Plugin: Home Screen Companion

[crusher11 1348]

On 9/24/2026 at 5:39 AM, soderlund said:

How so?
You asked how it handled an item with locked tags, and the plugin doesn't care. It would still write new tags and remove them. 
What i meant with "Simple answer is: it doesn't." is that it doesn't need to handle that, because it "overrides" the locked setting.  Maybe bad expressed by me. 

 

To say that “it doesn't [handle locked items]” indicates, to me, that it skips those items.

[soderlund 221]

New minor release -  Version 4.2.0.0
Download .dll and full release notes: https://github.com/soderlund91/HomeScreenCompanion/releases/tag/v4.2.0.0

New features, updates and fixes

Install/update via Emby plugin catalog or manually download the .dll.

 

IMPORTANT! 
Minimum required Emby server v4.10.0.40

Release notes

New:

• Continue watching bump: Added an option that enables new seasons and episode releases to bump up the show to first position in the continue watching. The settings will be found in top menu "Home screen" --> "Home screen tweaks".
  Read more below about the function
  Note: This feature is currently experimental. I have tested it by adding/removing episodes on my own server and it seems to work well. But the true test for this function needs to be some live tests, and will take some time. Hence the experimental warning.

Updates:

• MDBList support: Added support for MDBList official lists.
• Logs: Logs now persist between server-restarts.
• Top-list items can now show their collections. Movies opened from a top-list row didn't show "Included in ", because the top-list copy wasn't a member of the original movie's collections. Turn on Show collections on top-list items (Settings → Advanced → Top-lists) and each top-list movie is added to the same collections as the original, and follows along when the original is added to or removed from a collection.
  • Off by default. Turning it on (or off) updates all existing top-list items.
  • Trade-off: depending on a collection's sort order, the collection may show the
    top-list version with its rank-badge poster instead of the original.

Fixes:

• Top-list copies no longer match rules. MediaInfo and AI rules could pick up the top-list .strm copies, which then got tagged and added to collections and playlists. This could also make tags "come back" seconds after a sync removed them.
• Tags no longer bounce between versions of a movie. When a movie exists as separate items (e.g. 1080p and 4K) and a rule matches only one of them, the other version no longer gets the tag re-applied after every sync.
• Recurring schedules that span New Year now work. A window like Dec 27 → Jan 3 was only active in December.
• A group's own tag no longer satisfies its Tag rules. A group tagged zzrow-musicalswith the rule Tag contains Musicals matched itself, so items never left the row. New Tag rules now default to Exact. Existing rules are unchanged.
• Rating rules now include exact boundary values. Community Rating >= 7.2 skipped movies rated exactly 7.2 (and <= 6.9 skipped 6.9).
• The plugin's API now requires an admin account. Signed-in non-admin users could previously call it (e.g. export the backup including API keys).

 

_____________________________________

 

Continue watching bump
This is a workaround to highlight for the user that a new episode/season has been added. For example, if the user have watched all episode of a show up until s03e10 (season finale). It might then take a year or two before s04e01 is released, and the show will get buried way down in the continue watched, This function manipulates the "LastPlayedDate" for s03e10 to look like the user just played it.
In this way s04e01 will be placed as the first item in the continue watching row.
This bump will only happen once, and if the user doesn't watch the show, it will gradually move down the continue watching list.

When enabled the function auto-detects new seasons and apply the setting. There is also a new scheduled task to catch anything that has been missed (runs default every 6 hour).

You as an admin can select if this should apply to only new seasons, or between all episodes.

HomeScreenCompanion.dll

Edited September 28 by soderlund
typo

[RedNo7 40]

Just trying this plugin now - it looks amazing - thanks for sharing!

Sorry if this has already been asked (I have searched) but will 'top shelf' ever support TV shows (at the show level)?

[soderlund 221]

2 hours ago, RedNo7 said:

Just trying this plugin now - it looks amazing - thanks for sharing!

Sorry if this has already been asked (I have searched) but will 'top shelf' ever support TV shows (at the show level)?

Thanks for the kind words

 

Well, the simple answer is yes and no. At this moment I haven't figured out any way to to this in the same way as movies because of Emby limitations. 

