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Android TV (nVidia Shield) suggestions


sward

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I've been using the Emby app on my nVidia shield for a few months now, and would like to make the following suggestions to improve the product:

- trying to 'resume' a recorded show doesn't work; it will always start over at the begining
- trying to skip forward or back also doesn't work, and just starts over at the beginning
- channels selected as favorites elsewhere (i.e. in the web browser) in the EPG don't always appear at the top of the EPG in the Android TV app
- since EPG is slow to scroll down, would be nice if you could type in a channel number and have it skip down to that row in the EPG

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1 hour ago, sward said:

I've been using the Emby app on my nVidia shield for a few months now, and would like to make the following suggestions to improve the product:

- trying to 'resume' a recorded show doesn't work; it will always start over at the begining
- trying to skip forward or back also doesn't work, and just starts over at the beginning

These do resume and you can skip forward and backward as well as use chapters to skip where ever you want.  Android TV is probably the most versatile client in the line up when it comes to this type of thing.  If these functions aren't working for you we need to find out why!

1 hour ago, sward said:

- channels selected as favorites elsewhere (i.e. in the web browser) in the EPG don't always appear at the top of the EPG in the Android TV app

Again they do for me and users in my household who favorite different channels.

 

1 hour ago, sward said:

- since EPG is slow to scroll down, would be nice if you could type in a channel number and have it skip down to that row in the EPG

EPG scrolls pretty fast for me (compact mode) in Android TV but you CN enter channels.  If you use a CEC remote you can just punch in the numbers.  For example 1110 for me goes right to Fox News.

If you're not using a remote with numbers there is the virtual keypad you can use.  Up top on the toolbar row are 4 icons with the first being the "#" icon.  Click on that and you can enter numbers directly.

Also on that for is the 3 dot menu.  Go into that and check your "Sort by" as you might want to change the ordering (I prefer by channel number) and right below that is a check box to "Place favorites at beginning" as well as other options.

Edited by cayars
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16 hours ago, cayars said:

These do resume and you can skip forward and backward as well as use chapters to skip where ever you want.  Android TV is probably the most versatile client in the line up when it comes to this type of thing.  If these functions aren't working for you we need to find out why!

I played around with this some more and can make the following observations:

- original/unedited recordings are in .ts format, and these are the ones that can't resume or skip forward/back in the Emby app on my nVidia shield (I can resume or skip forward/back with these same .ts recordings using Emby Theater on Windows 7)
- I save all edited recordings as .wtv files for legacy reasons (primarily b/c wtv files allow for embedding of metadata), and I am able to resume or skip forward/back any .wtv recordings in the Emby app on my nVidia shield

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17 hours ago, cayars said:

If you're not using a remote with numbers there is the virtual keypad you can use.  Up top on the toolbar row are 4 icons with the first being the "#" icon.  Click on that and you can enter numbers directly.

Also on that for is the 3 dot menu.  Go into that and check your "Sort by" as you might want to change the ordering (I prefer by channel number) and right below that is a check box to "Place favorites at beginning" as well as other options.

The tip about the # icon was very helpful as my nVidia shield doesn't have numbers. Problem solved - thanks!

I also went into the 3 dot menu to verify that I was sorting by channel number and that "place favorites at beginning" was selected (which it was), but I also enabled "compact mode" while I was in there. Seems accessing these options refreshed the list of favorites at the top of the EPG, so that they are all showing now. Is there an easier way to refresh favorites within the EPG?

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WTV is kind of a dinosaur these days like AVI format.  What program are you using to convert the TS to WTV?  Any reason why you aren't converting them to a better streaming format like MP4 with h.264 video (can be done easily in Emby and quickly with a GPU as well) and these can have meta data as well.  It's better to think forward in situations like this as a proper progressive streamable format is going to be favored especially in remote situations.  You can bet any device you use will support mp4/h.264 as well.

Glad you found the virtual channel input and the sorting mechanism.

What do you mean refresh favorites?  The guide should update on it own.  In a pinch exit and come back to it. :)

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28 minutes ago, sward said:

The tip about the # icon was very helpful as my nVidia shield doesn't have numbers. Problem solved - thanks!

If your remote has voice input try hitting the voice button and say "channel 1215" or whatever channel you want to tune to.  Doesn't get much easier then that!

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37 minutes ago, cayars said:

WTV is kind of a dinosaur these days like AVI format.  What program are you using to convert the TS to WTV?  Any reason why you aren't converting them to a better streaming format like MP4 with h.264 video (can be done easily in Emby and quickly with a GPU as well) and these can have meta data as well.  It's better to think forward in situations like this as a proper progressive streamable format is going to be favored especially in remote situations.  You can bet any device you use will support mp4/h.264 as well.

I'm using VideoReDo to both edit and convert recordings. You seem to have missed the mark on this as I'm not having any issues with my wtv files, but rather with raw/unedited .ts files, which is Emby's default recording format (unfortunately).

Although it's true that MP4 files allow for embedding some metadata as well, the metadata fields seem designed primarily for movies, not TV shows as they're missing key fields such as: broadcast date, TV channel number, TV station name/call sign, program description, and TV credits, but I digress. 

What I really need to understand is why I cannot resume or skip forward/back my unedited .ts recordings.

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12 minutes ago, sward said:

What I really need to understand is why I cannot resume or skip forward/back my unedited .ts recordings.

Look in the playback options for the app.  You will find an option labeled: "Allow Direct Play of TS Files".  This is defaulted to off so you must have turned it on at some point.  The text under the option describes exactly the issue you are having.  Turn that option back off and you should be able to seek these files fine.

Please let us know if that answers your question.

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2 hours ago, sward said:

I'm using VideoReDo to both edit and convert recordings. You seem to have missed the mark on this as I'm not having any issues with my wtv files, but rather with raw/unedited .ts files, which is Emby's default recording format (unfortunately).

Although it's true that MP4 files allow for embedding some metadata as well, the metadata fields seem designed primarily for movies, not TV shows as they're missing key fields such as: broadcast date, TV channel number, TV station name/call sign, program description, and TV credits, but I digress. 

What I really need to understand is why I cannot resume or skip forward/back my unedited .ts recordings.

I too think it's exactly what ebr mentioned "Allow Direct Play of TS Files" (turn off).  I was just questioning why you would want to convert to an old outdated format. If you don't like MP4 because of it's lack of metadata try an MKV container.  But either would allow encoding to h.264 or h.265 vs mpeg2 video.  Either would likely save you a lot of space (better compression) and would produce files that will direct play on just about every device unlike WTV files.

If changing that option doesn't help a simple remux of any kind after the fact will usually fix the file for playback.  Every once in a while when recording 8 or more NFL games I'll get some hickups that can cause weird things in playback but a remux or conversion fixes it right up.

BTW, do you use comskip as well with VideoReDo?

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2 hours ago, ebr said:

Look in the playback options for the app.  You will find an option labeled: "Allow Direct Play of TS Files".  This is defaulted to off so you must have turned it on at some point.  The text under the option describes exactly the issue you are having.  Turn that option back off and you should be able to seek these files fine.

Please let us know if that answers your question.

That took care of it - thanks!

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55 minutes ago, cayars said:

BTW, do you use comskip as well with VideoReDo?

VideoReDo has a built in "ad detective" which indicates sections of video that are likely commercials. I believe this is the same thing.

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