Watchlist

[rbjtech 4270]

1 hour ago, fbrassin said:

If you want to share your plugin, it should be interesting.

The Plugin simply creates a new emby 'channel' based off a filtered list from all available Movies or TV Shows/Episodes.   It really is nothing special but I'm bemused why it has taken emby years to include this basic functionality.

People do not want to see a huge block of 100's/1000's of possible watch options listed alphabetically - they want it pre-filtered to give them 'latest releases', 'by genre' etc.   All the other Apps have done this for years ...     The option should be extended to show 'Playlists' in this 'channel' view - if allowed, you now have a very neat way to add to a 'watchlist' - simply add the movie/tv show to a personal playlist called 'My Watchlist'  and it will appear as a row on your emby screen ...

Some of these have finally made it into the latest Beta (see below) but @Luke has advised that they are short term additions until the proper 'smart' channels will become available.

All I want to see (and what my plugin attempts to do) is add personal 'channels' into the Home screen - you can then set the filter as you see fit (A user wants to see all 80's movies for example) and that channel is then available in the list below so they can put it where they like on the opening screen.  Limit it to say 5 channels per person as the channels need to be dynamically generated each time.

Smartplaylists have been a thing for a while - but it's a 3rd party plugin (with constant compatibility issues) and displays as a playlist designed for music, not movies.  We need the functionality of the Smartplaylist, but configured and displayed as an Emby Channel.    

Edited September 20, 2023 by rbjtech

[fbrassin 35]

I agree with you, for me the best should be having a watchlist library. 

Let's wait.

[Tremas 103]

Bumping this again. A proper Watchlist/Watch Later/My Stuff feature that is maintained for each user and appears on the Home Screen is sorely needed (and has been for years). It is the main view I go to first in every other TV application... and every other application I can think of has this feature (and has for years).

With playlists assigned to users in the current beta, I'm hoping this isn't far away. But for heaven's sake, this really needs to get done.

[Junglejim 351]

13 hours ago, Tremas said:

Bumping this again. A proper Watchlist/Watch Later/My Stuff feature that is maintained for each user and appears on the Home Screen is sorely needed (and has been for years). It is the main view I go to first in every other TV application... and every other application I can think of has this feature (and has for years).

With playlists assigned to users in the current beta, I'm hoping this isn't far away. But for heaven's sake, this really needs to get done.

I agree and from the latest beta release notes there is some positive movement it that direction...

4.8.0.46-beta - Add new configurable home screen sections - Playlists, Collections, and Recently Released Movies

[rbjtech 4270]

21 minutes ago, Junglejim said:

I agree and from the latest beta release notes there is some positive movement it that direction...

4.8.0.46-beta - Add new configurable home screen sections - Playlists, Collections, and Recently Released Movies

If I don't see anything by the end of this month, then I'm going to do it myself via a Plugin as I am fed up waiting for this BASIC functionality - As everyone says, it's essential for a Media App to be able to display the media that users want to view - without it, frankly it's a massive fail.

In my mock up Plugin, I can create a channel (which is displayed as a 'row' in the Home Screen - permissioned using the existing Channel permissions), I can read a users Playlist - so I just need to combine them and you simply add a title to a Private Playlist which is called 'My Playlist' ... 

Maybe I'm missing something obvious here - but I'm really not sure why this has not been done in the Core - it seems an obvious quick win.     Yes a full 'Smart Playlist' would be nice, but having 'nothing' to display a filtered row is just infuriating ...

[Tremas 103]

Well, the need for public/private playlists has been the sticking point. Without the ability to save a unique playlist/collection/channel per user it’s a moot point for the core or your plugin. I guess that’s why in the past Favorites or Watch Status was seen as a potential avenue for this type of feature - it was already tied to each user. Having a single public watchlist doesn’t really cut it, but that’s basically the workaround I use now: a collection of “watch later” items that is hidden from other users by tags. 
 

To be clear- I haven’t run the beta, so I’m interested to see how others think this is developing considering that private playlists are now possible. Getting playlists and collections on the Home Screen is great step, but it’s not selected playlists and collections, correct? It’s just a row of all playlists or collections as if you are in the tab, right? Is it tied to a user if you set up the playlist that way?

Edited September 21, 2023 by Tremas

[rbjtech 4270]

2 hours ago, Tremas said:

Well, the need for public/private playlists has been the sticking point. Without the ability to save a unique playlist/collection/channel per user it’s a moot point for the core or your plugin. I guess that’s why in the past Favorites or Watch Status was seen as a potential avenue for this type of feature - it was already tied to each user. Having a single public watchlist doesn’t really cut it, but that’s basically the workaround I use now: a collection of “watch later” items that is hidden from other users by tags. 

Not really - my previous 'watchlist' attempt (from maybe 18 months ago..) worked pretty well - just using Playlists for each user as watchlists - the downside, as you rightly point out, was that anybody could add/delete to anybodys watchlist.  Not necessarily a bad thing (I watch a good film I think would be suitable for user x, so I add it to their watchlist..) but agree this could very easily be abused.   The public/private playlist provides the absolute bare bones upgrade on the old 'public' playlist but we were all expecting actual permissions per playlist.. promised but as of yet, has not made the Beta release ..

2 hours ago, Tremas said:

Getting playlists and collections on the Home Screen is great step, but it’s not selected playlists and collections, correct? It’s just a row of all playlists or collections as if you are in the tab, right? Is it tied to a user if you set up the playlist that way?

Agree - just displaying playlists on the home screen (and then displaying as a playlist - exactly the same as just using it from the Media row) is not a step forward at all.

My Plugin will hopefully take a 'Playlist' and display it's contents as a channel ( ie row on the Home menu) - that way, you can display your own 'Watchlist' - and add/delete from it via the existing Playlist mechanisms.

