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Emby Theater TV mode: thought on layout and usability


Red5ive

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Red5ive

Coming from a Windows Media Centre setup I have emby setup on a HTPC directly connected to my main living room PC and running theater.

As such Theater is running in TV mode and we primarily use a remote to navigate. While I am a fan of the web app and the version running on our Roku the supposed flagship windows app does feel very rough around the edges.

Here our our thoughts on using Theater for the last month and where we think it could be improved from a usability and flow point of view.

Note this is all about Theater for windows and in TV Mode.

 

First thing, when launching Theater I have to click the icon twice, first time my mouse cursor will show a progress wheel for a brief time but then nothing until I double click it again.

 

Main Home Screen:

Seems to be a lot of wasted space in TV mode, perhaps bunch things together more?

Have a highlight colour around current selected item, can be hard to see which button or item you have selected. Perhaps it can have some animation such as a pulse?

The 'On Now' section is a bit of a mess. It seems to show random channels and more often than not channels that are off air or are radio stations! As discussed in this thread:

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/79285-hide-from-on-now/

'Smooth Scrolling' using a remote to scroll down the home screen means the next row kind of jerks up rather than smoothly scroll like other apps such as Kodi.

I tried to use the horizontal instead of the vertical layout and it looked even more unfinished, missing logo in top corner, strange dark backgrounds to icon buttons and again lots of wasted space.

 

Live TV:

I was a little perplexed that there is no way to use a remote or keyboard to change channels up or down while watching Live TV as confirmed in this thread I started:

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/79408-what-are-the-keyboard-shorcuts/ a basic feature of the TV experience I would have thought.

No mini guide or channel overlay like in other emby apps.

 

Recordings:

When searching for recordings show channel name and/or number with results. I have both HD and SD versions of the channels in my guide but usually prefer to record in HD but you cant tell from the multiple search results which channel they are on without going into each entry. Luke said in my feature request thread here: https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/79360-search-for-tv-shows-to-record-shows-channel-details-and-episode-details/ that they hoped to show the episode as a merged item that when clicked took you to a screen listing all the showings for you to choose. If you agree it needs changing then please reply in that thread.

 

Screensaver:

Great to see the photo screensaver but it's a little bare-bones at the moment. All pictures are zoomed in to fill the screen, even portrait ones, there are no transitions or pan& scan effects and at the moment no way to restrict it to a certain library or exclude certain folders. Hope this is expanded on as it's getting rolled out across the other apps at the moment.

 

Music:

The music OSD has seen some changes on the web front end and work is ongoing as discussed in this thread: https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/78512-43015-new-audio-osd/page-7 I replied in that discussion my thoughts about theater in this post: https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/78512-43015-new-audio-osd/page-7&do=findComment&comment=812575 where I point out how hard it is to add a single item to the current now playing list, how easy it is to wipe all your previous choices and how hard it is to get back and view the playlist. What do other people think?

 

Finally logging out and switching user, it's at least 6 button clicks to go up to the top header bar and click along to get to the user button and select log out. Is there anyway this can be the first option in the user menu rather than 3rd or 4th? It really is a pain to switch users.

 

I really am a fan of emby and it seems to be evolving every day, I hope that the above suggestions resonate with others and it would be great to hear the devs and other users opinions.

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Seems to be a lot of wasted space in TV mode, perhaps bunch things together more?

Have a highlight colour around current selected item, can be hard to see which button or item you have selected. Perhaps it can have some animation such as a pulse?

Hi these are both inspired by what you typically see on streaming services.

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I was a little perplexed that there is no way to use a remote or keyboard to change channels up or down while watching Live TV as confirmed in this thread I started:

https://emby.media/c...board-shorcuts/ a basic feature of the TV experience I would have thought.

No mini guide or channel overlay like in other emby apps.

It's planned for the future.

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Hi there, we're sorry to hear about your issue. We are working hard on improving them. Please contribute to the existing topics. It's not really an efficient process for you or I to be discussing the same thing in multiple places. Thanks !

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justsomebody

Main Home Screen:

 

Have a highlight colour around current selected item, can be hard to see which button or item you have selected. Perhaps it can have some animation such as a pulse?

 

 

+1, I'd also love to see it made a little more obvious which item is selected. Doesn't have to get crazy, but the current is too subtle, IMO. I think even just a slim highlight line on the bottom (or top) would make a big difference without being too jarring or dramatically changing the overall effect. Did a quick mockup using the green from the Emby logo, or the same "not quite white" as the existing text color. I think the "not quite white" highlight along the bottom works really well, personally.

post-312801-0-83125700-1575574744_thumb.jpg

post-312801-0-11253000-1575574751_thumb.jpg

post-312801-0-29165200-1575574759_thumb.jpg

post-312801-0-02960300-1575574768_thumb.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...
Volfan6415

 

Screensaver:

Great to see the photo screensaver but it's a little bare-bones at the moment. All pictures are zoomed in to fill the screen, even portrait ones, there are no transitions or pan& scan effects and at the moment no way to restrict it to a certain library or exclude certain folders. Hope this is expanded on as it's getting rolled out across the other apps at the moment.

 

 

+1 and add option to show date instead of file name.

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