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[glynor]

A few, relatively minor, bugs with JRemote for iOS 3.1.0 when using it for video playback:

* Video Views don't obey the Settings > Theme and Display > Default View Mode setting. They always revert to Thumbnails at the file-level.  This is frustrating because I never want the Thumbnails view (I prefer Image List for all views except photos views).

I'd prefer them to remember the last-used mode on a per-View basis, like Theater View, but at the very least, it should obey this option.

* The forward/reverse buttons in the bottom toolbar are incorrect for their behavior during video playback. When playing back with on-the-fly video conversion, the reverse button has the correct icon (the "rewind circle") but the forward button displayed is a next track icon.  When playing pre-converted video, both buttons are wrong (both are next/prev track style buttons).

To be clear, the buttons function as I'd like, but this is non-obvious because they don't have the right graphics.

* JRemote on iPhone gets "stuck" in landscape mode (and distorted) when you stop landscape video playback.  I've found navigating back to the Settings page unsticks it.  Otherwise you usually have to quit and re-launch the app.

[glynor]

Here's a screenshot of the distortion I mean.  The iPad version does the same distortion, but doesn't seem to get stuck in landscape mode like the iPhone version does.





This last one is more difficult to reproduce (the above are every-single-time on every-single-device oriented):

* My iPad version sometimes refuses to play videos it played only moments earlier.  If I start and then stop playback of video that needs on-the-fly conversion a few times on my iPad, then it will sometimes then refuse to play that video again, or any other video within the same View.  I've tried restarting both MC on the server and the app, and it doesn't seem to help once it gets "stuck".  But, I can go to some other video (a different series of shows, for example) and play those fine.

Not sure what causes it.  But once it happens, it just opens for a second and then closes the player window.  If I watch the server, the CPU doesn't spike when I play the video it initially happened with (so the conversion task doesn't start).  If I play other videos in the same view (which open/close the same way) then it does start conversion, and my CPU usage pegs on the server, but I don't get playback.

Like I said, though, if I navigate elsewhere, I can play those files (also on-the-fly converted) just fine.

Not sure what triggers it, though I've seen it a handful of times while messing around and being indecisive about what to watch.

[csimon]

A few, relatively minor, bugs with JRemote for iOS 3.1.0 when using it for video playback:

* Video Views don't obey the Settings > Theme and Display > Default View Mode setting. They always revert to Thumbnails at the file-level.  This is frustrating because I never want the Thumbnails view (I prefer Image List for all views except photos views).

I'd prefer them to remember the last-used mode on a per-View basis, like Theater View, but at the very least, it should obey this option.

Is this one not fixed yet?  I've been reporting this since 2012!  (where the views don't obey the default setting and also don't remember the last setting used per view) - but you told me it wasn't a bug but a feature request (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=89493.msg614664#msg614664)

[glynor]

but you told me it wasn't a bug but a feature request (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=89493.msg614664#msg614664)

Remembering the last-used mode of the view is clearly a feature request, not a bug.

I think, actually, neither is really a "bug".  I'm reasonably sure that it intentionally ignores the setting for Image and Video views on purpose, because someone writing the code prefers Thumbnails-style views for videos (which I dislike for most things, especially on my iPhone, because the captions are useless and information density is too low).  It does honor the option for Audio views.

So, the only "bug" there is that it should be labeled that it is for Audio views only.

But that stinks.  I think there are two reasonable options to fix this:

1. Make separate options for Audio, Video, and Image views.
2. Remember the last-used mode on a per-view basis like Theater View does.

Option 1 is less desirable because:
* What about mixed views that contain both Audio and Video, or something like that?
* I do occasionally have a single, specific view or two where I'd prefer Thumbnails style views (my "New Movies" view, for example).  While I want all other Video views to be in the Image List view style.

[Hendrik]

Just to offer some technical clarification - I investigated Option 2 for JRemote for Android, and its pretty hard to do, since views in MCWS do not have a unique and persistent identifier which you can use to associate different view modes back to the individual views, so I wouldn't hold my breath for that option to appear anytime soon.

[csimon]

Each view has a unique path in the menu browse structure, e.g. Root/Video/Movies/Decades. The name at each node is passed via MCWS - it must be, otherwise the remote couldn't display the name.  Is there any reason why it would be so difficult to construct a unique identifier at the client?

[Hendrik]

Using names is rather volatile, and views don't necessarily know the path you used to get there (because MCWS doesn't tell you that, either).
I didn't say its impossible, just that its hard, since MCWS does not offer a unique id for every view. Of course you could invent your own id somehow, and hope that it stays somewhat unique and persistent. I just know that there are other things to do for JRemote on Android before I would venture down such a rabbit hole, but I cannot speak for the iOS version, since I do not even own a single iOS device.

[glynor]

since views in MCWS do not have a unique and persistent identifier which you can use to associate different view modes back to the individual views

Too bad. This is different from MC acting in Client mode because then it parses and stores the entire Library via MCWS, correct?

In that case, and assuming it is too architecturally difficult to add it, then I think Option 1 would be the best bet.

It makes sense to want Photos to display thumbnail style, certainly.  And I can see how some people might want videos to be thumbnail style, but for me, it is utterly useless.  I can't see my episode titles or anything! So, either the current option should apply to all file types (which is cruddy, but better than the current situation, IMHO), or we should have choices for each media type.

[csimon]

I think it's difficult within media type too as there are various use cases. I agree that, probably, general videos thumbnails are not useful, e.g. music videos or home videos, where the best that can be done is the default frame-grab from a point somewhere in the video.  However, for movies, to be able to browse by a decent-quality DVD cover or movie poster is a big plus, you don't really need a caption.  A simple textual file listing for movies is such a wasted opportunity. TV Series fall halfway between the two - you could probably want nice cover art for the series but for episodes it might be better with just text.  It might be more useful to treat those as an album, i.e. large cover art at the top for the series with the individual episodes underneath.

I think my original problem was that images and movies could only be displayed as text, regardless of the default setting.  Whether that's a bug or not, i.e. whether it was designed-in on purpose, I don't know but it does seem an illogical design decision if it was intended. Things may have changed in the current version of JRemote, I don't know.

Is that the same as you're reporting?  I'm confused now as to the difference between "Thumbnails" and "Image List". Which one displays a file listing with a small version of the artwork to the left and text to the right of it (as opposed to a file listing with text only) - a hybrid list if you like - and which one displays large icons in a grid?  I think I would very rarely, if at all, want the hybrid view.  For audio, once it gets down to file listing level, I'd want a large-ish album cover at the top with a track listing below, which is given to me by the first view option ("text").  For images and movies, I'd want large icons in a grid once it gets to file-level, the third option.  For TV Series, I'd want the view as for Audio, with the entire series artwork at the top and individual episodes listed below.

I think the hybrid view would only be useful for mixed playlists or a Playing Now view, where each track could come from a different album.

[glynor]

I think I would very rarely, if at all, want the hybrid view.

Everyone is different. For all of my videos, including movies, I always want the hybrid view.

Thumbnails style views are only useful, to me, if I have a limited set of videos (which is why I like it for my "New Movies" view, which is limited to things imported in the last 6 months).

I have ~2200 Movies in my main collection. Browsing those in Thumbnails, even divided up by letter, is still information overload.