This was resolved in the latest pre-release:
This was resolved in the latest pre-release. Library Collections and Playlists are now sorted Alphabetically in the web admin (just like on the client) and now have a SortName
field just like Movies and TV Shows, allowing you to manage their sort.
I don't think this is true on the Android clients. They appear to still be in original creation order.
They'll have to be updated to consider Sort Name
and also finally get them ordered alphabetically.
Some fixes went out this morning regarding Playlists:
The latest Test Flight beta has added the ability to (on iOS) swipe to delete playlists, swipe to remove items FROM the playlist, and the ability to drag and drop re-order items in a playlist that has its sort set to Custom.
As of the latest Test Flight beta, Playlist auto play behavior uses the system set auto play behavior.
As of the latest Test Flight beta, Playlists now have a button bar above them for Watch options and management.
The latest test flight beta fixes some playlists that weren’t playing in order when using certain sort styles
The latest Test Flight beta adds Siri Shortcut Actions for Show Playlist and Show Playlist on Other Device:
I have my playlist set to sort based on duration and it does display them in the correct order via the Channels web page, however on iOS/iPadOS they do not respect the sort order. Is there a setting I’m missing?
This definitely sounds like a bug. We’ll look into it.
I'm seeing this work as expected. Please submit diagnostics from your Channels DVR Server.
If you could describe the name of your Playlist and source of your content and any other information, it would be helpful.
Diagnostics submitted.
Regarding my Playlist: it’s named YouTube and points to a folder which is updated with new videos throughout the day. The sort is set to Duration and order set to Reverse. Visibility set to Library. Sort name and labels are blank.
And if you are staring at playlist in the iOS app, and you change the sort in your Channels DVR Server web admin, it does not change the sort?
Again, I'm seeing this work and there's no good reason that only sorting by duration wouldnt' be working, based on how the feature works.
Ok, after testing as you suggested I think I know what is causing this but don’t know how to fix it. If I change the sort order on the server, it is immediately reflected on my iOS device and the videos are sorted correctly by duration. The problem is that as new videos are added to Channels, the duration isn’t immediately reported for some reason and I suspect that Channels tries to sort but cant’t. However, if I wait several minutes and toggle the sort, these videos are then sorted correctly. Any thoughts?
Edit: still more testing with adding new videos and they do seem to be updating and sorting correctly in real time on the server but not my iOS device. I must toggle the sort order on the server in order to sort them correctly on iOS.
When new videos are added to your Library, there is a slight delay before they're actually added to collections and playlists, this is normal.
In normal use, you wouldn't notice this at all. I think you're a little too focused on trying to see it all happen immediately, when in actual real case usage of the system, that's not really an actual scenario.
While there are still a couple issues with collections and playlists updating, it's for other reasons, which we'll get handled and could possibly even make what you see better, but as for this report, it's working as it should. Things are in fact sorted correctly.
I still believe there is an issue with Playlist sorting not updating on iOS. I did one last test and added two new videos and gave it 20 minutes to update. I then checked the playlist on the server and they were correctly sorted, however on my iOS device, they were simply added to the bottom of the playlist. I even force closed the Channels app on iOS and the playlist remains unsorted. Same behavior on my iPad…
As of the latest TestFlight beta, Collections & Playlists can now have their options edited directly in the client. This means that Collections & Playlists are now completely manageable with just the iOS/tvOS client without the need for the web admin.
THERE WAS!
After looking at it again, Duration sorting was not even actually implemented. It was probably only working because it got sorted on the server. So as of the latest TestFlight beta that just went out, it should work more reliably for you.