Although, it is possible to add support for tv-shows but it will come with a lot of UI quirks.The posters will be numbered on every view globally in Emby. So for example if you have another row with "action shows" and one of them is in the top-list, only that show will then have a numbered poster among the action shows. Or in continue watching, the poster will be numbered.. 
And its not possible to have the same show in two different top-lists since it only can handle one number. (Well its possible but the order will look strange in one of them). 

The limitation is because Emby cannot handle the same show in multiple libraries (but it works fine for movies). 

I could maybe look into adding support for this if the public think it should be done? It will then come with a info that it could look bad globaly in Emby. 

Edited September 29 by soderlund

[RedNo7 40]

I would appreciate it. My usage is to put certain tv (film) front and centre for my 89yr old mum so she doesn’t have to worry about search etc.

Edited September 29 by RedNo7

[soderlund 221]

16 hours ago, RedNo7 said:

I would appreciate it. My usage is to put certain tv (film) front and centre for my 89yr old mum so she doesn’t have to worry about search etc.

And that's the whole purpose of this plugin! You can already do that except you wont get the numbers on the posters. 

Here is a list I have made that you could use for 30 trending shows. 
https://mdblist.com/lists/soderlund91/trending_shows

 

[mwongjay 103]

@soderlundOne issue that prevents me from using the "Add to home screen section" is the plugin's form fields don't align with Emby's form fields so the sync causes side effects. For example, the "view type" is configured in Emby as Spotlight, but when the plugin updates the section it changes it to cards. I think there are 1 or 2 other similar cases with dynamic media vs single collection. 

Edit: Appears it's fixed for dynamic media in the latest version, but not collections

Edited September 30 by mwongjay
Update

[Moondoggie28 2]

Might be a silly question that has already been answered, but I don't recall seeing it. 

I am attempting to set up a Monthly section for Halloween. I want it only to be displayed in the month of October. Would I run it as start date October 1 - October 31 or October 1 - November 1?

[mwongjay 103]

1 hour ago, Moondoggie28 said:

Might be a silly question that has already been answered, but I don't recall seeing it. 

I am attempting to set up a Monthly section for Halloween. I want it only to be displayed in the month of October. Would I run it as start date October 1 - October 31 or October 1 - November 1?

I tested this and the start date boundary is inclusive, but the end date boundary is not so you'd set it as 10/1 - 11/1. From a UX standpoint it's a bit confusing. I'd prefer if the boundaries were inclusive so 10/1 - 10/30 would achieve your goal.

[Moondoggie28 2]

7 minutes ago, mwongjay said:

I tested this and the start date boundary is inclusive, but the end date boundary is not so you'd set it as 10/1 - 11/1. From a UX standpoint it's a bit confusing. I'd prefer if the boundaries were inclusive so 10/1 - 10/30 would achieve your goal.

Perfect! Thank you! Now that the "holiday season" is approaching, running a top of the app Spotlight feature is great! Everyone has been loving it so I am sure that running it this way will also help. 

[mwongjay 103]

Another issue I've encountered is that the active scheduled home screen sections are appended to the bottom of the home screen and you cannot change the order until it's active. I would like the scheduled home screen sections to appear in a specific order towards the top so it's easily seen during the active window.

[RedNo7 40]

5 hours ago, soderlund said:

And that's the whole purpose of this plugin! You can already do that except you wont get the numbers on the posters. 

Here is a list I have made that you could use for 30 trending shows. 
https://mdblist.com/lists/soderlund91/trending_shows

 

Brilliant - will try this out tomorrow

[RedNo7 40]

On 29/09/2026 at 21:24, RedNo7 said:

I would appreciate it. My usage is to put certain tv (film) front and centre for my 89yr old mum so she doesn’t have to worry about search etc.

 

20 hours ago, soderlund said:

And that's the whole purpose of this plugin! You can already do that except you wont get the numbers on the posters. 

Here is a list I have made that you could use for 30 trending shows. 
https://mdblist.com/lists/soderlund91/trending_shows

 

 

OK, I can see how to do this for films, but not TV.

[Brendon 131]

@soderlundI am having an issue with HSC deleting tags it no longer uses, I have completely removed the source that used them from HSC but if I try to use them manually, next scheduled clean-up HSC still deletes them citing '– Tag "Recently Upgraded" removed from 1 item (its group is deleted or disabled)

Why is it removing tags from something it no longer controls?? It shouldn't be removing tags from deleted groups as it no longer has control over that tag, it seems i can never use that tag again because HSC just deletes it.

