Virtual Channels - How is everyone using this feature?

[egadgetboy]

@maddox Would you mind creating an option to toggle this functionality (auto skip ahead) off - except with the first show when one first "tunes in" to a virtual channel?

While I very much appreciate the 'phenomenon' described here, and love the opportunity to emulate classic, live TV and a much more casual viewing experience, I believe auto skip provides more of a negative than positive experience when viewed as a whole.

I get the idea of being penalized, so to speak, for pausing "live" TV. But once you're tuned into a virtual channel, that's the best part: Not having to deliberate and click around for individual shows to stream, but total comfort and trust that Virtual Channels will miraculously 'surprise' us with an excellent lineup of quality, commercial-free programming -- each and every time!

In summary, having to constantly toggle the next show in order to watch it all, because I had to pause a prior one, tends to spoil the overall experience.

Thanks again

[Jay1987]

I think a option to enable/disable skip forward feature would be cool.

However I like the way it behaves now in the current format. More accurately emulating live tv. I guess this one comes down to personal prefference.

@egadgetboy I agree. Virtual channels is the single most used feature on my channels too. I still wish I could give whoever came up with virtual channels a swift kick in the ass. I have wasted so many hours of my life watching re-runs of tv shows that I would NEVER of watched if it wasnt on a virtual channel LOL.

[egadgetboy]

I'd also like to see volume normalization or limiting built into Channels. Because most all of the content comes from different sources, it's not uncommon to have to manually adjust the TV volume up or down every time the show changes while watching a Virtual Channel.

[Joyous]

Is there a way to choose a specific episode to put in a virtual channel? I am trying to create a Halloween channel and would like content across a variety of TV Shows but don't want all the shows just the Halloween specific ones.

[tmm1]

Click Add Content and search for the episode name?

Or you can add a label to those episodes like halloween and then use a smart rule to include any content with the label.

[Joyous]

Wow I completely missed that. I clicked on the show and it was toggling it on and off. Completely missed the search.

Amazing tool so far just first time using it.

[mjitkop]

I see "from Peacock".
You used PlayOn to download?

[Timotheus]

I am absolutely LOVING this feature. TBH this is the only reason I signed up for Pro after having been a Channels app user for nearly four years now.

I have nearly 11 channels setup since this afternoon - rediscovering shows I had recorded years ago, and never revisited. The kids have been watching the Star Wars channel, and the wife and I can’t get enough of the late nineties, early noughties comedy channel.

Many have tried to implement this feature, but you guys got it right! It was so simple to set this up! Love it…

[TexasYeti]

I use this feature more than any other and why I was cool with paying $8/month.

Its basically a way to sort and playback recordings without thinking.

I have a movie channel, a paranormal (bigfoot, ufo, etc tv shows) channel, one with kids stuff, and special seasonal channels like a Halloween channel that includes all the random Halloween stuff like pumpkin carving, baking, etc.

If there is one thing I would like to see, is more virtual channel settings including telling the virtual channel to create "programming blocks". Example: I have old batman cartoons in the kids channel. those episodes are only 15 mins. It would be nice to say "for show X, only include in 2hr programming blocks" (ie: 8 episodes in a row) instead of a bunch of frequent jumps between shows.

An auto virtual channel would also be cool as an option. Example, you select Halloween, and Channels auto seeks out Halloween and horror content to record for the channel and auto populates it / hides the channel on Nov 1, at which point a Christmas channel pops up.

[MiniCooperMann]

I really like those Channel logos! Did you make them?

[TexasYeti]

Yep. Just made them real fast in GIMP. (gimp.org)

here is a link to the logos Imgur: The magic of the Internet

[maddox]

Awesome, you should open a new topic just for channel logos.

[kthomas1059]

What does the “mini marathon” sort option do? I’ve played around with it but haven’t noticed any appreciable changes in line up.

[maddox]

Plays multiple episodes of the same show in a row rather than round robin.

[dayknito]

I'm hoping someone can explain some things that I'm not understanding about Virtual Channels. I'm not at all trying to question anyone's use of them -- just trying to understand how they could be helpful for my use case. I've tried a number of times, but I seem to have trouble wrapping my head around how Virtual Channels would be useful for my use case.

Would someone be willing to explain, say, two things that a Virtual Channel would allow that a Collection would not, ** in the following use case**...? I'm genuinely interested in learning about this, not trolling!

My use case is that I want to have a category of movies and/or TV shows (eg "Halloween" or "Star Wars") for which I curate the content and then, if I want to watch that category, I pick what I want to watch from within that category. For this, I've set up Collections.

I really liked seeing the Virtual Channels you set up, @TexasYeti !! And I was struck by how similar some of my Collections seem to be to some of those Virtual Channels.

