VirtualTV plugin

[TallBoiDez 8]

@pünktchen if I set the network to specific network will it only play shows from that network like for example if I set the network to "tbs" will it only play shows from that network?

[pünktchen 1258]

By theory yes, but i must admit it's long time ago i've tested this.

[crusher11 851]

embyserver.txt

[GrimReaper 3291]

If you want only NBL series to show, you should tag it and include that Tag in Channel rule (and possibly increase number of episodes of the same show); your current setup allows for other series mixed. 

[crusher11 851]

It shouldn't. It's worked fine in the past and my NBA and AFL channels work fine.

My basketball channel seems to have become a second NBA channel though.

 

[crusher11 851]

Also my NBL channel that doesn't have the season limit works fine. It's only the "old NBL games only" channel that's showing random stuff, both from different shows and from time periods other than the one specified.

 

[pünktchen 1258]

7 minutes ago, crusher11 said:

It shouldn't. It's worked fine in the past and my NBA and AFL channels work fine ...

Also my NBL channel that doesn't have the season limit works fine. It's only the "old NBL games only" channel that's showing random stuff, both from different shows and from time periods other than the one specified.

That was the past. I've changed the behaviour so that those named items will always be included independently of all other rules. (The only thing that can override this are tags, but i've missed a textnote for this in the config screen). And before somebody asks: No i will not revert this change! 

[crusher11 851]

But nothing other than NBL is named.

 

[pünktchen 1258]

But you have year 1979 to 2006. That means all tv shows from this timeframe PLUS the named items are used.

[crusher11 851]

So there's no way I can create that channel anymore? 

[GrimReaper 3291]

2 hours ago, GrimReaper76 said:

If you want only NBL series to show, you should tag it and include that Tag in Channel rule

 

[crusher11 851]

So does this also override the exclude tag? Because if so I now have to redo all my channels.

 

Still no idea why the wrestling channel isn't populating. It's just set to random movies from my wrestling folders, no other rules.

 

[pünktchen 1258]

1 hour ago, crusher11 said:

So does this also override the exclude tag? Because if so I now have to redo all my channels.

Tags is the only rule that can override the named rule.

 

1 hour ago, crusher11 said:

Still no idea why the wrestling channel isn't populating. It's just set to random movies from my wrestling folders, no other rules.

I guess you've only set some libraries without any further rule. This was a longstanding bug for me, obviously a feature for you, that is now fixed. Without any rule, no content! Just set release date greater than 1900 or something like that.

[crusher11 851]

9 minutes ago, pünktchen said:

I guess you've only set some libraries without any further rule. This was a longstanding bug for me, obviously a feature for you, that is now fixed. Without any rule, no content! Just set release date greater than 1900 or something like that.

I tried minimum runtime 1 minute and release date after 1900. Neither worked.

[crusher11 851]

I set the audio language to eng, and that finally populated the channel.

 

[crusher11 851]

This channel is currently airing WWE Raw, which is in the TV Wrestling folder not the TV folder. Next up is an episode of The Last Dance, followed by Dexter.

None of those are named in the channel's settings.

 

[crusher11 851]

@pünktchen?

 

[pünktchen 1258]

Oh i did not forget you, but i also have some urgent problem with another plugin that needs to get fixed and i'm not any Luke.

Edited July 6, 2021 by pünktchen

[104084485 0]

On 6/30/2021 at 10:13 AM, 104084485 said:

My only question is regarding TV show ordering.  I'm using MixedContent with the "Random Movies, Ordered interleaved Episodes" for my channels.  It pretty much does what I want, except after a guide refresh, every TV show starts from the beginning, starting from episode one.  Since the guide refresh gets triggered daily, this means that for most channels, they only play the same early episodes every day.

Is there a setting I can use to avoid this behavior? If not, I suggest altering the behavior of "Ordered Episodes" sorting to not reset every series back to episode one after every refresh. If it could keep track of where it was previously, that would be great, but even picking a random point in the series and starting there would help I think.

Just following up on this question. Are there any plans to update the plugin to allow ordered episodes to have a random start? This unfortunate side effect really limits the live TV experience, which is only frustrating because everything else in the plugin works so well and I want to keep using it.

If you don't have time to implement this, I'm happy to contribute to the project to add the feature. I have extensive experience writing and contributing to Kodi plugins, and something like this should be pretty quick to update.

