How to see what I am playing???

[braunsch 9]

I am getting more and more into using Emby - which works fine for me as long as I don’t dare to play live music. 

I am using it 99% of the time for music, which means: I am playing entire albums. 

To my big surprise, there seems to be absolutely no way to see (or return to) what is currently playing. With some googling, I found people talking about a “now playing” section - which neither exists on the web interface nor in the (iOS/iPad OS) app. I am playing over DLNA either to my stereo system, or to wireless speakers.

One would assume that, when going to the home page (by tapping on the little house), the first thing I would see is what Emby is currently doing, but… no. 

So, if I browse my music collection, I can pick an album and play the album, no problem (even though it often plays just the first song, I haven’t figured that one out yet). 

I start playing on one device. Go back to the home screen. There may be a “play” bar at the bottom of my screen, but not always. If there is, I can see the title currently playing on the left, and all titles queued on the right (with no indication which song of the queue is currently playing). 

Now I want to move to a different room. I disconnect my DLNA target - and my “playing” bar disappears. The device just keeps playing. Telling the app to play to a different DLNA device does - nothing. It simply won’t play, and music won’t stop on the prior device. The queue is gone (even though it keeps playing), I cannot find a way to display the queue the server is working with.

Since I can’t play on a new device, I return to the previous one - but now I can’t find my queue anymore either, there is no play or pause button anywhere… it just keeps playing. 

Until… I just restart the server. Which is probably not how it’s intended to work, but it’s the only thing that does work. 

Why is there no such simple thing as a “now playing” section at the top of the home screen (which must be ALWAYS visible even if it is NOT playing) and show what the server is doing under my user name? After all, it’s under my login. 

(this should, btw., also work if I look at the same server from a different device, e.g. when starting playback on my iPad and then picking up my iPhone… wanting to pause the music). 

I am puzzled, Can anyone tell me how to find out what I am listening to, or what I am doing wrong? 

Thanks a lot! 

 

P.S.: My server version is 4.7.9.0 and my app is “Emby for iOS 2.2.5. 

[Happy2Play 9783]

What is playing via your server really is not a User function and is only visible via the Dashboard.  I would never want all users to see what everyone is playing via Home Screen.  But may be a personal preference.

 

[Happy2Play 9783]

But I do not believe this info is captured via DLNA only actual Emby Clients/Apps.

[braunsch 9]

Happy2Play - 

I don’t want to see what everyone is playing. I just want to see what I am playing myself. 

When playing a little bit more, I discovered that it works, partially, under certain circumstances: 

• If I use the web interface of the server and choose an album and send it to to my DLNA device, I get the “now playing” bar at the bottom of my screen in the web browser. 
• I then pick up  my phone or iPad, choose the same DLNA device - and the “now playing” bar shows up, with my queue. 
• What I cannot do is use my phone to change the destination of my stream: Apparently, this is not part of the plan: I would have to stop the playback, then “disconnect” the app from my DLNA device to pick another one. But, when disconnecting the from the DLNA device I’m also losing access to the playlist that was playing there… 

What definitely does NOT work: 

• When I am picking an album in the app - and sending it to a DLNA device using the app, this stream does not show up on the web interface, it does not show up on any other device (even though I am logged in to the same user account in all sessions, iPad, iPhone, browser). 

This is unfortunate - because the beauty of a server-based solution is that I should be able to see the same view from every device I connect - but I don’t. 

[Luke 42083]

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• When I am picking an album in the app - and sending it to a DLNA device using the app, this stream does not show up on the web interface, it does not show up on any other device (even though I am logged in to the same user account in all sessions, iPad, iPhone, browser). 

Hi, it does show up in the server dashboard for admins. Where else would you like to see it?

[braunsch 9]

50 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hi, it does show up in the server dashboard for admins. Where else would you like to see it?

In the server dashboard, admins can see who played what, but you cannot interact with it. You cannot pause, play, skip songs, you can’t see or get to the queue or check what will be played next. On the admin dashboard, the admin can satisfy curiousness and look into the past.

The “now playing” functionality, together with the start/stop/pause and skip buttons are at the core of every music player, they areTHE primary place of interaction by all users (not just admins). They should be available at any time, and at a pre-defined place. In fact, some iPods had only those buttons (plus volume control).  

Yes, Emby has the overlay at the bottom of the screen - that allows this interaction, but it has a lot of “but”s:

• It works only if you started playing/streaming to DLNA from the web interface: the moment you connect an app to the DLNA device, you’ll see the overlay of the queue started from the web interface.
• If you started streaming from an app to a DLNA device and then disconnect from the device - you can’t get the overlay back: It’s gone, together with your queue. Even if you reconnect to the same DLNA device it will not come back.
• If you started streaming from an app, a different interface (app on a different device, or web interface) will never show your “now playing” overlay and queue, even if the same user connects to the same DLNA device. 
• Because of this behavior, once you have lost connection (or disconnected) the app, your queue is gone (together with the control buttons), but the music may keep playing, without any possibility to control the playback. 
• Also, I have not found a way to resume playing of the same queue at a later point in time: If I stop playing something (other duties…) and want to resume three hours later: Since I have no way to access the queue without it actually playing, I cannot resume playing where I stopped. I’d have to search for my music again, create a new queue - and then start playing where I think I left off three hours earlier. 

 

What would I expect? 

• A clear place where I always can get to my control buttons, even if nothing is playing. Something that is persistent, and not “there now” and “not there” in a  few minutes
• It should be server-based - so that a user will see the same up-to-date view, regardless of mode of interaction (app or webpage): It must be the same everywhere. 
• It could show multiple times if the same user is playing different streams to different devices (no, I myself am not doing that kind of multitasking, but you never know…)
• A clear way to always get to my queue, regardless of player state: Even if it has been a while that I listened, I should have a place where I can find what I was doing and resume playing. 

