Allow the Google TV screensaver to appear while playing music

[Richard Branches 279]

The screensaver for the Android TV UI has never kept devices alive while playing music, therefore, music app developers had to implement the way to keep the "Now Playing" screen running all the time to avoid the screensaver to appear in order to keep devices turned ON unless "Never" is selected in the screensaver settings. Both Emby for Android apps currently do this.

The screensaver for the Google TV UI had the same situation, but I recently discovered that Google finally fixed it by allowing the screensaver to keep devices alive when there is music playing in the background, with the song name being shown at the bottom left of the screensaver while pictures (depending on the type of screensaver selected) keep changing. Unlike the screensaver for the Android TV UI, the screensaver of the Google TV UI always appear after 10 minutes of inactivity and that value cannot be changed, but we can select the time that the device should turn OFF after those 10 minutes of inactivity, including to never turn OFF.

I wonder if it's possible to implement both situations, keeping the current one for the Android TV UI and allowing the screensaver to appear for the Google TV UI, if that's not possible, then perhaps adding an option in settings to turn ON and OFF the screensaver to appear when playing music.

The reason why I would prefer to see the Google TV screensaver instead of the "now playing" screen is because I can choose Google Photos as the screensaver so I can see all my personal photo albums while playing music with the Emby app.

Here's an example of the Google TV UI after 10 minutes of inactivity while playing a radio station on a radio app available in the Play Store, I selected to turn OFF the device after 15 minutes of inactivity but it doesn't turn OFF while playing music of course, though you won't see that in the video:

 

 

[Luke 40119]

Hi.  Can you try searching for our standard android app (Just "Emby" on Amazon and "Emby for Android on Google) on the same device's app store and see how that compares?

Thanks.

 

[Richard Branches 279]

As I've been stating in other topics, I can't use the app without an Emby premier subscription, I just hope you implement the way to use the app by purchasing the unlock, the same way we can do with the Android TV app.

[Richard Branches 279]

So I had to purchase an Emby Premier membership ONLY to test the standard Android app and it's not working as it should, in fact, it doesn't have implemented how it should behave on the Android TV UI and the Google TV UI:

- On the Android TV UI: The app must keep the "now playing" screen to avoid the screensaver to appear but it didn't do that, so the device turned OFF after the countdown time I set on the device was reached, which is 5 minutes to show the screensaver and 15 minutes to go into standby mode.

- On the Google TV UI: Since the app doesn't have any implementation, it allowed the screensaver to appear, so the device stayed ON while music from the Emby app was playing because the screensaver now detects when there is music playing in the background.

Therefore, all you have to do is to implement the way to keep the "now playing" screen active all the time when the app is being used ONLY on devices with the Android TV UI.

The Android TV app on the other hand is keeping the "now playing" screen active on both UIs, but I imagine you won't implement anything for the Google TV UI since you are going to deprecate it... someday?

There are other things I found on the standard Android app that I don't believe should be there, all I see is that you just ported the app from mobile to TV without removing some unnecessary stuff, I will provide a feedback on a separate topic.

Edited December 18, 2024 by Richard Branches

[Luke 40119]

hi, this is resolved in the next update to emby for android. Thanks.

[Richard Branches 279]

Hello, can you confirm the version so I can track it?

[Luke 40119]

3.4.37+.

[Richard Branches 279]

So I installed the 3.4.37 version and it's still the same, I guess you still haven't implemented anything.

On the other hand, the app now shows a "left" notification at the bottom of the screen when I move to the left and it keeps showing depending on how many times I press to the left on the remote control

[Luke 40119]

It allows the system screensaver during music playback.

[Richard Branches 279]

Yes, I know and it has always been doing that for the Google TV screensaver BUT the situation is different with the Android TV screensaver where the app must avoid the screensaver to appear, otherwise the device will turn off automatically as I already explained in comment on december 18th.