As for workarounds, I haven't found any that really helped. I tried increasing the amount of guide data that's generated and turned off nightly refreshes, but most of my channels are large enough that they still won't have a chance to play later episodes within 14 days. Even then the problem would still be obvious when it refreshes. Using randomly ordered episodes hurts the experience, since you can't watch more than a single episode of a TV drama, and even with other shows it can be jarring if there's a jump of several seasons between episodes. Using watched status in the rules would require much more maintenance, needing to manually toggle watched statuses and/or forcing myself to watch shows just to keep the guide moving, not to mention the considerations needed if there are multiple users. At that point, I might as well just stick to "continue watching".

Also have another feature request... exclude TV specials from ordered episodes, or at least TV specials that don't define a "airsafter_*" or "airsbefore_*" field.  It would prevent a potentially long series of specials from being played with an ordered show.

[GrimReaper 3291]

In Channel conditions, you need to select "Unwatched only" in Watched status field and watch actual episode/mark watched with "Rec" button so subsequent episodes will show upon next Guide refresh, otherwise what you're describing is both expected and desired behaviour.

[GrimReaper 3291]

To exclude certain Specials, tag those Specials seasons (or episodes) and exclude that Tag in Channel rules "Tags" field.

Edited July 7, 2021 by GrimReaper76
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[104084485 0]

13 hours ago, GrimReaper76 said:

In Channel conditions, you need to select "Unwatched only" in Watched status field and watch actual episode/mark watched with "Rec" button so subsequent episodes will show upon next Guide refresh, otherwise what you're describing is both expected and desired behaviour.

I already addressed the problems with this workaround this in my post.  That doesn't fix the issue I described, it just creates a different behavior which I don't want.

To be clear, I'm only requesting the random start as an optional feature. The current behavior limits the live TV experience for the channels I want to create, and could be easily resolved.

13 hours ago, GrimReaper76 said:

To exclude certain Specials, tag those Specials seasons (or episodes) and exclude that Tag in Channel rules "Tags" field.

Thanks for the suggestion, I may need to write a python script to automatically add tags to my nfo files that match the criteria (it would be way too time-consuming by hand). If I'm going through that much effort, then I might as well add another set of tags that rotate which episodes are included in my channels to compensate for the lack of a random start.

Of course, this seems excessive as compared to adding these as built-in features.  My offer to write updates to the plugin still stands. And if there's a link for donations I'd be happy to show appreciation for all the work that's gone into the plugin already.

[GrimReaper 3291]

20 hours ago, 104084485 said:

Is there a setting I can use to avoid this behavior? If not, I suggest altering the behavior of "Ordered Episodes" sorting to not reset every series back to episode one after every refresh.

I suppose I misread your statement there, 'cause I surely wouldn't want default behaviour to change and have random Show popping up Season 3 Episodes 5, 6 and 7 without previous ones being watched; but if the Dev is willing to make it optional - sure, I'm all for it.

As far as the Tags go, batch-editing and mass-tagging implementation have been a long standing issues, there's a community-made plugin here, you might give it a whirl:

Don't know whether selection criteria available will meet your needs, I guess it'd still be worth checking, it might spare you some time.

[VicMoore 558]

Good morning GrimReaper76...

If you need to select and tag a group of files for building VirtualTV channels then the attached tool may be of use to you. It uses the Emby API's and is easy to use. It's an HTML file with javascript and jQuery. You will need to edit the HTML to give it your Emby API key and server address. A short word doc is also attached with simple instructions. I use this tool to build and manage all of my channels. I just thought that this might help you.

P.S.  make sure that the script points to jQuery and JavaScript.  

Vic 

emby2.docx emby2.html

[GrimReaper 3291]

Hey up @VicMoore

Not quite sure why was that addressed to me, it's @104084485's live TV experience that could use some adjustment; regardless, I'll surely check it out (and likely find use for it if/when need arises), thanks for sharing, bud, good stuff. 

Edit: Gave it a spin - it's a really nifty little tool, great work, man, this will surely come in handy; I'd suggest you create separate topic for it so you could increase visibility and get some community feedback/improvements; between this and @chef's plugin, I'd say most (save some exotic requirements) of the batch-tagging should be covered; again, well done. 

Edited July 8, 2021 by GrimReaper76
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