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Release LazyTV - an unwatched TV Show playlist generator
Thanks guys,

I am still working on the update and hope to have something that someone can test .strms on soon. I currently can only get back to the project for an hour at a time Sad

The problem I had was that .strms didnt play nicely when the addon added them to a normal XBMC playlist (which is how the random list works). Hopefully that wont exist in the new one, but as I dont know the cause of the problem I cant be certain.

As for profiles, I haven't looked at doing anything with those yet. I think the best workaround is to have a different smart playlist for each person. FYI, the new version wont have a way to filter the shows by genre or rating, and will require the use of smart playlists for that purpose. Seemed easier to implement and smart playlists can do a lot more than my filtering could ever do.

On the idea of adding movies, its good, but I would need to give it lots more thought on how to implement it. Suggestions welcomed Smile

As for the length of the list, the new version will have an increased limit to 50. In the meantime you can make the change yourself by finding where the addon is installed, going to the resources folder and editing the Settings.xml .

Just find where it says this:
Code:
<setting id="length" label="32010" type="slider" visible="!eq(-5,0)" subsetting="true" default="5" range="1,1,20" option="int" />

and change range="1,1,20" to range="1,1,whateveryouwant"
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I've wanted something EXACTLY like this ever since I started using XBMC. I can't believe this came out in Aug and I only found out now. While sometimes I just want to watch something specific, other times I just feel 'I just wanna watch SOMETHING but I'm not invested in what it'll be.' this addon is perfect for the 'I just want some stuff to watch, without investing thought into what gets played'. It's really improved my XBMC experience. Thanks. Smile
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Thanks for the reply. Tried the addon a little more last night. Pretty sweet. Easier then creating my own playlist,and more functional.

Thank you also for the info and coming update regarding the # of items. Having more items on the list allows you to flip past a show that you may not want to watch at the time. I'll make the changes to mine shortly.

I have another suggestion; the option to set some shows to play random episodes. I know the function of this addon is to play last watched episodes, but some for shows the play order doesn't really matter (like when watching regular TV, you don't get to pick what episode, you just watch what comes on). I have some shows, like Ridiculousness and Jackass, where I don't care what episode plays, I watch what comes up. If I've seen it before, I just flip to something else. That would be cool in this addon.

As far as the movie thing, I only suggested it hoping you might know something. I've been trying to figure it out and cann't. The closest I've come is copying the movies and faking a TV show out of them, but disk space becomes a problem. Another I read about involves using a Github acc. and linking it to movies in the library, but that is beyond me at this time. Thanks for giving it a go. I'll keep thinking and reading.
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Just had a thought about the movie thing. Movies and TV shows can be played together in a regular (not smart) playlist. What if you could find a way to automatically create a regular playlist with both shows and movies. The user could then have the option to delete (to save space) or save the playlist when finished.

Have to admit, I don't really know if such a thing is possible. I know the two types of playlists are different file types, and you can not add a regular playlist to a smartplaylist, but I thought that maybe someone with more experience than me might. My programming experience is old (FORTRAN was the last I studied), but XBMC kida' makes me want to learn something new.

Thanks again.
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Figured out how to add movies into the TV database. Have to admit, the idea was not all mine, the basis came from another thread discussing adding .strms or something. My way involves using .strm files and the corresponding .nfo files that identify them as a tv show. They do not show up in the library (yet, just trial version now) but they can be added to a smartplaylist. I can post the method if you want, either here or in a new thread (others may want to know). Have to go. Wife's home.
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A minor issue. The addon seems to consider the 'Specials' season to come chronologically before Season 1. While this works for some series, it's counterproductive for others Would it be possible to see an option to have the Specials season treated as the last or even ask it to exclude the Specials season if the user preferred?
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Good catch, will do.
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OK, if people can have a test of the Beta branch I would appreciate it.

