New Switch breaks "are you still watching?"

[tedfroop21 86]

When this is off and there are multiple folders in the top level of the library, "are you still watching?" does not function normally.

Once I turned it on -  "are you still watching?" resumed normal functioning.  Played 6 episodes of one show with no prompts, turned it on and played three of another and was prompted.

 

 

embyserver-63898243199.txt

[ebr 16169]

That has to be a coincidence...  Can you repeat the problem?

That setting would have no impact on TV Series.

[speechles 2055]

When you initially make the playback request or when you press a key on the remote the time since last keypress is updated. Once the next item has started and 3500 seconds has passed since that time since last keypress it will spawn the are you still watching dialog.

Perhaps you were pressing keys all the time on the remote this time?

[tedfroop21 86]

On 09/11/2025 at 09:52, speechles said:

When you initially make the playback request or when you press a key on the remote the time since last keypress is updated. Once the next item has started and 3500 seconds has passed since that time since last keypress it will spawn the are you still watching dialog.

Perhaps you were pressing keys all the time on the remote this time?

Half asleep,  started playing episode 1, stopped it during episode 6 when I woke up.  These are 1965 episodes with 25-26 min. run time.  Tried it with a different series with the same result.

On 09/11/2025 at 09:26, ebr said:

That has to be a coincidence...  Can you repeat the problem?

That setting would have no impact on TV Series.

The TV library is split across 2 disks, so there are 2 folders, on 2 disks that make up the library.  With the switch off and two library folders showing (TV and TV2), it plays on well past the usual 3-4 episodes.  

With the library showing as one folder, it behaves normally.

Edited November 10, 2025 by tedfroop21

[ebr 16169]

4 hours ago, tedfroop21 said:

With the switch off and two library folders showing (TV and TV2), it plays on well past the usual 3-4 episodes. 

Are they actually TV episodes in that scenario or just videos?

[Luke 42077]

On 11/9/2025 at 11:26 AM, ebr said:

That has to be a coincidence...  Can you repeat the problem?

 

Yes, sounds coincidental and not related to that option.

[tedfroop21 86]

On 10/11/2025 at 14:52, ebr said:

Are they actually TV episodes in that scenario or just videos?

TV Episodes ripped from dvd stored as MKV.

[ebr 16169]

8 hours ago, tedfroop21 said:

TV Episodes ripped from dvd stored as MKV.

Right but did Emby interpret them as Episodes in the scenario where you say it didn't work?

[speechles 2055]

It doesn't matter if they were episodes or videos or what they are. Just that it is a playlist of things that can play in the video player. Then when the next item starts it looks at how much time has elapsed since the last time someone pressed a key on the remote. The "Are you still watching" keeps track of what time it is every time a button is pressed during video playback. If you press a button every 30 minutes, say to bring up the OSD, you reset the timer. The timer is checking if that time of the last keypress against the present time and checking. It isn't just happening at the same interval every time. It is running as a watchdog as you watch. The only time you will see that prompt of "are you still watching" is if you've used no buttons on the remote for long enough of a period and the next episode/item starts. It shows this at the start of the next item/episode and stops playback so as not to create resume points. It wants your items to pop up in the next up row fresh at the beginning of the episode/item. Not left hanging somewhere in the middle.

Now this may differ from the web app because it doesn't have the luxury of a remote control being included with every device like a Roku. Tracking that on the web app would be more difficult. Not sure exactly how the web app is tracking the time for the are you still watching and what mechanism it is using. I just know the exact mechanism the Roku is using and it isn't affected in any way by any other setting. The Roku app simply watches time if there is a playlist and reacts if the keypresses were too long ago.

Note: Playlist means anything playing when it is a more than a single item.

Edited November 13, 2025 by speechles

[tedfroop21 86]

14 hours ago, ebr said:

Right but did Emby interpret them as Episodes in the scenario where you say it didn't work?

Yes.  Season one, episodes 1 through 6 of 32 episodes in the season.

• TheTVDB.com Series ID 71635

[sa2000 674]

On 09/11/2025 at 15:10, tedfroop21 said:

Once I turned it on -  "are you still watching?" resumed normal functioning.  Played 6 episodes of one show with no prompts, turned it on and played three of another and was prompted.

You mentioned here that you played 6 episodes continuously - I do not see evidence of 6 episodes being watched continuously

The log you provided shows only up to a maximum of 4 episodes (3 full and 1 just starting) played in sequence without interaction

Assuming that we are referring to the Roku Ultra device, you had the following continuous playbacks:

4 episodes Hogan's Heroes starting at this time S06E14 from an offset of 7 minutes and 50 seconds up to offset of 29 seconds into S06E17 (period: 8 November 03.19 am to 04.28 am)

Then 4 episodes again of Hogan''s Heroes starting at this time at the beginning of S06E14 to offset of 29 seconds into S06E17 (period: 8 November 05:06 am to 06:23 am)

Then 4 episodes of Hogan's Heroes starting at this time at the beginning of S06E17 to an offset of 29 seconds (that is weird !) of S06E20 (period: 8 November 06:28 am to 07:44 am)

Then 2 episodes of Batman from offset of 61 seconds of S01E20 to offset of 2 sconds of S01E21 (period: 8 November 22:54 to 23:18)

When were the "Are you still watching prompts"? Maybe that would have been at the early offset stops that we can see above

 

Edited November 13, 2025 by sa2000

[speechles 2055]

if it totals up to 3500 seconds from the time since last keypress ... or .. time since playlist was created. So assume you hit PLAY only on an item and the next episode playback happens automatically. If you did not press any other key on the remote since then it would check at the start of an item if the time since then was at least 58 minutes 20 seconds ago. If this were Live TV programs playing it would be 1800 seconds rather than 3500. Live TV ties up a tuner if left on so the dialogs there will be more frequent.

The Roku is self contained as far as that are you still watching prompt. There is no possibility anything else is influencing how it has played. It might be incorrectly retain the resume points on some items and they are starting into the item rather than at the beginning. Making those items shorter at first taking less of that 3500 seconds. Then the other items play full length and it looks like 4 played rather than 3. Entirely possible it is simply checking at 3500 seconds.

It is either a key was pressed on the remote that reset that 3500 second timer or that the beginning item had a resume point and started from that spot. There is seriously no possibility anything else could influence that logic.

I know it may seem like it has an effect change that setting but it must be a red herring. Because there is no technical way it could have any effect. Unless it could change the code running on the Roku which it cannot.

[sa2000 674]

The embyserver log posted here suggests that there was a dialogue box for "Are you still watching" at these times

At about 04:28 am on 8th November on completing S06E16 of Hogan's Heroes and starting S06E17 
At about 06:23 am on 8th November on completing S06E16 of Hogan's Heroes and starting S06E17 
At about 07:44 am on 8th November on completing S06E19 of Hogan's Heroes and starting S06E20 

Was this not the case?

On 09/11/2025 at 15:10, tedfroop21 said:

When this is off and there are multiple folders in the top level of the library, "are you still watching?" does not function normally.

Once I turned it on -  "are you still watching?" resumed normal functioning.  Played 6 episodes of one show with no prompts, turned it on and played three of another and was prompted.

There is no evidence in the server log of 6 episodes being auto played

Edited November 14, 2025 by sa2000

[tedfroop21 86]

OK.  Lets move on then.  May have been just weirdness as it has worked flawlessly since  - on Roku.

 

 

[ebr 16169]

Let us know if it happens again.