To illustrate, here's a screenshot of several of my Collections, which include a Halloween one and a Star Wars one (not visible), analogous to two of the Virtual Channels created by @TexasYeti The content in each Collection comes from a Smart Rule I've created that pulls content based on my tagging (tagged content that I have on disk and/or is a TV/movie streamlink that I created).

And when I go to a CDVR client, I get a view of my collections that looks like this, which I really like (this is on a phone, but it's similar on any client):

Here are some things that I DO understand are NOT possible with such Collections, but which would be possible with the same category created as a Virtual Channel:

• Having all my categories unified into the Guide.

• Being able to just pick a (virtual) channel from the Guide and have it start playing something within that category (i.e., I don't have to spend time choosing).

For my usage patterns, those two advantages of Virtual Channels are not important, as I don't spend much time in the Guide at all, and I pretty much always want to pick what is played. In fact I just experimented with creating a Halloween Virtual Channel, and wasn't able to figure out how the smart rule filters would enable me to get Halloween content that wasn't already tagged by me and that is in my Halloween Collection. (The various filters didn't seem to allow this, or at least I couldn't figure it out). I could have added content manually, but again that (in my limited understanding!) would have been no diffferent from a Collection.

But are there other key features that of, say, a Halloween Virtual Channel that a Halloween Collection would not provide?

Again, absolutely not trying to troll or question anyone's usage including @TexasYeti 's, which looked awesome to me -- just trying to understand -- TIA to anyone willing to help me understand!

[maddox]

Check out the page on our site to understand the pitch of Virtual Channels.

Channels — Virtual Channels

Live tv channels and collections of content you play on demand are very much different things.

The point of virtual channels is to create serendipitous airings from things you already like and to help remove the paradox of choice. It’s also for casual watching where you don’t want to commit to something.

If you want to throw your Halloween content into a live channel, just add your Halloween collection to a channel, and that’s it. It will create a cycle of airings in your guide with that content.

Maybe you’re sitting down to eat a sandwich and just want to watch something for 15 mins. Turn on your virtual channel. It can be much more satisfying than a real live channel that ends up being commercials during your whole lunch. Actually choosing something to watch from your library isn’t something you’ll do because you know you’re only going to be there for 15 mins and can’t commit to watching something.

[dayknito]

@maddox -- thank you for this (and for taking the time to reply)

I think what you explained is actually consistent with my understanding. (And I actually have read that Virtual Channels page several times when I've been trying to wrap my head around this).

I think the crux of it may be the following:

@maddox

The point of virtual channels is to create serendipitous airings from things you already like and to help remove the paradox of choice. It’s also for casual watching where you don’t want to commit to something.

@maddox

Maybe you’re sitting down to eat a sandwich and just want to watch something for 15 mins.

I think I had understood all that. It seems that these are simply not part of my uses cases -- so probably that's why I've been unable to see a benefit for my usage

Thanks to your suggestion, I did just create a Halloween virtual channel that includes just my Halloween collection. And I still did not find it beneficial for how I watch content (!)

I guess my usage is just atypical, or at least not at all in tune with Virtual Channels...

Many thanks again for replying and explaining.

[TexasYeti]

yep. sounds like different strokes for different folks.

im basically the inverse. I use zero collections. I dont see the point as if I am pulling up something manually, ill just pull up the thing im looking for.

This as opposed to virtual channels where its passive background noise.

I kind of like not starting at the beginning, and tuning in mid-airing, as well. Its less of a time commitment.

it drops "putting something on" from 30+ mins browsing / trying to decide what to watch to a few seconds.

I actually dropped netflix and other streaming apps for the same reason. I found myself spending more time browsing than i did watching.

I also hardly ever browse my actual collection. Its entirely guide. Pluto TV + Philo + Virtual Channels. If I could auto download youtube videos and podcasts easily and integrate them into the guide I would. haha

[dayknito]

@TexasYeti -- thanks, this is all very useful for my understanding! Right, I guess I just don't watch that way.

@TexasYeti

I actually dropped netflix and other streaming apps for the same reason. I found myself spending more time browsing than i did watching.

Right, I had/have totally the same experience when going to a streaming app. My Collections are my way of getting out of that -- I've made my Collections my "Control Center", integrating across all streaming apps I subscribe to. No more searching through "My Stuff" in five different streaming apps...! I have a set of things I know I like to watch, and they are all in one place.

Of course, what that setup doesn't give me is "drop-in" casual 5-minute viewing. But it seems like that's not part of my usage at all..

[Absenm]

I like to think of virtual channels bringing back the ye olde days of channel flipping, instead of today's ever increasing on-demand viewing experience. Virtual channels for me have brought back the coolness of "Hey, I haven't seen this in a long time." or "Oh awesome, I really like this one." or "I don't remember this?" It is the joy of discovery, or rediscovery. A curated randomness.