Topic: MO 4Media - remote control and player with Android TV & Android Auto support (Read 198358 times)

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #250 on:** October 10, 2018, 02:27:12 pm »

Good luck with that! Hopefully it works out for you and potential iOS users.

Goatshade · « **Reply #251 on:** October 10, 2018, 08:55:37 pm »

Just wanted to drop in and say that MO 4Media 1.4.0 is damned near perfect! Thank you so much for the ability to set ratings via context menu and for the lock screen prevention. Rating tracks has never been easier! n.n

Just a small suggestion for useability: In the app drawer, you added the ability to set ratings and while space constraints make it seemingly impossible for you to fit all five stars buttons without multiple "pages", I have found via testing that the buttons in question do function as expected. The only suggestion I would make is that some visual indication be made that a given button was tapped and/or that the rating was set. When I rated a song with the drawer, it did, indeed, set; however, I had no way of knowing for sure that it worked before focusing MO 4Media again because the star button didn't change colour, nor was there the usual "Rating set" message at the bottom of the screen. I think a simple solution would simply be to have the star button you tap turn blue or something when the rating is successfully set (and perhaps remain that way during subsequent plays of a given rated track to indicate permanence).

Also, is it feasible to add metadata editing? One can edit fields in JRemote. It's not as easy or snappy as using a desktop but it works. As it stands, one can show tags but not edit them—unless I'm missing something.

cncb · « **Reply #252 on:** October 11, 2018, 08:28:36 am »

Thanks. There is an indication of the current rating in the notification next to the playlist count text (e.g. "1 of 10 **---"). It currently does not update when you set the rating from the notification, but if I make it so that this updates would that be sufficient? General tag editing is not really feasible right now but I will put that on the list for future consideration.

ferday · « **Reply #253 on:** October 12, 2018, 10:24:34 pm »

sometimes my cast devices show up, but not usually and often only briefly and then they disappear again...any thoughts?

cncb · « **Reply #254 on:** October 13, 2018, 07:01:22 am »

Have you tried exiting the Zones screen and going right back in? Are they normal Chromecasts with a strong Wi-Fi signal at their locations?

rec head · « **Reply #255 on:** October 24, 2018, 10:58:52 am »

I just started playing with the app on a Shield TV.

Am I correct that there is still no way to turn off subtitles?

In the app on the Shield: When I select music I get no sound.
When casting music to the Shield I get sound.
When casting movies to the Shield I get no sound.

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #256 on:** October 24, 2018, 11:09:29 am »

I just ordered the new Mi Box S (which is an official Android TV box) so I'll be sure to test MO 4Media with it.

cncb · « **Reply #257 on:** October 24, 2018, 11:21:43 am »

Quote from: rec head on October 24, 2018, 10:58:52 am

Am I correct that there is still no way to turn off subtitles?

In the app on the Shield: When I select music I get no sound.
When casting music to the Shield I get sound.
When casting movies to the Shield I get no sound.

You can turn off subtitles by selecting the "more button" (three vertical dots) in the playback OSD, select the subtitle entry, and then "None".

MO on Android TV can only play videos at the moment. I probably will add music in the future.

When casting movies, the audio has to be supported natively by Chromecast to work. So, Dolby Digital should work but with DTS you will get no sound.

rec head · « **Reply #258 on:** October 24, 2018, 02:26:06 pm »

Is it possible to make it an option to remove Audio and Photo? I wish there was some options on what was shared by the library.

cncb · « **Reply #259 on:** October 24, 2018, 03:06:51 pm »

Quote from: rec head on October 24, 2018, 02:26:06 pm

Is it possible to make it an option to remove Audio and Photo? I wish there was some options on what was shared by the library.

Yes. You essentially create a root view named "ATV" and add whatever views under there that you want. See the first post for details.

rec head · « **Reply #260 on:** October 25, 2018, 06:10:36 am »

Thanks for the app and all the help.

rec head · « **Reply #261 on:** October 25, 2018, 10:35:42 am »

I read the first couple posts again and will from now on when I have a question. I didn't realize I could change what is presented by the server. It has been a few years since I set it up. Thanks for pointing me to that it really helps out.

Next question, when using on an Android TV is there a way to default the subtitles to Off? Ideally it would be the forced track or the one I set in MC but Off would be OK.

cncb · « **Reply #262 on:** October 25, 2018, 11:08:40 am »

Quote from: rec head on October 25, 2018, 10:35:42 am

Next question, when using on an Android TV is there a way to default the subtitles to Off? Ideally it would be the forced track or the one I set in MC but Off would be OK.

