You know the latest Roku Ultra 2020 GUI update is bad when...

[jemoore 5]

You know the latest Roku GUI update (Roku Ultra 2020) is bad when...

It's faster to exit the Emby app on Roku Ultra to wrap back to the first position from the 24th position.  App doesn't loop anymore.  No static positioning, either.  You need to move the selector back and forth to see where it is.  We end up scrolling around a lot more now.  I know you are bridge jumpers, but saner heads need to dive deep into using the interface extensively.  You can't just scroll around, see it behaves and call it good.  It needs to be useful, too.

My TCL TV with Roku built in behaves like the Roku Ultra 2020 used to.

I've complained about this before and I'm still hopeful that it returns to a more usable interface.  For example, if I want to see who the director of a movie is, you have to scan all the way to the end.  Before I could just jog to the left and boom, easy peasy.

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With all that said, does anyone have a recommendation for a better app than Emby has for Roku currently?  Or know how to revert to a previous version?

Thanks all

Jack

[Luke 37132]

Quote

No static positioning, either. 

Hi, what exactly do you mean by this?

[Gilgamesh_48 944]

I have been told that it is the Roku firmware that has changed that prevents the wrap that you, I and others would like in the Emby app. Older Rokus, like the firmware in many TVs are still using the older system so they still have the wrap feature. The Roku internal player no longer can wrap any lists like "Next up" or "Continue Watching." I am not sure that it is really true but Emby is operating under that belief and they are unlikely in the extreme to change back. They also say that they want the Roku app to behave like all the other apps ant it is not possible to have"wrap" in the other apps.
I do not really buy either excuse but it is what we have and it is what Emby/Roku provides.

One thing I would add is that you can get to the end or beginning faster by pressing and holding the FF or RW key. It is not as good as the wrap feature but it does work. My Harmony remote does not work that way but the FF or RW buttons are pretty fast anyway. I find using the FF/RW keys even with my Harmony remote is about fast enough to make me not miss the wrap feature too much.

 

[jemoore 5]

We could rely on the location of the highlighted (the hard to see highlight) to be at the first position.  Static.  Motionless.  Now we need to jiggle around to figure out where it is.  I doubt this is a roku limitation. 

Thank you for listening.

Jack

[ebr 14939]

19 hours ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

I have been told that it is the Roku firmware that has changed that prevents the wrap that you, I and others would like in the Emby app

That is not completely correct.  The Roku system still allows this style of presentation.  However, none of our other platforms do this and the other changes we made to align this app with the rest of the ecosystem also did not work well with this option on Roku.

We may, at some point in the future, try to see if this option can be restored on this platform but, for now, this app looks and behaves just like all the other Emby apps.

[jemoore 5]

Thank you for replying.  Just curious on how changes are decided upon.

Did anyone actually complain about this feature?  Did anyone ask for the wrap feature on the other platforms?  I work in a tech development group.  The leads seek out things to meddle with as means to justify their jobs.  My observations and opinion.  Making these inconsequential edits seems to be one of these.  And, with my own teams, I can't convince the execs and team leads that some change needs are imaginary. 

Alpha and beta testing for defects is not the same as beta testing for GUI usability.

Meanwhile, this household will be exiting the app and reloading to reset to "zero"

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Oh, the show counts only update when we exit the app and reload.  Another reason to work around this new updated apps limitations.

Thanks for listening

Jack

[ebr 14939]

16 minutes ago, jemoore said:

Did anyone actually complain about this feature?

Yes, we had some complaints from folks that use the other apps as well.

16 minutes ago, jemoore said:

Did anyone ask for the wrap feature on the other platforms?

Not that I can recall as most of the streaming media UIs do not have this behavior.

The purpose was to pull this app in line with all of the others.  It now much more closely matches the experience that one has with the Emby app on every other platform - providing consistency and predictability in that look and feel.

Thanks for the feedback.

[jemoore 5]

Can I ask for a feature that would allow for more customization of the GUI?

[Gilgamesh_48 944]

3 hours ago, ebr said:

The purpose was to pull this app in line with all of the others.  It now much more closely matches the experience that one has with the Emby app on every other platform - providing consistency and predictability in that look and feel.

