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screenplay for WebOS 2.0 and higher TVs


kwilcox

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kwilcox

Screenplay is an HTML5 optimized Emby client for WebOS 1 and higher TVs.  It is available from LG as a free app (search the store for "emby" or "screenplay") and is based on Playz Emby which was placed into the public domain by Simon J. Hogan, Sith'ari Consulting in Australia.  Screenplay is a high performance alternative to the official Emby app that focuses exclusively on recorded video, TV and movie content. Scroll down for screenshots! 

 

See this post for version information and important pre-requisites.

 

Screenplay is also an open source project. The master repository is here:

 

https://github.com/sleuth255/screenplay

 

 

This thread is currently the only support option for this application.  Hopefully, screenplay will gain enough of a following to warrant a separate support site someday, but for now this is it.   Also, since screenplay is a free app and I have a day job, support will be best effort based on how many "rainy weekends" happen in my neck of the woods  :)

 

If you like this app and want to keep me caffeinated, then feel free to btn_donate_SM-vi.gif

 

If you would like to test the latest versions of screenplay on your LG TV, you need to install the IDE, register as a developer, and load developer mode on your TV.  Instructions to download and set up the IDE are here:

 

http://webostv.developer.lge.com/sdk/installation/

 

Instructions to register as a developer and get Developer mode running on your TV are here:

 

http://webostv.developer.lge.com/develop/app-test/

 

After you are set up with developer tools, you might want to install some GIT tools.  I use git-gui for windows:

 

https://git-scm.com/download/win

 

That will make it easier to clone the screenplay app from the repository.

 

Next, in the WebOSTV IDE, choose Import WebOS project from the webOS Menu.  Point it to the directory that your local clone is in and it should create the project with linkage to the GIT repository.

 

Here's a quick look at the application:

 

Home Screen:

Capture4-vi.jpg

 

Collection Screen (TV Series):

Capture8-vi.png

 

Playback Screen (video paused; player controls active):

Capture13-vi.jpg

Edited by kwilcox
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kwilcox

Episode Summary Screen:

Capture1-vi.png

 

Collection Detail Screen showing Indexed Scroll feature:

Capture4-vi.png

 

Item Detail Screen showing resume, played toggle and delete features:

2v2EYfmmqxQr3s.png

 

Collection Summary Screen showing partially played items that can be resumed:

Capture10-vi.jpg

 

Screenplay Settings:

2v2EYw9pdxQr3s.png

 

Live TV Support

 

Collection Screen showing what's currently playing

2v2EYw9s5xQr3s.png

 

Recording Administration (Tasks)

2v2EYwUFHxQr3s.png

 

Multiple Item Handling (selections)

2v2EYwEp8xQr3s.png

 

2v2EYwHRoxQr3s.png

 

Item View showing record options

2v2EYwuBMxQr3s.png

 

 

CoverArt Support

(disable Autosize Posters in settings and load the Emby Server CoverArt plugin)

2v2EYwT6NxQr3s.png

 

2v2EYwHf5xQr3s.png

 

2v2EYwHK8xQr3s.png

 

2v2EYfh32xQr3s.png

Edited by kwilcox
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kwilcox

Prerequisites

  • Screenplay requires WebOS1.4 or greater and FullHD (1920x1080) or higher app resolution.  If you can't see screenplay in the app store for your TV, but your TV is advertised as having FullHD resolution, its because your TVs video resolution is FullHD but its app resolution is only HD (1080x720).
  • For best performance, screenplay needs a high speed LAN connection to a performance oriented local emby server.
  • If you experience pauses during video playback, check CPU utilization on your server and network utilization on your TV's connection.  Network saturation can be corrected by going to a lower video/audio bitrate or by setting up a faster network.  CPU utilization can occasionally be brought down by increasing the video bitrate but generally its an indication that your emby server is under powered.  
  • I have tested screenplay with a 2 CPU server running 64 bit Windows 7 (adequate) and a 16 CPU server running W2K8R2 (absolutely stellar).  I hope to begin testing soon with emby server for Synology NAS since this is a popular platform.
  • Screenplay doesn't support photo and music content (yet).  Screenplay does support mixed content libraries but currently this support is for video content libraries only. Because of this, its important that you organize your media libraries accordingly.  Screenplay will label the left side homescreen media buttons according to the display names of your media libraries.
  • screenplay works with your on-premise Emby server.  Enter it's IP address on the server screen to select.
  • screenplay needs a local user on your server that is not hidden to authenticate.  Set the user(s) up using the administrative web site on your emby server.  In screenplay, select a displayed user by using left/right buttons or click on it with a magic remote.  When the user is highlighted, press the down button or click with the magic remote to select the password input box.  Then type in the password if the user has one.  Press the "Enter" key to send the screen.
  • Its a good idea to create a special screenplay user and give it a password via your emby server's management dashboard.  Then choose what libraries it can access by using the Access tab for the screenplay user and unchecking "Enable Access to All Libraries".  Your individual libraries will then be displayed.  Be sure to exclude music and photo libraries. 
  • Screenplay also does not support collection grouping within libraries at this time (on your emby server's management dashboard you need to insure that Library -> Display -> Group movies into collections is unchecked). 
  • Screenplay supports remote control operations during playback: Play/Pause/Stop buttons are self explanatory. Left/Right buttons skip forward/backward respectively.  Increments can be adjusted in Settings.  Hold down or multiple press a skip button to add/subtract skip time.  Direct play provides the fastest response.
Support screenplay development!  btn_donate_SM-vi.gif

