Why does Emby make it so difficult to discover media?

[Jdiesel 1431]

After spending some time visiting family over the Thanksgiving holidays and a bit of discussing on what we've been watching it became very clear that everyone who has access to my Emby server chooses not to use it over other services like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon, etc. Even though they have free access to to my server with every possible movie/show imaginable they would rather use multiple other paid services. When I asked them why, they all said "It is too hard to find things to watch on Emby". I probed a bit more and they said unless it is newly added or something I've already in progress it is impossible to find new things to watch. The difference being that all the other services promote content discovery on the home screen.

 

I would agree with their comments as I too struggle with finding content and I'm the one who curated it. For anything not currently on the home screen, it can taking drilling down multiple levels just to see the synopsis of a show/movie. I know how the filters and sorting work but it seems like the average user (my family) isn't using them.

 

Is content discovery a priority on the roadmap for Emby?

[pwhodges 2012]

There's another route that might help someone prepared to take the trouble, though it means selecting a movie first - the "More like this" under the movie description.  But I realise this isn't what you're looking for.

Paul

[Jdiesel 1431]

I recall an older version of one of the apps, ET or Roku perhaps, had a row for random movies and series. I don't believe this has been carried forward to the unified design.

[arrbee99 1815]

How would discovery work ? Genres on the Home screen maybe ?

[Jdiesel 1431]

2 minutes ago, arrbee99 said:

How would discovery work ? Genres on the Home screen maybe ?

That's pretty much how Netflix looks. About 20 rows with different themes, filters, or genres. Comedy movies, Sitcoms, Newly added, etc. With Netflix you never need to leave the home screen to find something, everything your need is there and the next time your open it things refresh. If you want something specific you can search for it.

[arrbee99 1815]

This is true. Pity I can't think of an easy way round it. Would be nice to be able to just get to Genres quicker, like having a row of Genres on the Home page. But would you need a Genres row for Movies and another for TV, and maybe other categories as well. I just noticed my Documentaries library also has a Genres section.

Unless Luke or someone can be persuaded to add Genres to the Home screen maybe you'll just have to try hinting to your users - bit of practice with click Movies , right click a few times to Genres. Or just one click over to Suggestions now I look at it. But true it is a bit of a mission.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

One of the main reasons i use Emby over services like Netflix etc. is that Emby does not clutter my home screen with all the nearly useless crap like "suggestions" or other drivel. I really really hope if all that useless junk gets added that it is added with the ability to turn it off and defaulted to off. 

I, personally, hope none of that junk gets added to Emby. If people want a machine to suggest things on the main screen then  Netflix like services are the way to go. Emby is NOT a content provider and adding this will only cause more foolish people to think it is. 

"Keep Emby Clean" would be a good bumper sticker.

[Luke 42077]

Hi, have you checked out the suggestions tab in a movies or tv library? 

have you tried the newer latest releases sections?

[C.S. 93]

Perhaps there could be a section on the homepage for items that other users on the server have watched, favorited or queued.

4 hours ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

One of the main reasons i use Emby over services like Netflix etc. is that Emby does not clutter my home screen with all the nearly useless crap like "suggestions" or other drivel.

Then don't enable the option? This would be optional of course.

[yocker 1247]

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, have you checked out the suggestions tab in a movies or tv library? 

have you tried the newer latest releases sections?

While i personally like Emby the way it is, what i have learned from speaking to family members like Jdielsel is that, Emby is simply not user friendly in any way or form.

Some quick examples are,
Nobody knew settings even existed.
Nobody knew how mixed libraries worked forcing me to stop using them.
The good old quality setting.
Some didn't even know they could scroll to the right for more libraries.

Just to name a few.

Netflix gets around this by just spoon feeding people with everything on the main screen like fx. suggestion.
So I think having suggestions as a home style choice would be an excellent idea. Would make Emby a little more accessible for many people.

[hthgihwaymonk 34]

I use collections to provide a way of discovery for the family
 

[darkassassin07 652]

3 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, have you checked out the suggestions tab in a movies or tv library? 

have you tried the newer latest releases sections?

