Android TV / Shield App UI Upgrades (Resolution + Navigation)

[Aedes 8]

The Android TV / Nvidia Shield app UI seems to display at a very low resolution vs. web interface?

[redacted]

Is there a plan to 'catch up' the Android app? Shame to have all this nice 4k content, images, etc. with a user interface that seems to be running at 1080p or less?

[I'm running the the current Android TV beta on Shield Pro]

Edited June 21, 2023 by GrimReaper
Content redacted as per OP's request

[GrimReaper 4739]

1 hour ago, Aedes said:

In addition it lacks the great "Group items into collections" feature of the web interface

Don't know why are you under the impression that it lacks that - it doesn't, it is located behind three-dot icon in the vertical row of icons along mid-height right screen edge within any library; it is hard to imagine it doesn't show for you unless you're looking for it in the tab that doesn't support it - meaning, within Movie library, for example, Movies tab will show it whereas Folders tab will not, in addition to other items (Show Labels, Image size and Image type). 

Edited June 21, 2023 by GrimReaper

[Aedes 8]

24 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Don't know why are you under the impression that it lacks that - it doesn't, it is located behind three-dot icon in the vertical row of icons along mid-height right screen edge within any library; it is hard to imagine it doesn't show for you unless you're looking for it in the tab that doesn't support it - meaning, within Movie library, for example, Movies tab will show it whereas Folders tab will not, in addition to other items (Show Labels, Image size and Image type). 

Didn't look here and was initially greyed out as I had a filter on in movies tab. Not ideal it doesn't work when filtering to 'unwatched' and you have a large number unwatched in one collection, but still good to know the feature is there. Can you amend this thread to just the comments on resolution?

[GrimReaper 4739]

2 minutes ago, Aedes said:

Can you amend this thread to just the comments on resolution?

Done. 

[ebr 16171]

1 hour ago, Aedes said:

with a user interface that seems to be running at 1080p or less

Hi.  The UI layer on all Android TV devices is1080p.  Nothing we can do about that.

But you can try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares.

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

 

[Aedes 8]

9 minutes ago, ebr said:

Hi.  The UI layer on all Android TV devices is1080p.  Nothing we can do about that.

But you can try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares.

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

 

Not sure it can be as simple as the 1080p limit alone as other natively downloaded apps look quite a bit sharper to my eye. Will  experiment with your side loading suggestion when I can get around to it. 

[Luke 42077]

3 hours ago, Aedes said:

Not sure it can be as simple as the 1080p limit alone as other natively downloaded apps look quite a bit sharper to my eye. Will  experiment with your side loading suggestion when I can get around to it. 

Let us know how it goes. Thanks.

[rbjtech 5284]

10 hours ago, ebr said:

Hi.  The UI layer on all Android TV devices is1080p.  Nothing we can do about that.

I believe Android TV 12+ will have full 4K UI Support but I'm not aware of any platform using it yet - Shield is still on Android 11 for example.

https://developer.android.com/tv/release/12

edit - I think CCwGTV has it .. 

Edited June 22, 2023 by rbjtech

[Aedes 8]

9 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

I believe Android TV 12 will have full 4K UI Support but I'm not aware of any platform using it yet - Shield is still on Android 11 for example.

https://developer.android.com/tv/release/12

That's really good news. Is the Emby Android TV app being actively developed with a 4k UI ready for this?

Looking at the non-native Android app (sideloading suggestion) I think it has its own UI limitations in terms of how it looks, content shown per page etc, given it is obviously not designed for TV, so not really a solution.

[Aedes 8]

Chromecast 4k already on Android TV 12 apparently?

Edited June 22, 2023 by Aedes

[rbjtech 5284]

3 minutes ago, Aedes said:

Looking at the non-native Android app (sideloading suggestion) I think it has its own UI limitations in terms of how it looks, content shown per page etc, given it is obviously not designed for TV, so not really a solution.

 - Your thoughts are echoed across the forum in agreement ... 

[rbjtech 5284]

1 minute ago, Aedes said:

Chromecast 4k with Google TV already on Android 12 TV apparently?

Android TV 14 is the latest .. it's tough to keep up .. haha.

[crusher11 1101]

59 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

 - Your thoughts are echoed across the forum in agreement ... 

Asking for Luke, do you have any examples of this? 

[sydlexius 297]

6 hours ago, rbjtech said:

Android TV 14 is the latest .. it's tough to keep up .. haha.

 I believe ATV 14 is still in development, with Google having cancelled development of v13.

[Luke 42077]

8 hours ago, Aedes said:

 

Looking at the non-native Android app (sideloading suggestion) I think it has its own UI limitations in terms of how it looks, content shown per page etc, given it is obviously not designed for TV, so not really a solution.

Hi, it is designed for TV and does not have any limitations. What limitations do you think it has?

[Aedes 8]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

Hi, it is designed for TV and does not have any limitations. What limitations do you think it has?

Apologies, I hadn't installed it until after your comment - I had looked through the various galleries and store and it looked like media pages were much more basic than tv version. Having tested, I agree this looks a bit better than standard android tv version. Is this one 4k ready in terms of UI for when we get android tv 12+? Would assume so if it is designed for tablets etc? Why haven't you merged it into the play store version for android tv to avoid this side loading?

[Aedes 8]

It does run more slowly - transitions between pages and all loading noticeably slower than native Android TV app.

[crusher11 1101]

10 hours ago, crusher11 said:

Asking for Luke, do you have any examples of this? 

 

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, it is designed for TV and does not have any limitations. What limitations do you think it has?

Incredible. 

[Luke 42077]

3 hours ago, Aedes said:

Apologies, I hadn't installed it until after your comment - I had looked through the various galleries and store and it looked like media pages were much more basic than tv version. Having tested, I agree this looks a bit better than standard android tv version. Is this one 4k ready in terms of UI for when we get android tv 12+? Would assume so if it is designed for tablets etc? Why haven't you merged it into the play store version for android tv to avoid this side loading?

Yes it is, and that is our end goal. Stay tuned for performance improvements.

[Junglejim 385]

13 hours ago, Luke said:

Yes it is, and that is our end goal. Stay tuned for performance improvements.

"Stay tuned" is that like "It's possible for the future" ??