Disable autoplay on photos

[beckfield 173]

Please add option to not automatically start a slideshow when I open a photo.

 

There are few things more annoying to me than when I want to study a photo, and after a few seconds the viewer automatically goes to the next photo.

 

If I click on the thumbnail (not a 'Play' button), I intuitively expect the photo to be displayed, and to stay there.  If I click on a 'Play' button, then I would expect an auto-changing slideshow.

 

[tadr 1]

Please add an option to either disable slideshow or a separate button to start the slideshow.

 

We use Emby to store and display recipes (previously used WMC) on a TV in our kitchen. An automatic slideshow makes this unusable. Moreover, there are lots of instances where somebody may want to look at only a single photo. Starting a slideshow every time without the option to disable is not intuitive behavior.

 

Thanks!

[ebr 16169]

Hi.  What app are we talking about here?  The TV apps should allow you to bring up a single photo by just selecting it.

[tadr 1]

Hi.  What app are we talking about here?  The TV apps should allow you to bring up a single photo by just selecting it.

Thanks and sorry for the inadvertent double post.  This is with Emby Theater (3.0.6 (I can't use 3.0.10 due to the overlay issue)).  I just tested the Android TV app and the behavior there is different -- it displays the selected photo and stays on that photo (unless you hit the play button, in which case it starts a slideshow).  It would be great to fix Emby Theater so it performed the same as the Android app. 

 

I also noticed that there's no option for displaying the photo title in the Android TV app under the photo instead of the date.  In Emby Theater, you can select the "..." and then toggle "Show Fields" between Title and Year.  It would be great if we had the same option in Android TV (so we can choose to show the photo title instead of the date of the photo).

 

So I suppose this is actually two separate feature requests - one change to Emby Theater to make it consistent with Android TV and one change to Android TV to make it consistent with Emby Theater.  The best of both worlds.

 

Thanks for the continued improvements and responsiveness.  As a recent WMC convert I'm really excited about this platform - much more flexible than WMC ever was.

[ebr 16169]

We'll look into the title option on Android TV.  We preferred the date there because photo titles are almost always meaningless (e.g.DCM_22134.jpg).  But, if you curate all your titles then I guess we should let you see them.

 

Thanks.

[levander 97]

We'll look into the title option on Android TV.  We preferred the date there because photo titles are almost always meaningless (e.g.DCM_22134.jpg).  But, if you curate all your titles then I guess we should let you see them.

 

Thanks.

 

Nevertheless, during shuffle/slideshow there should be options to:

- see info (any including title) 

- delete, make favorite

This should include any media: photos, music, movies. 

[Luke 42077]

We'll revamp the slideshow in future updates. Thanks for the feedback.

[rbknox 6]

Did this ever get fixed?  Just happened to be viewing photos in ET windows - seems one still is in slide show mode whether you want to be or not.

[Luke 42077]

On 9/4/2023 at 2:40 AM, rbknox said:

Did this ever get fixed?  Just happened to be viewing photos in ET windows - seems one still is in slide show mode whether you want to be or not.

@rbknoxonly in TV display mode, right? In other modes it does not autoplay. We can certainly add an option to control this, but I think the current behavior is more common for TV apps, right?

[rbknox 6]

Hi, 

Are you suggesting that because I use TV display mode (because I use Emby on a TV / as a TV), that I would by default prefer to have photos autoplay?   No, that is not the case.   My family accesses photos and home videos to view them - to do so from the family room TV.   They don't want all the photos played  - they want to browse the photos.   So yes an option here would be useful.  

Thanks.

[Luke 42077]

On 11/25/2023 at 12:57 PM, rbknox said:

Hi, 

Are you suggesting that because I use TV display mode (because I use Emby on a TV / as a TV), that I would by default prefer to have photos autoplay?   No, that is not the case.   My family accesses photos and home videos to view them - to do so from the family room TV.   They don't want all the photos played  - they want to browse the photos.   So yes an option here would be useful.  

Thanks.

Hi, no, I'm certainly not trying to predict what you want. I'm just saying that until we have an option to control it, we have to choose what we think is the best default behavior for the largest number of people possible.

[rbknox 6]

Well, I would vote for an easy way to access / browse one's photos collection.   Autoplay has its place, but I would see that as in conjunction with a screen saver.  Or, a simple autoplay on/off that you can choose as an alternative.   I don't see how entering a library and having an automated behavior by default would be anyone's preferred default.

[IamGimli 0]

Personally, I think autoplay on photos should only be the default behaviour when selecting a playlist or collection. When selecting individual photos, I think leaving the image on screen until the user interacts with the UI should be default. I think that would be the most intuitive behaviour.

[Luke 42077]

4 minutes ago, IamGimli said:

Personally, I think autoplay on photos should only be the default behaviour when selecting a playlist or collection. When selecting individual photos, I think leaving the image on screen until the user interacts with the UI should be default. I think that would be the most intuitive behaviour.

Hi, that's what we do nowadays in the latest versions.

[IamGimli 0]

Has it been that way for very long? As of a couple months ago I was definitely caught with individual photos triggering autoplay across folders.

[Luke 42077]

On 9/2/2025 at 10:26 PM, IamGimli said:

Has it been that way for very long? As of a couple months ago I was definitely caught with individual photos triggering autoplay across folders.

Yes, although to be honest I don't recall if this change made it into the web viewer of the 4.8.11 release. Regardless, 4.9 is imminent and doesn't do that.