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"Still Watching" check for live TV


richt

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richt

The new Roku client has a much nicer look and feel, especially the guide.  Is there any what to customize the "Still Watching" check for live TV?  While maybe it just took me a bit by surprise, the notification seemed to be a bit short lived before it shut off live TV.  In addition it would be helpful to have a setting to adjust the duration of both the on screen "Still Watching" prompt and the length of TV viewing time before it is displayed.

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Right now the still watching check kicks in after you have watched at least 30 minutes of a program and the next one starts. The "Are you still watching" waits for user input for 10 seconds until it dismisses itself and stops.

 

How long do you think the "are you still watching?" should wait before appearing? Right now it is 30 minutes.

 

How long do you think the waiting for user input once the message appears? Right now it is 10 seconds.
 

A setting wouldn't necessarily be required. We could lengthen both of these possibly and double them. The issue is a setting lets the Roku users change this to longer as well as shorter. Most server admins want a way to kill their users streams when they forget with LiveTV and normal streaming. This is why we were asked to include these "are you still watching" prompts appear so frequently. You can disable this in the app completely if it annoys you. But we did not make a setting to change duration/timers on purpose.

 

What we can do is know when this is a local user on a local server. Then we could possibly double the 30 minutes to an hour. In that way you would see the prompts half-as-often as remote users would.

 

We should lengthen the wait for a user to get to their remote and press a button to 20 seconds all the time. I agree the present 10 seconds is too short and I myself have been annoyed at having to restart things at times when if this were 10 seconds longer it would have been enough time. 

 

I can add this to our issue tracker until we get these into the app so we don't miss this. Thanks for the feedback. We are working toward unifying the look/features to match other apps. We want you happy. :)

 

 

Reference: Issue #514: [Are You Still Watching] Adjust local vs remote / Adjust keypress wait time

Edited by speechles
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Scott D

How long do you think the "are you still watching?" should wait before appearing? Right now it is 30 minutes.

 

How long do you think the waiting for user input once the message appears? Right now it is 10 seconds.

 

This is a great addition and will do a great job in keeping data caps in line.  Thanks for the addition.

 

My thoughts:

Changing the "are you still watching?" prompt to beginning of the next program change would be less intrusive.  (Example:  Watching a scheduled movie that will last 2 hours.  Next scheduled show is 30 minutes.  At the end of the 2hr movie, pop up "Still watching?".  If confirmed, at the end of the next show (30 minutes), pop up "Still watching?".

 

Changing the user input delay to 60 seconds should not create any problems.  If the user is still watching, this would allow sufficient time to hunt down the remote and confirm.  Message goes away at confirmation.  If not confirmed, the continuation of a stream for 60 seconds is an acceptable data usage.

 

Edit - Also, the addition of detecting a "local" user watching and disabling the prompt completely would be fantastic.

Edited by Scott D
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My thoughts:

Changing the "are you still watching?" prompt to beginning of the next program change would be less intrusive.  (Example:  Watching a scheduled movie that will last 2 hours.  Next scheduled show is 30 minutes.  At the end of the 2hr movie, pop up "Still watching?".  If confirmed, at the end of the next show (30 minutes), pop up "Still watching?".

 

This is already exactly how it works - except that it doesn't prompt you if you have been interacting with the app in the meantime.

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Scott D

Excellent!!!

 

I have not had the time to test the recent changes, but will do some testing in the next few days. 

 

A most welcome addition to the App.  Thank you for addressing the concerns.

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jillybean

This is already exactly how it works - except that it doesn't prompt you if you have been interacting with the app in the meantime.

 

Is this a recent change - no longer just 30 minutes?  I had turned the "still watching" feature off because I often have tv on the news channel while I am doing other things and am listening rather than watching - so I was missing the prompt and wondering why the tv had dropped back to the guide until I realised what was happening. 

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Is this a recent change - no longer just 30 minutes?  I had turned the "still watching" feature off because I often have tv on the news channel while I am doing other things and am listening rather than watching - so I was missing the prompt and wondering why the tv had dropped back to the guide until I realised what was happening. 

 

This feature while watching Live TV is brand new in this version of the app (has been in beta for a few weeks) but it has always functioned the way described.

 

However, what you describe as your usage will probably not work well with this feature.

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jillybean

This feature while watching Live TV is brand new in this version of the app (has been in beta for a few weeks) but it has always functioned the way described.

