Live-TV default sort should be configurable

[Lepresidente 5]

Hi,

I use xteve to sort my channels, so when imported into emby using HDHomeRun its already setup.

The default for all devices seems to be "Default channel order", but i would like to use the channel number as default for all devices

The new update seems to not take channel number into consideration when sorting channels into the new channel sorter  so its out of order.

[Carlo 4561]

Hi, Emby now allows you to sort your channel the way you want for each client/user

The 2nd option shown is sorting by Channel number.  The "default" is what you see/setup as the admin in the new LiveTV/DRV setup->Channels menu option which is new.

On this screen you can deactive channel, you can reorder the DEFAULT by drag/drop (6 of my OTA locals dragged to the top above).  You can use the 3 dot menu to edit graphics or the channel itself including remapping of guide channels.

The new sort order of DEFAULT will use the order you set on this screen.

Hope that helps

[wmichael3 9]

Spotted this old thread from a search - so I have always selected "Date Played" as the channel order which keeps our most frequently used channels at the top, as well as ordering "On Now" in the home screen to match.  This works great.

However, this setting does not persist - I am constantly having to change this setting on each TV or device - an Emby server restart will definitely cause it, but it also may reset when the playback device is reset, booted, etc - but that I can't confirm.  All I know is that I'm constantly changing it from "Default Channel Order" to "Last Played" over and over again and I haven't determined exactly what causes it to reset.  Is there somewhere something I can go to fix this or is it a feature?

So my request is that this setting be made to persist - over a few months I have to constantly change this - often several times a week on multiple devices.  Using the alternative technique described above instead of "Last Played" - my question is, does this persist or not?  I guess if it does I could move to this more fixed approach to channel order, but I like the dynamic nature of Last Played and would prefer that if possible if it would just stick.

[Luke 42080]

8 hours ago, wmichael3 said:

Spotted this old thread from a search - so I have always selected "Date Played" as the channel order which keeps our most frequently used channels at the top, as well as ordering "On Now" in the home screen to match.  This works great.

However, this setting does not persist - I am constantly having to change this setting on each TV or device - an Emby server restart will definitely cause it, but it also may reset when the playback device is reset, booted, etc - but that I can't confirm.  All I know is that I'm constantly changing it from "Default Channel Order" to "Last Played" over and over again and I haven't determined exactly what causes it to reset.  Is there somewhere something I can go to fix this or is it a feature?

So my request is that this setting be made to persist - over a few months I have to constantly change this - often several times a week on multiple devices.  Using the alternative technique described above instead of "Last Played" - my question is, does this persist or not?  I guess if it does I could move to this more fixed approach to channel order, but I like the dynamic nature of Last Played and would prefer that if possible if it would just stick.

Hi, what device are you having to configure it on?

[wmichael3 9]

Google TV, browser, Android and Roku.

[ebr 16185]

Hi.  I think there may be an issue where, if you use the browser to view the guide, it may reset the value that is set by some of the other apps.  Can you see if that corresponds with your experience?

[wmichael3 9]

That does seem to be part of it.  

If I change the sort order in Google TV to "Last Played", it resets the sort order on an Android phone and in the browser back to "Default Channel Order"

If I then change it on the Android phone to Last Played (Date Played is what the UI says), that propagates to the browser, but then Google TV goes back to Default Channel Order.

So it seems the Android phone and the web browser are synced, but they reset the channel order on Google TV and vice-versa.

So when I look at the sort options between Google TV and Android/Browser, there are 5 sort options for Google TV and 7 sort options for Android/Browser.  "Last Played" is the Google TV option and "Date Played" is the label on the equivalent option in the browser and on Android.  I'm guessing that this mismatch of sort order options is the culprit.

Server is at 4.7.6.0.   Android phone is at 3.2.62.  Google TV is at 2.0.79g.

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by wmichael3
New info.

[Carlo 4561]

In response to @wmichael3 I've tried changing the sort order in a couple clients and none of the changes I made changed or defaulted the web view. I don't have a Google TV device but did try with Android TV and Fire TV.