 

[EmreWest 3]

Very useful plugin, thank you for your work.

Is it possible to add the option to set the "Sort title" of a collection created by the plugin in the "Create Collection" tab, maybe just after the Collection Name? I would like to manage where the collections should appear under collections to sort of create "sections" of different kinds of collections. Kometa also does something like that by default by adding something like "!_42_" in front of the sorting title. 

 

[crusher11 1348]

Because playlists store file path, not item ID, multi-version movies don't play well with playlist-based rules. I have a playlist I'm basically using as my Netflix-style watchlist, and anything in that playlist is supposed to not get the spotlight tag: there's no need to spotlight them if they're already on my list of things I want to watch soon. But some of the movies on that playlist are multi-version. Only one of the versions is on the playlist, so the other version gets tagged as spotlight and shows up there anyway.

Not sure if there's a way you can work around that.

[crusher11 1348]

Also, a suggestion: when I click on the button to delete a group, I get a popup that asks “Delete this tag group?” It would be better if it used the name of the tag group in that popup, just in case I've accidentally clicked on the wrong group to delete.

[Brazer 47]

Hi All

First of all, a big thank you to @soderlundfor Home Screen Companion. It's a brilliant plugin, and the amount of work in it shows.

A bit of background: I've built a plugin along these lines before (Collectify), for collections with generated art, top lists and so on. When Emby added the new home screen features, HSC turned out to be the perfect base for everything I had built. @soderlund had already done the heavy lifting so instead of starting again I forked HSC and added my existing features on top.

I'd love some people to test it and tell me what breaks or what's confusing.

What's added (highlights)

• Your Next Watch: a personal recommendation row for every user, worked out on your own server (no AI, no internet). It's based on what each person watched, their favourites and their ratings, and it refreshes every sync. New users get a mix of the server's all-time most watched.
• Popular on this server: a Smart Playlist rule for the most-watched titles by number of viewers.
• Generated collection, tag and playlist art: Collage, Grid, Fan, Wall, Hero strip, Spotlight split and Ranked styles, with a Customise popup (tilt, rows, posters, title, fonts, darken) and a live preview.
• Top lists:
  •   top lists for TV shows;
  •   customisable Top 10 tiles;
  •   an optional TOP 10 badge on the real posters everywhere in Emby (Label, Size, Position);
  •   a Run Group button on each list.
• Import collection: take over existing Emby collections, keeping their pictures (Keep current image).
• Schedules:
  •   Yearly weekday (e.g. 2nd Sunday of May for Mother's Day, last Monday of May);
  •   Easter, with days before and after;
  •   Time of day.
• Copy & Sync gives each user their own playlist rows, and it no longer copies one person's personal row to everyone.
• Quality of life:
  •   the page shows what a sync is doing right now;
  •   runs never overlap;
  •   Save warns instead of overwriting changes made in another tab;
  •   every popup has a ✕ close;
  •   unsaved edits survive leaving the page;
  •   the help has been reorganised.
• Experimental, off by default:
  •  Ranked collections: a collection that opens in list order, e.g. IMDb Top 250 ranked 1–250. It does this by adding a hidden library of small .strm copies, so read the warning before switching it on.

  Also off by default: Copy & paste sources, Import collection and Collection sort title, all under Settings → Features.
 

The big one: "Your Next Watch", a personal row for every user

A lot of people in this thread asked for recommendations per user without having to set up a source for every single person. That's what Your Next Watch does:

• One source, every user. Add one "Personal: Your Next Watch" source and tick the users (or Select all). Each user automatically gets their own private playlist and their own home row with their own picks. No AI, no API keys, nothing leaves your server.
• Based on what they actually watch:
• The taste profile: each user's last 90 days of viewing, their favourites and the titles they rated highly.
• What it picks: unwatched movies and shows that are most like that profile, scored on genres, actors, directors, studios, year and rating, plus what people with the same taste watched.
• Respects each user's access: only titles that user can open, with library access and parental ratings honoured, so kids get kids' picks.
• Fresh every sync. As someone watches more, their list changes with them. New users with no history yet start with a mix of the server's all-time most watched, different for each person.
• Works with Copy & Sync: copying your home screen layout to everyone gives each user a row pointing at their own playlist, not yours.
• Shown nicely: a show's first episode goes into the playlist, but the row shows the show's poster. Set the row's Sort By to Random for a fresh order on every load.

