AVALIAÇÃO HEURÍSTICA EM SISTEMAS DE VÍDEO SOB DEMANDA (VOD): UMA ANÁLISE COMPARATIVA DE USABILIDADE NAS PLATAFORMAS DE STREAMING

Abstract

This study aims to comparatively evaluate the usability of Video on Demand (VoD) systems, considering the influence of technical elements such as Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), adaptive rate algorithms (ABR), and Quality of Experience (QoE) metrics on user perception. The methodology adopted is qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, and documentary in nature, using Heuristic Evaluation as the main method. Data collection was carried out through the systematic inspection of streaming platform interfaces on different devices, based on consolidated usability principles, allowing the identification of problems and the comparison of design solutions. The results indicate that user experience is directly related to the technical performance of the systems, highlighting factors such as startup time, playback stability, and frequency of quality adaptations. It was observed that reduced rebuffering rates and lower startup times contribute significantly to user satisfaction, while excessive quality changes can compromise the perception of stability. Furthermore, the efficiency of CDNs, evidenced by high cache rates and reduced latency, proved essential to ensure faster and more reliable content delivery. It is concluded that the perceived quality in streaming platforms results from the integration between efficient technological infrastructure and well-designed interfaces, with the balance between dynamic adaptation and playback stability being fundamental for optimizing the user experience.