Looking at this through a user account with little activity; this section is quite devoid of content, showing me 'latest media' and three separate sections of 'Starring <random actor>' each with a single piece of content. Nothing else. For a new user being given access to my server; it doesn't do much to show them what's available.

 

Using my more active personal account, there's a bit more; namely 'because you watched <last movie or two>' and the 'Starring <actor>'/'Directed by <person>' get chosen from the last couple of items I've watched instead of totally randomly. But, The suggestions really only consider two or three factors from the very front of your most recently watched content, and there's no consideration for public ratings or local server popularity. The sections displayed can often have very few item's in them as well. This does very little to show you new content, instead favoring 'tunnel vision' on the last 1-2 viewed items. It just feels shallow overall. There is also a couple sections for 'because you liked <title>' (things you favorite), but that has the same 'more of what you've already watched' vibe.

 

There's nothing in Emby to suggest content that's rising or currently popular to the public and very little suggesting new types/genres/styles of content. Instead emby seems to favor just pushing you towards more of what you've already seen.

 

<all of the above only considers movie libraries>

 

When it comes to TV Shows, the suggestions tab is very little use. It only displays three sections: 'Continue watching' (a duplicate of your home screen...), 'latest episodes' (ie, most recently added to the server, probably also on your home screen), and 'recently released episodes' (epps sorted by air/release date)

There's very little to suggest new shows here unless they're quite new and being actively added to the server. This also doesn't suggest shows directly at all, but individual episodes; not great for finding something new to watch.

 

More depth to the whole system; paying attention to things like genres and ratings, while also mixing in a bit of random 'here's something completely different' would help content exploration a lot. And the ability to put these suggestions front and center (for those who need/want it, but removable for those how don't), right in the home page could be a great addition.

[rbjtech 5284]

13 hours ago, Jdiesel said:

After spending some time visiting family over the Thanksgiving holidays and a bit of discussing on what we've been watching it became very clear that everyone who has access to my Emby server chooses not to use it over other services like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon, etc. Even though they have free access to to my server with every possible movie/show imaginable they would rather use multiple other paid services. When I asked them why, they all said "It is too hard to find things to watch on Emby". I probed a bit more and they said unless it is newly added or something I've already in progress it is impossible to find new things to watch. The difference being that all the other services promote content discovery on the home screen.

 

I would agree with their comments as I too struggle with finding content and I'm the one who curated it. For anything not currently on the home screen, it can taking drilling down multiple levels just to see the synopsis of a show/movie. I know how the filters and sorting work but it seems like the average user (my family) isn't using them.

 

Is content discovery a priority on the roadmap for Emby?

Agree 100% and this is why so much time and effort has been spent on this forum requesting ways to do 'spotlights/recommendations/smart playlists' ON THE OPENING SCREEN as a simple row.

I am truely hoping the 4.9 'Smart Playlists' has this option - if not, then it's a complete waste of time - because nobody outside of admins will use it because the content it creates is just not easily accessible.

With the new MDB scripts putting these 'playlists' into collections, coupled with the ability of recently putting collections on the home screen - this has actually improved things a lot (in terms of quickly and effortlessly getting to content) BUT this is still what the ADMIN wants to show the user - NOT what the user necessarily wants to see.

So I believe the next logical stage is for a collection OR playlist CONTENT to be displayed as a ROW of items configured in the Home Screen section for that user.

For example - if I want a row of the 'Trending TV Shows' (from trakt) then I should be able to configure that.   A simple top level drop down context menu 'Add to Home Screen' is all that is needed.

I'm very much hoping this is what 4.9 and 'Smart Playlists' can provide - if not, and it simply creates a 'playlist' (buried in playlists) then this new functionality will be essentially wasted as no users will be able to easily see the results - and thus users will not use it.

Edited November 26, 2024 by rbjtech

[Smitty018210 143]

As long as what is added can be disabled in the setting and is not forced, have at it, but I already think the home page looks to cluttered with stuff. And I've got 90% of everything set to show nothing as it is.

[rbjtech 5284]

19 minutes ago, Smitty018210 said:

As long as what is added can be disabled in the setting and is not forced, have at it, but I already think the home page looks to cluttered with stuff. And I've got 90% of everything set to show nothing as it is.

