MB Plus Discussion

[Carneys 0]

Once you created your Custom Category, just add the Fitness media folder to it.

 

Yeah this is what I'm trying, and the Fitness category is empty when I do this.  There's something simple I'm missing I'm sure and I can't figure it out.

[ebr 14921]

Ok, so is there a way to leave MB+ to browse the regular theme within MB or is there just no way at all to access that channel as long as I have MB+ active?

 

You can go the other way.  You can make MB Plus not replace your EHS.  Then you go to MB Plus when you want it or use the regular theme navigation when you don't.

[ebr 14921]

Yeah this is what I'm trying, and the Fitness category is empty when I do this.  There's something simple I'm missing I'm sure and I can't figure it out.

 

The Category is empty or the Tile Group/Media Folder is?

[Carneys 0]

You can go the other way.  You can make MB Plus not replace your EHS.  Then you go to MB Plus when you want it or use the regular theme navigation when you don't.

 

Ok, I'll test that out.  I really like the look of MB+ as my main screen when I log on though.  I'll see how it works.

[Carneys 0]

The Category is empty or the Tile Group/Media Folder is?

 

The Tile Group, if that's what is on the main page on the EHS.

 

Ok, so I fixed this problem.  I had a main directory that was Videos, and within that was all of my TV/Movies/Fitness folders.

 

I removed the "Videos" library from MB server, and instead added each sub folder as it's own library.

 

Not sure why this worked, but now when I create a Fitness category and just put that folder on it, everything works perfectly.

 

Thanks for your help on this.  Now just need to solve the channel issue.

[ebr 14921]

Is there anyway to make the smartlist go in order for any given tv show.  It goes in order after it makes the playlist but it doesn't start from the last watched episode.  It starts at a random number and counts up.   Is there a setting I'm missing or could this be a new feature in the future?

 

I think it will do this if you don't allow watched items in your Smart List.

[bxsteez 3]

Really?  Because I haven't watched any of those files since before I started using MB.  I will give it a shot and see. 

I think it will do this if you don't allow watched items in your Smart List.

[ebr 14921]

So I think I'm going to re-design this slightly to make getting to the "Views" a little easier.

 

As it is now, Views like all movies or movies by genre are just another tile group.  The plus to that is that you can position them wherever you want.  But the downside is that you probably want them quick to access but maybe not always first and taking up all of your screen real estate.

 

So, here's what I think I'm going to do.

 

[Edit - Okay, a little bit of color is better]

 

So, the views you choose will be the first items but displayed smaller and, actually, you'll still land on the first item in your real categories when you move through them and can easily then go right or left - making the views never more than a couple clicks away but not really "in the way"...  Make sense?

 

Any strong objections?

[Carneys 0]

Looks good to me.

[seanbuff 840]

Yes. I've always liked that 'All Movies' and 'All TV Series' were there, but didn't really like that they were so far down the end.

 

So just confirming, on your sample image above, when opening MBPlus initially and landing on 'TV Series' -- by default, would 'Lost' be selected?
Then it's just a quick left to jump into all your series?

 

If so, yes - I really like that. No objections here.

[gthrift 57]

Yes. I've always liked that 'All Movies' and 'All TV Series' were there, but didn't really like that they were so far down the end.

 

So just confirming, on your sample image above, when opening MBPlus initially and landing on 'TV Series' -- by default, would 'Lost' be selected?

Then it's just a quick left to jump into all your series?

 

If so, yes - I really like that. No objections here.

 I like it as well.

 

 

 

Also, what are the chances you there could be a option implemented where MBPlus suggestions use the servers suggestions for next up versus MBPlus' suggestions.  I ask because my wife likes to watch random episodes of Sex and the City, Big Band Theory, How I Met Your Mother or other random 30 minute shows in random order that she has seen as background noise.  The issue we run into is that if she watches a random episode of Big Bang Theory, then next up episode is the episode after the last one she has watched, not the newest, "next up" that we are looking for.

