Plugin: Home Screen Companion

[soderlund 146]

7 hours ago, Aleas said:

Great job!

So far, I've only noticed 1 issue

When creating a reoccurring schedule, it loves to change the dates on you.

Here's an example:

Create the schedule and save.
Refresh the page and check the schedule.

I've come back in and it's decided on its own to even completely change the month for me.

Thanks for reporting! Unfortunately i cant reproduce it.. I have let Claude analyze and there might have been an issue with the code converting time zone to UTC, but that does not explain the change in months and that big jump with days.. 

Is this happening every time you set up a recurring schedule? Long shot, but try to clear browser cache and test again. 

Are anyone else having the same bug or willing to test? 

[Aleas 90]

40 minutes ago, soderlund said:

Thanks for reporting! Unfortunately i cant reproduce it.. I have let Claude analyze and there might have been an issue with the code converting time zone to UTC, but that does not explain the change in months and that big jump with days.. 

Is this happening every time you set up a recurring schedule? Long shot, but try to clear browser cache and test again. 

Are anyone else having the same bug or willing to test? 

It happens every time. cleared the cache and even tried using Firefox (I never use Firefox) and it's still changing the days on me. Changing the month on me was kind of rare.  I can get by with specific dates as that seems to work great.  But if others can test this.

Or maybe just have specific date w/ a checkbox that says reoccurring, and then just make the year "*"

And when I see "Reoccurring" as a whole different option, I'm then going to request options like "Last $day of $month", as there are some holidays that follow that logic where the date is not absolute, it's more of last Thursday of $month. then you are going to bang your head into the keyboard or monitor, and nobody wants to see that

Let's use the example of Memorial Day.  Which is the last Monday in May, the actual date is not set in stone. What I'm trying to create is an AI generated list of content for certain holidays that uses the priority option of the daily ones I normally snag.

Edited April 27 by Aleas

[soderlund 146]

13 minutes ago, Aleas said:

It happens every time. cleared the cache and even tried using Firefox (I never use Firefox) and it's still changing the days on me. Changing the month on me was kind of rare.  I can get by with specific dates as that seems to work great.  But if others can test this.

Or maybe just have specific date w/ a checkbox that says reoccurring, and then just make the year "*"

And when I see "Reoccurring" as a whole different option, I'm then going to request options like "Last $day of $month", as there are some holidays that follow that logic where the date is not absolute, it's more of last Thursday of $month. then you are going to bang your head into the keyboard or monitor, and nobody wants to see that

Super weird.. Check your PM and we'll fix this!

[Jdiesel 1442]

Would it be possible to add the ability to schedule AI lists separately? I've added two AI recommended lists for each of my users, movies and TV, but I don't need them to run daily. If I could run half the lists (users) on alternating days it would save some of my Gemini quota.

Edited April 27 by Jdiesel

[soderlund 146]

4 minutes ago, Jdiesel said:

Would it be possible to add the ability to schedule AI lists separately? I've added two AI recommended lists for each of my users, movies and TV, but I don't need them to run daily. If I could run half the lists (users) on alternating days it would save some of my Gemini quota.

Yeah I really like that idea! This is definitely going on the to-do list. Especially since the content isn't changing that much from day to day.  

[jdazzle44 7]

Thanks for the amazing plugin I’m currently testing it and have two source lists from MDBList working so far.

I’ve run into two issues:

1. Home screen sections getting removed

When I applied the lists to my user home screen, it removed all of my existing home screen sections. I had to manually add them back afterward.

2. TV app issue

The custom home screen layout works correctly on my phone, but it doesn’t seem to work on my TV. On the TV app, it only shows the “Top List” tag as a new library section and nothing else.

Not sure if I’m missing a setting somewhere, but wanted to report it in case it helps. Thanks again for building this plugin!

[seanbuff 1368]

15 minutes ago, jdazzle44 said:

it doesn’t seem to work on my TV. On the TV app, it only shows the “Top List” tag as a new library section and nothing else.

Post specifics about which TV app you are referring to, including exact version number.

Some TV apps still need to be updated to support all the new home screen features.

[LoveYou2 2]

2 hours ago, seanbuff said:

Post specifics about which TV app you are referring to, including exact version number.

Some TV apps still need to be updated to support all the new home screen features.

 

3 hours ago, jdazzle44 said:

Thanks for the amazing plugin I’m currently testing it and have two source lists from MDBList working so far.

I’ve run into two issues:

1. Home screen sections getting removed

When I applied the lists to my user home screen, it removed all of my existing home screen sections. I had to manually add them back afterward.

