Suggestion: A world first - Who's watched what?

[peter_h]

I'm wondering if it's a good time to suggest this, before things get too locked down with NVR (if it hasn't already) and released for plugin developers.

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 (AFAIK) solve these problems?

What's the chances of NPVR being the first? :eek:

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 who is currently "logged in", or watching. 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!

Inspired yet?

[sub]

I hate to sound like a 'negative nancy' but this type of feature doesnt really interest me. Some other user asked about this type of feature in the past and I put some though into it at that time. While it sometimes would be useful to know who had watch certain recordings (to help you decide whether to delete), I dont think its practical to collect this info. People dont want to login, or have to actively mark recordings as watched by them - very few people would end up using this feature.

[peter_h]

Oh, and I know it's easy to suggest these things for someone else to do, but I'm also a big fan of putting my money where my mouth is. So - and I do mean to bribe you, Sub - I for one, pledge to donate $100 if this feature makes it in.
I know that's worth...what, an hour or so of his time?...but with enough small pledges maybe it might be worth it for Sub.
So anyone else care to put a value on it, no matter how small?

(Regardless, it would be good to see if there's any enthusiasm for the idea, at least.)

[peter_h]

People dont want to login, or have to actively mark recordings as watched by them.

They wouldn't have to. It would be automatic, based on the currently logged in user. Logging in could be as easy as:

• Doing nothing. By default you're already logged in.
  
• Hitting your assigned red/blue/yellow/green button on the remote.
  

While it sometimes would be useful to know who had watch certain recordings (to help you decide whether to delete), I dont think its practical to collect this info.

I'm not so sure. It's enough for me to pay for a program that does it; vs getting a free one without it. And even with a capable free one, without the feature, I don't use it. Instead, I use an inferior alternative that does at least offer some means, no matter how clumsy, of tracking it.

[Azimuth]

I would rather see a status monitor that specifies whether NMT's are watching something or not.
numerous times I have restarted services and interrupted playback on someones TV.

[whurlston]

They wouldn't have to. It would be automatic, based on the currently logged in user.

One problem is that most HTPCs have a specific account set up that automatically logs in. Most don't have a different login for different users.

[johnsonx42]

I agree with sub that so few people would actually use something like this it wouldn't be worth the substantial effort. Believe me, if something like this would actually get used then TiVo would have done it already, and they haven't.

[peter_h]

I would rather see a status monitor that specifies whether NMT's are watching something or not.
numerous times I have restarted services and interrupted playback on someones TV.

Hmm. May have caused some confusion by calling it a "login". I wasn't meaning a "system" login, just a PVR-only login, to tell it who's watching.

[peter_h]

Believe me, if something like this would actually get used then [someone] would have done it already, and they haven't.

- Simon Cowell, during his guest appearance on Dragon's Den.

[Jaggy]

Interesting I always knew I was one of the minority for a lot of things but something like the suggested or at least something that would let a user mark a recording as watched/keep by a user so the others knew what status it was at has always been right up there at the top of my "want" list, currently I have given up trying to watch movies as I never know if I am to watch & delete or if the Boss is still watching it & I will muck up where she is up to or what, so I just don't watch any & let her watch & delete instead. If I hadn't purchased the NMT's I think I would now be using Myth which has a feature like this built in along with groups for recordings.