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What dictates shuffle/random play?


tjlmbklr

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tjlmbklr

This is more a general question since this happens on my FireTV as well my Android app. I have a few series I like to just hit shuffle and let the media gods choose what I watch. I find it has a tendency to play the same files over and over. Some of these series have hundreds of episodes, how does this happen, what dictates this?

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

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Hi, we're using a random sorting function built into the database. What button exactly are you pressing where you're seeing this? thanks !

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tjlmbklr

Hi, we're using a random sorting function built into the database. What button exactly are you pressing where you're seeing this? thanks !

It's labeled "Shuffle"

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

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  • 2 years later...
the3dman

Sorry to bring an old thread back to life, but I did not want to start a new one since my issue seems related or the same as the OP's.

 

I have a playlist of 250 songs (15hrs) all synced for offline play on Android. When I click the "Shuffle" button in the playlist, it always seems to select/play the same 30 or so songs every time. Since most of my car rides are ~1hr, this means I never end up hearing the majority of the songs in my playlist. My workaround (which is not a good one) has been to only pause the music so I can resume where I left off when I get back in the car, but this only helps so much since eventually the app seems to be shutdown by the system from inactivity, or I play other content while not driving which also forces me to stop the music and restart a shuffle when I get back to the car.

 

Not sure what a fix would be for this except maybe having the app track the number of times a song has been played and have it prioritize songs that have been played less in the ordering process.

 

I am on Emby 3.0.48 and Android 9

Edited by the3dman
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Sorry to bring an old thread back to life, but I did not want to start a new one since my issue seems related or the same as the OP's.

 

I have a playlist of 250 songs (15hrs) all synced for offline play on Android. When I click the "Shuffle" button in the playlist, it always seems to select/play the same 30 or so songs every time. Since most of my car rides are ~1hr, this means I never end up hearing the majority of the songs in my playlist. My workaround (which is not a good one) has been to only pause the music so I can resume where I left off when I get back in the car, but this only helps so much since eventually the app seems to be shutdown by the system from inactivity, or I play other content while not driving which also forces me to stop the music and restart a shuffle when I get back to the car.

 

Not sure what a fix would be for this except maybe having the app track the number of times a song has been played and have it prioritize songs that have been played less in the ordering process.

 

I am on Emby 3.0.48 and Android 9

 

We'll look at improving this, thanks.

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RobWayBro

Hi, we're using a random sorting function built into the database. What button exactly are you pressing where you're seeing this? thanks !

It seems this can be an issue if content is not added frequently.  I have 4000+ songs and hear the same 100-200.  It does not seem to matter at what start point I use, I hear the same songs over and over.  I have started from the top level Music icon on the Home page, started at a Genre selection, etc.  There are songs I have not ever heard while "shuffling".  I have another thread out there on this as well.  Theater app and Web app are the two I experience this occurring.

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RobWayBro

Question, what is the difference between shuffle and instant mix?

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RobWayBro

So if I start an Instant Mix from a Genre, will it cross Genre's?  

 

I guess what I am most curious about is would using instant mix possibly provide a way to get the items that are "skipped" when using shuffle?

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Items are not skipped when shuffling.

 

I'll have to review instant mix for genres as is might be the same as shuffle, in which case we should remove it.

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RobWayBro

Skip may have been the wrong word, but I have songs in my collection that after many months (years really have never played.  Out of 3800 songs, 221 have never played and I use Shuffle at work almost exclusively, so after 8 hours a day for more then 10 months, I *should* have heard every song in my collection at least once.  

 

For me the database random sort function just does not seem sufficient, especially with a collection that does not have media added much.  I have not added any new songs in many months.

 

Music is pretty much the only media I use shuffle to play.

 

Thanks for listening, and I do appreciate the product and the excellent support y'all give.

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  • 3 weeks later...

any time frame? this is really annoying :(

 

Can you please describe the issue that you're having? Thanks.

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daedalus

exactly what the OP described in the first post two years ago, that shuffle does not seem to be "random" and playing the same files over and over again

don't get me wrong, its not like it will be playing the exact same files, but some files get played way much more often, and sometimes i noticed there are the same follow ups, while others will never get played

Edited by daedalus
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hstamas

exactly what the OP described in the first post two years ago, that shuffle does not seem to be "random" and playing the same files over and over again

don't get me wrong, its not like it will be playing the exact same files, but some files get played way much more often, and sometimes i noticed there are the same follow ups, while others will never get played

 

I see this as well. I have a few video playlists that play my already watched TV shows for background noise. Some lists have hundreds of episodes in them and quite often I notice the same episodes playing over and over again. Sometimes on a daily basis.

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MikePlanet

@@MikePlanet are you aware of any limitations with sqlite's order by Random() ?

Hi Luke, no, I am not, but have not much experience with random(), as I didn't use it myself yet.

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hstamas

I just experience this again last night. Used shuffle play for a cartoon playlist I have of about 700 items. First episode that played had just played the night before. Happens a lot.

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I understand but the first episode does not mean that the entire play queue will be the same.

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HN7WOgs.png

 

No "seed" on the random. It uses the OS to build random. It sorta sucks...

 

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24256258/order-by-random-with-seed-in-sqlite

2nd answer is where the image above is from.

 

 

Without a way to "seed" random with unixtime you can't get true random. It will always be the same "random" numbers in the same predictable sequence every single time.

 

On the BNN app on Roku I used to let the Roku itself dictate random. It supports seeding random and it also shuffled the list 3x to obtain that random. 3 is my favorite number. Now on the Roku we let the server do random and random it isn't.  :)

 

@@Luke maybe after the server gives back random() the apps should shuffle this list on top? that would provide a more random beginning/middle/end (even if the data is the same) and give a better impression of random. The apps can seed their random on unixtime and give different shuffles depending on time. Time is never the same moment.

Edited by speechles
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daedalus

I understand but the first episode does not mean that the entire play queue will be the same.

 

and sometimes i noticed there are the same follow ups, while others will never get played

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  • 3 weeks later...

I would suggest trying again with the next release. Let's see if that helps. thanks.

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