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Video playlist repeat


markand

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markand

It would be great if there was an option to repeat a video playlist, specifically for the Apple TV client, but I’m sure it would be good everywhere. During the day I use the TV to entertain my pet and have a playlist of maybe 20 videos that runs for an hour and a half. It’s important that it doesn’t stop playing. Currently, using Apple’s iTunes video playlist is the only way to do this. In fact, there’s not an option to NOT repeat. I think whether it’s music or video, a playlist should keep playing.

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Hi, we have this in the web app, and over time it will come to all apps, including Apple TV. Thanks !

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markand

Is there a per app feature request area? It's great that the web app has it, but I never use the web app for playback.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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markand

One comment: I was able to get a playlist to repeat, but the only way that I found out how to do it is to play a video from the playlist, and then, while it's playing, go to settings for the video (settings button with the playback controls). 

 

This is really not intuitive. There should either be a "repeat" switch when on the playlist or buttons to play once, play repeat, etc.

 

Or, maybe the designers can come up with something better, but the current behavior is not intuitive

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We do have repeat for video. But it is designed as an ON/OFF for Repeat All and within the Video Player OSD.

 

@@markand what is the intuitive behavior you expected? With playlists we cannot assume everyone wants a playlist to repeat. These are lists that have an end. When they loop it needs to be optional. How exactly did you expect the app to work in regards to this? I am curious. We want the app to be easy to use and dead simple to understand. Was it not clear the Repeat All was within the Video Player On-Screen-Display (OSD)? How can we make it easier for users to understand how to find this function? What would be the best way in your opinion to facilitate your request?

 

Keep in mind we have to follow how the other Emby apps work. It can't be "going its own way" unless its a platform specific issue that creates the reason for doing it differently. But with that in mind, please give us your opinions. It is interesting seeing what other users value and feel lacking in the app. It is a way to see how we need to do better. Thanks. :)

Edited by speechles
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markand

@@speechles - well, in the web app, there are "Play" "Stuffle" buttons, which I assume are 2 modes to playback. I had looked for "Repeat" as another button or something on that level. However, maybe you could model it after how Apple does it.

 

The way Apple handles this is quite nice. To control repeat there is a switch. It's simply playlist repeats on/off. The thing I don't like about the Apple UI is that repeat is in the settings app. What I do like is that I can set it once and then all my playlists operate like that. 

 

For the Apple TV app, you could put it in Playback settings.  it would be fine to have off by default.

 

Does that help?

Edited by markand
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After you play or shuffle it will play the videos in the order you asked. Once it is playing your playlist you bring up the OSD of the video player to choose the three sliders (graphic equalizer button) and choose "Repeat All" it toggles between ON/OFF.

 

Now the issue is, hardly anyone wants to play one episode on repeat of a playlist. So having both repeat all and repeat one is sort of silly. If they do want to play that single episode then they play that single episode and turn on repeat all. Then it works the same since there is one item repeat all repeats that one item forever.

 

The problem is how to expose the repeat function to pre-play in a way that allows the user to adjust it outside of/before video playback. Without interfering or otherwise causing more button presses for users that would never use such a repeat function. So it cannot just be an extra dialog you choose to repeat or not. As then users who don't want the feature now have an extra button press introduced. So it has to be done in a way that seems intuitive without interrupting the functionality that already exists for users. It has to be done it a way that makes it sensible and matches how other emby apps accomplish this. In this meantime, we do have this inside the video player. To have it otherwise will require investigation on the best possible path forward for it.

 

EDIT: I just realized you said AppleTV client. The above pertains specially to the Roku client. The AppleTV app may not have repeat available in any way. Apologies I didn't notice this sooner. It is in some of the apps just not all.

Edited by speechles
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@@speechles - well, in the web app, there are "Play" "Stuffle" buttons, which I assume are 2 modes to playback. I had looked for "Repeat" as another button or something on that level. However, maybe you could model it after how Apple does it.

 

The way Apple handles this is quite nice. To control repeat there is a switch. It's simply playlist repeats on/off. The thing I don't like about the Apple UI is that repeat is in the settings app. What I do like is that I can set it once and then all my playlists operate like that. 