If you can test with .strms in your library I can start troubleshooting those issues (if there are any).

https://github.com/KODeKarnage/script.la...e/beta.zip

CHANGES

Random Playlist:
- expanded playlist to 50 shows
- each new TV show will post notification of show title
- include unwatched movies
- include watched movies
- when playing a watched movie you can have LazyTV jump to a random time (usually close to the start though), this simulates changing the channel and coming across a movie in progress
- Movie weight: this decides how many movies vs tv shows in your list. LazyTV creates a pool of shows and movies from which it selects a random item, one at a time. The Movie weight decides how many movies go into that list. The actual mix may vary.
- option to ignore TV shows, making LazyTV a random movie player

List Option:
- option to limit the shows shown in the window to help speed things up on slow systems

General:
- LazyTV will sense when you are watching a TV show, it then checks if the next episode is available, and when the show finishes LazyTV will ask if you want to watch the next episode. The window will auto-close after a few seconds (you can set that duration in settings). It doesnt do this if you are using a random playlist, but DOES apply outside of LazyTV, so affects normal TV show watching.
- ability to switch logs on/off
- LazyTV will now monitor your player. When a TV show is playing, LazyTV will set up the next episode and load it when the currently watched show is 90% over. This helps responsiveness of the addon on the Raspberry Pi, so the list is updated much sooner.
- When used with Gotham, LazyTV will be able to accommodate manual updating of watched status (making something watched, but not unwatched)
- the complete list will update when the Library is updated.
- Specials are now ignored.

Functions I am still thinking about adding:
- having a playlist of shows for which to load a random unwatched episode, rather than the next one
- an option to roll in watched TV shows (repeats)
- add a refresh button to the List View
- I dont know how Profiles work, but arent they supposed to have different settings for each user? I couldnt see anything to do with them in the addon in this forum. Maybe someone can explain exactly what they are looking to do?

Note: updates on the Pi can take a while, so be patient. My library of 100 TV shows takes around 30 seconds. This will happen on start-up and on Library updates. But single show updates occur as you are watching them. It takes my List Option about 3 seconds to open.

After installing, you need to restart XBMC for the service to work. I am working to fix this.
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(2014-02-16, 05:58)Karnagious Wrote: - Specials are now ignored.

For some series, the TVB makes a special's chronology within a normal season as well. An example would be here, on TVDB for the anime 'Air'.

http://thetvdb.com/?tab=season&seriesid=...6038&lid=7

Image

Both in TVDB and in XBMC, when looking at Season 1, it will show the order of episodes to go as follows 1x08, S01, S02, 1x09 and so on. Is it a feasible request to see LazyTV ignore the 'Specials' season, but not the specials themselves if their library puts them also within the chronology of an existing season?
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Interesting.

The addon looks for the episode number as an integer, rather than any 'season order' data point. It ignores episodes if their season number is '0'. I wonder what data point it is using to determine that order? Airdate?

I will mock up that series to have a look at the database entries.*

Now i think about it, I also need to make sure the addon accommodates split episodes and multi episodes.

*EDIT: actually there is no point in doing that. To stay in the official repo the addon cannot query the database directly and has to get all its data via the JSON RPC API. There is no 'display season' and 'display episode' available through that. Sooo... no can do on the specials I would say at this stage.
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Oh, other than that, how is the addon Beta running? Any errors?
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Did you know that if you tag in github you get a nice download link for the zip itself Smile

I'm testing your beta branch tonight.
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I installed the beta on my laptop and get the error "LazyTV Service not running. Please enable service a.." don't know the end, it's cut off. Am I doing something wrong? Tried rolling back to the last version I had and get the same message.

Will try the beta on our other system.
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I simply went to installed addons, located services, found lazytv and disabled and reenabled it and it was working.

I agree this is quite bumpy
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@ Kib: Thanks, that did it.

Tried the beta a little and it works so far. Thanks for adding movies and increasing the number of shows. I like the ideas of randomizing some episodes and adding reruns. Makes it more like real TV.

One thing I cann't seem to find is how to choose what shows are included. When I ran the last version it prompted me which shows to include and which to skip. When I run the beta it just starts pulling from the entire library. I feel stupid today and think I may be doing something wrong again.

Keep up the great work.
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