If you want a 2nd channel/row of 'Global Recommendations/Spotlight/Top Picks' (whatever you want to call them) - then you simply display the 'Global Watchlist' instead - which has 'Public' rights so anybody can add/delete from it.

Edited September 21, 2023 by rbjtech

[jaycedk 382]

In Version 4.8.0.47 beta playlist can be displayed in homescreen, or am i missing something ?

[rbjtech 4270]

13 minutes ago, jaycedk said:

In Version 4.8.0.47 beta playlist can be displayed in homescreen, or am i missing something ?

That is no different to simply clicking it from the Media menu.

What I want to see is a 'Watch Later' row on the Emby Home Menu - exactly the same as 'Recently Released Movies' - but containing all your 'Watch Later' items - not just a button pointing to a Playlist that is designed for Music ... 

 

[jaycedk 382]

Ok now I get it

then we need more Home Screen Sections to fill

7 sections is not enough.

Edited September 21, 2023 by jaycedk
Adding

[rbjtech 4270]

It should appear as a fully configurable 'row/channel'.

This is what I'm working towards - the contents are read from the 'Watchlist' which is a private Playlist ...

[jaycedk 382]

Ohh boy !! 

Now I want this

[Tremas 103]

2 hours ago, jaycedk said:

Ohh boy !! 

Now I want this

Yes. As noted, many of us have wanted this for many years. I’m surprised this isn’t farther up in the FR “user reactions” list. 

I just hate moving into another community plugin vs. core functionality split like intro-skip. I share the frustration though. If the plugin was available I would use it - at least for myself.

Ultimately, there should be a way to add to the “watch later” list direct from the media screen, similar to favorite - you know like Netflix, Amazon, or any other software. Adding to a playlist is just inelegant - but I get it. It’s trying to fill a (large) gap. I don’t expect my family to want to do it that way though. 

Now, another plugin that I would really love is a “what to watch” feature that just plays the trailers from all the movies in a “watch list” playlist (or a collection). There’s currently no way to add local trailers to a playlist, and it would be nice to just peruse a “watch list” by viewing the trailers without popping in and out of every movie. For me, when I’m trying to decide on a movie when I sit down I find it helpful to just watch trailers from my “pile of shame” until something grabs me. Same for family movie nights too. I’ve been holding off on a Feature Request for that until the basics got covered- but again, frustrated.

Edited September 21, 2023 by Tremas

[rbjtech 4270]

7 minutes ago, Tremas said:

Ultimately, there should be a way to add to the “watch later” list direct from the media screen, similar to favorite - you know like Netflix, Amazon, or any other software. Adding to a playlist is just inelegant - but I get it. It’s trying to fill a (large) gap. I don’t expect my family to want to do it that way though. 

Agree - would love to be able to add to the context menu.  I think it's 'possible' via a Plugin, but it's not openly being shared as I've asked before.

[Junglejim 351]

15 hours ago, jaycedk said:

In Version 4.8.0.47 beta playlist can be displayed in homescreen, or am i missing something ?

I don't use beta's but form what you posted looks disappointing. It just saves you one click from selecting the playlist media icon.. I bet it still links to the shitty music playlist too?

What does the "Recently Released Movies" look like out of interest?

14 hours ago, rbjtech said:

It should appear as a fully configurable 'row/channel'.

This is what I'm working towards - the contents are read from the 'Watchlist' which is a private Playlist ...

This was what I was thinking it should look like, create a playlist and display it as above (same as Kodi/XBMC does it). Alas.. I guess that's still too hard!

I guess it's still down to a plugin @rbjtech I would love you to fill this sad gap in the core software.

[Tremas 103]

5 hours ago, Junglejim said:

I don't use beta's but form what you posted looks disappointing. It just saves you one click from selecting the playlist media icon.. I bet it still links to the shitty music playlist too?

What does the "Recently Released Movies" look like out of interest?

This was what I was thinking it should look like, create a playlist and display it as above (same as Kodi/XBMC does it). Alas.. I guess that's still too hard!

I guess it's still down to a plugin @rbjtech I would love you to fill this sad gap in the core software.

Well, there seems to be a commitment now that having filtered "smart views" available on the home screen is in active development for the core system. The changes above seem to be just a quick short term solution. I agree though, that they should have just put in "recently released" and not bothered with playlists or collections in the current form.

I think having music playlists in the home screen without showing the actual tracks is beneficial overall - but you either need to pin them specifically or show the most recently played ones for it to be useful. I like how Roon Arc does it where you have a row on the front page that can be toggled between recently added (music) and recently played (music). Recently played shows individual tracks (if you launched them individually), albums (if you launched from the album view), and playlists without breaking out the individual tracks (if you launched from the playlist view). 

I think getting this FR/topic to have more activity wouldn't hurt to put a focus on getting this feature prioritized. Clearly, the database changes to enable per-user playlists is big step, but it's definitely just a step.

[Junglejim 351]

14 hours ago, Tremas said:

Well, there seems to be a commitment now that having filtered "smart views" available on the home screen is in active development for the core system. The changes above seem to be just a quick short term solution. I agree though, that they should have just put in "recently released" and not bothered with playlists or collections in the current form.

Cool! They will get there eventually I guess, just have to wait it out.

[rbjtech 4270]

4 hours ago, Junglejim said:

Cool! They will get there eventually I guess, just have to wait it out.

raised as an FR in July 15 2016 - ~7 Years ago ...  .. how long do you wait ... ?

[Junglejim 351]

1 hour ago, rbjtech said:

raised as an FR in July 15 2016 - ~7 Years ago ...  .. how long do you wait ... ?

Yeah a totally get that... everything is possible for the future.. lol.. but that's just it, the future never gets here.. That's why I always laugh when Luke responds with that scripted/macro......