 

Another problem I sometimes we with the suggestions is that a show I'm watching with a following unwatched episode is not recommended, which I think might be a limitation of MBPlus because I have not watched an episode in MB but previous episodes are marked played.  I do like that MBPlus does recommend the first episodes of series that have not been watched yet.  I wish the server would do that.

Examples:  I have season 4, 5 and 6 of White Collar, have watched season 4 and it is marked as watched but I have not watched White Collar in a long time.  I guess as far as MBPlus is concerned it's not a suggested show but according to the server it is.  It's the same thing with Sons of Anarchy.  I have not watched Sons on this install of MB3 but have watched all previous seasons, but S07E01 is not recommended as a next up, but S01E01 of Gotham is recommended.  

  

 

 

Next is a weird thing I'm running into that might be a bug.   For latest under TV Series, If I set the number of latest tv tiles to 6, only 5 show up, if I set it to 5 only 4 tiles show up.  To get 6 tiles to show up I have to set the number of tiles to 10 to get the sixth tile to show up.  Anything from 6 to 10 only shows 5 tiles.  Movies don't seem to be affected.  

[ebr 14921]

The new views handling is now available in the beta version 1.0.4.0 of both server and MBC plug-in (you need to update both).

 

Please let me know when you run into problems (I'll be surprised if you don't because I had to make a lot of mods).

[ebr 14921]

 I like it as well.

 

 

 

Also, what are the chances you there could be a option implemented where MBPlus suggestions use the servers suggestions for next up versus MBPlus' suggestions.  I ask because my wife likes to watch random episodes of Sex and the City, Big Band Theory, How I Met Your Mother or other random 30 minute shows in random order that she has seen as background noise.  The issue we run into is that if she watches a random episode of Big Bang Theory, then next up episode is the episode after the last one she has watched, not the newest, "next up" that we are looking for.

 

Another problem I sometimes we with the suggestions is that a show I'm watching with a following unwatched episode is not recommended, which I think might be a limitation of MBPlus because I have not watched an episode in MB but previous episodes are marked played.  I do like that MBPlus does recommend the first episodes of series that have not been watched yet.  I wish the server would do that.

Examples:  I have season 4, 5 and 6 of White Collar, have watched season 4 and it is marked as watched but I have not watched White Collar in a long time.  I guess as far as MBPlus is concerned it's not a suggested show but according to the server it is.  It's the same thing with Sons of Anarchy.  I have not watched Sons on this install of MB3 but have watched all previous seasons, but S07E01 is not recommended as a next up, but S01E01 of Gotham is recommended.  

  

 

 

Next is a weird thing I'm running into that might be a bug.   For latest under TV Series, If I set the number of latest tv tiles to 6, only 5 show up, if I set it to 5 only 4 tiles show up.  To get 6 tiles to show up I have to set the number of tiles to 10 to get the sixth tile to show up.  Anything from 6 to 10 only shows 5 tiles.  Movies don't seem to be affected.  

 

Okay, that's a lot of stuff...

 

1) That's a pretty edge case.  MB Plus is designed to make suggestions based on what you are actively watching which I believe, in 99% of the cases, is going to be better than just the raw "next up" functionality.

 

2) This is really the same thing.  MB Plus makes suggestions based on what you are actively watching as opposed to what is technically un-watched.  So, if you haven't actually watched something in MB Plus it isn't going to be in the suggested area.  It will, however, show up in Latest (if it isn't already in the suggested).  This functionality is not likely to change because this is exactly why I built this thing in the first place.  I re-watch a lot of my favorite shows and, with the spacing out of many cable shows to almost a year between seasons, I also will frequently re-watch the last few episodes of a previous season before starting a new one that is still active.  MB Plus keeps track of what you are really watching right now as opposed to what you have marked as watched and unwatched.

 

3) I'm not sure without some more specific examples but there are some times when the suggested list will show fewer tiles than you may expect.  Are you talking about Latest, or Suggested?  The suggested one can do this when you've watched the last available episode of a show so it matches the last watched shows criteria but there are no more episodes so you basically end up with a blank slot for that one.