 

However, what you describe as your usage will probably not work well with this feature.

Thanks ebr.  I am using the beta app so I guess when it was introduced there was when I first noticed livetv dropping back to the guide. 

 

Do I understand what you have said correctly - if I am watching (listening to) a tv show that goes for a couple of hours there will be no "still watching" popup until the end of the show?

Edited by jillybean
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if I am watching (listening to) a tv show that goes for a couple of hours there will be no "still watching" popup until the end of the show?

 

Yes, that's correct.  But, as soon as the show ends, if you haven't touched a button in 30+ minutes, it will prompt you to continue.

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jillybean

Yes, that's correct.  But, as soon as the show ends, if you haven't touched a button in 30+ minutes, it will prompt you to continue.

Thanks.  I can work with that.  :)

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richt

.....

 

How long do you think the "are you still watching?" should wait before appearing? Right now it is 30 minutes.

 

How long do you think the waiting for user input once the message appears? Right now it is 10 seconds.

 

....

I would prefer to see 60 minutes before the prompt appears.  For now I have just shut it off.  

 

As I say, the prompt surprised me and I had to fumble for the remote.  By the time I got it and was ready to respond, the stream had ended.  15 to 20 seconds would be advisable.

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Spaceboy

I would prefer to see 60 minutes before the prompt appears. For now I have just shut it off.

 

As I say, the prompt surprised me and I had to fumble for the remote. By the time I got it and was ready to respond, the stream had ended. 15 to 20 seconds would be advisable.

i agree, I think 30mins is too short for live tv.

 

My primary client is android tv but assume this is being considered across all apps consistently

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i agree, I think 30mins is too short for live tv.

 

It isn't going to prompt you every 30 minutes.  It is only going to prompt you at a program change and then only if you haven't touched the remote in at least 30 minutes.

 

The Android TV app already has this exact same logic in it and has for a while.

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As I say, the prompt surprised me and I had to fumble for the remote.  By the time I got it and was ready to respond, the stream had ended.  15 to 20 seconds would be advisable.

 

We are going to increase the amount of time the prompt gives you to respond.  Thanks.

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  • 2 weeks later...
BillOatman

Right now the still watching check kicks in after you have watched at least 30 minutes of a program and the next one starts. The "Are you still watching" waits for user input for 10 seconds until it dismisses itself and stops.

 

How long do you think the "are you still watching?" should wait before appearing? Right now it is 30 minutes.

 

How long do you think the waiting for user input once the message appears? Right now it is 10 seconds.

 

A setting wouldn't necessarily be required. We could lengthen both of these possibly and double them. The issue is a setting lets the Roku users change this to longer as well as shorter. Most server admins want a way to kill their users streams when they forget with LiveTV and normal streaming. This is why we were asked to include these "are you still watching" prompts appear so frequently. You can disable this in the app completely if it annoys you. But we did not make a setting to change duration/timers on purpose.

 

What we can do is know when this is a local user on a local server. Then we could possibly double the 30 minutes to an hour. In that way you would see the prompts half-as-often as remote users would.

 

We should lengthen the wait for a user to get to their remote and press a button to 20 seconds all the time. I agree the present 10 seconds is too short and I myself have been annoyed at having to restart things at times when if this were 10 seconds longer it would have been enough time. 

 

I can add this to our issue tracker until we get these into the app so we don't miss this. Thanks for the feedback. We are working toward unifying the look/features to match other apps. We want you happy. :)

 

 

Reference: Issue #514: [Are You Still Watching] Adjust local vs remote / Adjust keypress wait time

Is it this way for watching recorded episodes of a tv series back to back?  My wife was [binge] watching a series this past weekend on a Roku and she kept calling me in to start new episodes (why she can't do it is a great mystery of life). She has a tendency to close her eyes and listen at times.  Or not see or know how to deal with the prompt.  This would explain a lot.

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Is it this way for watching recorded episodes of a tv series back to back?  My wife was [binge] watching a series this past weekend on a Roku and she kept calling me in to start new episodes (why she can't do it is a great mystery of life). She has a tendency to close her eyes and listen at times.  Or not see or know how to deal with the prompt.  This would explain a lot.

 

Yes, it operates the same way.

 

However, it sounds like perhaps you don't have the option to auto queue the next episodes turned on in the app.

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