Watch History - An Emby Channel Plugin

[Cheesegeezer 3086]

SEE WHAT OTHER USERS ARE WATCHING ON YOUR SERVER

 

What does it do and how does it work?

1. Simply put, it collects every (non-hidden) user's watch history for the last 100 items (Episodes and Movies) and then Displays sub categories for each user.  
2. Parental ratings are enabled - so a kid with a max parental rating of PG can't view other content that is higher than this on, say... a Parent's Profile with a Parental Rating of R or GB-18, etc.
3. If a user's profile doesn't have any parental rating set, it defaults to R or GB-18 so that any Adult (Xrated)  content is excluded.

Important to set the Sort By filter to Date Played in order to get a most recently played order correct

 

Server Compatibility

Designed to work with Stable server release - Minimum version for Server Stable Release is 4.7.9.0

But also Tested with Beta Version 4.8.0.21 however some issues arise on beta release due to incompatibility of core enhancements.

Installation and Operation

Install from Channel section in the plugin catalogue.

 After installation Restart your server and if Refresh internet channels isn't running, manually start it, to start to populate your watch histories.

Set an interval in the ScheduleTask for "Refresh Internet Channels" if you so wish to refresh your installed channels, if required

Know Issues?

Items without a parental rating (unknown or not rated) will be available to all users and available to be viewed and played by users that shouldn't have access to that parental rating! - Concern has been raised.  Workaround -  ensure all your library movies and episodes have a parental rating.

Thanks

@softworkz for providing a basic example in embyDev and his support.  More info Here if you are interested in creating a channel plugin

Channel Plugin Example: File Browser - Developer API - Emby Community

@chef @samuelqwe @rbjtech @BillOatman @ginjaninja  Our little 3rd Party Dev Group for their support as always!!

V1.0.0.0 - Released to Plugin Catalogue

 

If you don't notice any changes or improvements you may need to follow these steps to force changes and force the fixes.

1.  uninstall plugin.
2. Restart.
3. Run channel task,
4. Reinstall,
5. restart and
6. run channel task

please test and provide feed back - hope its of use to some of you

 

Edited February 25, 2023 by Cheesegeezer

[Cheesegeezer 3086]

These are some suggestions from @ginjaninja for use Cases - Thanks Ginj!!!

1. Remind me; what i fell asleep to last night; what was that movie i watched (ie sort by playdate descending)
2. Recommendation ideas, general noseyness, admin oversight - what are other people watching (by user name,sort by playdate descending)
3. Granularity/Grouping by media type would aid digestion
   1. Movies vs TV Epsiodes vs Home movies (a potentially useful distinction but probably could be lumped together if of benefit to design)
   2. if tv was separate (option for show)
   3. Audiobooks (option for author)
   4. Albums (option for artist)
   5. (grouping by library or library folder too bitty cant see a benefit from my library organisation)
4. Option to sort by max plays - what is the systems|users favorite movie, episode|show, album|artist, book|author.
5. Specifically for music, what artists did user x discover in the last X months, what artists could be rediscovered ( were listened to a fair bit but then stopped, ?or have new albums unlistened?)
6. Analysis by system , by user of watched movies and tv by popular directors, actors, screen writers etc, genres - something to base recommendations off.
7. analysis against backdrop of date added...ie popular classics vs popular new.

[GrimReaper 3273]

That sounds like a really useful stuff - does it work with latest stable or it is beta only? 

[Cheesegeezer 3086]

4 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

That sounds like a really useful stuff - does it work with latest stable or it is beta only? 

Yeah Thanks... Good Point.  It's Release 4.7.9 Minimum version... 

I will add this to the Description! Thanks Grimmers... glad someone is thinking for me haha 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Cheesegeezer

[GrimReaper 3273]

Np. Personally, I'd remove "Watch history for..." from item titles, if one enters Watch history library that should be self-explanatory. Besides, if longer user name there'd be unnecessary wrapping. 

[Cheesegeezer 3086]

6 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Np. Personally, I'd remove "Watch history for..." from item titles, if one enters Watch history library that should be self-explanatory. Besides, if longer user name there'd be unnecessary wrapping. 

Yeah, i can do that.... i was ummmin and arrrin about it.  But didn't want users to get confused with login screen and Watch history by just displaying names... (i'm sure it will happen).

What about suffixing with Username + " 's History"  = DaveyB's History

  I'll wait until i get a few more improvement requests and then hit them at once.

Cheers fella!

Edited January 26, 2023 by Cheesegeezer

[GrimReaper 3273]

2 minutes ago, Cheesegeezer said:

Yeah, i can do that i was ummmin and arrrin about it.  But didn't want users to get confused with login screen and Watch history by just displaying names... (i'm sure it will happen).

Yeah, I reckon that'll come up rather sooner than later.