Beyond the issue at hand:

Person opinion but I would like to see the same options in all apps and have this saved at the user level not app level. By that I mean if the sort order is change in web it applies to every app I use logged in as me. Since you get used to knowing where a channel "should be" in the list it would be helpful IMHO to be in the same position globally (for that person) regardless of app. IE if you had two favorites (CNN, Fox News) those should be favorites on all apps and if I change the view on any app to "Favorites, Then by Channel Number" I'd expect to see CCN first, Fox News listed second followed by 3,6,10,12, etc in channel order.

I wouldn't want to have to repeat the setup on Android TV, Android Mobile, Fire TV and then 4 months later when I happen to use Xbox or Samsung at my son's house.
The web view is more refined with additional options for groups/tags to hide/show as well which is great for sports. I can have sports channels in groups NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL groups but only have them showing during parts of the year they are playing in which is fantastic as I don't have to see or scroll through them on the off season.

Just doing a brief look between Android TV and Web shows different sort options in both style and choices. If you don't have the same options, you can't do a sort the same way regardless of if it's an app or user setting.

Android TV for example has these choices in a drop down:
Default Channel Order
Last Played
Channel Number
Name
Play count

Then it also has a checkbox "Place favorites at beginning."

Web only has a dropdown list but not matching counter parts. No "Favorites, Date Played"

One has "Last Played" and one has "Date Played". Android TV has an extra option as well for Play count so if chosen can't be duplicated on other apps.

 

 

[Spaceboy 2573]

i had the same issue as this over the weekend. set a guide order on my phone (iOS) and later found it had been replicated to androidtv.

however i do not want this save-able at user level as i prefer different setups per device. on phone i want last used because scrolling on the mobile guide is painful and i still don't think youve done a very good job of implementing channel groups to get around this. on tv i want by channel number

[ebr 16185]

10 hours ago, cayars said:

I would like to see the same options in all apps and have this saved at the user level not app level.

That is how it should be already.  There must be a mis-match in the Android TV app right now but, if you use the standard Android app, then this should not be an issue.

[wmichael3 9]

Yes, this is a problem with the Android TV version for Google TV, not the Android version for phones and tablets. But you can't run that version on Google TV. It is probably an issue for Fire TV as well would be my guess.

[ebr 16185]

6 minutes ago, wmichael3 said:

But you can't run that version on Google TV.

Hi. You can, it just needs to be side-loaded.

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

 

[wmichael3 9]

Tried that several months ago for a separate issue.  I could bring up the UI (although it was quite creaky - not a daily driver)  but nothing would play.

[ebr 16185]

8 minutes ago, wmichael3 said:

Tried that several months ago for a separate issue

Hi.  A lot has changed since then if you want to try again.

[wmichael3 9]

It is better than it was and it will play videos, but ironically I can't change the sort order because the UI element (...) to do that is not reachable with a directional remote control - I could not get focus to that element and I tried from every direction.  It also feels a little clunky overall compared to the native Android TV release.

I think the right answer is to update the Android TV version.

[Luke 42080]

On 9/8/2022 at 12:38 PM, wmichael3 said:

It is better than it was and it will play videos, but ironically I can't change the sort order because the UI element (...) to do that is not reachable with a directional remote control - I could not get focus to that element and I tried from every direction.  It also feels a little clunky overall compared to the native Android TV release.

I think the right answer is to update the Android TV version.

@wmichael3 on what screen exactly are you referring to?

[wmichael3 9]

In the Live TV guide, to change the sort order there is a 3 dot UI element. When I install the Android APK on Google TV as ebr suggested (instead of the Android TV version) I couldn't use the remote control to navigate to that UI element. 

[Luke 42080]

On 9/14/2022 at 5:49 PM, wmichael3 said:

In the Live TV guide, to change the sort order there is a 3 dot UI element. When I install the Android APK on Google TV as ebr suggested (instead of the Android TV version) I couldn't use the remote control to navigate to that UI element. 

OK, this is resolved in 3.2.72+. Thanks.

[Carlo 4561]

Nice, Thanks Luke.