These could either be a section that one can place on the home page, or something under the “hamburger” menu of the home page. 

And while at it, if I am playing a queue (= album with multiple titles), I would love to see an indicator in the list of titles queued that tells me which one is the one currently playing - so that I don’t have to look at the tile on the left and search it in the list on the right…

I hope this explains the problems I am having  - and thank you for writing back!

 

Edited November 16, 2022 by braunsch

[Luke 42083]

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In the server dashboard, admins can see who played what, but you cannot interact with it.

Are you sure?

That's windows media player DLNA. Notice the pause and stop buttons.

[Luke 42083]

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• If you started streaming from an app to a DLNA device and then disconnect from the device - you can’t get the overlay back: It’s gone, together with your queue. Even if you reconnect to the same DLNA device it will not come back.

Are you sure? Start playing from one browser. Close browser. Re-open. Use the cast icon in the top right to select a player. The bar at the bottom comes up just fine.

[braunsch 9]

so… I experimented a bit more. Apparently, me restarting the server resolved most of the problem - and what you are showing on your screenshot from the admin view: It’s the first time I saw this, and now it’s showing on mine, too (but did not when I had the problems). 

Also, the “now playing” overlay now does show up in most circumstances (but still not all, can’t find a pattern yet which I would report back here if I can find one).

Some of my other items in the “what would I  expect” section still stand though: 

• A clear place where I always can get to my control buttons, even if nothing is playing. Something that is persistent, and not “there now” and “not there” in a  few minutes.
• A clear way to always get to my queue, regardless of player state: Even if it has been a while that I listened, I should have a place where I can find what I was doing and resume playing. Currently, if I accidentally hit the “stop” button, and not the “pause” button, my queue is gone - and I have to search for my album in the library again. 

Also, this one still is a valid ask, I think: 

On 11/16/2022 at 11:58 AM, braunsch said:

And while at it, if I am playing a queue (= album with multiple titles), I would love to see an indicator in the list of titles queued that tells me which one is the one currently playing - so that I don’t have to look at the tile on the left and search it in the list on the right…

Thank you for your attention to this!

Georg

[Luke 42083]

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• A clear place where I always can get to my control buttons, even if nothing is playing. Something that is persistent, and not “there now” and “not there” in a  few minutes.

What would you do if nothing is playing?

[braunsch 9]

56 minutes ago, Luke said:

What would you do if nothing is playing?

It shows me status. It shows me that, if I hear something playing, that it’s not from here (or not me). It allows me to resume playing. 

It probably should also show the queue on the same screen.

Below screenshot is the queue/player view of the Lumin/Teac/Esoteric software: While not perfect, It prominently shows the queue, it shows that I stopped listening 27 seconds into track 3. This queue is persistent: If I come back tomorrow or  in a week, it still will be there - especially good for movies, where it shows were you left off when you went to bed last night - and you can immediately resume from this screen. 

At the top, it has the player - which at this point in time shows me that it’s not playing, but ready for me to hit that “play” button.

This screen also tells me what will be played next when I hit the play button: Track 3, starting at 0:27 minutes. Tapping on the circles will open a volume control and a “fast forward/fast backward” control.  

Missing on that screenshot: Something that tells me what device I am/was playing to (e.g. local device or which DLNA renderer). Also missing: a “|<“ button - you’d have to tap on the song again to start it from the beginning. 

Ideally, this screen would also allow me to change the target I’m playing to, e.g. moving from one room to the next and just changing the target device for that same queue (similar to Apple AirPlay). Think ‘watching a movie in the living room - and continuing to watch it after going to bed’. Without having to search for the movie and remembering that you were 1h 43 minutes into it. 

Currently, Emby does not allow me to “move around”: If I want to switch my DLNA device, I first have to disconnect from my current devices, which also disconnects me from my queue…

[Luke 42083]

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Below screenshot is the queue/player view of the Lumin/Teac/Esoteric software: While not perfect, It prominently shows the queue, it shows that I stopped listening 27 seconds into track 3. This queue is persistent: If I come back tomorrow or  in a week, it still will be there - especially good for movies, where it shows were you left off when you went to bed last night - and you can immediately resume from this screen. 

At the top, it has the player - which at this point in time shows me that it’s not playing, but ready for me to hit that “play” button.

This screen also tells me what will be played next when I hit the play button: Track 3, starting at 0:27 minutes. Tapping on the circles will open a volume control and a “fast forward/fast backward” control.  

HI, did you try clicking the bottom now playing bar where you can see your queue and have all of these controls?

[Luke 42083]

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Currently, Emby does not allow me to “move around”: If I want to switch my DLNA device, I first have to disconnect from my current devices, which also disconnects me from my queue…

Hi, yes I agree, transfer of play queue from one device to another is an area we can improve on.

[Luke 42083]

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Ideally, this screen would also allow me to change the target I’m playing to, e.g. moving from one room to the next and just changing the target device for that same queue (similar to Apple AirPlay). Think ‘watching a movie in the living room - and continuing to watch it after going to bed’. Without having to search for the movie and remembering that you were 1h 43 minutes into it. 

You can change the target from any screen in Emby using the cast icon in the upper right, correct?

[Luke 42083]

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• A clear way to always get to my queue, regardless of player state: Even if it has been a while that I listened, I should have a place where I can find what I was doing and resume playing. Currently, if I accidentally hit the “stop” button, and not the “pause” button, my queue is gone - and I have to search for my album in the library again. 

Yes restoration of play queue is something we plan to add in future updates.