2 minutes ago, Cheesegeezer said:

What about suffixing with Username + " 's History"  = DaveyB's History

That sounds like much better solution, as it'll have alphabetical first letter that eye sticks to, instead of W, while solving above issue along the way. 

[Cheesegeezer 3086]

1 minute ago, GrimReaper said:

Yeah, I reckon that'll come up rather sooner than later.

That sounds like much better solution, as it'll have alphabetical first letter that eye sticks to, instead of W, while solving above issue along the way. 

TeamWork makes the DreamWork!!!

hahahahaha OMG it's too early for corporate Hurraaaah!!! 

[Junglejim 344]

This looks cool, nice!

I've got a couple of users that it doesn't like.. me being one (admin) and I'm guessing a user I created for home assistant (totally neutered) They are both hidden to some degree HA more than the latter.

Still this is a great idea, its cool to see what peeps are watching. I can see it come in handy with other plugins too.

 

[neik 835]

This data could be used for specific recommendations, right?

[GrimReaper 3273]

Cheese, you want to start debugging immediately or you'd wan't me to hold on on bug reports for a little bit? 

[Cheesegeezer 3086]

31 minutes ago, Junglejim said:

This looks cool, nice!

I've got a couple of users that it doesn't like.. me being one (admin) and I'm guessing a user I created for home assistant (totally neutered) They are both hidden to some degree HA more than the latter.

Still this is a great idea, its cool to see what peeps are watching. I can see it come in handy with other plugins too.

 

Hey Jim, you wanna elaborate on whats not working for you

19 minutes ago, neik said:

This data could be used for specific recommendations, right?

How you mean Neik? No data is gathered in the channel. Chef’s Top Picks plugin is the best solution for a “recommendations” style plugin. 

16 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Cheese, you want to start debugging immediately or you'd wan't me to hold on on bug reports for a little bit? 

Yup lets hit it early. No time like the present  

[Junglejim 344]

15 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Cheese, you want to start debugging immediately or you'd wan't me to hold on on bug reports for a little bit? 

Shit, already did.. Never mind I'm sure @Cheesegeezer will not mind.

[Junglejim 344]

2 minutes ago, Cheesegeezer said:

Hey Jim, you wanna elaborate on whats not working for you

It's working great, just a couple of users I mentioned above (prob Admin/Home Assistant) don't work. Because they can't (hidden)?...

If I click on them I get nothing.

 

[GrimReaper 3273]

2 minutes ago, Cheesegeezer said:

Yup lets hit it early. No time like the present

From what I could gather, blank/no name ones are those hidden locally.

 

If any of those blank entered, blank as well.

 

As for those present ones, episodes showing thumbs and not Season poster, as in your example - those thumbs paired with episode title makes it very hard to determine which series it actually is. Movies show correctly.

 

Upon entering episode, logo and backdrop are lost:

It should look like:

Movies appear OK:

 

Log attached.

embyserver.txt

 

Those are observations at the first glance, will keep updating as we go along.

[GrimReaper 3273]

2 hours ago, Cheesegeezer said:

it collects every (non-hidden) user's watch history for the last 100 items (Episodes and Movies)

Why is hidden/not-hidden criteria there? I DO want to see remote users (hidden locally) history, currently that ain't feasible. Maybe "Disabled" users should be not taken into account, all others should? Or better yet, have a dropdown in Plugin settings like you did with Admin Buddy - tickboxed users?

[GrimReaper 3273]

Also, what would be handy is item limit dropdown in plugin settings, like 100/200/500/No limit, as episodes are individual entries, that 100 is gonna fill-up quite fast?

[Cheesegeezer 3086]

Thanks for the feed back. 
 

let me tackle some of the questIons, actually ill do this when i get the laptop open.

 

standby

[GrimReaper 3273]

To expand on above:

Date Played doesn't sort properly, as both myself, Home and Junior have surely played items later that first in the list, user:Tamrat (wifey on user:Home played Desperate housewives last night).

 

Date Added also doesn't sort properly, but maybe that's due to the first time run (and all items added in one go), will see once new plays recorded.

 

Date Played once user selected also doesn't sort properly, as it lists movies first and likely because episodes don't have Date Played in the UI (nor Series name - Edit: nor Play count); 

Edited January 26, 2023 by GrimReaper
Append

[Junglejim 344]

45 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

From what I could gather, blank/no name ones are those hidden locally.

 

If any of those blank entered, blank as well.

 

As for those present ones, episodes showing thumbs and not Season poster, as in your example - those thumbs paired with episode title makes it very hard to determine which series it actually is. Movies show correctly.

 

Upon entering episode, logo and backdrop are lost:

It should look like:

Movies appear OK:

 

Log attached.

embyserver.txt 441.15 kB · 0 downloads

 

Those are observations at the first glance, will keep updating as we go along.

mmm, I get no artwork at all. Except poster(movie)/thumb(episode). No backdrop or logo.. I'm still testing this in the web app, I'll jump on to ATV later and check it out.