There is not a global setting but it remembers it per file so when you go to play a file again it will use the last selection. Also, for MKV files, if the subtitles track is not marked as "default", the subtitles should not be shown by default.

rec head · « **Reply #263 on:** October 25, 2018, 04:25:45 pm »

I use makemkv for all my rips and it looks like they all play with subtitles. When you say "it remembers" do you mean the app or MC? If it is in the app is it per installation?

cncb · « **Reply #264 on:** October 25, 2018, 05:06:17 pm »

The app stores your last selection per installation. There is no way to get this information from MC. You can use MKV Toolnix to remove the "default" tag on your subtitle tracks that you don't want to see by default.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #265 on:** October 25, 2018, 06:14:33 pm »

Quote from: cncb on October 25, 2018, 05:06:17 pm

The app stores your last selection per installation. There is no way to get this information from MC.

There is no way to read the [Playback Info] tag from the MC Library? It looks like the "http://192.168.0.14:52199/MCWS/v1/Library/Values?Field=Playback%20Info" MCWS command would give you that. Yep, that worked, although that dumps values for all items in the library, rather than the current item because I didn't include any selection criteria in there.

Maybe it would be easier if the tag was written to the file, which it isn't by default but can be set to in MC settings.

[Playback Info] holds all the Subtitle information MC uses, based on previous selections. Useful if you can interpret the data. I would have thought reading it, and writing it back again, would be similar to handling Ratings.

My apologies if I have just shown how useless I am as a programmer!

cncb · « **Reply #266 on:** October 25, 2018, 07:03:36 pm »

You are correct, I was not aware of that field. I can retrieve it from MC but I have no idea how to interpret it and mapping that to the Android TV player would probably be tricky. Also, given the varying playback capabilities of Android TVs, it would probably be best to keep separate settings.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #267 on:** October 25, 2018, 07:40:40 pm »

Up to you.

I don't have a lot of examples, but for simple SRT Subtitles, the field is pretty readable. For example;

(1:2)(7:Streams)(3:0,1)(9:Subtitles)(36:SRT [Breaking Bad.S03E06.Sunset.srt])

MC is using the external srt file "Breaking Bad.S03E06.Sunset.srt" for Subtitles.

I'm sure someone from JRiver could explain the numbering scheme used, and rules for of Subtitle forms.

Anyway, I just thought I would point the field out to you.

ferday · « **Reply #268 on:** November 05, 2018, 03:57:42 am »

i've been using this for a bit now, and mostly it's pretty good and very stable

one thing - it doesn't see casting devices. once in a blue moon it will see one for a brief moment but then it disappears. any thoughts on what to try?

rec head · « **Reply #269 on:** November 05, 2018, 04:56:49 am »

Mine sees them. It takes a few seconds longer than the real zones.

Maybe restarting the phone?

cncb · « **Reply #270 on:** November 05, 2018, 07:53:38 am »

Quote from: ferday on November 05, 2018, 03:57:42 am

one thing - it doesn't see casting devices. once in a blue moon it will see one for a brief moment but then it disappears. any thoughts on what to try?

Sorry, not sure why this is happening. Do you see them consistently when you try to cast from other apps on the same device?

cncb · « **Reply #271 on:** November 07, 2018, 03:34:02 pm »

v1.4.1 will be available shortly. It mainly adds support for casting photos and video conversion when casting. Video conversion means there is no longer the requirement that the video and audio be natively supported in Chromecast, but you will lose surround sound and 4K video playback when converting. Note the default setting is to convert so you will need to disable conversion in the "Casting Video" setting to cast your video untouched as before.

ferday · « **Reply #272 on:** November 09, 2018, 03:11:21 am »

Quote from: cncb on November 05, 2018, 07:53:38 am

Sorry, not sure why this is happening. Do you see them consistently when you try to cast from other apps on the same device?

thanks mate, i always forget to look at this forum

yes they are normally visible from other apps without issue. i've tried the usual restarting everything including the cast devices. it's really sporadic that they show up then don't, so it's hard to source right now

i haven't spent much time looking at it as i can screen mirror and the rest of the software is pretty much what i want so it's lower priority, but if there is any info i can provide that might help let me know

cncb · « **Reply #273 on:** November 09, 2018, 06:07:54 am »

Just a heads up for those in the US who might be interested in Android TV: Best Buy and Amazon have the Shield TV with remote for $140 which is a pretty nice deal.

rec head · « **Reply #274 on:** November 21, 2018, 10:14:22 am »

I've been having a problem with playlists always starting with the first song. Here is what happens: I load a playlist and decide to start it from the 3rd track (for example). I select that 3rd track and the song name and cover art load but the song playing is the first song in the list. If I stop it and select the song again it will play the correct song.

