Top Picks support thread

[chef 3804]

Welcome to Top Picks

Top Picks will create a custom movie library with ranked items to share with your user base.  

 

Enabling settings in the top pick configuration will allow you to create a library based on your user engagement, and also customize what's being shown in the library.

 

Note: Larger movie libraries will have the best chance at generating user engagement top pick items. Smaller libraries may only generate a couple top picks automatically. 

Critic rating, and community rating do play a part in choosing top pick items, along with User Likes/Favorited Items, and also Watched States.

 

Creating, and editing the Top Picks List:

After enabling, and running the scheduled task for user engagement (which will populate an initial list, but is also completely optional), you can also customize the library by adding movies of your choosing, and add-to/edit  the top picks list to a maximum number of 9 items.

 

It is important to note that users of the Top Picks library should not hide watched content from their home screen. This will ensure that all the content added to Top Picks is shown in the home screen layout.

 

Pinning Items to the list:

These items remain during the engagement rotation. This means that only auto generated items will be replaced weekly.

Note: List item rotation will only happen when items are available in the library which meet the engagement criteria. This may lead to some manual up keep of the list.

(In the image above,  only the 2nd, and 9th item are allow to change,  because they are not pinned to the list. However, the item changes will be based on the engagement results, and may not change based on the current state of the library and user engagement stats.)

The more your users engage with the library, the more dynamic top picks will create lists.

 

Favor custom  thumb images over primary images:

Favor custom primary images:

Mobile:

Android Enhanced Home Screen Layout

 

Entering the Top Picks library you should choose to "Sort by Date Added" to have the images order themselves.

 

There is a week long trial to test it out, after you install it from the catalog. If there are any questions please post them here in this thread.

Please be kind,  a lot of time, and work went into this.

I'm open to further discussions regarding things that might make Top Picks better in the future as well.

- chef  

Version 1.0.0.20

• theme media is now added if it exists for a library item.

Version 1.0.0.19

• Current NFO files that exist in the library are now successfully used and properly altered for top pick items. This stops Emby from having to try and identify items which are already properly identified in the library.
• The ability to target a specific library for top pick creation.

Version 1.0.0.18

• Library items now have the option to show the top pick tag or not.
• Top picks drawing classes now attempt to draw custom thumb/primary images in memory without saving assets until complete.

Version 1.0.0.17

• Library is created with servers language for metadata retrieval.
• Top Picks will now search providers for missing resources to draw custom images for the library

 

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by chef

[gihayes 46]

That looks wonderful man .

[Spaceboy 2565]

i'm in

[Cheesegeezer 3096]

Just want to add.  @chef has worked really hard with this and there were a hell of a lot of bugs to weed out and so much dedication from him to get this to Release.  

He never ceases to amaze me with his ideas and hard work.

What's even better is you can set the schedule task for an interval to generate new top picks from the Engagement section, set this up in the UI how you want 

then set the Schedule task to run weekly, every 4 days or what every you want to generate new top picks that will interest your users

That being said.... The plugin is available in the Catalogue under the General Section.  Give it a go and you will be super happy.  

[ttgapers 98]

Looks cool and more importantly a functionally awesome feature to add  that helps with user engagement!

Hats off! Perhaps call it Top "Movie" Picks for now...or do you plan multiple types of Picks later on? (TV, Movies, Collections, Music etc.)?

Top dev @chef

[chef 3804]

Thanks for the kind words.

If this plugin goes over well, we can use the same registration to create a companion in the future that can handle other media types in emby for sure. 

Edited October 19, 2022 by chef

[Seger 116]

Hey, sensational work, I clicked buy right away without testing and paid via paypal.

I have a large library and unfortunately I clicked frantically on update and automatic run, so I can't really tell you the process, sorry. But, for me the top picks are displayed without numbers, no matter which option I click on, can you tell me how the numbers get in there. I also noticed that when I click into the films, there is a black line above the poster and the global setting of not showing the film name/logo above the poster does not apply.

The biggest problem, however, is that all the libraries remain empty, i.e. when I click into Top Picks, films, series or anywhere else... I think it is still working in the background and my server is not usable until then... Attached are some logs, maybe you can see something ....

embyserver-63801800540.txtembyserver-63801799520.txtembyserver (1).txt

[Seger 116]

Update:

The biggest problem, however, is that all the libraries remain empty, i.e. when I click into Top Picks, films, series or anywhere else... I think it is still working in the background and my server is not usable until then... Attached are some logs, maybe you can see something ....

