Jump to content

Default setting suggestion


Jdiesel

Recommended Posts

Jdiesel

Due to dashboard playback controls not working on remote Roku's and the fact that Roku's are designed to be left on 24/7 I recommend that the default setting for automatically play next episode is set to No. Until there is a limit in place on how many episodes to queue up this may serve as a temporary solution for users who do not configure the settings when setting up the app leaving autoplay next episode set to Yes and forget to stop playback before turning of their display resulting in runaway playback that can not be stopped.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gilgamesh_48

I agree with this! In fact I think the default setting for all intrusive features like this or theme music or anything else that "assumes"  that one might want to hear or see something that has not been explicitly selected should be "off."

 

I want virtually nothing to interfere with my use of my media the way I want to use it.

 

And I do NOT buy into the argument that the intrusive features need to be turned on to start so people are aware of them. People are not that stupid and if they want a feature they will look for it.

 

But it seems that every media manager, content supplier and most other systems default this king of feature to on.

 

It is called programming to the lowest common denominator.

 

At least we get to be able to turn them off in Emby. There are many places, Netflix comes to mind, where most features are completely out of user control.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jdiesel

I agree with this! In fact I think the default setting for all intrusive features like this or theme music or anything else that "assumes"  that one might want to hear or see something that has not been explicitly selected should be "off."

 

I want virtually nothing to interfere with my use of my media the way I want to use it.

 

And I do NOT buy into the argument that the intrusive features need to be turned on to start so people are aware of them. People are not that stupid and if they want a feature they will look for it.

 

But it seems that every media manager, content supplier and most other systems default this king of feature to on.

 

It is called programming to the lowest common denominator.

 

At least we get to be able to turn them off in Emby. There are many places, Netflix comes to mind, where most features are completely out of user control.

 

Don't get me started on Netflix's autoplay backdrop videos  :angry:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well for theme music you have to first do the work of obtaining it so therefore it is reasonable to have that on by default.

 

Autoplay of episodes I think makes sense to be on by default. All you have to do is press stop. Remote control is it's own separate topic for discussion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I want virtually nothing to interfere with my use of my media the way I want to use it.

 

That's your opinion and we have the way for you to make that happen.

 

 

And I do NOT buy into the argument that... features need to be turned on to start so people are aware of them...if they want a feature they will look for it.

 

All available research (and our anecdotal evidence) points to the contrary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And I do NOT buy into the argument that the intrusive features need to be turned on to start so people are aware of them. People are not that stupid and if they want a feature they will look for it.

 

Try responding to user questions for a day and see if you still feel that way :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jdiesel

I think that without a limit on the number of episodes that will play automatically the feature needs to be used very wisely. It should be a choice to turn it on IMO.

 

 

For example, the other day I received a text message from my brother asking why Next Up wasn't working for some of their shows. I told him that he left a show playing overnight I was was eventually forced to kill playback from my end. As a result he had about 12 episode of a show being marked as watched because someone turned off the TV before stopping playback. I explained to him that we "Could/Should" turn off the Automatically play next episode feature. It has been two weeks since and it hasn't been turned off and the situation has happened two more times since then. Some people don't/won't bother with the settings granted they are able to watch a video when they open the app so while they may not ever find and turn a setting on they also won't turn a setting off. In this case that setting is cause me the server admin grief and waste energy and bandwidth. I wish I could say it was just my brother doing it but my parents continuously do this as well. 

Edited by Jdiesel
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree, automatically playing next episode should be OFF by default. 

If people want to binge watch they can enable this feature.

There is no reason to have it on my default.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Nisten

As a media industry, auto-play is turned on by default (Youtube, Netflix, Hulu, etc) yet each service allows you to turn it off should you choose to do so. 

 

Don't have any hard evidence but generally people are more likely to leave it on and then just close out of the player before the video/episodes truly ends, if they don't want to watch the next video or episode.

 

One scenario unaccounted for is the ambiguity of sometimes wanting to binge or not binge. Leaving the option on by default accounts for the ambiguity while leaving it off does not. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gilgamesh_48

As a media industry, auto-play is turned on by default (Youtube, Netflix, Hulu, etc) yet each service allows you to turn it off should you choose to do so. 

 

Don't have any hard evidence but generally people are more likely to leave it on and then just close out of the player before the video/episodes truly ends, if they don't want to watch the next video or episode.

 

One scenario unaccounted for is the ambiguity of sometimes wanting to binge or not binge. Leaving the option on by default accounts for the ambiguity while leaving it off does not. 

 

Just because everyone else is doing it then Emby should? 

 

I believe the industry is wrong headed about this and many other features that are defaulted to intrude in the media experience. 

 

It is my strong belief that new features designed to "enhance" the viewing experience for some people, even the majority, should be defaulted to off. (or at least to whichever setting does not change the operation of the software) The main reason is that when adding such a feature it changes the user experience and surprises people. I do not think surprises when viewing are at all a good thing.

 

I also believe that emulating features that Netflix, or other big unfeeling company, implemented after they came into existence and that were met with a fair amount of complaints is a mistake as well. Just because an industry leader made a horrible move should not mean that other companies should make the same stupid move. 