 

Installing

• Download HomeScreenCompanion.dll from the latest release: https://github.com/stoep-labs/HomeScreenCompanion/releases
• Replace the existing DLL in your Emby plugins folder and restart Emby.
• It's a drop-in upgrade: your existing HSC settings and top lists carry over unchanged.
• One thing that does change by itself: Hide HSC libraries is on by default, so top-list libraries disappear from My Media and Latest. You can turn it off under Settings → Features.
• Please make a backup first (Settings → Backup & Restore). Ideally test on a test server.

Feedback
Please post here: what you tested, your Emby version, and screenshots or the log (the Logs button) if something goes wrong.

@soderlund, if you'd like any of this back in the original plugin, I'm very happy to help with that. This fork isn't meant to compete with yours.

[soderlund 221]

First of all, sorry for some absence. As i have mentioned a few times my priority for now is on the family and life in general right now. 

 

On 10/1/2026 at 11:57 AM, RedNo7 said:

 

 

OK, I can see how to do this for films, but not TV.

Its the same way you do for movies. 
Just create a new entry and select external list. Paste the URL, make sure tagging is enabled (and series). 
Then you have two options to add it to the home screen: 
1. Use the plugin by going to home screen and select what users to give this section to. Make sure media type is "movies and shows"
2. Use emby native (once for every user) add add a dynamic media row using the created tag. 

On 10/2/2026 at 8:56 AM, Brendon said:

@soderlundI am having an issue with HSC deleting tags it no longer uses, I have completely removed the source that used them from HSC but if I try to use them manually, next scheduled clean-up HSC still deletes them citing '– Tag "Recently Upgraded" removed from 1 item (its group is deleted or disabled)

Why is it removing tags from something it no longer controls?? It shouldn't be removing tags from deleted groups as it no longer has control over that tag, it seems i can never use that tag again because HSC just deletes it.

 

I'll look into it!

On 10/4/2026 at 10:51 AM, EmreWest said:

Very useful plugin, thank you for your work.

Is it possible to add the option to set the "Sort title" of a collection created by the plugin in the "Create Collection" tab, maybe just after the Collection Name? I would like to manage where the collections should appear under collections to sort of create "sections" of different kinds of collections. Kometa also does something like that by default by adding something like "!_42_" in front of the sorting title. 

 

Could absolutely be possible. I'll see what I can do

On 10/6/2026 at 7:18 AM, crusher11 said:

Because playlists store file path, not item ID, multi-version movies don't play well with playlist-based rules. I have a playlist I'm basically using as my Netflix-style watchlist, and anything in that playlist is supposed to not get the spotlight tag: there's no need to spotlight them if they're already on my list of things I want to watch soon. But some of the movies on that playlist are multi-version. Only one of the versions is on the playlist, so the other version gets tagged as spotlight and shows up there anyway.

Not sure if there's a way you can work around that.

You should already be able to do this by setting it up as below using the filters:

On 10/6/2026 at 4:08 PM, crusher11 said:

Also, a suggestion: when I click on the button to delete a group, I get a popup that asks “Delete this tag group?” It would be better if it used the name of the tag group in that popup, just in case I've accidentally clicked on the wrong group to delete.

Sound good! I'll add it on the do-do

Edited October 10 by soderlund

[soderlund 221]

3 hours ago, Brazer said:

Hi All

First of all, a big thank you to @soderlundfor Home Screen Companion. It's a brilliant plugin, and the amount of work in it shows.

A bit of background: I've built a plugin along these lines before (Collectify), for collections with generated art, top lists and so on. When Emby added the new home screen features, HSC turned out to be the perfect base for everything I had built. @soderlund had already done the heavy lifting so instead of starting again I forked HSC and added my existing features on top.

I'd love some people to test it and tell me what breaks or what's confusing.