 

For the Apple TV app, you could put it in Playback settings.  it would be fine to have off by default.

 

Does that help?

 

Usually repeat mode is something you toggle once playback has started, and this happens directly in the audio or video player. do you agree?

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markand

I don't think it should for a playlist. I think if you're playing the playlist, it should a property of it, not the individual video. Honestly, in the web player when I toggled repeat on the video that was playing, it wasn't obvious to me what I was making repeat.

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I honestly don't recall seeing this before in any other media app. Can you give some example we can compare to? Thanks.

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markand

@@Luke, well the big one I'm going off of is what I described before. Before I had an alternative media player for the Apple TV, I shared my music with it using iTunes. It allowed me to play music and video playlists. it's actually what I still use since neither Plex, which I used before Emby, nor Emby have playlist repeat.  

 

For the current version of tvOS, you go to the Computers app. There, if you have playlists, you just play them and they repeat. 

 

To activate this you create a video playlist in iTunes. Then on the Apple Tv  go to Settings->Audio & Video -> Show Playlists (All) and then Repeat Music (on). Then go to Movies -> My Movies -> Playlists ->and select the playlist and it should loop.

 

So the key point is that, though convoluted, this is a property of Playlist Playback.  And it is also something I don't have to set each time I play the playlist. I think there are a number of scenarios where people want to create a video or music playlist and just want it to repeat every time they play it.

 

I would say that in the Emby web app, it's unclear to me what "Playback mode" I'm setting. I just went in to a TV show that I have organized in Seasons and played an episode and selected settings/repeat mode. What "all" am I repeating? The season? The show?

 

I don't think you have to re-write all of the settings code in all of the apps. However, for the Apple TV in particular I'm not sure where one would put the repeat toggle after pushing play.  Would it be with subtitle settings?

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I have always known this to be something you handle directly inside the audio or video player after starting playback. For example, the iOS music app:

 

5c33a74430241_Untitled.png

 

And countless others follow this pattern.

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markand

@@Luke. First of all, I personally think that the Apple Music UI is horrible. You can't even see the up next section by default. In fact, when you play a tune, you have to then select the tune to bring up the details you show, and then scroll down to reveal the repeat button.  That said, a few observations:

 

1. Shuffle appears both at the playlist level and in the Up Next panel. So it's duplicated because (I think) they thought that it could apply to either scenario - you're starting to play the playlist and you're deciding what you want to play next.  So, if the shuffle is a top level control, why isn't repeat?

 

2. Repeat in the iOS Music app is sticky. When I play any playlist, it's on. If I then turn it off, it's off for all playlists.  So it's like an app level option. If that's what you're proposing, where you put it is ok with me.

 

3. The playback controls for video on the apple TV are completely different. There are none. That's why, Apple, who you are using as an example here, handled it on the Apple TV in the way they did. I would like you do do something similar to what Apple did.

 

Does that make sense?  If not, what would you propose for the Apple TV?  How would one  activate it? Do I have to activate it every time I play the playlist?

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Right i understand many don't like the apple music UI, but that's just one example. what apple is doing there with the repeat button is pretty standard behavior. i can give you more examples:

vlc:

5c33b6ceed87f_Untitled.png

 

windows media player:

5c33b6f62819d_Untitled.png

 

mx player:

MX-Player.png

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markand

Hi @@Luke. My request was specifically for the Apple TV player.  I think all of the examples you're talking about are for phone/browser/app players. No? I'm only talking about the Apple TV player.

 

Wrt Apple's UI on the Apple TV, I'm asking for something similar. You're describing something I've never seen in any Apple TV Player, as far as I know.

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Most TV video interfaces don't really deal with queues but I would fully expect a repeat option to be a toggle within the playback interface.  That's where it is in any interface I've ever seen it.  In my mind, this is different from shuffle.  Shuffle affects what will be played first.  Repeat does not.  That's the reason the shuffle option is presented at initial playback time.