The libraries can be called up again, everything else as described above (images) is unchanged. What I also noticed is that the top picks are not at the top when you continue viewing and cannot be moved to the top, and the library in the media cannot be hidden.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Seger

[chef 3804]

28 minutes ago, Seger said:

Update:

The biggest problem, however, is that all the libraries remain empty, i.e. when I click into Top Picks, films, series or anywhere else... I think it is still working in the background and my server is not usable until then... Attached are some logs, maybe you can see something ....

The libraries can be called up again, everything else as described above (images) is unchanged. What I also noticed is that the top picks are not at the top when you continue viewing and cannot be moved to the top, and the library in the media cannot be hidden.

thanks for the feedback.

The configuration will attempt to place the Top Picks at the very top of the home screen.

If the library will not be placed at the top by selecting the toggle in the config page, you can still place it at the top of the screen under AppSettings > Library Order.

In the meantime, I will attempt to ratify the issue for an upcoming release tomorrow which will also have some updates.

 

With regards to the custom images being displayed on the home screen.

Please try running the "Update Top Picks" Scheduled task again.

During this task you will see the library scan run twice.

Once the task is complete the images should be rendered on the home screen.

If the problem persists, please send me a log. There is a small chance that linux users may face a folder permission issue,  which I will attempt to fix in a compatibility update.

I look forward to hearing back from you.

 

EDIT: @Seger from the logs I can see that the scheduled task wasn't quite complete and attempted to run again.

Please attempt to run the Engagement task once. It will handle kicking off the Update task when it is ready to do so.

It may take a moment or two to complete the entire setup, which runs certain scans in succession.

Also, a quick question, is your movie library saving artwork in folders, or are you grabbing them on the fly?

Let me know how it goes  

Edited October 19, 2022 by chef

[Seger 116]

Hey @chef 

I have just done the following:

I am using the plugin "Cover Art" and have now added the path of top-picks under Ignore Folders. Otherwise there are errors in the display of the posters, such as black bars and the top picks numbers are not displayed. 

Then I ran everything again. TOP Picks Poster is in the library, see search, but it is not displayed on the homescreen. In fact, it's upside down. It is displayed under Recent Movies but not under Top Picks:

 

embyserver (2).txt

Edited October 19, 2022 by Seger

[chef 3804]

3 minutes ago, Seger said:

Hey @chef 

I have just done the following:

I am using the plugin "Cover Art" and have now added the path of top-picks under Ignore Folders. Otherwise there are errors in the display of the posters, such as black bars and the top picks numbers are not displayed. 

Then I ran everything again. TOP Picks Poster is in the library, see search, but it is not displayed on the homescreen. In fact, it's upside down. It is displayed under Recent Movies but not under Top Picks:

 

embyserver (2).txt 544.71 kB · 0 downloads

Okay, the tab is to be expected on your normal library items which can let you know while browsing that the item is part of the top picks library. Perhaps that can be a configurable option in the future.

The good news is that your Linux machine is not having the permission issue I mentioned before.

It is possible that you browser has cached the images from your initial top picks scan.

I will read through your current log and be right back.

 

[Seger 116]

39 minutes ago, Seger said:

Update:

The biggest problem, however, is that all the libraries remain empty, i.e. when I click into Top Picks, films, series or anywhere else... I think it is still working in the background and my server is not usable until then... Attached are some logs, maybe you can see something ....

The libraries can be called up again, everything else as described above (images) is unchanged. What I also noticed is that the top picks are not at the top when you continue viewing and cannot be moved to the top, and the library in the media cannot be hidden.

Referring again to the theme of the arrangement:

 

Would like to have the folder in the last place, but the widgets in the first place or even the option not to show the library folder, so you only go in via widgets.

 

[chef 3804]

1 minute ago, Seger said:

Referring again to the theme of the arrangement:

 

Would like to have the folder in the last place, but the widgets in the first place or even the option not to show the library folder, so you only go in via widgets.

 

That is a cool idea. 

Let me try and help you fix the images first and then we can definitely try and figure out how we can do that.

[chef 3804]

@Seger

Okay, I now know what is happening here.

One of the ways that Top Picks will draw the custom  images for your  item is by having a Logo, and a Backdrop available to create the image.

I see this in the log.

2022-10-19 18:28:40.918 Error Top Picks: Skipping image render for Top Gun: Maverick. Missing necessary image metadata.

 

Currently,  The reason that your images are not rendering is because one or both images are not saved in the media folders (possibly as part of your library configuration).

 I have expected that this might happen for people who do not have this option selected as part of their  library configuration, and I have begun writing a provider class that will fetch these images, and create top pick custom images when this is the case.

I will put this on top priority, and push a release as soon as the code is finished.

