[FEATURE REQUEST] Android TV make changing Live-TV channel easier - single click and Remote Control support?

[Peter Nent 50]

Currently, changing a Live-TV channel is not as easy as it could be and looking to MCE,...as it should be.

 

Idea: why not within the Live-TV screen a channel-+/- option and the posibility to enter a channelnumber directly and/or support for a Remote Control...simular to MCE and KODI and....

 

 

This will make Live-TV via EMBY more easier to us!

 

 

Thanks & Beste regards

[Luke 37094]

Hi, yes this is planned for the future, thanks.

[rechner123 12]

Good idea

 

I found it cool if there where a option to open a channel list on the example right side, like a tv channel list.

[capitaineflam25 68]

The « On now » screen that you get pressing « up » while watching TV is pretty nice already.

 

One small improvement i see is allowing pressing « up » on the control form (the one you get when pressing « down » when watching something) so you can hide it and press « up » again to switch to « On now »

 

With this you can navigate freely with up/down between the 2 control screen and the live TV.

Edited February 10, 2018 by capitaineflam25

[capitaineflam25 68]

I realise what i’m writing concerns the Android App, maybe i write it to the wrong place ?

[ebr 14921]

Good idea

 

I found it cool if there where a option to open a channel list on the example right side, like a tv channel list.

 

The Android TV app can already do this...  Press the "up" arrow while watching live TV.

[ebr 14921]

The « On now » screen that you get pressing « up » while watching TV is pretty nice already.

 

One small improvement i see is allowing pressing « up » on the control form (the one you get when pressing « down » when watching something) so you can hide it and press « up » again to switch to « On now »

 

With this you can navigate freely with up/down between the 2 control screen and the live TV.

 

The problem is there are already items on the main OSD you can navigate to with up/down (the play/pause button and the other buttons).

 

You know that there is a button on that screen already that will bring up that quick channel changer...?

[ebr 14921]

Currently, changing a Live-TV channel is not as easy as it could be and looking to MCE,...as it should be.

 

Idea: why not within the Live-TV screen a channel-+/- option and the posibility to enter a channelnumber directly and/or support for a Remote Control...simular to MCE and KODI and....

 

 

This will make Live-TV via EMBY more easier to us!

 

 

Thanks & Beste regards

 

Specifically with Android TV, we are dealing with a very limited number of buttons.  None of the external boxes have number buttons and on actual TVs that do have them, I'll bet they never get passed to the app and, instead, go directly to the TVs internal tuner.

 

Right now we already have a way for you to jump to a specific channel number in the guide and it is possible to bring the guide (and this channel entry form) up while Live TV is playing.

[capitaineflam25 68]

The problem is there are already items on the main OSD you can navigate to with up/down (the play/pause button and the other buttons).

 

I imagined this behaviour when the focus is on play/pause button only.

 

In this way the ergonomics of both OSD would look alike : UP/DOWN to show/hide "On now", DOWN/UP to show/hide "Playback Controls"

 

 

It has been rare but it happens that i wait a lot before pressing "Back" to hide the "Playback Controls" and it starts hiding by itself, so i pressed "Back" a bit too late and i lose the direct TV (and the eventual timeshifting)

Having the Down/Up feature as an alternative could prevent that also.

 

You know that there is a button on that screen already that will bring up that quick channel changer...?

 

Yes that's nice to have it there, it's complementary to the quick way to show it (which i use the most)

Edited February 11, 2018 by capitaineflam25

[bungee91 98]

The Android TV app can already do this...  Press the "up" arrow while watching live TV.

 

@@ebr Any reason we cannot bring this up during playback of a recording?

 

Ideally I'd like to be able to schedule a recording when playing something back.. 

Many times I see a commercial for something and go "that looks interesting, let me remember to record that as I don't want to stop what I'm watching now". I then forget.

 

OT and should have it's own thread, but here I am...

 

Long term I hope recording playback and liveTv playback merge into one universal Tv watching interface (same options).

 

Also, if I'm recording a show, and it's recorded for 10 minutes. If I go to the guide for that same channel/program and click on it, I should not only get the normal "tune to channel" "record" and "record series" option, there should also be a "start show from beginning" option. 

Ideally playback should be smarter.

A live Tv broadcast should be able to rewind into the recording buffer seamlessly. So if I start a program with "tune to channel" and want to rewind into the recorded buffer from a scheduled recording, it should do just that.

 

Reminder, it's not WMC we should be targeting, it should be more intuitive than that (sorry, WMC was good but not great), for instance Tivo was intuitive and did many things way before WMC was a thing.

Remember the "press thumbs up to record" that would prompt during certain commercials? I'm not expecting that level of user-friendliness, but that was intuitive and a seamless experience for the end user.

Even the setting for programs you may like so I recorded it for you was cool first of its kind feature.

