Missing Sync Option

[dcook 299]

Has the Sync option been removed?

 

I used to be able to click on media via the web browser and select sync and it would then sync to my Android Tablet so I could watch offline.

 

Now I don't see any Sync option anywhere?

 

 

[JasonG 16]

Has the Sync option been removed?

 

I used to be able to click on media via the web browser and select sync and it would then sync to my Android Tablet so I could watch offline.

 

Now I don't see any Sync option anywhere?

I believe it was renamed “Share”.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dcook 299]

I don't see anything called Share

 

It used to be Sync, so for example I could tell it to sync Season 7 of the walking dead and as new episodes are added they are automatically synced to my android tablet.

 

I am pretty sure in the past I would just browse the show via the web interface and then click on the 3 dots and there would be a sync option there and then I could chose which device I wanted to sync with.

[Luke 42080]

We're just calling it Download now, as for most that will be easier to understand.

 

[dcook 299]

Download just downloads the .mkv file, how do I tell it to Sync an entire season?

 

How do I select which device I want to download to from the web interface?

 

Before the Sync option you could have Sync jobs and it would automatically sync shows or episodes that you setup, none of that is possible now?

 

Seems like this is another example of going backwards as far as features go.

[dcook 299]

@@Luke this is what I am trying to find:

 

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki/Sync-Jobs

 

 

Specifically the "Sync To" option and the Automatcally sync new content checkbox.  Can you tell me where I find these options under Download?

[Luke 42080]

They are there but only on folders, just like before. so try hitting download on a series for example.

[dcook 299]

Found it, I don't see why Sync was confusing, seems more confusing now, as I don't want to download but sync a series between my emby server and a device.

[Crestj 68]

Where did you find the Download option?

 

I have tried at the Show level and Series level but only Share and Sync.

 

 

 

[Luke 42080]

From what app?

[Crestj 68]

Web app or android app.

 

Specifically the option to set a series to download to another device.

 

The Web App lets me sync to a Google Drive I've setup. The Android app lets me download to itself or Google drive.

 

Nothing about syncing to another device.

[Luke 42080]

We had to remove that. You need to do it from the device itself. When you do it from another app, we can't guarantee the download will start right away, only that it will start sometime in the future. For many that's not good enough and we've just been hammered with reports of not working and I want it now. So we had no choice but to remove it.

[Crestj 68]

Makes sense, I'd rather have it working that not working because of extra bells and whistles!

 

Thanks for the info.

[dcook 299]

@@Luke you removed download or sync to another device?  That was the most useful part of the whole feature!

 

I could browse my library on my laptop and choose what I want to sync to my phone or tablet, now your telling me I have to do that from the tiny screen on the actual device???

In what server version did this change?

 

 

 

 

We had to remove that. You need to do it from the device itself. When you do it from another app, we can't guarantee the download will start right away, only that it will start sometime in the future. For many that's not good enough and we've just been hammered with reports of not working and I want it now. So we had no choice but to remove it.

[Luke 42080]

Sorry, but like i said, we could only take so much of the "not working" "give it to me now" complaints before we had to make a change. If it doesn't happen right away people automatically think something is wrong.

[dcook 299]

So because people don't understand how it works, you just remove a feature?

 

Why not just make it display a message after saying that the job is queued and to check the status click here

 

Can you tell me what server version this was change in?  I am going to consider rolling back and no longer update, I can not handle all the loss of features and reduced functionality that every new version seems to bring.  

 

Honestly there are more problems created with each new version instead of fixing reported bugs.  Look at the up next overlay for example, causing nothing but problems and provides no benefit because the old way of the episode ending and going back to the landing page and then starting next episode 30 seconds later worked perfectly.

 

I think I said this before somewhere on here, but I think you should make a CORE version of Emby Server that is minimum and rock solid stable and all these new features such as the episode overlay should be addons or plugins that people can choose if they want or not.  You keep adding these things to the server and it just causes more and more problems.

[Luke 42080]

In this case I actually took something out to increase the "just works" factor which is exactly what you're asking for when you say stop adding things.

 

As far as changing server versions, there's an interesting thing here which is now that we've made this change, what will be the domino effect of other changes that it will lead to...If you can create downloads from other devices, then the app has to periodically check with the server to see if there are new downloads. We do this using a background process that is registered with the device. However, some users have caught onto this, and they are complaining about the network activity that occurs on every run of the background process. Here is one example but you can search and find many more:

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/49384-emby-theater-re-authenticates-every-15ish-min/

 

So now, if you can't create downloads from other devices, then we no longer need to poll the server from the app, which means that can be removed, and now those complaints go away too. So that is why it is not as simple as changing server versions.

[dcook 299]

I disagree, you removed a feature that worked because someone complained and didn't understand how it works, instead of educating them or improving the documentation for the feature.  So you took away from the people that using it, to please someone who wasn't.

 

But as to my last point, I don't think this feature should have been there to begin with, as the Emby Server itself should be clean and minimal, its only job should be to organize and stream content from library, anything else should be plugin or add-on

 

What you should do, is add sync or downloading feature as a plugin or add-on that way people who want it can install it and people who don't use it won't.

 

 

 

 

 

In this case I actually took something out to increase the "just works" factor which is exactly what you're asking for when you say stop adding things.

 

As far as changing server versions, there's an interesting thing here which is now that we've made this change, what will be the domino effect of other changes that it will lead to...If you can create downloads from other devices, then the app has to periodically check with the server to see if there are new downloads. We do this using a background process that is registered with the device. However, some users have caught onto this, and they are complaining about the network activity that occurs on every run of the background process. Here is one example but you can search and find many more:

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/49384-emby-theater-re-authenticates-every-15ish-min/

 

So now, if you can't create downloads from other devices, then we no longer need to poll the server from the app, which means that can be removed, and now those complaints go away too. So that is why it is not as simple as changing server versions.

[maegibbons 1287]

In this case I actually took something out to increase the "just works" factor which is exactly what you're asking for when you say stop adding things.

 

As far as changing server versions, there's an interesting thing here which is now that we've made this change, what will be the domino effect of other changes that it will lead to...If you can create downloads from other devices, then the app has to periodically check with the server to see if there are new downloads. We do this using a background process that is registered with the device. However, some users have caught onto this, and they are complaining about the network activity that occurs on every run of the background process. Here is one example but you can search and find many more:

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/49384-emby-theater-re-authenticates-every-15ish-min/

 

So now, if you can't create downloads from other devices, then we no longer need to poll the server from the app, which means that can be removed, and now those complaints go away too. So that is why it is not as simple as changing server versions.

 

Hmm...@@Luke.. the example you gave from my interpretation was more about excessive logging but I understand that you are pointing to the underlying cause.

 

I do feel that the "sync to device" or "download to device" is an excellent feature.  I understand that you removed it because of delay. I have already reported delays elsewhere when purely using download on the device itself so I am not confident that you can attribute the delay issue entirely to the "Download to device" feaure.

 

As a debug step/simplification I can understand the logic in removing it in the short term but would ask if you would consider bringing it back when all other sync delay issues have been ironed out.

 

If you did bring it back you could always put in a warning about possible delays when selected.

 

Krs

 

Mark

Edited July 27, 2017 by maegibbons