 

Revision History

 

v1.5.8 (Bug Fix)

Released in LG App store on July 27th 2019.  WebOS 1.4 and up.

  • Current buglist:
    • (Fixed) WebOS2: Series Tasks disappear after their associated episodes have aired
v1.5.5 (Bug Fix)

Released in LG App store on June 20th 2019.  WebOS 1.4 and up.

  • Current buglist:
    • (Fixed) Orphaned Series Tasks (no episodes found) cannot be deleted
v1.5.4 (Bug Fix/Enhancements)

Released in LG App store on April 5th 2019.  WebOS 1.4 and up.

  • Current buglist:
    • (Fixed) Long Episode titles run over the Episode detail on the selections screen
    • (Fixed) Series recording indicator sometimes shows as item record indicator on the collection view screen 
    • (Fixed) Task list is blank after a completed series recording episode is removed by emby server
    • (Fixed) Tasks not sorted by name 
    • (Fixed) Incorrect "Series Recording" designation for recorded shows on the Item View screen 
    • (Fixed) The resume playback button on an item screen does not work 
    • (Fixed) Resume Items not always first to display on home screen 
  • Current Enhancement list
    • (Completed) Remove grey placeholder images for improved UI experience
    • (Completed) Resume Items with no Parent thumb display generic film image instead of grey screen
    • (Completed) Selecting a task brings up selection view instead of item view if the task is an active series recording
    • Selecting a task that's currently being recorded shows progress bar on the item screen and gives Play option. 
    • Selecting Play from the item screen for an in-progress recording launches live DVR mode playback
v1.5.2 (Multiple Enhancements)

Released in LG App store on March 21st 2019.  WebOS 1.4 and up.

  • Enhancement: Live TV playback support. 
  • New UI support for Live TV "On Now", "Up Next", "Shows" and "Movies" Live TV categories.  "Tasks" selection allows you to easily maintain your scheduled recordings.  The "Movies" selection shows all movie related schedule data while the "Shows" selection spans up to seven days of schedule data.  This number can be changed on the settings screen.
  • Remote control skip capabilities during playback (see above) use client side skipping for ultra-fast response similar to direct play.
  • Press pause during playback for enhanced DVR capabilities:  The stream will continue to be saved while playback is paused.  The on-screen status bar shows how much time has been stored along with the current playback time position.  Subtracting the two shows how far playback is behind real-time.  This is useful for advertisement skipping.
  • DVR playback for currently recording shows is not supported in this version.
  • Record capabilities have been added to the Item page for Live TV items.  
  • New settings option to disable poster auto sizing.  Use this option if you run Coverart or some other emby plugin that creates custom artwork.
  • Start at this post to follow progress.

Notes on Live TV recording

  • Screenplay groups TV shows by name.  A grouping of shows is called a Selection.  Within any given selection, both Series and Episode recordings can be scheduled subject to the following rules:
    • Series recordings are tied to a specific TV channel in this release
    • Only one series recording can be scheduled and it will automatically select associated episodes.
    • Conversely, multiple episode recordings can be scheduled manually.
    • A mixture of multiple episode and series recordings is not supported due to the way Emby handles timers.  Therefore, scheduling a series recording will cancel any existing series or episode recordings.  Likewise, scheduling an episode recording will cancel any existing series recordings. 
  • Keep in mind that these rules only apply within a given selection of TV shows.  Between selections, any combination can exist.
v1.4.1 (Collection Screen Enhancements)

Released in LG App store on February 12th 2019.  WebOS 1.4 and up.  Global Service Availability