I have said before and will say again that limiting one app simply because the others cant do something it can is a very bad idea. It is the equivalent of lowering teaching standards because a few kids fall behind.
But I have lost this argument before and I am sure I will lose it again.

BTW: Implementing wrap in any interface should be pretty easy as all you need to do is seek to the last item if left is pressed on the first item or seek to the first item if right is pressed on the last item.
It may not be truly that simple but from what is displayed at any point we know Emby knows the location of item #1 and the location of the last item and how long the list is and unless something other than a linked list (or some such structure) is used that is all that is needed to seek to any item in the list including the first and last items.

I STRONGLY believe this should be reintroduced to the Roku interface and I will discuss the mistake it was to remove this functionality at any opportunity. You have been warned!  

[arrbee99 1561]

I'm probably misunderstanding wrapping (unusual for me), but to me the only thing against wrapping is going too far. If you want to scroll quickly to the end of a list and you happen to be at the beginning, you should be able to get there by clicking left (up ?) once. But if you're, say, fifth from the top and you hold left (up ?), you want it to stop at the first item before clicking once more to get to the end. You don't want it to automatically go to the first in the list then wrap straight to the end of the list and further before you know whats happening.

[Gilgamesh_48 944]

17 minutes ago, arrbee99 said:

I'm probably misunderstanding wrapping (unusual for me), but to me the only thing against wrapping is going too far. If you want to scroll quickly to the end of a list and you happen to be at the beginning, you should be able to get there by clicking left (up ?) once. But if you're, say, fifth from the top and you hold left (up ?), you want it to stop at the first item before clicking once more to get to the end. You don't want it to automatically go to the first in the list then wrap straight to the end of the list and further before you know whats happening.

That is really a non issue. At all times Emby knows how many items are in a list and they know exactly where they currently are so the action produced by any key press can be easily determined by simple arithmetic and any attempt to move past the last item can be easily changed to a move to the end.
There are a lot of things that computers are not real good at but arithmetic is what they are very good at and there will be not attempt to seek past the end of the list because the numbers just will not allow it.

[arrbee99 1561]

Sounds easy enough. I also like wrapping but just concerned the focus doesn't disappear into the sunset if you hold the button for too long

[ebr 14939]

18 hours ago, arrbee99 said:

I'm probably misunderstanding wrapping (unusual for me), but to me the only thing against wrapping is going too far. If you want to scroll quickly to the end of a list and you happen to be at the beginning, you should be able to get there by clicking left (up ?) once. But if you're, say, fifth from the top and you hold left (up ?), you want it to stop at the first item before clicking once more to get to the end. You don't want it to automatically go to the first in the list then wrap straight to the end of the list and further before you know whats happening.

Yes, that is the downside to the wrapping behavior.  It makes it much harder to quickly get to the end or beginning - or even realize when you are as you have to look at and comprehend the counter at the same time you are watching the focus.  This is most likely why pretty much no media interface behaves this way.

19 hours ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

limiting one app simply because the others cant do something

This is not a matter of "limiting" as that behavior has definite downsides and is unfamiliar to anyone who is used to using most other interfaces.

[jemoore 5]

If you're counting comments as complaints that translate into behavior changes, then please add my comments to the complaints pile. 

As always, thank you for listening.

Jack

[Nashemon 3]

I noticed this a few weeks ago on my Roku, and have been looking for how to fix it or suggest it to be returned to how it was. After I finish a movie, I like to look at what else the director has done, so I press down, left, select. Suddenly that doesn't work anymore. I have to now press down, hold right for up to a minute or press it 80+ times depending on the movie, then press select.

Thanks to this thread I now understand why it was done, and also learned RR and FF provides some relief, but I have two ideas.

1. A director, IMO, is a very important part of a film. Wouldn't it make more sense for the director to be at the beginning of the cast and crew list, rather than at the end with the extras. Can that be implemented or made an option?

2. Make the director's name listed under the movie's title a selectable item, as it is in the webapp.

[ebr 14939]

If testing goes well, there will be an option for fixed scrolling with wrap in the next release.  The caveat is performance and/or any other big problems we find with it in testing.

Stay tuned.