Feature: Resume Watching Functionality

Channels DVR Server
#1

I am sure that this feature has been suggested but I just couldn’t find it within the forum. When you are watching an episode of a show and need to stop watching halfway through it. It would be nice, if there was some sort of “resume” feature (or tab) and could pick up where I left off for that particular show. Right now, I have to scan through all the seasons and episodes to find the show I wanted to resume. Sometimes, I forget the episode title especially when there are eight seasons to sort through. YouTubeTV currently has this feature on the users’ profile home page and it is called “Resume Watching”. Perhaps it could be added to the menu under Recordings->Shows and embedded within the Up Next, Unwatched, All, Kids, news links and add one called "Resume Watching"

And maybe this functionality exists already and just can’t find it.

Otherwise, just loving Channels DVR!!

1 Like
#2

What device are you watching on? For me on the Shield or on my android tablet episodes I am mid show up on the "Next Up" row. The episode will have a green line at the bottom showing how far I have progressed into the episode. When I click on it it just restarts where I last left off.

#3

As Jason says, this is exactly what “Up Next” does. It shows the most recently watched shows at the front, and takes you right to where you left off.

#4

I am using the Shield TV, and when I watch an episode of Dateline and as an example let's say S05E06 and then stop it. So I could walk away from the show for 30 minutes and when I come back I navigate to "Next Up" and Dateline is listed but not the episode I was watching

#5

Are you stopping near the end of the episode? Maybe it’s getting marked as watched? You can find that episode and see.

#6

No, it was in the middle of the episode. This is what I noticed. I was watching an episode of Two and Half Men and it took a while for the correct episode where I left off to show up on the Up Next list. There is a news program that I watch in the morning and I didn't finish watch today's. I came back to it 4 hours later and the "Up Next" episode was showing May 15th's still. So not sure how long it takes to update.

#7

Can you click Help > Submit Diagnostics and we'll try to figure out what's going on with your Up Next.

#8

What exactly is the criteria for an episode of anything to be marked as "Watched?" What if the threshold for "watched" falls in the middle of a comskip break? Do these same rules also apply to imported media?

#9

98% is considered watched.

If it is a recording then we look at padding, and ignore end padding when calculating 98%.

If the recording has detected commercials, and the end of the recording is one long commercial block, and you stop watching inside that last commercial, it is also marked as watched.

#10

Maybe you could tweak that "considered watched" algorithm just a touch?

Problem we have is on local "news" shows. The end of the program will be one long commercial, followed by a very short "thanks for watching, we'll see you again at ..." thing. So we stop watching when that last commercial break hits. Thus "Up Next" leaves it at up next. So unless we manually delete the episode, Up Next leads to annoyance. To the point we rarely use it any more.

I'm thinking something like 95% of non-commercial break content viewed?

#11

I will send the diagnostic log. And it could be me just not understanding the functionality.

#12

I've brought this up on these very forums and for some reason it cannot get through to the developers.

The "Up Next" does not work for this in many cases. There needs to be a section called "Continue Watching" that consists solely of programs you started watching but did not finish.

I was told that that most people don't watch this way though so I just SMH.

#13

This doesn't work often because your show will "roll off" by other next up entries so it's useless in this scenario.

#14

There is a blank tile at the end of the second row that you can use to see anything that scrolls off.

#15

Yea, but sometimes it can be a week before I return to a program so not that helpful when it's mixed in with all kinds of shows I haven't watched any part of the episode.

Really need a dedicated section to programs that were started but not finished.

1 Like