The home screen is fully configurable - so just remove the rows you/they don't want.  You can actually set them all to None and have a completly blank screen .. 

[Chillout 110]

I try to keep the categories as simple as possible and tell people to make it a Favorite when they find something they like and use the search feature.

[Smitty018210 143]

40 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

The home screen is fully configurable - so just remove the rows you/they don't want.  You can actually set them all to None and have a completly blank screen .. 

"And I've got 90% of everything set to show nothing as it is."

I know.............................Like I said I've got most of it turned off.

Only things on my home page are:

• My Media
• Next up
• Continue watching

Anything else and looks like a cluttered mess.

 

 

[242Movies 26]

I tried using Plex and the only thing on there I prefer over Emby is their discovery feature that shows you what's trending.

I would really like that on Emby.
Especially during the holidays and it shows you relevant movies and TV shows around Haloween, Chrimstmas, etc..

[Jdiesel 1431]

I think it says a lot that the 1st and 3rd most requested features of all time dating back to 2016 and 2017 are for Smart Playlists and Trakt recommendations. 

Trending media is a nice addition too but it works best when the media on your server aligns with what is trending elsewhere. TMDB and TVDB both have trending and popular lists in their API.

As @rbjtech alluded to, smart playlists are the real key to this problem granted we can pin them on the homescreen and choose which users can see them. This would solve all my problems and more.

[hthgihwaymonk 34]

6 hours ago, rbjtech said:

So I believe the next logical stage is for a collection OR playlist CONTENT to be displayed as a ROW of items configured in the Home Screen section for that user.
For example - if I want a row of the 'Trending TV Shows' (from trakt) then I should be able to configure that.   A simple top level drop down context menu 'Add to Home Screen' is all that is needed.

I completely agree with this, if they allowed the content of a collection to show has a row on a home screen, that would be great

[user24 313]

This is one of my favourite topics at the moment!

One person’s critical info can be another person’s clutter – and vice versa – so it will be most interesting to see what new functionality and customisation Emby provides with the forthcoming ‘smart’ features that have been hinted at for version 4.9.

At a minimum, hopefully it will include:

• Smart Playlists (for individual items)
• Smart Collections (for e.g. TV Seasons, Music Albums, etc.)
• Smart Views (for greater Home Screen customisation)

Beyond this, it would also be great to have:

• Menu Tab customisation (can be done to a limited extent with CSS now)
• Vertical Section customisation (can be done to a limited extent with CSS now)
• More selectable Vertical Row expansion into Grid Views (otherwise endless horizontal scrolling)
• Wider use of the new Group By function, similar to Collections now, to allow for more granular details for those who want them (e.g. Music Album Release Type)

I expect others can easily add to my wish list. I wonder how much of the above will be implemented and hopefully we'll get at least some of it soon!!!

Edited November 26, 2024 by user24

[AngelSing 49]

This post is important, it should go in the feature requests section.

[Jdiesel 1431]

2 minutes ago, AngelSing said:

This post is important, it should go in the feature requests section.

It already is. Has been since 2016. Just hoping for a fresh discussion on it. Go to the Feature Request forum and sort by most reactions, it's at the top, and give it a like if you haven't already.

[ebr 16169]

On 11/26/2024 at 8:34 AM, 242Movies said:

I tried using Plex and the only thing on there I prefer over Emby is their discovery feature that shows you what's trending.

I would really like that on Emby.

But they can only do that because they are watching everything that all of you are doing...

We don't do that so we have no way of knowing what is "trending" beyond what you, yourself are watching.

[242Movies 26]

It does have some privacy concerns but it could also be done by checking public lists of what's trending on Trakt or wherever.
They have a list of what's trending on other services and sometimes it includes items not in my collection but that's okay as I can go and find it and add it to my collection

I also like their option to browse by award and their list of movies released this day or week in history and especially their lists of movies relevant to the current holidays

I often find things I otherwise wouldn't have thought of watching or rewatching

I use emby almost exclusively to watch my TV series and that's easy because it shows the next episode to continue watching but I open Plex for suggestions of what else to watch - especially for movies