What's added (highlights)

• Your Next Watch: a personal recommendation row for every user, worked out on your own server (no AI, no internet). It's based on what each person watched, their favourites and their ratings, and it refreshes every sync. New users get a mix of the server's all-time most watched.
• Popular on this server: a Smart Playlist rule for the most-watched titles by number of viewers.
• Generated collection, tag and playlist art: Collage, Grid, Fan, Wall, Hero strip, Spotlight split and Ranked styles, with a Customise popup (tilt, rows, posters, title, fonts, darken) and a live preview.
• Top lists:
  •   top lists for TV shows;
  •   customisable Top 10 tiles;
  •   an optional TOP 10 badge on the real posters everywhere in Emby (Label, Size, Position);
  •   a Run Group button on each list.
• Import collection: take over existing Emby collections, keeping their pictures (Keep current image).
• Schedules:
  •   Yearly weekday (e.g. 2nd Sunday of May for Mother's Day, last Monday of May);
  •   Easter, with days before and after;
  •   Time of day.
• Copy & Sync gives each user their own playlist rows, and it no longer copies one person's personal row to everyone.
• Quality of life:
  •   the page shows what a sync is doing right now;
  •   runs never overlap;
  •   Save warns instead of overwriting changes made in another tab;
  •   every popup has a ✕ close;
  •   unsaved edits survive leaving the page;
  •   the help has been reorganised.
• Experimental, off by default:
  •  Ranked collections: a collection that opens in list order, e.g. IMDb Top 250 ranked 1–250. It does this by adding a hidden library of small .strm copies, so read the warning before switching it on.

  Also off by default: Copy & paste sources, Import collection and Collection sort title, all under Settings → Features.
 

The big one: "Your Next Watch", a personal row for every user

A lot of people in this thread asked for recommendations per user without having to set up a source for every single person. That's what Your Next Watch does:

• One source, every user. Add one "Personal: Your Next Watch" source and tick the users (or Select all). Each user automatically gets their own private playlist and their own home row with their own picks. No AI, no API keys, nothing leaves your server.
• Based on what they actually watch:
• The taste profile: each user's last 90 days of viewing, their favourites and the titles they rated highly.
• What it picks: unwatched movies and shows that are most like that profile, scored on genres, actors, directors, studios, year and rating, plus what people with the same taste watched.
• Respects each user's access: only titles that user can open, with library access and parental ratings honoured, so kids get kids' picks.
• Fresh every sync. As someone watches more, their list changes with them. New users with no history yet start with a mix of the server's all-time most watched, different for each person.
• Works with Copy & Sync: copying your home screen layout to everyone gives each user a row pointing at their own playlist, not yours.
• Shown nicely: a show's first episode goes into the playlist, but the row shows the show's poster. Set the row's Sort By to Random for a fresh order on every load.

 

Installing

• Download HomeScreenCompanion.dll from the latest release: https://github.com/stoep-labs/HomeScreenCompanion/releases
• Replace the existing DLL in your Emby plugins folder and restart Emby.
• It's a drop-in upgrade: your existing HSC settings and top lists carry over unchanged.
• One thing that does change by itself: Hide HSC libraries is on by default, so top-list libraries disappear from My Media and Latest. You can turn it off under Settings → Features.
• Please make a backup first (Settings → Backup & Restore). Ideally test on a test server.

Feedback
Please post here: what you tested, your Emby version, and screenshots or the log (the Logs button) if something goes wrong.

@soderlund, if you'd like any of this back in the original plugin, I'm very happy to help with that. This fork isn't meant to compete with yours.

Damn, that's good job! I definitely feel like I don't have the time I want to have to keep developing the plugin, so some help is appreciated. Feels like I'm lagging behind on some things (read me for example).. 

I saw you have sent a PM but i haven't really taken the time to reply, I'll do that when i get some time in between the kids screaming and the wife nagging. I want to have time for a proper reply instead of a quickie

[soderlund 221]

On 9/30/2026 at 3:54 PM, Moondoggie28 said:

Might be a silly question that has already been answered, but I don't recall seeing it. 

I am attempting to set up a Monthly section for Halloween. I want it only to be displayed in the month of October. Would I run it as start date October 1 - October 31 or October 1 - November 1?

On 9/30/2026 at 5:57 PM, mwongjay said:

I tested this and the start date boundary is inclusive, but the end date boundary is not so you'd set it as 10/1 - 11/1. From a UX standpoint it's a bit confusing. I'd prefer if the boundaries were inclusive so 10/1 - 10/30 would achieve your goal.

