On to 2023, what are you missing in Channels?

There is an API endpoint to disable Comskip on a per-channel basis.

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Wonderful! Thank you.

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Make the panels in the commercial editor larger. They are too small to tell what is in them.

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Haven't been here for a while, and I'm are this is in this thread somewhere but

Visually impaired mode - Big letters or icons.
Very distinct coloring showing your location on the on now screen or guide.

I know its been suggested a lot, but you asked....

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I would live to be able to link trailers to youtube. It would be even better if this link occured automatically. Give us an option to include trailers from youtube or some other source if there is a better one in the admin for any movie it is able to make a link to. I would love for this to work the way it does in Kodi.

4 posts were merged into an existing topic: Manual Recording with no ComSkip

*Automatic subtitles.
Ability for CDVR to automatically search for subtitles and download them.
*music library
*photo library
Maddox made promise long ago when i requested this feature. He promised channels would never have this feature. 2023 HES GOING TO EAT HIS WORDS. BWAHAHA. Lol

*Multiple user profiles.
That way my wife and I could have different watch states of videos. As well as different favorites. Yes im well aware of channel collections (which are useful) but its not the same.

*virtual channel photo slideshow.
Point channels to folder. Channels creates a virtual channel/slideshow. Will automatically add photos to video/remove based on folder contents. That my virtual photo channel has smart rules.
Ex: only show photos who have same date (ddmm) as todays date. Show photos tagged with Christmas during dec 15-26. Idk. Limated by imagination.

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I LOVE Channels, but the NUMBER ONE THING that keeps me using our TiVos most is that they can RECORD THE BUFFER (upper case for emphasis - not shouting) when watching live.

I flip from channel to channel and often watch for 5 or 10 minutes or longer before deciding if I want to save as much of the program as possible. Sometimes it's simply to keep from missing something when an interruption outlasts the live buffer, but more often than not it's something I'd like to be able to watch again or share with a guest one day.

Although not as seamlessly, even Windows Media Center made this possible by writing the buffer to temporary files in the "temp" folder, and it wasn't uncommon for me to grab those (hidden) .tmp files and copy them to a using folders with a usable name.

One more thing that keeps me in TiVo world most is that all four tuners are constantly buffering whatever channel they've last been tuned to. I'm not sure if this is even possible with the way Channels uses potentially shared tuners, but it is really nice to be able to watch two (or more) games that are occuring simultaneously and pause the viewed one to check on another and switch back and forth between them.

But don't worry - I'll continue to use and love Channels even if it's not optimized for buffer viewing and recording.

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Sometimes there's too much background noise and I can't understand what people are saying.

This might be a patent violation, but on Roku, there's an option to display subtitles (if available) for X seconds when you press skip backwards button.

I doubt there are patent issues, as this is available on Apple TV; unfortunately this system-level feature is only available to apps using the system video player, which Channels cannot use.

For Channels to have this feature, it would have to be implemented from scratch.

Bummer. Thanks for the quick response.

It seems Hulu tve A-i is getting more sensitive to logins and is more frequently requiring one time verification codes on rescans. I’ve heard that you can input a code when using philo. I would like to see this added for Hulu.

It would be good if there was a way to know if an entry in the guide was starting or in progress.

Use case. Scanning through movies on the guide movies that are in progress and movies that are starting in the current time block look the same. Can't move back in time in the guide to see if one entry started before the current time block.

The info could be available by:

  1. the start time being displayed on the description or
  2. some type of indicator on the bar indicating program started before current time block

If you long-press the Select/OK button when an entry is selected it will bring up the Details modal which includes both the start time and the duration.

There is a thin progress bar—dark purple for regular content, red for in-progress recordings—at the bottom of the cells in the Guide, the tiles in the On Now section, and the tiles in the Quick Guide.

The former requires an extra button press to get to, but the latter does not.

(The above photos show another papercut I'd love to see fixed: on Apple TV when using 24-hour time, Channels will still show AM/PM in the Guide and Details modal. ... Can this be addressed for 2023, too, please?)

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Official Kodi support (with integrations for the TV guide, On Later, etc) would be on my wish list - but I understand how adding yet more platforms to keep up would be a huge ask.

I'm just done with streaming sticks and their UX and their ADS. I'm tired of explaining to people to use this app instead of the built in tv guides, why a movie is being recommended that I dont own, etc.

In 2023 I'm rolling my own Linux Distro, i'll use antbox or something similar for launching youtube and other android apps, but a native Kodi skin (I want to use GTV or something similar) that would automatically launch would be preferable to and emulated androidtv apk.

I'll post the iso if there is demand.

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Are you aware of the existing PVR add-on?

yep. its been in beta since 2021 - kind of a side project. Better than nothing, and I'm happy for anything, but its different than an official branch.

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Another crowdsource data usage: I suspect many of us record the same things (possibly even from the same source). It would be cool to enable an option to use crowdsourced comskip markers, so that I don't need to use my own CPU/resources. So we could toggle a switch, and the local DVR could use other people's comskip data on our recording. Even a little raspberry pi could then have super powers.

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A user account for my mom.

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My wish list would be;

  • A PIP, a little like how Plex does it, or some way of playing in a small box as part of the guide layout, separate and not floating like the tvOS system PIP
  • Option to remove channel numbers from guide, perhaps for larger logos
  • ‘Graceful’ in and out of channel streams via guide - for example BBC iPlayer in the UK employs a nice quick mix when returning from playing video to GUI
  • A grey colour scheme option
  • Removal of US-centric guide details for UK users
  • If I was being really picky, on tvOS, the ‘Start from beginning’ prompt would be more in line with the tvOS interface so smaller and a bit more discreet

Thanks for the lovely job on the picture quality - it’s 100% on the Apple TV the deinterlacing is second to none.

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