MBS: Watched By Functionality.

[Koleckai Silvestri 1151]

It would be nice if an Administrator could mark a show as "Watched By" in the Metadata for different users on the system. This should be possible without having to login as that user. Shows marked as "Watched By" would show up in the favorites or a "My Shows" list on the different clients. This would also allow a more customized viewing experience for the users. For instance, my wife has a phobia of zombies so if she had her own list, she wouldn't need to see iZombie or Walking Dead at all. However the others who enjoy those shows could have them in their personal lists. I understand that she can add her own shows to her favorites but it really is less time consuming if I do it for different users, I am just using her as an example.

 

I think this would be a better solution than making libraries for each user and adding symlinks all over the place. Plus it would allow the administrator to add a new show directly into the list of the different users when it is added to the system. 

Edited March 18, 2015 by Koleckai Silvestri

[ebr 15609]

You are suggesting an entirely different way of creating user libraries?

[Koleckai Silvestri 1151]

Actually, I want all current television shows in one library. I want defined views for different users via metadata.

 

I am asking for a way to set "Show 1" so that it appears in a "My Shows" or the favorites list for Users 1, 3, 4 and 5 but not User 2. Similar to Favorites but set in the Metadata and configurable by the administrator. Really just want a way to store it out of the MediaBrowser folder or at least back it up in a recoverable way. Could even store it within the user's config.xml file instead of the series.xml/nfo. Could even add a permission restricting a user to the list of shows that they are allowed to watch.

 

Had an issue with trying the dev version for the dynamic images and it killed the installation. Reinstalling over the mediabrowser folder wouldn't fix it. Had to delete the folder and install again. After reinstalling, favorites and the majority of watched statuses were lost.

Edited March 18, 2015 by Koleckai Silvestri

[Deathsquirrel 744]

You can do this now with tags and parental controls.  Add a blocked tag to your wife's account called zombie.  Then add the zombie tag to the shows in question.  She'll no longer see them.

[Koleckai Silvestri 1151]

You can do this now with tags and parental controls.  Add a blocked tag to your wife's account called zombie.  Then add the zombie tag to the shows in question.  She'll no longer see them.

 

Would only solve one part of the issue. The main part is that I can't add a show to her favorites list.

[Koleckai Silvestri 1151]

oh well, I guess I am not explaining myself well enough. Was worth a shot to reduce issues experience with the software and make a better viewing experience for users.

[Koleckai Silvestri 1151]

Okay this is what I am suggesting...

 

1) I log into the Web Client as Admin

2) See there is a new television series (i.e. Bitten).

3) I edit said series and in the Meta Data there is a field called "Watched By". In field I enter Wife, Child 1 and Child 2 (or select from a list) and save the series. 

 

 

Three days later,  the Wife logs into Roku using her account. Bumps down to Television and selects Favorites. BItten is listed here even though she never marked it as a Favorite and hasn't watched any episodes yet.

 

Currently I have to log into each end user and find the series and mark it as a favorite if they said they wanted to watch it. Takes a lot more time and I only have 4 besides myself.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Koleckai Silvestri

[techywarrior 689]

Tell your users to stop being so lazy and do it themselves

[Koleckai Silvestri 1151]

Just a big hassle to do that. They have to go to a computer, ask me what the web client address is again (Yes, it is bookmarked for them), log in, find the series and mark it.  You can't mark a series as a favorite on the Roku. You can mark episodes but that doesn't really achieve much.

 

With this, I could do it for them before they asked what the web client address is.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Koleckai Silvestri

[techywarrior 689]

Why not create a shortcut icon to the website on the desktop for them?

 

Also, perhaps asking for the ability to mark a series as a favorite on the Roku app would be wise.

 

I understand what you are asking for but it's a pretty niche feature and I think the developers are going to use their time to implement other features that everyone, or almost everyone is going to use.

[Koleckai Silvestri 1151]

I have posted many feature requests here and elsewhere. I don't expect them all to be implemented or to even be implemented immediately. However if they aren't posted, you can tell how other people might think. Some feature requests have made it into the software. Some I've been told it is coming at some future date maybe. Others just languish.

 

I had thought people would want to make using the system easy for their families to encourage them to use it. I guess I was incorrect. Not really that big of a concern. Just figured it would be easier to manage. Especially if there are ever enterprise installations on a decent scale. Not big deal. Though I might just program something in PHP to do it for me. Don't know C# or have a working compiler so can't do a pull request. 

Edited March 19, 2015 by Koleckai Silvestri

[ebr 15609]

Having an Admin be able to edit something like favorite (or watched or like) status for multiple users in an easy fashion is not a bad feature.  In fact, that is something a plug-in could be built for if someone wanted to try and tackle it.

 

I don't think, however, that we need to have yet another way of creating a user's library view but you never know.