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markand

@@ebr, could you or @@Luke just point me to an Apple TV repeat for list functionality that illustrates what you're talking about? That would help me understand better. Thanks!

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The Apple TV video player doesn't even expose a video queue at all (no access to next or previous or an visibility) so it isn't a good example.

 

However, here is the Apple TV music player with the repeat button on the playback interface:

 

5c34c613843a1_ScreenShot20190108at103847

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markand

@@ebr, the Apple TV DOES expose a queue. It has had support for video playlists in all versions and it's what I referenced in a few messages in this thread, including my initial one.

 

Below is a shot of my pet Kiku's playlist which plays in a loop non-stop on a daily basis. :-) It's using the Computer app on the Apple TV.  On this screen there is the playlist (queue) as well as a shuffle control, but no play or repeat controls.  Of course, when you tap the video to play, it plays full screen and there are no controls. This has been my issue all along when it's been mentioned that there's a control that you will interact with when playback starts. On the Apple TV, there are none. There is a complicated method to turn on CC. I hope playlist looping doesn't work like that.

 

To control the looping behavior, you go to the settings app and it's the only option there. I've included a screenshot of that too.

 

IMO, Emby could have something similar. You show the playlist and if you select a video it starts playing. What happens when you get to the end of the playlist is an app wide setting. You could leave to Repeat Off if you want. What I would prefer though is that I don't have to enable repeat each time I play the playlist. I think it would be kind of similar to the "do we play the next episode of a show after you finish watching one." Currently for me it's on. I'm sure it's an option somewhere, but it's not something I have to think about every time I hit play.

 

I hope that helps explain what I'm talking about.

 

5c34f07220a64_IMG_62332.jpg

 

5c34f48930210_IMG_6235.jpg

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@@ebr, the Apple TV DOES expose a queue. It has had support for video playlists in all versions and it's what I referenced in a few messages in this thread, including my initial one.

 

Below is a shot of my pet Kiku's playlist which plays in a loop non-stop on a daily basis. :-) It's using the Computer app on the Apple TV.  On this screen there is the playlist (queue) as well as a shuffle control, but no play or repeat controls.  Of course, when you tap the video to play, it plays full screen and there are no controls. This has been my issue all along when it's been mentioned that there's a control that you will interact with when playback starts. On the Apple TV, there are none. There is a complicated method to turn on CC. I hope playlist looping doesn't work like that.

 

To control the looping behavior, you go to the settings app and it's the only option there. I've included a screenshot of that too.

 

IMO, Emby could have something similar. You show the playlist and if you select a video it starts playing. What happens when you get to the end of the playlist is an app wide setting. You could leave to Repeat Off if you want. What I would prefer though is that I don't have to enable repeat each time I play the playlist. I think it would be kind of similar to the "do we play the next episode of a show after you finish watching one." Currently for me it's on. I'm sure it's an option somewhere, but it's not something I have to think about every time I hit play.

 

I hope that helps explain what I'm talking about.

 

5c34f07220a64_IMG_62332.jpg

 

5c34f48930210_IMG_6235.jpg

 

I'm talking about the Apple TV player interface itself - not the app interface.

 

When playing back a video in the stock Apple TV player, there is potentially a queue (and we do support it) but there is no visibility or control of that queue (from within the player).

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markand

@@ebr, I think I'm confused or maybe we're talking about the same thing. When you say "there is potentially a queue", are you talking about how you write the code as opposed to user facing features? Also, if by stock Apple TV player, you mean the UI Control that takes over the entire screen to play a video, I understand that when I play a video there is no notion surfaced of the queue or set of videos I played from. In fact, there are typically no UI controls at all other than the video itself. That was my point. There is the progress bar that pops up, but I don't think you can really react with that.

 

What I'm talking about is how the Apple TV exposes its notion of video playlists. It's in the Computers App and is as I illustrated above. The repeat functionality isn't surfaced anywhere other than the settings app.

 

Could you or @@Luke illustrate what you think the UI for controlling playlist repeat would look like? Because I keep hearing that it would be a control that you interact with after starting playback and I don't know what that looks like on the Apple TV.

 

Sorry for being so thick.

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