[Cheesegeezer 3086]

Laptop fired up.  Fast typing enabled.

Right... so.   lets go 1 by 1

1. Hidden Users not showing....  
   1. Let's enable them.  Then see if you are happy with results, this will mean that all users will be viewable by all other users.
2. ImageFormat only displaying primary (Posters)
   1. Oversight on my part, i can fix this no problems
3. Limit set to 100
   1. I have a TODO to introduce a config option for this, but was waiting to see what the community felt was needed.
   2. 
4. Layout and information
   1. This is out of my hands, all i do is supply information for the Emby structure to populate the information, images, other information.
   2. For Example, i'm just collecting library items bases on a Query and this will then be interpreted by the Emby's Channel UI Generator 
   3. You'll also notice below that relates to Item 2 on this issues list that i have only selected PrimaryImagePath.
   4. 
5. Order By LastPlayedDate not accurate.  I have noticed this also and been trying to figure out why mine wasn't working but it's good that it's repeatable on another system.
   1. If you look at the Debug log you will actually see that the lastplayeditems are listed in the correct order to the information is correct that is being passed to the Channel, it appears the channel might not be updating itself properly.
   2. 
   3. I will see what else i can do to force this update, however i also find that the Trailers channel suffers from this anomoly also, and i haven't had any 2023 movies show up in the trailers channel at all and thats in the upcoming for Netflix??? I mean how the hell can that happen
   4.  

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Cheesegeezer

[Cheesegeezer 3086]

2 minutes ago, Junglejim said:

mmm, I get no artwork at all. Except poster(movie)/thumb(episode). No backdrop or logo.. I'm still testing this in the web app, I'll jump on to ATV later and check it out.

just stick with WebUI at the mo if we can.

it's probably caching all your images.  Give it time and then jump back on.... i have no probs with the display... (i'm running 4.8.0.21) but this was also fine on my main server (4.7.11)

 

[GrimReaper 3273]

17 minutes ago, Cheesegeezer said:

this will mean that all users will be viewable by all other users.

I actually don't envison for anyone to have access to this library besides myself.

17 minutes ago, Cheesegeezer said:

• ImageFormat only displaying primary (Posters)
  1. Oversight on my part, i can fix this no problems
• Limit set to 100
  1. I have a TODO to introduce a config option for this, but was waiting to see what the community felt was needed.
  2. 
•  

Noted on both points.

17 minutes ago, Cheesegeezer said:

• Layout and information
  1. This is out of my hands, all i do is supply information for the Emby structure to populate the information, images, other information.
  2. For Example, i'm just collecting library items bases on a Query and this will then be interpreted by the Emby's Channel UI Generator 
  3. You'll also notice below that relates to Item 2 on this issues list that i have only selected PrimaryImagePath.
  4. 
•  

Something is off then, as episodes are not getting all the data: parent series, Date Played, Play count.

Also, visible from screenshots:

in addition to missing logo and backdrop, Air date is just year and there's no PG rating denoted. It also doesn't appear as Played for myself, as movies do. In general, movies work flawlessly - episodes have issues.

 

17 minutes ago, Cheesegeezer said:

Order By LastPlayedDate not accurate.  I have noticed this also and been trying to figure out why mine wasn't working but it's good that it's repeatable on another system.

1. If you look at the Debug log you will actually see that the lastplayeditems are listed in the correct order to the information is correct that is being passed to the Channel, it appears the channel might not be updating itself properly.
2. I will see what else i can do to force this update, however i also find that the Trailers channel suffers from this anomoly also, and i haven't had any 2023 movies show up in the trailers channel at all and thats in the upcoming for Netflix??? I mean how the hell can that happen
3.  

 

I'd say because episodes are obviously nor getting Date Played hence throwing sorting off.

Edited January 26, 2023 by GrimReaper

[Cheesegeezer 3086]

2 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

I actually don't envison for anyone to have access to this library besides myself.

Rodger

2 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Noted on both points.

2 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Something is off then, as episodes are not getting all the data: parent series, Date Played, Play count.

I'll show you mine...

2 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Also, visible from screenshots:

in addition to missing logo and backdrop, Air date is just year and there's no PG rating denoted.

 

I'd say because episodes are obviously nor getting Date Played hence throwing sorting off.

I'm gonna add those options you asked for and then sort out the imageformat.

I'll post up a new dll. and we can get that sorted.

Then do some serious investigation regarding TV Episodes

BRB

[GrimReaper 3273]

5 minutes ago, Cheesegeezer said:

I'll show you mine...

Soemthing is off there, as your episode should have Air Date as dd/mm/yyyy, not only Year, as well as title should be SxxEyy: Title, not only Title. It appears as all the episodes get interpreted as movies, as those are movie templates: Release Year and Title without S/E in it.

 

Edit: Btw, external links are missing as well, only Trakt present.

Edited January 26, 2023 by GrimReaper