2. TV app issue

The custom home screen layout works correctly on my phone, but it doesn’t seem to work on my TV. On the TV app, it only shows the “Top List” tag as a new library section and nothing else.

Not sure if I’m missing a setting somewhere, but wanted to report it in case it helps. Thanks again for building this plugin!

Same problem Emby for LG 10.0.50

[jdazzle44 7]

5 hours ago, seanbuff said:

Post specifics about which TV app you are referring to, including exact version number.

Some TV apps still need to be updated to support all the new home screen features.

Android TV app version 2.1.23g

[seanbuff 1368]

5 hours ago, jdazzle44 said:

Android TV app version 2.1.23g

This is a very old version which does not support the new home screen, you will need to join the beta program, or side load to install the latest.

2.1.46 is the latest: https://emby.media/community/topic/42240-emby-android-tv-release-notes-beta/

Alternatively, you can install the latest standard Android app (also available via the Play Store on the same device) both apps can run side by side, and both latest versions have support for the new home screen enhancements. 

 

[Adamaen2 3]

Hi,

Just wanted to say thanks for this amazing plugin.

This with the new emby spotlight feature really make my home screen so much better.

[jdazzle44 7]

16 hours ago, seanbuff said:

This is a very old version which does not support the new home screen, you will need to join the beta program, or side load to install the latest.

2.1.46 is the latest: https://emby.media/community/topic/42240-emby-android-tv-release-notes-beta/

Alternatively, you can install the latest standard Android app (also available via the Play Store on the same device) both apps can run side by side, and both latest versions have support for the new home screen enhancements. 

 

Thanks. I have installed the beta Android TV beta and it's working now.

[soderlund 146]

On 5/2/2026 at 2:28 PM, jdazzle44 said:

Thanks for the amazing plugin I’m currently testing it and have two source lists from MDBList working so far.

I’ve run into two issues:

1. Home screen sections getting removed

When I applied the lists to my user home screen, it removed all of my existing home screen sections. I had to manually add them back afterward.

 

This is not supposed to happen! 

When you have created them manually again, are they still persistent after that or removed again when running the plugin task? 
 

I do have some manually home sections myself, and I have not encountered this bug. But I will look at this and see if I find something, thanks for reporting! 

[jdazzle44 7]

20 hours ago, soderlund said:

This is not supposed to happen! 

When you have created them manually again, are they still persistent after that or removed again when running the plugin task? 
 

I do have some manually home sections myself, and I have not encountered this bug. But I will look at this and see if I find something, thanks for reporting! 

They do persist after adding them manually. 

Separate question. Is it possible to have the same list appear as Spotlight on my TV but as cards on my phone?

I tried duplicating the list and enabling TV display mode on one and disabling it on the other, but my TV still shows cards.

Edited May 4 by jdazzle44

[soderlund 146]

On 5/4/2026 at 2:43 PM, jdazzle44 said:

They do persist after adding them manually. 

Separate question. Is it possible to have the same list appear as Spotlight on my TV but as cards on my phone?

I tried duplicating the list and enabling TV display mode on one and disabling it on the other, but my TV still shows cards.

Well that's good at least, I cant find anything in the code that would suggest this behavior.. 

That would have been my solution as well. But testing myself I believe this is a bug with Emby itself. I get the same behavior even if I'm manually building a new home section and playing with the options. Sorry that I cant give you a better answer. 

[soderlund 146]

New minor release -  Version 4.1.0.0
Download .dll and full release notes: https://github.com/soderlund91/HomeScreenCompanion/releases/tag/v4.1.0.0

This update contains mostly improvements on the AI source. Added support for Ollama and some other fixes.
Also added an ability to create a Playlist from the source target. This is independent from all other settings (eg home section). It will take the source list and post the corresponding movies and series into a Playlist for the selected user(s).

IMPORTANT! 
Minimum required Emby server v4.10.0.10

Release notes

NEW

• Playlist
  You can now create Playlists from the selected source. A playlist is created and maintained by the plugin for selected users and updates according to the configured source.

Updates

• AI Source: Added support for Ollama for local AI (experimental)
• AI Source: Added a function for how often to update the AI list (Eg. every 2 days). Only applies to full sync, so if you manually run that single group it will still send the promt.
• AI Source: In settings we can now modify the system promt that is sent to the selected AI-provider. (Only change this if you know what you are doing)
• Local media information: Added: TVDB ID, Folder path contains, Country

Fixes

• Top-list: Fixed an issue where the "max items" for a top-list was not respected when doing a full sync.
• Schedule: Fixed an issue where date might have been interpreted wrong depending on timezone.

