to kcarson97404:</a></em></blockquote><p>Microsoft is all about the "mobility of experience"; unless that experience is watching videos or browsing the web.</p>

  • Subhadip Sen

    08 March, 2017 - 12:15 pm

    <p>As others have pointed out, it's pretty curious how far ahead of it's time the original Metro design was. I knew the hamburger style in Windows 10 1506 was a step back, and here we are two years later, we are back to a more Metro like style. Indeed, Neon seems like Metro 2.0.</p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      08 March, 2017 - 12:39 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#89205"><em>In reply to Subhadip Sen:</em></a></blockquote><p>I can't complain much about that.</p>

  • Waethorn

    08 March, 2017 - 1:32 pm

    <p>I'm getting by with free documentaries on RTD lately.</p>

  • jwpear

    Premium Member
    08 March, 2017 - 2:32 pm

    <p>I'd love to see some tweaking of Groove.&nbsp; I still find it hard to discover music and distinguish my music from&nbsp;music pass or store music.&nbsp; I need to go back and look at the old Zune app to see what's so helpful there.</p><p>I want to like Groove and support it, but I find myself getting frustrated with it every time.&nbsp; </p>

  • Mestiphal

    08 March, 2017 - 3:30 pm

    <p>forget the UI, they need to fix the app again, for some reason now when I put on a local movie with different audio tracks, when I try to change the audio it gives me an error saying the audio device is being used by something else. this is new since the last app version..</p>

  • Yogimax

    08 March, 2017 - 6:02 pm

    <p>This update doesn't appear to be available in the UK – US only?</p>

    • Tony Barrett

      09 March, 2017 - 7:04 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#89283">In reply to Yogimax:</a></em></blockquote><p>Always US only with Microsoft. Everywhere else is second rate.</p>

  • rameshthanikodi

    08 March, 2017 - 6:47 pm

    <p>Nobody uses or even knows about Microsoft's movies/music services here in Asia. It isn't available here.</p>

    • fbman

      09 March, 2017 - 1:17 am

      <blockquote><a href="#89297"><em>In reply to rameshthanikodi:</em></a></blockquote><p>Its the same here in South Africa where its also no movies/music available,</p><p><br></p><p>So for us Apple and google are available.. so when ms do decide to expand, they will be irrelevant. </p>

    • NazmusLabs

      09 March, 2017 - 12:48 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#89297">In reply to rameshthanikodi:</a></em></blockquote><p>Does OneDrive feature work? I don't use Groove music pass, but the fact that everything in my OneDrive's music folder can be played offline or streamed in iOS and Android is the only reason to use it. This means you never have to manually use iTunes to bring audio to your iOS device.</p>

  • will

    Premium Member
    08 March, 2017 - 7:06 pm

    <p>I would buy more from MS if they made a small TV adapter that would give me the ability to watch movies on my TV without the need for a full Xbox.</p>

  • Atoqir

    09 March, 2017 - 2:53 am

    <p>So now that almost all apps respect the accent color as titlebar, according to these screenshots we&nbsp;are back to square one meaning "boring edgy gray"</p>

  • Spineless

    09 March, 2017 - 9:01 am

    <p>MPEG2 support is a welcome addition.</p>

  • rbwatson0

    Premium Member
    09 March, 2017 - 9:30 pm

    <p>I still can't get the update on my Fast Ring computer??? So much for available to everyone.</p>

    • SvenJ

      10 March, 2017 - 11:15 am

      <blockquote><a href="#89611"><em>In reply to rbwatson0:</em></a> Same here. Fast ring and haven't seen a Movies or Groove update since before 24 Feb. (that's how far back the store list goes). Oh Well. Guess we only have a few weeks before we can catch up to the mainstream.</blockquote><p><br></p>

  • laven56

    10 May, 2017 - 10:18 pm

    <p>Movies &amp; TV app is cool but you can also <a href="https://oneboxhd.net&quot; target="_blank">download OneBox HD</a> app to watch all latest movies and TV Shows for free right from your Windows PC and Android devices. This app offers all latest movies and TV Shows for free.</p>

  • jeetisking

    01 March, 2019 - 5:54 am

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