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Need option to simplify watching live tv on Emby (one less screen)


Bingie

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Bingie

Hi all,

I'm trying to simplify Emby, to make it as easy as possible for my 81 y/o mom to use.  She gets confused easily, and learning new screens is very challenging.  She won't use it if it's "too hard".  Both Apple TV and Fire TV were too hard for her to learn "too many choices", so we run a minimal Roku with minimal Emby settings.

I just added live tv (locast2emby), so we can watch local news in the morning. 

It would be great, for live tv:

* from guide, selecting a channel automatically plays/streams the channel (instead of going to yet another screen that has play and favorite options)

* from channels, selecting a channel automatically plays/streams the channel (ditto)

My mom says it takes too many clicks to watch tv.  I'm trying to simplify Emby as much as possible.  I realize this is a coding change, to add another option to the "Home Screen" management page.  An option to skip info screen and just play the channel would be great!

Thanks

 

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9 minutes ago, Bingyyyy said:

It would be great, for live tv:

* from guide, selecting a channel automatically plays/streams the channel (instead of going to yet another screen that has play and favorite options)

* from channels, selecting a channel automatically plays/streams the channel (ditto)

You can get that behavior. The paradigm is.. if you want to play an item from a row, or the guide, or directly from channels use the Play button on the remote. If you want more information about the item prior to playback (such as pick versions, or adjust audio/subtitles before playback) press the Ok button on the remote.

Because there are two buttons possible to enter an item it is that easy. Most Emby apps should work in similar fashion.

 

Anything else you feel is an issue? We are all ears. Rabbit ears.. *pun intended*

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Bingie

My mom can't remember which button is the home button.  Play vs. OK she will never remember, and just won't use it.  I'll remember that though, it's interesting.

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3 minutes ago, Bingyyyy said:

My mom can't remember which button is the home button.  Play vs. OK she will never remember, and just won't use it.  I'll remember that though, it's interesting.

She can tap OK twice quickly. The buttons are buffered. After that detail screen loads it will land on play and immediately go. There is no need to wait for the next screen to load before you can press OK when you know it will land on the play button.

The Roku will buffer the button presses and play them out in sequence as each screen comes into view.

Edited by speechles
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Bingie

I appreciate the suggestions, but I don't think you get how challenging all of that would be for an old person.  If I ever use the words "double tap" she will begin double tapping every button on the remote for every screen, and then get upset when it doesn't do what she wanted.

I already shut off the locast2emby.  Oh well, maybe in the future I can make it easier for her to learn.

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arrbee99

Apologies, as I don't have a Roku and don't know what the remote looks like, but would it help to physically add a Play label/sticker (or whatever works) to the appropriate button ?

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image.png

What if you printed something like this key map above? Print it larger than this so her eyes can read it. Write things like the below on it.

12 = PLAY NOW
9 = MORE INFORMATION

The numbers are because text is confusing and up to interpretation. With numbers it is easier to remember.

Perhaps if you explain it like this and assign a number to the function she can remember the number. In that way you can refer to these buttons as their number too. There is no confusion this way.

 

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Bingie

Thanks, that's not a bad idea.  I'll write "HOME" on a sticker and cover the home button.

The Roku Ultra remote also has 2 programmable buttons.  I can write "Emby" on one, and "KTLA" on the other, to send her directly to the KTLA (news) app.  She keeps forgetting to hit HOME first (to back out of anything), so when it asks to leave an existing app, she just stops.  I tell her "always press HOME first".  Sometimes she remembers, sometimes not.

 

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Bingie
1 minute ago, speechles said:

image.png

What if you printed something like this key map above? Print it larger than this so her eyes can read it. Write things like the below on it.

12 = PLAY NOW
9 = MORE INFORMATION

The numbers are because text is confusing and up to interpretation. With numbers it is easier to remember.

Perhaps if you explain it like this and assign a number to the function she can remember the number. In that way you can refer to these buttons as their number too. There is no confusion this way.

 

Thanks, I've tried explaining the buttons, there are just too many.  A picture is worth a thousand words though!  Maybe she would use that graphic, I'll have to try it.

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Bingie

I don't know if this is related to today's events, but one of our tv's doesn't want to stream right from Emby.  Every minute or so, it has to reload (buffer).  I closed all the apps, and restarted it.  No luck so far.

The only thing I think it may be, is that tv is connected via 5g wireless.  The other tv is connected via 2.4g wireless.  Maybe our neighbors started something that is interfering with our 5g connection.  I might disable the 5g on the wireless router, to force that tv to use the 2.4g, to see if the problem goes away.  If not, then i'm screwed.

I removed the live tv adapter from emby, and put it back to the config before today, but still had buffering problems on the one tv.  I'm hoping it's just the wireless.  The router has lousy statistics, no error info, is pretty useless to diagnose.  I may have to buy a better wired/wireless router, one that has decent management and troubleshooting tools.

 

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Hi, yes try switching WIFI or download a util on your phone or PC if in the same area and do a WIFI scan.  Maybe you might need to switch WIFI channels as you could be getting some new interference.

Hey, had another thought for you concerning news.  Have you thought about trying to setup a RECORDING of the news (one or twice a day) and then setting up a home screen row for your MOM with the DVR recordings?

That could put the already recorded news right there and easy to access regardless of time of day with the latest recording always showing up first.  Might be worth a try.

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Bingie
On 7/14/2021 at 10:31 AM, cayars said:

Hi, yes try switching WIFI or download a util on your phone or PC if in the same area and do a WIFI scan.  Maybe you might need to switch WIFI channels as you could be getting some new interference.

Hey, had another thought for you concerning news.  Have you thought about trying to setup a RECORDING of the news (one or twice a day) and then setting up a home screen row for your MOM with the DVR recordings?

That could put the already recorded news right there and easy to access regardless of time of day with the latest recording always showing up first.  Might be worth a try.

Thanks, I forced both tv's to reconnect to wifi and the buffering went away, so that must've been it.  Rotten timing, I thought it was the locast2emby running on the same emby server.

As for live tv, we both like live news in the morning.  She currently uses the free KTLA+ app (los angeles chan 5) but it makes you watch 2-3 commercials upon load, before you get any news, which to me is obnoxious.  Locast takes you right in to the news channel, if you have favorite channel set.  I want to get locast2emby working before I show her locast.

I'll try the locast2emby service again, maybe move it to a laptop, and point the emby server to it, so if I have problems again, separating the two might help diagnose.

Cheers

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