Hi!

Both dates are meant to be inclusive — set Oct 1 – Oct 31. The schedule itself already treated the end date as inclusive, but the "active now" indicator on the config page converted the dates through UTC. For anyone west of UTC (e.g. the US), that made the last day show as inactive. That's fixed in the next version. If you run Emby in Docker, make sure the container's TZ is set to your local timezone so the day changes at your midnight.
 

On 9/30/2026 at 6:08 PM, mwongjay said:

Another issue I've encountered is that the active scheduled home screen sections are appended to the bottom of the home screen and you cannot change the order until it's active. I would like the scheduled home screen sections to appear in a specific order towards the top so it's easily seen during the active window.

Yeah this is a bit tricky. I dont want to build in that they automagically turns up at the top of the home screen. 

A workaround I have done it is to setup "christmas" for example. And have it active today as well. Then reorder the way you want to. 
Deactivate "today", and all the tags/movies for the list will be removed. DO NOT EDIT this section in Emby native settings now. You can still reorder, but if you open up the edit page for this specific section, Emby will notice that "this tag that was used when setting up this section is no longer found, I'll remove it from the setting as well". As long as you do not open this edit page for that specific section, Emby will not make this check, and when movies get populated with the tag so will the home section. 

Does it make sense what I'm trying to say?? 

I tested this when building the schedule part, and then it worked. Can't guarantee it still works

[howllor 53]

6 hours ago, Brazer said:

Hi All

First of all, a big thank you to @soderlundfor Home Screen Companion. It's a brilliant plugin, and the amount of work in it shows.

A bit of background: I've built a plugin along these lines before (Collectify), for collections with generated art, top lists and so on. When Emby added the new home screen features, HSC turned out to be the perfect base for everything I had built. @soderlund had already done the heavy lifting so instead of starting again I forked HSC and added my existing features on top.

I'd love some people to test it and tell me what breaks or what's confusing.

What's added (highlights)

• Your Next Watch: a personal recommendation row for every user, worked out on your own server (no AI, no internet). It's based on what each person watched, their favourites and their ratings, and it refreshes every sync. New users get a mix of the server's all-time most watched.
• Popular on this server: a Smart Playlist rule for the most-watched titles by number of viewers.
• Generated collection, tag and playlist art: Collage, Grid, Fan, Wall, Hero strip, Spotlight split and Ranked styles, with a Customise popup (tilt, rows, posters, title, fonts, darken) and a live preview.
• Top lists:
  •   top lists for TV shows;
  •   customisable Top 10 tiles;
  •   an optional TOP 10 badge on the real posters everywhere in Emby (Label, Size, Position);
  •   a Run Group button on each list.
• Import collection: take over existing Emby collections, keeping their pictures (Keep current image).
• Schedules:
  •   Yearly weekday (e.g. 2nd Sunday of May for Mother's Day, last Monday of May);
  •   Easter, with days before and after;
  •   Time of day.
• Copy & Sync gives each user their own playlist rows, and it no longer copies one person's personal row to everyone.
• Quality of life:
  •   the page shows what a sync is doing right now;
  •   runs never overlap;
  •   Save warns instead of overwriting changes made in another tab;
  •   every popup has a ✕ close;
  •   unsaved edits survive leaving the page;
  •   the help has been reorganised.
• Experimental, off by default:
  •  Ranked collections: a collection that opens in list order, e.g. IMDb Top 250 ranked 1–250. It does this by adding a hidden library of small .strm copies, so read the warning before switching it on.

  Also off by default: Copy & paste sources, Import collection and Collection sort title, all under Settings → Features.
 

The big one: "Your Next Watch", a personal row for every user

A lot of people in this thread asked for recommendations per user without having to set up a source for every single person. That's what Your Next Watch does:

• One source, every user. Add one "Personal: Your Next Watch" source and tick the users (or Select all). Each user automatically gets their own private playlist and their own home row with their own picks. No AI, no API keys, nothing leaves your server.
• Based on what they actually watch:
• The taste profile: each user's last 90 days of viewing, their favourites and the titles they rated highly.
• What it picks: unwatched movies and shows that are most like that profile, scored on genres, actors, directors, studios, year and rating, plus what people with the same taste watched.
• Respects each user's access: only titles that user can open, with library access and parental ratings honoured, so kids get kids' picks.
• Fresh every sync. As someone watches more, their list changes with them. New users with no history yet start with a mix of the server's all-time most watched, different for each person.
• Works with Copy & Sync: copying your home screen layout to everyone gives each user a row pointing at their own playlist, not yours.
• Shown nicely: a show's first episode goes into the playlist, but the row shows the show's poster. Set the row's Sort By to Random for a fresh order on every load.