  • Enhancement: restore previous focus on Collection/Episode screens when back button pressed on child screens
  • Compatible with emby server v4.1.x.  Prior versions will not authenticate due to ongoing evolution of the emby authentication method.
  • Enhancement: Improved Collection screen Index search.
v1.3.2 (Bug Fix/Minor Enhancements)

Released in LG App store on January 23, 2019.  WebOS 1.4 and up.  Global Service Availability

  • bug corrected: played indicator showed garbage character after check mark
  • bug corrected: pressing play/pause on remote didn't correctly toggle play status on in-progress bar
  • bug corrected: compatible with emby server v4.x
  • Enhancement: toggle played status button added to item page
v1.2.1 (Bug Fix/Multiple Enhancements)

Released in LG App store on March 7, 2017.  WebOS 1.4 and up.  Global Service Availability

  • Played indicator added for series/episodes
  • bug corrected: entering invalid password hangs screenplay
  • If the logged in user has delete rights, then a delete icon is also presented on the play Item screen
  • WebOS1.4 added to the compatibility list
  • SSL support added.  Screenplay will connect using SSL if the emby server has a valid ssl certificate.  The default self-signed certificate won't work.  To connect, use the syntax https://<server ip or fqdn>[:port number].  If port number isn't entered, then screenplay will attempt to connect over the standard Emby server port for SSL (8920)
v1.1.7 (Bug Fix/Multiple Enhancements)

Released in LG store on January 3, 2017.  WebOS 2 and up. Global Service Availability

  • "Continue Watching" items are always shown first on the home screen and age off after 2 days
  • Improved back button handling
  • Subtitle support implemented

Notes on Subtitle Support:

  • screenplay automatically shows subtitles when the correct files are downloaded and emby server determines they are needed.
  • You can assign "Toggle Subtitles" to one of your remote's color keys.  This is done in Settings.  Once completed, pressing the assigned color button during playback will toggle subtitles on or off.
  • Emby server sends subtitle data if one of the following conditions are met:
    • The subtitle file has "default" as a part of its filename
    • Subtitle mode is set to "Default" or "Smart" in user playback settings, the video being viewed is not in the preferred subtitle language, but the subtitle file is.  Subtitle language preference is also set in user playback settings.
    • Subtitle mode is set to "Always play subtitles" in user playback settings.
  • To modify user playback settings follow this process: Using a web browser, log into emby server with the same user that you use with screenplay, then go to user prefs (click user icon on the upper right).  From there click on "playback settings" and you will find the subtitle language preference and subtitle mode settings.
  • Subtitles must be contained in an external file whose format is supported by emby server.  Subtitle files must be stored with the video that they apply to.  Emby server has a subtitle download feature to help you find subtitle files.  Be sure to use the correct file however since emby server will give you many to choose from!  If you find that your subtitles are not in sync with the movie, then the subtitle file que times are incorrect.  This happens a lot!  The best way to set up subtitles is to extract them from a mkv container that has a subtitle file pre-packaged with the video.  That way you are sure that the subtitle ques are timed to match the video.
  • subtitle filename format is important!  <moviename>.<language>.[default].<filetype> is the format that emby recognises
    • <moviename> must exactly match the filename of the video
    • <language> is the 3 character language designator (eng for English etc).
    • [default] is optional and must be the word "default" if it is used
    • <filetype> must be a supported emby server type (srt, smi etc)
v1.1.4 (Bug Fix/Multiple Enhancements)

Released in LG store on December 20, 2016.  WebOS 2 and up. Global Service Availability

  • Maximum libraries that can be displayed on the homepage increased to 11.
  • Scrolling bug in Indexed search fixed
  • The LG TV's 3D mode is automatically selected if the "3D format" property in emby movie info is set to HTAB, HSBS, or FTAB
  • Auto Login feature added to settings.  Default is On.  When set to Off, screenplay will require you to log in on every execution.
  • Emby users without passwords are supported
  • Direct Play Implemented

Notes on Direct Play:

  • My high bit-rate videos paused/buffered often with a 300Mb/s WiFi connection to my TV.  A direct Ethernet connection solved this. 
  • Maximum video/audio bit-rate settings are ignored.
  • The mkv format is only partially supported by WebOS:
    • Fast Forward/Rewind does not work 
    • embedded Subtitles are always shown
v1.0.7 (Initial screenplay offering)

Released in LG store on December 2 2016.  WebOS 3 Only. Service areas are USA, Canada, Brazil, UK, South Africa

  • Toggle Subtitles not implemented.
  • A maximum of five libraries can be shown on the homepage
  • service areas requested (based on screenplay testers/co-developers): USA, Canada, Brazil, United Kingdom
  • HLS playback only.  This version will activate transcoding on your Emby server​
Edited by kwilcox
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cmarques
Nice!