 

________________________________________

Dev notes
This will probably be the last update in a while since I'm getting another kid any day now. I will still support and work on the plugin, but focus will mostly be on fixing bugs and updating support for newer Emby server releases. Feature ideas are still welcomed, but I will probably not be developing the plugin as rapidly as I have in the past.

Keep reporting bugs and all good ideas you guys have! Without your input this plugin would not be what is is today! 

HomeScreenCompanion.dll

[Jdiesel 1442]

Did you by chance upload the wrong file to Github? I'm still seeing v3.3.2.1 with the latest version on Github and none of the new options.

[soderlund 146]

4 hours ago, Jdiesel said:

Did you by chance upload the wrong file to Github? I'm still seeing v3.3.2.1 with the latest version on Github and none of the new options.

I double checked and it should be correct.

I guess you did a server restart, and some times you also might have to clear browser cache. 

Fastes/easises way for chrome:
Press F12 (DevTools will open)
Right klick on the refresh button beside the URL bar and choose "Clear cache and do a hard reset"

For other browsers you have to google. 

Pls report back if this solved your issue  

Edited May 7 by soderlund

[Jdiesel 1442]

8 hours ago, soderlund said:

I double checked and it should be correct.

I guess you did a server restart, and some times you also might have to clear browser cache. 

Fastes/easises way for chrome:
Press F12 (DevTools will open)
Right klick on the refresh button beside the URL bar and choose "Clear cache and do a hard reset"

For other browsers you have to google. 

Pls report back if this solved your issue  

It must have been a cache issue. I tried again later and it was working. I didn't even have to manually clear it.

[LongMan 121]

On 5/6/2026 at 5:19 PM, soderlund said:

I'm getting another kid any day now.

Good luck with the delivery and congratulations.

[Aleas 90]

Indeed, thanks for all your hard work and dedication. And best of luck with the new family member!

Still playing with Ollama and playlists but they are awesome additions.

Edited May 8 by Aleas

[soderlund 146]

Got some time over to try to fix some bugs i found. But i need your help on deciding witch direction to go. 

When creating a top-list now a new library is created with the movies for the top-list. This is because I didn't want a movie poster with numbers end up in another home section/row. 
Using libraires we can limit the home section to only use the one with the top-list and then set specific posters for these items. 

The alternative is to simply change the poster and use tag instead of libraries. This is WAY easier to build, but i decided to go the hard way and now its complicating things...  There are a lot of parameters to consider when building this way.

So what would be the best way to do this based of the below pros and cons (don't bother what is easiest/hardest for me when building the plugin)

Using libraries (current solution)
+ Posters with numbers are only shown on the specific top-list section
- Limited to only movies

Using tags
+ Easier to maintain and build for me
+ Can use both movies and tv-shows in a top list
- Posters with numbers will be server wide.

What do i mean with the poster being server wide? If a movie is in two or more home sections (a popular/trending movie usually end up in more places) the poster will have the number on it in all places. 
So if we have a top-list row called "Todays top 10 movies" the posters will naturally have numbers on them.
The row below could be "Trending movies" and don't use any certain order, if a move is on the top-list it will also have the numbered poster in this section as well and look a bit misplaced (and any other place on the server).
 

[Jdiesel 1442]

If I recall correctly the issue with using a separate library for something like Top Picks is that there will be duplicate entries for those media items in certain views like continue watching and next up. This should be avoidable in some cases with the new Emby home sections by excluding libraries from custom views but I don't know if it's possible with all views. I don't know if virtual libraries or .strm files is the right path toward. 

 

 

[soderlund 146]

17 hours ago, Jdiesel said:

If I recall correctly the issue with using a separate library for something like Top Picks is that there will be duplicate entries for those media items in certain views like continue watching and next up. This should be avoidable in some cases with the new Emby home sections by excluding libraries from custom views but I don't know if it's possible with all views. I don't know if virtual libraries or .strm files is the right path toward. 

 

 

The way I have built the plugin right now is with a task that "cleanup" all other home sections. So when creating a "top 10 whatever", the plugin will run the task and remove the new top 10 whatever-library from all other home sections. 

As far as I know this setting in library options would fix the different version problem:


In the UI for the movie

[Jdiesel 1442]

That Multi-verson item detection setting is news to me. I don't recall seeing it mentioned in any change logs.