I'm sorry I don't take good notes but here is what I remember. It doesn't seem to happen every time. I think it is only when playing to the This Device zone. Lastly it may be happening more on poor wifi. Sorry I don't have the specifics but now that I have written it down I will be more aware.

cncb · « **Reply #275 on:** November 27, 2018, 03:41:41 pm »

Quote from: rec head on November 21, 2018, 10:14:22 am

I've been having a problem with playlists always starting with the first song. Here is what happens: I load a playlist and decide to start it from the 3rd track (for example). I select that 3rd track and the song name and cover art load but the song playing is the first song in the list. If I stop it and select the song again it will play the correct song.

Just to be clear, are you selecting the 3rd track in the playlist and selecting "Play all from here" in the menu and sometimes it plays the first song in the list?

rec head · « **Reply #276 on:** November 28, 2018, 01:19:55 pm »

Yes. I noticed the same behavior at home with a strong wifi but it only played the first track for about a second and went to the correct track.

If it helps I think the playlists I was accessing were Smart playlists.

andrewt · « **Reply #277 on:** January 09, 2019, 11:48:49 pm »

Great app! I just got the trial and I'm excited to use it in my new car on Android Auto; I used JRemote with my old car.

It works fine on my phone by itself, and it works playing through USB in the car while being controlled on the phone. When I try to use it on Android Auto, either on the Android Auto phone app or on the car screen, my library doesn't show up and it just says "select something to play from the menu." Nothing happens when I select Audio, Playlists, Servers, etc. from the menu. The menu does say the name of my server under Servers so I assume it's connected.

Any ideas? This is my first experience with Android Auto so I hope it's not just something obvious that I missed... I'd love to buy the subscription if I can figure this out. Thanks!

cncb · « **Reply #278 on:** January 10, 2019, 05:56:04 am »

It should show you more menu when you select Audio. That is, it should show Albums, Artists, etc., and then eventually you drill down to the playback menu. What happens when you select Audio? Does the menu just disappear?

cncb · « **Reply #279 on:** January 10, 2019, 08:40:05 am »

Sorry, I see the same behavior now when starting with an empty Playing Now list in Android Auto. It appears they have changed the way the menus are displayed. I will fix this ASAP. In the meantime, if you get something playing via the Assistant voice commands then all the menus will display properly.

andrewt · « **Reply #280 on:** January 10, 2019, 12:49:52 pm »

Thanks. I used the voice assistant and it seems to be working now.

One thing I wish could be changed is that it only displays the first few items in a list (such as Artist, Genre, etc.) and then puts "search using voice while driving" at the bottom. It won't even let me get through all of my Genres. I have a large collection, about half of which is classical and difficult to use voice recognition with. Is that an Android Auto thing or is it written in the app?

cncb · « **Reply #281 on:** January 10, 2019, 12:57:31 pm »

Yes, any browsing limitations like that are built into Android Auto. They don't want you to be too distracted while driving.

JimH · « **Reply #282 on:** January 10, 2019, 01:06:50 pm »

I don't think searching by voice is any less distracting. It can often be annoyingly error prone. It would be a lot easier to just hit a button.

andrewt · « **Reply #283 on:** January 10, 2019, 01:18:46 pm »

Wow... that's extremely awful. So I'm basically forced to search by voice unless I stop the car. Many times, I don't know exactly what I want to listen to so I like to browse and choose something that catches my eye. And I also have many different recordings of the same classical pieces and it's impossible to remember the exact title of the album, much less trying to get Google to understand names of foreign composers, conductors, and pieces. Obviously designed for the "Hey google, play me some hot jams" crowd

Maybe I'll wind up just controlling it from my phone like I'm used to with JRemote.

