Play Random Episode

I've used MediaPortal for a long time and a couple of months ago I switched over to XBMC because the UI is simply a lot smoother than MediaPortal.

A feature that I liked much in MediaPortal's tv series plugin was the "play random episode" option. Especially with large sitcoms such as friends, seinfeld or southpark etc. this option is quite nice. Eating diner on the couch and just press a button to play a random episode of that specific show.

Would it be a good idea to put this feature under the context menu of a show? Press C, scroll to "play random episode", press ok and voila...

Shouldn't be too hard to make and would be a nice addition imho.

+1 for this

It's something so simple it's hard to believe it hasn't been done yet.
I'm not moaning btw, XBMC is fantastic in my book.

I know it can be done by setting up a smart list and randomizing it but it just seems so cumbersome. Like Ronner said, an option in the context menu perhaps and depending on what's currently selected it could play a random episode from an entire show or just from one particular season.

And not complicate the Idea any more, But this would be nice for the movies side of it too, and maybe a combination of the two. Meaning randomly keeping a EP or a Movie. (kinda like surfing the channels on a normal TV.)

Hey guys. I found this thread while searching for a way to do just this and then I figured it out.
If you right click/press C on a show directory and press Play, it'll add all the show's episodes to the "Now Playing" list.
Then go back to the menu while the first episode is playing, press C again for context menu and select "Now playing ...". This will bring up your playlist. Pressing left will show the playlist options which includes a shuffle button.

It's a bit of a mess and I don't know if there's a simpler way to do it right now, but the important thing is that the shuffle option remains enabled, so next time you want to do it you just right click a directory, press play and it starts playing all the included files in random order.

EDIT: The wiki page on playlists should be useful too. http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Playlists

achilleas.k Wrote:Hey guys. I found this thread while searching for a way to do just this and then I figured it out.
If you right click/press C on a show directory and press Play, it'll add all the show's episodes to the "Now Playing" list.
Then go back to the menu while the first episode is playing, press C again for context menu and select "Now playing ...". This will bring up your playlist. Pressing left will show the playlist options which includes a shuffle button.

It's a bit of a mess and I don't know if there's a simpler way to do it right now, but the important thing is that the shuffle option remains enabled, so next time you want to do it you just right click a directory, press play and it starts playing all the included files in random order.

EDIT: The wiki page on playlists should be useful too. http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Playlists

Thx for posting this workaround to sort of the same functionality, but it's too complex. There should simply be an option in the "C" menu saying "Play random episode".

make yourself a smart playlist. we can't bog down the menu with every little feature somebody comes up with. personally i'd find this utterly useless.

Ronner Wrote:Thx for posting this workaround to sort of the same functionality, but it's too complex. There should simply be an option in the "C" menu saying "Play random episode".

Well it's not really that complex because, like I said, after doing it the first time, you're set. You just right click any directory (TV series root, sing season), press Play and it just shuffles em all up.

spiff Wrote:make yourself a smart playlist. we can't bog down the menu with every little feature somebody comes up with. personally i'd find this utterly useless.

personally I find most of your comments utterly useless plus that most of them have this demeaning and arrogant tone.

just because you personally find something useless doesn't mean you have to speak with such an unrespectful tone towards others.

I just find it strange that functionality like this is so quickly dumped upon just because someone on the dev team thinks it's useless. There are more people that find it useful than there are people that think it's useless. People that come from other MC applications where that functionality was available all see the use for it and given the fact that it wouldn't be that hard to implement or even take that long to implement I don't see a reason not to.

As for not wanting to bog down the menu, I can totally understand that, but you could also think of the option to provide a "play random" function and be able to tweak that into the menu through a config file or something like that. that way people that find it useless will still have it the way it is now by default and the people that find it useful could add it to their menu.

all in the eye of the beholder, no demeaning was intended. i used myself as an example, if you prefer, insert 'random joe' there. the functionality is there for those who want it.

i really don't see why it's so hard to create a smart playlist, and hit play on that instead of duping functionality and cluttering menus.

spiff Wrote:all in the eye of the beholder, no demeaning was intended. i used myself as an example, if you prefer, insert 'random joe' there. the functionality is there for those who want it.

i really don't see why it's so hard to create a smart playlist, and hit play on that instead of duping functionality and cluttering menus.

my apologies then for jumping the gun on your intent. must be the fact that it's friday and my mood suffers badly from being at the office

I've read the wiki on smart playlists but from that I can't really see it in front of me how it would work but I'll search the forums a bit more and see what I can find.