[TV] Suggestion: Who's watched what? (1 Viewer)

peter_H

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May 28, 2008
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Here's the scenario...
There are a number of us in the household, and we don't all watch the same thing at the same time. So how to keep track of who's watched what, and when is it OK to delete something? Or say you're on your own and want to watch a show that your partner has already watched, so that when you're together there's more shows to choose from that neither of you has seen before. How do you know what she has seen already? And say a few of you sit down to choose a movie that none of you has seen, how do you filter out those that anyone has?
The larger the collection, the bigger an issue this becomes.

The problem with all PVR software is that currently, none of them (For Windows anyway, AFAIK) solve these problems.

What's the chances of MediaPortal being the first?

And since this kind of information is applicable to every media item, and all plugin developers should have access to that info, it would be best if it was built into the core of the program. I don't think it's something you could add via a plugin, unless you only wanted it to only apply to say a "Videos" module.

The way I'd imagine it would work would be something like this:

On all screens...

* Pressing a certain key brings up a menu of possible watchers. Navigate and hit OK to toggle anyone on/off as a "current watcher". There are also buttons giving you the ability to add/edit/delete possible watchers. Hit Back to remove this login screen.
* Somewhere discrete (bottom or top) is a row of icons/coloured boxes/dingbats that indicate which viewers are "logged in" as viewers (not the same a the current system login!). By default all icons are in their highlight state, which means that the view is filtered to show shows not seen, or half-seen, by that person(s).
* You can navigate to that row of icons and toggle the filter state for each person - thru watched>half-watched>not watched.
* The login/filter/logoff mechanics of a person could be simplified by assigning a custom button for each person. Say the red/yellow/blue/green buttons on an MCE remote were assigned to each of 4 people, press the button cycles thru the logon/filter watched/filter half-watched/logoff states. (With icons in corresponding colors even?)
* In any screen, whatever the filter might be, whenever the text of media titles appear, the title is preceded by a row of icons representing the people whom have watched this show. The icon could be half-height if not all the show has been watched by that person.
* Whenever a show is watched, the database is updated according to who's watching.
* Some other key toggles the whole WhosWatchedWhat system on/off.


Simple, eh?

And it's soooo useful. So useful in fact that because it's not there, I don't use a PVR for playing media - only watching TV. It would be great if I could abandon my basic "putting initials in the comments field of media files" in Xplorer to track who's watched what!

Unfortunately, I'm in no position to help implement any of this. :( But I thought I'd throw the idea out there, in case anyone wants to pick it up.
 

Tine

Portal Pro
October 9, 2008
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Hy,

i suggested same future somewhere in mp2 forum. I also think that this should be core of program. But as i remember it was answered that it will be possible via plugin.
I also had idea with colored buttons on remote. But that should be plugin part i think. So you can simply add different techniques for user recognition in future (face recognition, rfid, phone wi-fi, ...)


Regards, Tine
 

doskabouter

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  • Team MediaPortal
  • September 27, 2009
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    I recall reading some article about recognizing the person according to his/hers handling of the remote (movement, button pressure, button press duration)...
     

    peter_H

    Portal Member
    May 28, 2008
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    I recall reading some article about recognizing the person according to his/hers handling of the remote (movement, button pressure, button press duration)...

    Now that doesn't sound simple :mad:
    I guess you're probably not seriously suggesting it might be useful here... but in case you were... it wouldn't apply if more than one person was watching.
    :)
     

    GeoffC

    Portal Member
    June 8, 2008
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    What about simply adding 5 or 6 checkboxes to each recorded item and then as each person has finished watching they tick their box.
    This could be enhanced in the configuration by adding a name for each column of boxes, and even setting when a certain number have been ticked it could auto delete
     

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