[seanbuff 840]

@@ebr i just posted an issue in the Windows Server section

 

http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/13393-unhandled-exception-mbs-will-no-longer-start/

 

could what i'm seeing be related to MBPlus latest server plugin? The only reason I ask is because it only happened immediately after i installed it and tried to restart MBS.

 

Thanks.

[Kent 91]

@@ebr sorry for my confusion on this...but i'm trying to see how i can limit the Suggested playlist to only pull unwatched episodes (TV Shows playlist).  Sometimes i'll play a watched episode as a one off and do not want to create a playlist based on this.  I'm happy to limit the Suggested purely to unwatched episodes.  Is this possible or do i need to create a custom smart list that only pulls unwatched (unchecking the include watched)?

 

It would be cool if you can add a 'unwatched only' option under the Suggested playlist options...?

 

Thanks!

Edited November 19, 2014 by Kent

[ebr 14921]

Kent - you would need to create a smart list as the suggested ones are designed to follow your viewing habits.

[AgileHumor 123]

@@ebr i just posted an issue in the Windows Server section

 

http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/13393-unhandled-exception-mbs-will-no-longer-start/

 

could what i'm seeing be related to MBPlus latest server plugin? The only reason I ask is because it only happened immediately after i installed it and tried to restart MBS.

 

Thanks.

 

I have the same issue. Uninstall MBPlus for to get MBS to stay started.

 

@@ebr, it seems to error on the category build

2014-11-18 19:10:17.7351 Debug - MB Plus: In get last watched series. Max items: 12
2014-11-18 19:10:18.1882 Debug - MB Plus: In get last watched series. Max items: 12
2014-11-18 19:10:18.2976 Info - MB Plus: Category build for Mike took 0.578 seconds.
2014-11-18 19:10:18.2976 Error - Main: UnhandledException
	Value cannot be null.
	Parameter name: fileName
	System.ArgumentNullException
	   at System.IO.FileInfo..ctor(String fileName)
	   at MediaBrowser.Controller.Entities.HasImagesExtensions.SetImagePath(IHasImages item, ImageType imageType, String file)
	   at MBPlus.ServerEntryPoint.<GetCategory>d__10b.MoveNext()
	--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---

[seanbuff 840]

I have the same issue. Uninstall MBPlus for to get MBS to stay started.

 

@@ebr, it seems to error on the category build

 

v1.0.4.0 of the server plugin fixed this for me.

[AgileHumor 123]

It did not fix it for me

[ebr 14921]

It did not fix it for me

 

That's because yours was actually a different issue.

 

1.0.4.2 should fix it for you.

[AgileHumor 123]

That's because yours was actually a different issue.

 

1.0.4.2 should fix it for you.

It did, and it's amazing looking!

 

Thanks!

[ebr 14921]

The channels issue worries me a bit more because based on the description in your thread it may not be possible to add PlayOn, which I need to have access to for my HTPC.

 

"Any channel that supports latest items that you have installed into MB Server can be attached to any category in any profile."

 

So I'm thinking the reason PlayOn doesn't show up as an available channel within MB+ is because it doesn't fit this criteria, which is unfortunately maybe a deal breaker for me on this.   Any way to force it to show up?

 

@@Carneys - the next version of MB Plus will allow you to show an "All Channels" view as well as attach channels that allow recent content as tile groups.

 

[Carneys 0]

@@Carneys - the next version of MB Plus will allow you to show an "All Channels" view as well as attach channels that allow recent content as tile groups.

 

 

Thanks, that is awesome. 

[ebr 14921]

Another small improvement will be coming to MB Plus Classic soon.  Maybe I'm the only one who encounters this problem due to the fact I tend to catch on to series after they've been out for a while and it sometimes takes me a while to gather all the previous episodes - but, currently, if you happen to have some missing episodes in the midst of ones that are in your library, MB Plus will just kind of ignore this and play the episodes you do have in order.  This could cause you to accidentally watch ahead and miss some episodes that you just hadn't obtained yet.

 

With the next release, MB Plus will be smarter about this and, not only show you the missing episodes, but also warn you if you are about to watch ahead of where you should be.

 

[MrWebsmith 598]

great feature... normally i dont have skips but something that could catch them if it happens accidentally i would love