Finally we are approching the official release, can't wait for that, I'm really tired to use the developer mode  :D

liked the new resume icon  :P

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kwilcox

Woohoo! (Though I hope you didn't do that JUST because I commented on it :-)

It was bothering me as well; let's just say that your comment helped it along.

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kwilcox

WebOS1 has no HLS support currently.  At least that's how the emulator behaves.  You could try loading up developer mode and testing on a real TV.  I know for a fact that the v2 & v3 emulators don't do a good job with HLS timeUpdates but its stable on my v2 TV.

Edited by kwilcox
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Aside from that issue, will it be published in the store such that it's only visible on WebOS 2 and WebOS 3? Or will WebOS 1 devices still see it?

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Battosoft

When will release to the end user? :huh:

So you can test how user? :rolleyes:

 

If there are errors, I'm sorry, because I used the translator to translate. I am fron Brazil  :D

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kwilcox

My server registered testing activity from the LG team last night, so they are now actively looking at it.  I should know something in the next few days or so...

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kwilcox

Here's a quick update.  Screenplay is still in QA testing.  After two days of fairly intensive work, the LG team has stopped looking at it.  I assume this means that it passed whatever tests they had in that run or I would've been notified.

 

Also, is anyone interested in photo support?  Most of the code to provide this is already in place.  I'd just need to write a player to handle them.

 

Capture7-vi.jpg

Edited by kwilcox
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cmarques

Here's a quick update.  Screenplay is still in QA testing.  After two days of fairly intensive work, the LG team has stopped looking at it.  I assume this means that it passed whatever tests they had in that run or I would've been notified.

 

Also, is anyone interested in photo support?  Most of the code to provide this is already in place.  I'd just need to write a player to handle them.

 

Hi @@kwilcox, this is a really nice news, I hope this time LG approves the app, so you can release it at the store and start think in enrich the app.
 
Talking about enrich the app, yes, I would like the photo support as well as music support, I think for music there's also the code started by Simon.
but before these two new features, I think you need to finish the settings, and do not forget to add the audio toggle for dual audio movies.  ^_^
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Hi @@kwilcox, this is a really nice news, I hope this time LG approves the app, so you can release it at the store and start think in enrich the app.

 

Talking about enrich the app, yes, I would like the photo support as well as music support, I think for music there's also the code started by Simon.

but before these two new features, I think you need to finish the settings, and do not forget to add the audio toggle for dual audio movies. ^_^

I'd second that - I'd rather see the movie stuff polished first. And actually, is probably prefer music next.

 

I don't actually use it for music, but wanted to. I have so much music that Emby seemed to crawl to a snail's pace when I added it so I removed it all again. I have a lot of photos too, it never really thought about adding those... Apart as my photos are much more diaphragm than my music and videos!

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kwilcox

 

Hi @@kwilcox, this is a really nice news, I hope this time LG approves the app, so you can release it at the store and start think in enrich the app.
 
Talking about enrich the app, yes, I would like the photo support as well as music support, I think for music there's also the code started by Simon.
but before these two new features, I think you need to finish the settings, and do not forget to add the audio toggle for dual audio movies.  ^_^

 

 

My thoughts too...

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I am getting so twitchy waiting on this app. I switched from Emby to Plex because there isn't a native app but I would love to switch back!

 

I'm really looking forward to this. Thanks for all of the work! :)

Edited by henr0
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kwilcox

Bah, rejected.  3 faults.  Two of them appear to be the QA team not understanding the UX document:

 

red button reset was called out as a defect when slide 9 describes how to assign this function in settings,

index search: they complained that clicking on letters did nothing when there were only 5 shows to choose from.  Index search is only useful when there is more than one screen full of items since its function is to scroll the view to bring items that start with the selected letter onto the screen.  

 

I've asked for clarification.  I may need to update the UX document to more clearly explain how index search works (just changing the name to indexed scrolling will probably suffice now that I think about it).  The final defect is legit and is my misunderstanding of how the back button function should work when its pressed and screenplay is displaying the home screen.  I've already corrected this behavior and will create v1.0.6 once they clarify their requirements on the other two.

Edited by kwilcox
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kwilcox

I just pushed v1.0.6 to the repo.  I've also updated the UX scenario document for the LG QA team and will upload it to their QA site,  LG is working on their answer to my questions currently.

Edited by kwilcox
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