Channels Collections Issues / Bugs?

Channels DVR Server
#1

I have been out-of-the-loop and thus not aware of the Channels Collections beta that got rolled out officially today but after playing with this for an hour on the server web page and on my Nvidia Shield, this enhancement is either one of the most unintuitive implementations I've ever come across or it is super buggy on the Android client or possibly both.

I've been messing with settings and cannot figure out rhyme or reason as to why things show up or disappear and I can't seem to get consistent behavior either.

At first in the On Now screen all I had was the normal categories. I finally figured out how to get one of my custom collections to show but then all but "All" and "Favorites" and my custom one would show. I guess that's by design, but why would I want to create a collection and then lose many of the custom categories already on that screen is beyond me. There should be an option on which ones to keep, rather than me having to create them manually.

After further changes, all of the sudden the on now completely disappeared and I could not get it back until I restarted the app, but now I have zero categories in the on now and no matter what I do they will not come back.

#2

It does seem like removing the Movies, News, Sports, etc. categories is by design when you add a channels collection. That doesn't make sense to me and I can't figure out how to add those type of general categories back in order to have both. I really like the channels collection idea and was able to create one to try without any problems, but I don't want to lose the general categories either. Hopefully there's a way to have both...

#3

So I found in General \ Live TV I could turn on collections for "On Now" and "Guide" which somehow defaulted to off on their own. And it lets your turn on the "All" and "Favorites" collections but none of the other old ones are listed. Way odd why you wouldn't have them all there so we could at least keep what was there if we so wanted.

Wow, this is NOT intuitive. Some settings on the server, some settings on the client.

Yeesh.

#4

Presently, you can't. The "Collections" feature is new, and still changing/improving. Allowing static and dynamic collections both is on the roadmap, but not presently implemented.

#5

Channels Collections replace the filters. It’s that simple.

All and Favorites are special and not filters. We wouldn’t expect you to make a collection of all your channels, so All is retained. Favorites are local to each device, so it is retained as well. You have the option to hide them and only use your collections.

As for the others, there are so many tabs that can fit so the choice was made to do either or.

To be honest, throughout the 5 years of working on Channels, we’ve heard nothing but complaints about the filters. People either didn’t understand why they were dynamic, or were upset that the filters weren’t based on metadata of the actual channels (which doesn’t exist).

So with Collections we figured this was the chance to make your own set of channels. This is honestly the first time we’ve heard anything actually positive about the filters. Our biggest request was the ability to hide them (which is now possible as well).

We’ll be investigating ways to add queries to the collections to emulate the old filters to hopefully provide the best of both worlds while giving you all the most amount of freedom possible.

1 Like
#6

To be honest I don't really use most of the other filters except the HD Channels one which was removed when I added my own collection in.

This is problematic for me because there are some lower numbered SD channels that I liked to have access to, but not have them visible most of the time. The HD Channels filter was perfect for this, was my default on now / guide view and now it's gone. To get around this, I removed these SD channels for now... and 15 minutes later my wife is asking me where they went because apparently she watches one or two of them.

To make an HD Channels collection would be an ordeal especially with the interface the way it is.

That one should be a default that doesn't go away. Especially since it remains an option for the quick guide even when it disappears from the "On Now" / "Guide" options.

#7

Good point. We’ll look at adding it like All.

1 Like
#8

I agree that it's nice to be able to hide the filters you don't use. We use the Movies filter all the time and my son discovered app by using the Kids filter and loves it. I do really like the channels collections though. Sounds like it must be a challenge to allow the filters that make the categories work and the channels collections exist in the same space. Thanks to the developers for constantly adding new features and enhancements to the app and for listening to user feedback. I really enjoy using Channels!

#9

Actually, that's the only collection I've made! All of my channels in the order I want them. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

What might be interesting and alleviate some issues would be "collections of collections". In my "Ordered Channels" Collection, I've already placed them in groupings that make sense in our household (Core Locals, News, Sports, Misc Binge, Animals, Home, Food, etc...). If I could have just made those subgroups first and then collected them together, it would have certainly been easier and then I'd have all those other Collections without having to manage them in two places.

For instance, TVE added "Heartland" the other day, so I had to add that to the bottom of the Collection and then drag it up to the "Music" section, which encompassed several drags. If I could have just added it to my "Music" Collection, and my "Music" Collection had a spot in my "Ordered Channels" Collection it would have been simpler, quicker, and more beneficial.

Consider this more an enhancement request, definitely not a requirement/bug.

1 Like
#10

There's the power of it!

#11

Glad to hear this. I think it’s the perfect solution. “Dynamic collections” if you will. :grin:

#12

I'd like to believe the complaints about the filters follow the rule that people don't necessarily praise the things they like, but do complain if they don't like something.

I personally use the HD filter almost exclusively and also like the use of the Sports filter (like others like the Movies). I'm a sports guy and I like that it is dynamic so I can get a peek at what might be on if there isn't a specific event I'm planning to watch.

I like the collections feature, but not at the cost of filters. I know you have heard this already since collections was launched, but I'm hearing from the Devs that they have only heard bad things about the dynamic filters and I'd like it to be known that it appears there were many of us who enjoyed using them even if we had not made that known previously.

1 Like
#13

When creating a collection Smart Rule I've discovered that:

This works
channel!=[6090,6091]

But this does not
channel=[6090,6091]

1 Like
#14

Confirmed bug, thanks. Will be fixed in next build.

2 Likes
DVR: Improved Library Search (v2021.08.01.1442)
#15

Server: 2021.11.18.0206
Thank you for looking at this.

However the above still fails for me
but now channel=[xxxx] does not work either when it did yesterday.

==

Correction:
All the above examples WORK now but.. only for movie side not TV side of collections.