 

Just default new features like auto-play to off and allow them to be turned on by those that want them. This is even true if market research indicates that it is a desired feature. You irritate no one by adding a feature and defaulting it to off but you do irritate a few (maybe a lot of) people by defaulting an intrusive feature like auto-play to on.

 

Just because others do something does not make it right or even a good idea.

Edited by Gilgamesh_48
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would suggest instead to blame your fellow consumers for complaining about click counts. The more we see that feedback, the more we have to adapt.

 

Contrary to what you might believe, we don't just come up with these things on our own. Almost everything is feedback-driven. That includes direct feedback, indirect (e.g. observing reports of user struggling over something), as well as feedback and reviews directed towards other similar apps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gilgamesh_48

I would suggest instead to blame your fellow consumers for complaining about click counts. The more we see that feedback, the more we have to adapt.

 

Contrary to what you might believe, we don't just come up with these things on our own. Almost everything is feedback-driven. That includes direct feedback, indirect (e.g. observing reports of user struggling over something), as well as feedback and reviews directed towards other similar apps.

 

I understand that and I accept that it is the way things are done but I also believe that much of the research and surveys that have led the industry to the decision that intrusion in the user experience is a good thing is flawed. The exact nature of the "flaw" is quite hard to explain and involves mostly different assumptions in the math and different mathematical applications of the data and different data gathering mechanisms and is well beyond the scope of a message board like this. 

 

Human behavior does not lend itself to analysis very well no matter what many people want to force on the world.

 

But I do not really expect to convince anyone and I have resigned myself to running into intrusive features that I dislike but as long as they can be turned off I really don't mind much. What I dislike is features that get implemented, like the auto-play feature in Netflix did, that cannot be turned off. They responded to complaints and finally allowed the feature to be turned off but it was months before they did that. I canceled my Netflix sub for that and the forced preview and only activate Netflix for a month each year to catch up on the few things that are Netflix only that I have an interest in.

 

Just allow new features, like auto-play to be turned off and I, and others that feel as I do, will be content. I just wanted to be clear that not everyone likes their media software to do much of anything more than present items in a logical manner for playback (which Emby does very well) and play them. (which Emby also does well.)

 

I do not want suggestions or anything automatically playing.

 

Sorry about the long post. I'll try to be more succinct in the future it is just my nature to be a bit long winded.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jdiesel

I think the difference between Netflix and Emby is that Netflix will eventually stop playing, Emby will keep playing indefinitely. For that reason alone it should be off by default. By manually turning on the option to autoplay the next episode the end user understands that by doing so it may result in episodes continuing to play even after they turn of their TV. If it is on by default they may not even know it is an option and wonder why their episodes are being marked as watched or why they are being kicked out mid episode because the server admin ended the stream because they thought someone left their client running again.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This may be besides the point, but do you all leave the emby app open indefinitely?

Edited by Nisten
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you leave Auto Play Next turned on, after a few episodes Netflix will ask if you are still watching, as far as I know Emby does not do that, so it does not make sense to leave Auto Play turned on for Emby. 

 

Especially if you have kids, many times mine have forgot to pause or exit the app on my Roku and come back hours or day later and find out that entire season has played and now marked as watched.

 

Best course of action for features like this is to make the default to off, Luke and Ebr are doing a great job building Emby, but they should not be dictating to us how to watch our media or forcing their personal viewing preferences on to us.   This has happened over and over again, where Luke and Ebr add some new "feature" that they love, and default it to be on, or worse yet have no option to disable it.  I would hope that they have learned from this, but it seems not.

 

Please @@Luke & @@ebr just build an amazing Emby system, with every feature and bell and whistle you can want or dream of, but let us configure our Emby Servers to suit our and our family's needs and viewing habits.

Edited by dcook
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The right answer here is the "Still Watching" feature and it will be in the next beta of the app.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jdiesel

The right answer here is the "Still Watching" feature and it will be in the next beta of the app.

 

Great to hear, I look forward to testing it out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ifignella

The right answer here is the "Still Watching" feature and it will be in the next beta of the app.

Yes, this is the answer.  Good middle ground to satisfy everybody.

 

Just curious, how many episodes before the prompt?

Edited by ifignella
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Happy2Play

Yes, this is the answer.  Good middle ground to satisfy everybody.

 

Just curious, how many episodes before the prompt?

 

Well how long is a movie?  I would not expect it to appear during a one movie playback so a minimum of 3hrs would seem appropriate to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jdiesel

Well how long is a movie?  I would not expect it to appear during a one movie playback so a minimum of 3hrs would seem appropriate to me.

 

According to Emby Statistics my longest movie is Dances with Wolves with a runtime of 03:53:49. There is no way I am watching that entire movie without pausing for a bathroom break or bringing up the OSD to see how much is left lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just curious, how many episodes before the prompt?

 

Well how long is a movie?  I would not expect it to appear during a one movie playback so a minimum of 3hrs would seem appropriate to me.

 

It is a little smarter than that.

 

It will (should) only present after at least the second item played and at least an hour of zero interaction on the remote.  It will come up at the beginning of an item after those requirements are met.

 

It isn't implemented for Live TV yet because that requires a little different logic (just straight time with no interaction).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jdiesel

I didn't watch enough to trigger it. I will start something when I get home and let it play until it kicks in

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...