Please don't play specials in-line with a series

[TurkeyMan 9]

I like that Emby supports specials, it fetches the metadata, and it's *kiiiinda* cool that it shows them in the series timeline according to the "plays before [ep]" tags...

But when these items are inserted into the series timeline, they seem to be played while playing through the series... this is not great.

It especially sucks when some specials have "plays before S01E01", in this case, a bunch of junk appears as the first thing that plays when you start a new series. If you're in the main-menu, and you just press "PLAY" on a thing, it should automatically play S01E01, but instead, it starts playing a bunch of random special feature junk. Nobody wants to watch specials BEFORE they've seen the show... it's stuff you want to see only after you have seen and love the show.

TL;DR: when pressing play, or moving to the "next" episode while binge-ing, always skip any material from the Specials. Please!

Edited December 19, 2022 by TurkeyMan
Typo

[TurkeyMan 9]

This is so annoying, I'm finding I just delete all specials content from distributions, because this issue is more annoying than the value I might ever get from that content

[Happy2Play 8282]

My understanding is you have to disable "Display specials within seasons they aired in" on Settings-Library, Advanced tab.

[Luke 37068]

48 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

My understanding is you have to disable "Display specials within seasons they aired in" on Settings-Library, Advanced tab.

Yes that is correct. You are in complete control here to configure this however you wish.

[TurkeyMan 9]

> My understanding is you have to disable "Display specials within seasons they aired in" on Settings-Library, Advanced tab.

I'm not upset that they're DISPLAYed though, that's kinda cool, a viewer should be able to see them and press on them if they like, I just really don't want them to PLAY in-line with the series... This isn't about displaying them.

[TurkeyMan 9]

Also, while we're on it, why are Specials always on the far left? They're in the place of the first season... I'd prefer 1000x if they were on the right at the end, rather than at the start.

It's the same thing, Specials are not the first thing anybody wants to see when they browse a show.

[TurkeyMan 9]

> Yes that is correct. You are in complete control here to configure this however you wish.

Really? How do I make them not play? Also, I want them at the end (on the right)...

Edited December 19, 2022 by TurkeyMan

[Happy2Play 8282]

Currently if they are injected into Seasons they will be presented in Next Up order.  There is no option to display in season but ignore during playback.

They are Season 0 so 0 will precede 1.

[crusher11 851]

You have your specials set to play in-season, and you're upset that they play in-season?

Takes all kinds.

[TurkeyMan 9]

No, I have it set to DISPLAY in season, not to play in season.

Safe to say I'm not "in complete control here to configure this however you wish"

> Takes all kinds.

Riiight. I mean, is there anybody that actually wants the specials to interrupt the show? I can't imagine that's a thing that anyone would want to have ever? Are you telling me you prefer to have a random special interrupt the show you're watching? That's what you really want?

It's good that they are displayed, because then you can easily see that they exist, and the timeline that they are relevant.

Edited December 19, 2022 by TurkeyMan

[TurkeyMan 9]

> They are Season 0 so 0 will precede 1.

What do you mean? They are "Specials/...", even alphabetically, that should come later.

[Happy2Play 8282]

7 minutes ago, TurkeyMan said:

> They are Season 0 so 0 will precede 1.

What do you mean? They are "Specials/...", even alphabetically, that should come later.

Specials is an alias for Season 0 (sorted by season number)

Specials

Edited December 19, 2022 by Happy2Play

[TurkeyMan 9]

Okay, I see... so, then can there be an option for not that behaviour?

Shows don't have season-zero's, that's just some naming convention that the cataloguing scene came up with I guess, but again, I'm pretty certain it's not actually what people want as a UX experience. It shouldn't be the first thing in line when you look into a new show, in fact, it should be the last.

[Happy2Play 8282]

5 minutes ago, TurkeyMan said:

Okay, I see... so, then can there be an option for not that behaviour?

Shows don't have season-zero's, that's just some naming convention that the cataloguing scene came up with I guess, but again, I'm pretty certain it's not actually what people want as a UX experience. It shouldn't be the first thing in line when you look into a new show, in fact, it should be the last.

Matter of personal preference but there is currently no option for this. 

Edited December 19, 2022 by Happy2Play

[TurkeyMan 9]

Hence the feature request

[Happy2Play 8282]

There are two separate requests here then.

Display Specials within Season but Do Not play them.  Right now, it is display and play or don't display.

Move Specials to the End of Seasons list.

[TurkeyMan 9]

Yes, exactly. Thank you.

I'd argue that for that first issue, that's actually what people want, and I reckon if you did a poll, you'd find very close to zero people would want it the way it is... so yeah, either add an option, or change the existing option so that it's the thing people want?

Maybe I'm wrong... maybe actually do a poll? ... or just add the option checkbox.