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by chef

[GrimReaper 3977]

3 hours ago, chef said:

If this plugin goes over well, we can use the same registration to create a companion in the future that can handle other media types in emby for sure. 

That'd be great, at least if TV Shows could be included. 

[Seger 116]

20 minutes ago, chef said:

@Seger

Okay, I now what is happening here.

One of the ways that Top Picks will draw the custom  images for you  item is by having a Logo, and a Backdrop available to create the image.

I see this in the log.

2022-10-19 18:28:40.918 Error Top Picks: Skipping image render for Top Gun: Maverick. Missing necessary image metadata.

 

Currently,  The reason that your images are not rendering is because they are not saved in media folders as part of your library configuration.

 I have expected that this might happen for people who do not have this option selected as part of their  library configuration, and I have begun writing a provider class that will fetch these images, and create top pick custom images when this is the case.

I will put this on top priority, and push a release as soon as the code is finished.

 

yes and no, I have the posters and fanart locally, but these are the original ones that are stored by Emby. The ones with the Bluray covers come from the Cover Art plugin and are therefore not local. As you can see from the picture, the images are rendered, but it is the one from the library that is changed, not the one from the Top Picks library.

Sorry for my flood of messages, I am more than satisfied and thank you very much for the great work! I'm done for today, enjoy your great work and your paypal account ;-). 

[chef 3804]

13 minutes ago, Seger said:

yes and no, I have the posters and fanart locally, but these are the original ones that are stored by Emby. The ones with the Bluray covers come from the Cover Art plugin and are therefore not local. As you can see from the picture, the images are rendered, but it is the one from the library that is changed, not the one from the Top Picks library.

Sorry for my flood of messages, I am more than satisfied and thank you very much for the great work! I'm done for today, enjoy your great work and your paypal account ;-). 

Thank you seger.

I'll be in touch soon. 

[chef 3804]

excellent.

Top picks will now contact providers to locate the resources it needs to draw the custom images if they don't exist in the library. Very nice.

...
2022-10-19 22:37:03.388 Info Top Picks: Retrieving Logo from provider for Top Pick Aliens...
2022-10-19 22:37:04.701 Info Top Picks: Raiders of the Lost Ark logo copy successful.
2022-10-19 22:37:04.710 Info Top Picks: Raiders of the Lost Ark backdrop copy successful.
2022-10-19 22:37:04.922 Info Top Picks: Nobody logo copy successful.
2022-10-19 22:37:04.956 Info Top Picks: Nobody backdrop copy successful.
2022-10-19 22:37:05.058 Info Top Picks: Ghostbusters: Afterlife logo copy successful.
2022-10-19 22:37:05.237 Info Top Picks: Aliens backdrop copy successful.
...

I will tend to some error handling, and push an update.

I will also post what is contained in the update in the OP.

 

[Junglejim 383]

This is fantastic mate, had to register with paypal as soon as I installed it.

Thanks for your time on this! It looks and works great.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Junglejim

[jblaze12 8]

I'm feeling a bit slow: am I understanding correctly that I have to manually add all the "top picks" and the plugin doesn't auto generate lists?

[chef 3804]

1 hour ago, jblaze12 said:

I'm feeling a bit slow: am I understanding correctly that I have to manually add all the "top picks" and the plugin doesn't auto generate lists?

Hi jblaze,

Have you run the user engagement task under the Top Picks section in scheduled tasks page?

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by chef

[jblaze12 8]

18 minutes ago, chef said:

Hi jblaze,

Have you run the user engagement task under the Top Picks section in scheduled tasks page?

Ah ha. Of course not. I read your careful instructions and simply zoned out! Working perfectly  now, thanks! This is great!

[chef 3804]

22 minutes ago, jblaze12 said:

Ah ha. Of course not. I read your careful instructions and simply zoned out! Working perfectly  now, thanks! This is great!

Excellent! Glad it is working

[Adminelite 4]

On 10/19/2022 at 7:19 PM, Seger said:

Update:

The biggest problem, however, is that all the libraries remain empty, i.e. when I click into Top Picks, films, series or anywhere else... I think it is still working in the background and my server is not usable until then... Attached are some logs, maybe you can see something ....

The libraries can be called up again, everything else as described above (images) is unchanged. What I also noticed is that the top picks are not at the top when you continue viewing and cannot be moved to the top, and the library in the media cannot be hidden.

Guten Morgen

ist es auch möglich mit Serie ? wenn Ja wie Genau 

beste Danke schnell Antwort

[Cheesegeezer 3096]

1 hour ago, Adminelite said:

Good morning

is it also possible with series? if yes how Exactly 

best thanks quick response

Currently only available for movies