In other news, I've noticed MO 4Media is better than JRemote at staying connected to my server, which is nice.

rec head · « **Reply #284 on:** January 11, 2019, 07:36:49 am »

Quote from: rec head on November 21, 2018, 10:14:22 am

I've been having a problem with playlists always starting with the first song. Here is what happens: I load a playlist and decide to start it from the 3rd track (for example). I select that 3rd track and the song name and cover art load but the song playing is the first song in the list. If I stop it and select the song again it will play the correct song.

Update: I still get this behavior. It may only be happening with Smartlists. I'll keep trying different things. I don't find it to be a huge issue but I noticed it again yesterday.

cncb · « **Reply #285 on:** January 11, 2019, 08:14:35 am »

Quote from: rec head on January 11, 2019, 07:36:49 am

Update: I still get this behavior. It may only be happening with Smartlists. I'll keep trying different things. I don't find it to be a huge issue but I noticed it again yesterday.

I was able to reproduce this consistently when playing videos to the device. There will be a fix in the next release which hopefully should take care of the music issue too.

rec head · « **Reply #286 on:** January 11, 2019, 12:50:44 pm »

Good news.

Thanks again for the app. It has been my go-to remote since I installed it.

cncb · « **Reply #287 on:** January 12, 2019, 07:13:37 am »

v1.4.2 is now available (see 2nd post for changes).

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #288 on:** January 12, 2019, 08:25:11 am »

I'm not sure if MCWS has support for this (or if the app itself would have to support it), but would it be possible to get a repeat button that supports repeat off, repeat playing now and repeat current item (like MC has)? I find that's really the only thing I miss these days when using the app. Otherwise it's nearly perfect.

cncb · « **Reply #289 on:** January 12, 2019, 08:46:42 am »

Quote from: Awesome Donkey on January 12, 2019, 08:25:11 am

I'm not sure if MCWS has support for this (or if the app itself would have to support it), but would it be possible to get a repeat button that supports repeat off, repeat playing now and repeat current item (like MC has)?

This already exists for MC zones in the "more" menu accessed with the 3-dot button in Playing Now. This would have to be implemented in the app when playing to the device.

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #290 on:** January 12, 2019, 08:59:08 am »

Quote from: cncb on January 12, 2019, 08:46:42 am

This would have to be implemented in the app when playing to the device.

Yep, that's what I meant.

cncb · « **Reply #291 on:** January 12, 2019, 09:02:26 am »

Quote from: Awesome Donkey on January 12, 2019, 08:59:08 am

Yep, that's what I meant.

I will put it on the list.

MikeO · « **Reply #292 on:** January 12, 2019, 09:12:49 am »

Not a nag ...

Any timeline on the iOS port ?

cncb · « **Reply #293 on:** January 12, 2019, 09:18:49 am »

Quote from: MikeO on January 12, 2019, 09:12:49 am

Any timeline on the iOS port ?

Just waiting for them to review and accept it (which is harder than it sounds).

MikeO · « **Reply #294 on:** January 12, 2019, 09:53:59 am »

Sounds great I am sure Apple will provide a suitably hard time !!

cncb · « **Reply #295 on:** January 14, 2019, 10:44:13 am »

Sorry, I had to do a quick release of 1.4.3 to fix an Android Auto issue.

cabu8803 · « **Reply #296 on:** January 15, 2019, 06:23:42 pm »

Any way to delete entry by entry in the play now list?

cncb · « **Reply #297 on:** January 15, 2019, 06:42:47 pm »

Quote from: cabu8803 on January 15, 2019, 06:23:42 pm

Any way to delete entry by entry in the play now list?

No, but I will put it on the list to consider for a future release. Thanks.

rec head · « **Reply #298 on:** January 20, 2019, 03:36:24 pm »

1) The "play from here" option has been working as expected. Thanks.

2) I am having a problem when connected to a Chromecast Audio. Using MO4Media every time a track changes the volume of the CCA goes to 25%. I need to change it back in the Google Home app. Google Play Music doesn't do this, the volume stays the same. Hopefully I'm just dense and missing something.

Thanks

cncb · « **Reply #299 on:** January 22, 2019, 07:48:33 am »

2) Sounds like you have volume leveling for playback turned on. Not sure if the CCA has a "fixed volume" output option but this will prevent this from happening. Otherwise, I could consider having a separate CC volume leveling option if you want to have it with the device but not CC.

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Author Topic: MO 4Media - remote control and player with Android TV & Android Auto support (Read 198358 times)