Edited February 11, 2018 by bungee91

[capitaineflam25 68]

Ideally I'd like to be able to schedule a recording when playing something back.. 

 

Allowing background playing videos could be the ultimate answer to that.

[ebr 14921]

@@ebr Any reason we cannot bring this up during playback of a recording?

 

Ideally I'd like to be able to schedule a recording when playing something back.. 

Many times I see a commercial for something and go "that looks interesting, let me remember to record that as I don't want to stop what I'm watching now". I then forget.

 

The up arrow brings up the quick channel changer which shows you only programs that are on right now so that would not be what you want.  Instead, it sounds like you want to be able to bring up the full guide while watching non-live TV content.

 

This has been requested and I don't really have a problem with it except that it is hard to come up with an intuitive way to do that.  The remote controls don't have a reasonable button on them that would intuitively be used to produce a live TV guide while watching normal content (any TV with an actual 'guide' button does not get passed to the app) and adding another OSD button to what is already too many is not a good option either.

 

 

Allowing background playing videos could be the ultimate answer to that.

 

Yes, PiP browsing could solve this.

[bungee91 98]

The up arrow brings up the quick channel changer which shows you only programs that are on right now so that would not be what you want.  Instead, it sounds like you want to be able to bring up the full guide while watching non-live TV content.

 

This has been requested and I don't really have a problem with it except that it is hard to come up with an intuitive way to do that.  The remote controls don't have a reasonable button on them that would intuitively be used to produce a live TV guide while watching normal content (any TV with an actual 'guide' button does not get passed to the app) and adding another OSD button to what is already too many is not a good option either.

 

 

 

Yes, PiP browsing could solve this.

 

The lack of remote control buttons certainly is an issue. I would think the only way to accomplish this seamlessly is with adding another button to the OSD.

A mini guide that is displayed on the bottom 1/3 of the picture would work pretty well I would think. Don't we already have some form of a while watching guide that can be brought during Live Tv playback?

 

I'm actually against the background playing for certain situations. With Kodi it can be troublesome to get back to the video to stop it. Yes it gives options, but it is cumbersome as well.

It is however useful for other situations, just I think this could be handled better with a mini-guide or some other way to perform this action.

[ebr 14921]

The lack of remote control buttons certainly is an issue. I would think the only way to accomplish this seamlessly is with adding another button to the OSD.

A mini guide that is displayed on the bottom 1/3 of the picture would work pretty well I would think. Don't we already have some form of a while watching guide that can be brought during Live Tv playback?

 

Yes, this is there when watching Live TV.  The issue is adding yet another button to an already crowded OSD and one that will not necessarily make sense to people when watching a movie from their library (why is there a button that brings up the live TV guide when I'm watching one of my movies??).

 

 

I'm actually against the background playing for certain situations. With Kodi it can be troublesome to get back to the video to stop it.

 

I pretty much agree with this but Android is putting the functionality into the OS in general so it is something we will likely support in the future.

[bungee91 98]

Yes, this is there when watching Live TV.  The issue is adding yet another button to an already crowded OSD and one that will not necessarily make sense to people when watching a movie from their library (why is there a button that brings up the live TV guide when I'm watching one of my movies??).

 

 

This is the part where "library" gets confusing. Yes something recorded is a library item, but one design fits all doesn't work at times, or doesn't provide the options needed in certain situations.

I very regularly start watching a LiveTv show a little behind, so I start with the recording. Having the ability to schedule something during this action is a basic DVR function. 

I agree with you that typically this is done with a dedicated button, and we certainly don't have that option.

I'm not certain on the overcrowding of buttons on the OSD, but would certainly use the mini guide if it was there.

 

Personally those buttons can be confusing (especially the ones during LiveTv playback). I think it would be more useful if they had a label on them (yes a bit ugly, but useful).

Then anyone would know what each of them does. I seriously have to just click them and see what they do to understand their function. I'm guessing that is the same for many users.

 

 

I pretty much agree with this but Android is putting the functionality into the OS in general so it is something we will likely support in the future.

 

 Very true.

 

[capitaineflam25 68]

I imagined this behaviour when the focus is on play/pause button only.

 

In this way the ergonomics of both OSD would look alike : UP/DOWN to show/hide "On now", DOWN/UP to show/hide "Playback Controls"

 

emby14.png

 

One last word about this suggestion : some videos apps like the Youtube app for Android TV have it (Also "MyCanal" a popular french IPTV provider)

 

This is a screeshot from Youtube :

[Sammy 738]

I vote for a better user experience in LiveTV! The app on the shield is pretty good but could use some improvements for sure. Right now I'd settle for all apps mimicking the functionality of the AndroidTV App..

[Sammy 738]

@@ebr

 

I'd go for the functionality of the AndroidTV App on all apps.. Or something similar to YoutubeTV would work too.

Thanks!