Edited December 19, 2022 by TurkeyMan

[Happy2Play 8282]

10 minutes ago, TurkeyMan said:

Yes, exactly. Thank you.

I'd argue that for that first issue, that's actually what people want, and I reckon if you did a poll, you'd find very close to zero people would want it the way it is... so yeah, either add an option, or change the existing option so that it's a thing people want?

Maybe I'm wrong... maybe actually do a poll? ... or just add the option checkbox.

I know I don't want it to change, but no one will ever have the same preferences.

It took years of Specials to be in Next Up orders and was a feature request that users wanted.  There are several duplicates but here are a couple for it.

Have TV specials that appear within seasons between episodes show within 'Next Up' on the dashboard - Feature Requests - Emby Community

Include "Specials" on Next Up - Feature Requests - Emby Community

 

Edited December 19, 2022 by Happy2Play

[TurkeyMan 9]

> I know I don't want it that way, but no one will ever have the same preferences

Are you saying that you actually WANT random extras to interrupt your show? Are you also happy that when you press play on a new show, it fires up a random making-of, or director commentary video instead of playing the actual show?

From your own perspective, and given that you show this was a long-standing feature request, how is this a good thing? What is the use case for this which makes it desirable? I guess there must be some very particular management or curating of specials content that's nothing like the media I've seen floating around to make this something that might be seen as useful?

[Happy2Play 8282]

4 minutes ago, TurkeyMan said:

> I know I don't want it that way, but no one will ever have the same preferences

Are you saying that you actually WANT random extras to interrupt your show? Are you also happy that when you press play on a new show, it fires up a random making-of, or director commentary video instead of playing the actual show?

From your own perspective, and given that you show this was a long-standing feature request, how is this a good thing? What is the use case for this which makes it desirable? I guess there must be some very particular management or curating of specials content that's nothing like the media I've seen floating around to make this something that might be seen as useful?

I was referring to changing again.  I very seldomly do specials but if they are displayed within season, I expect them to play as others have requested. 

 

[crusher11 851]

3 hours ago, TurkeyMan said:

> I know I don't want it that way, but no one will ever have the same preferences

Are you saying that you actually WANT random extras to interrupt your show? Are you also happy that when you press play on a new show, it fires up a random making-of, or director commentary video instead of playing the actual show?

From your own perspective, and given that you show this was a long-standing feature request, how is this a good thing? What is the use case for this which makes it desirable? I guess there must be some very particular management or curating of specials content that's nothing like the media I've seen floating around to make this something that might be seen as useful?

Why would those kinds of specials be set to occur during a season in the first place?

If it has a place in a season then yes, I want it to play in that position, that's the entire point of that metadata field. Random extra features shouldn't have any "plays during" information set in the first place.

Specials that do have in-season information include things like Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, or the 9/11 episode of The West Wing, or the Party Games episode that connects Yes, Minister with Yes, Prime Minister, or Prison Break's TV movie finale. And yes, they should play in season. 

[Bottles51 63]

6 hours ago, TurkeyMan said:

No, I have it set to DISPLAY in season, not to play in season.

Safe to say I'm not "in complete control here to configure this however you wish"

> Takes all kinds.

Riiight. I mean, is there anybody that actually wants the specials to interrupt the show? I can't imagine that's a thing that anyone would want to have ever? Are you telling me you prefer to have a random special interrupt the show you're watching? That's what you really want?

It's good that they are displayed, because then you can easily see that they exist, and the timeline that they are relevant.

There are some specials that are story-line specific that just about everyone would want to play in order.

[Luke 37068]

11 hours ago, TurkeyMan said:

> I know I don't want it that way, but no one will ever have the same preferences

Are you saying that you actually WANT random extras to interrupt your show? Are you also happy that when you press play on a new show, it fires up a random making-of, or director commentary video instead of playing the actual show?

From your own perspective, and given that you show this was a long-standing feature request, how is this a good thing? What is the use case for this which makes it desirable? I guess there must be some very particular management or curating of specials content that's nothing like the media I've seen floating around to make this something that might be seen as useful?

I think most of us probably don't want the random ones but sometimes there are some that are part of the story and fit well.

There problem is that this data comes from tvdb so you either have to take all of it or none of it.

[crusher11 851]

9 hours ago, Luke said:

I think most of us probably don't want the random ones but sometimes there are some that are part of the story and fit well.

There problem is that this data comes from tvdb so you either have to take all of it or none of it.

Or manually edit your metadata. 

[randomWalk 1]

Now I handle this problems by moving all extra files into Extras folder and make a `.ignore` flag file in it. Then they will not appear in the season list.

I'm also waiting  for the support of TV Specials/Extras files for all individual seasons (not the Season 0, when have metadata in TVDB/TMDB)

just add a new seperate folder in the web UI to collect all things in the Specials/Extras folder, no metadata fetch needed, just show the file names. That's enough.