[ebr 15672]

9 hours ago, Richard Branches said:

for the Google TV screensaver BUT the situation is different with the Android TV screensaver

To clarify, you are talking about the two different flavors of the Android OS/interface on TVs that are still out there?  The one on Google devices and a lot of TVs being "Google TV" and some older devices that are still running the older "Android TV" version.

Is that correct?

[Richard Branches 279]

Let me clarify again the confusion:

There are currently two official interfaces for the "Android for TV" operating system, the Android TV UI and the Google TV UI, each one has its own screensaver and they operate differently.

The Emby for Android TV app on both interfaces is avoiding the screensaver to appear and I suggest not doing anything on this app because you will deprecate it someday, period.

Meanwhile, the Emby standard app only needs one little implementation, and it's to avoid the screensaver to appear on the Android TV UI because on my case for example, I set the device to turn OFF automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity and that screensaver doesn't detect when there is music playing in the background, that's the reason why the device turns OFF regardless.

It's important to clarify that you don't need to implement anything for the Google TV UI because the screensaver now detects when there is music playing in the background so it keeps the device ON.

Therefore, all you have to do is to implement the way to keep the "now playing" screen active all the time when the Emby standard app is being used ONLY ON DEVICES WITH THE ANDROID TV UI.

[ebr 15672]

So, the answer to my question is "yes" .

We currently don't do any detection or make any distinction between the two underlying Android implementations.  We'd have to investigate how to determine this and then go from there.

[Richard Branches 279]

Well, you have two options, to avoid the screensaver to appear for both interfaces OR to let the screensaver to appear just as the app is currently doing but the screensaver of Android TV UI will be considered "unsupported" since the device will still get turned OFF unless that we select "never" in the countdown setting of the device.

[Luke 40119]

Quote

I set the device to turn OFF automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity

What is the device default? what if you go back to whatever that is?

[Richard Branches 279]

The device default?, do you mean the default option we find the first time we set it up?, I don't remember the default option but I can assure it's not "never".

[Neminem 896]

28 minutes ago, Richard Branches said:

The device default?, do you mean the default option we find the first time we set it up?, I don't remember the default option but I can assure it's not "never".

ha ha @Lukethis what you get when you give users options

[AxiomEmby 0]

found this thread after a search - emby 4.9.13 beta...  firestick max running the current Emby app - AndroidTv 2.1.26a, all fed by a synology nas.
Music playback-> song carousel album cover images, and controls -> changes to a large Album image, generic backdrop, with play time bottom left, etc.
but it never moves, only slightly dims (brightens on next song) and just sits there burning in my OLED lol

Meanwhile - if i leave the app to the Firestck Home (not exit) - it will play tunes in the background (which is great) and eventually starts doing my firestick screen saver.
However the emby screen saver options never kick in (i now can't control anything unless i reopen the app) - and even though i chose the "photos" options and made a "Home Videos and Photos" media folder - they don't get trigger to display either.

So what am I doing wrong? as I cannot just have a giant album square hanging there.
Any options for a visualizer?

[Luke 40119]

On 7/4/2025 at 7:29 PM, AxiomEmby said:

found this thread after a search - emby 4.9.13 beta...  firestick max running the current Emby app - AndroidTv 2.1.26a, all fed by a synology nas.
Music playback-> song carousel album cover images, and controls -> changes to a large Album image, generic backdrop, with play time bottom left, etc.
but it never moves, only slightly dims (brightens on next song) and just sits there burning in my OLED lol

Meanwhile - if i leave the app to the Firestck Home (not exit) - it will play tunes in the background (which is great) and eventually starts doing my firestick screen saver.
However the emby screen saver options never kick in (i now can't control anything unless i reopen the app) - and even though i chose the "photos" options and made a "Home Videos and Photos" media folder - they don't get trigger to display either.

So what am I doing wrong? as I cannot just have a giant album square hanging there.
Any options for a visualizer?

@AxiomEmby

Hi.  Can you try searching for our standard android app (Just "Emby" on Amazon and "Emby for Android on Google) on the same device's app store and see how that compares?

Thanks.