 

Installing

• Download HomeScreenCompanion.dll from the latest release: https://github.com/stoep-labs/HomeScreenCompanion/releases
• Replace the existing DLL in your Emby plugins folder and restart Emby.
• It's a drop-in upgrade: your existing HSC settings and top lists carry over unchanged.
• One thing that does change by itself: Hide HSC libraries is on by default, so top-list libraries disappear from My Media and Latest. You can turn it off under Settings → Features.
• Please make a backup first (Settings → Backup & Restore). Ideally test on a test server.

Feedback
Please post here: what you tested, your Emby version, and screenshots or the log (the Logs button) if something goes wrong.

@soderlund, if you'd like any of this back in the original plugin, I'm very happy to help with that. This fork isn't meant to compete with yours.

Love the "your next watch", nice work

[mwongjay 103]

32 minutes ago, soderlund said:

Yeah this is a bit tricky. I dont want to build in that they automagically turns up at the top of the home screen. 

A workaround I have done it is to setup "christmas" for example. And have it active today as well. Then reorder the way you want to. 
Deactivate "today", and all the tags/movies for the list will be removed. DO NOT EDIT this section in Emby native settings now. You can still reorder, but if you open up the edit page for this specific section, Emby will notice that "this tag that was used when setting up this section is no longer found, I'll remove it from the setting as well". As long as you do not open this edit page for that specific section, Emby will not make this check, and when movies get populated with the tag so will the home section. 

Does it make sense what I'm trying to say?? 

I tested this when building the schedule part, and then it worked. Can't guarantee it still works

I agree you shouldn't insert at the top of the home screen because IMO that's the same predicament - the inability to specify the placement among existing sections. As for your workaround that seems convoluted and error prone lol.

I think this could be achieved by HSC managing its own home section list that the users interact with. The list should display both active and inactive sections allowing you to maintain a sort order internally (either HSC db if you use sqlite or a file on file system). When a user loads views to interact with the home section list update the list with values from Emby. During a sync to Emby fetch the internal list, filter out inactive, and update the home screen. 

[crusher11 1348]

8 hours ago, soderlund said:

You should already be able to do this by setting it up as below using the filters:

Yes, that's what I have set up. But as I said playlists use file path. So I have this in the playlist:

../../../../Emby Libraries/Movies/P/Passion of Joan of Arc, The (1928)/Passion of Joan of Arc, The (1928) - 20fps 1.33.mkv

The plugin doesn't add the tag to that NFO file, which is correct. But I also have, on my server:

../../../../Emby Libraries/Movies/P/Passion of Joan of Arc, The (1928)/Passion of Joan of Arc, The (1928) - 24fps 1.33.mkv

Because that file isn't on the playlist, that gets tagged by the plugin, which means the movie still ends up in my Spotlight even though it shouldn't.

[Brazer 47]

Thanks @howllor, glad you like Your Next Watch!

A few of the open points here are already handled in my fork (v4.2.0.40), in case anyone wants to try them while @soderlund and I work out what goes into the main plugin. Testing would also help!

• @Brendon: a deleted group's tag is now removed once on the next sync, and after that HSC leaves it alone, so you can use "Recently Upgraded" again by hand.
• @crusher11:
  • Multi-version films: if any version of a film is in the playlist, all its versions count as in it (and "not in playlist" excludes them all). Same for collection rules.
  • The delete prompt now names the group: Delete "My Group"?
• @mwongjay: a scheduled row that switches back on returns to the position it had on each user's home screen, instead of the bottom.
• @EmreWest:  there's a "Collection sort title" option (off by default, under Settings → Advanced Settings → Features). With "Show at the top of Collections" ticked you get a Sort title box, and HSC keeps whatever you type on every sync.

All of these are things I'm happy to hand over as pull requests to soderlund, so they end up in the main plugin for everyone.