Random Episodes of a TV Show
#1
I've been experimenting with the 'Random' widget function found in some of the various skins. It's nice, but it selects randomly from ALL TV Shows.

I was wondering if there is a function that you can use to randomly select an episode of a single, selected TV Show (and potentially just from a single season).

e.g. - Select a TV Show, The Simpsons. Play a random "Simpsons" episode, or play a random episode from the currently viewed season.

Obviously this functionality would work best for TV Shows that have little/no continuous storyline from one episode to the next.
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#2
I'd be interested in how to select from different shows. Like this:

Andromeda S02E02
ST:TNG S01E03
Andromeda S03E04
ST:Voyager S03E21

I don't care about the order of the season/episode...just not playing the same TV Show twice in a row.

Is this even possible?
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#3
Create a smart playlist that loads all the episodes you want, then set the playback of that playlist to random.

JR
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#4
jhsrennie Wrote:Create a smart playlist that loads all the episodes you want, then set the playback of that playlist to random.

JR

This isn't quite the same use case as I originally posted about. I don't want a specific playlist of episodes; I want to be able to browse to a specific TV show or a specific season of that TV Show, and have XBMC just play a random episode.

Based on your response, I would have to create a smart playlist ofr every TV Show,, which just isn't a workable solution for my use case, but my work for the poster above.
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#5
deh2k7 Wrote:Based on your response, I would have to create a smart playlist of every TV Show

I believe that is in fact how you have to do it although I have never been able to get it to work right. Anytime I've tried, it just starts with episode 1 and yes, the playlist is set to random.

I see more ppl ask for this feature then I can even count... God knows that every day since switching back to XBMC from MePo I hear the wife, "Where is my play random episode button?!" (Though frequently its much more colorful phrasing). I really wish this feature would be implemented in core. Press play on a season, it plays a random episode from that season. Press play on a show, it plays a random episode of that show from any season, watched or not. (If you care about that, make a playlist.)

A smart playlist for what the other guy wants to do makes sense to me, but for this, no so much.

EDIT: I just found this which may help. I'll try it out tomorrow. It doesn't change how I feel on this matter though... http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=119634
The XBMC team, plug-in devs, skinners, etc. do this for us for FREE in their spare time because they want to. Think about that for a second before you start bitching...
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#6
Maybe this is a skin specific thing (I use Aeon MQ3) but you can already do this.

I simply browse to a TV show or a season and bring up the context menu ("C" I think on your keyboard, I use a remote) and go to Play. That continuously plays random episodes till I tell it to stop, or it runs out of episodes.
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#7
Thanks for the lead. In Aeon Nox, I was able to start an episode playing, press 'Backspace', then 'C' to open the context menu, choose 'Now Playing', press left twice to get to options for the now playing list and choose 'Random". Now it works exactly the way I suggested it should above. (WAF+10. Woot!)

I tried looking for this in Confluence for those using the default skin and couldn't find it. That being said, it still worked in Confluence so it must be a setting in an XML somewhere...I'll post when I find it.
The XBMC team, plug-in devs, skinners, etc. do this for us for FREE in their spare time because they want to. Think about that for a second before you start bitching...
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#8
Well, this thread finally pointed me in the right direction to at least do what I needed to do (play a random episode). But queuing up the series, then backing out then going into now playing and randomizing...this is too many steps for the average other user of my HTPC to be bothered with.

This seems like it really would be a nice addition to the context menu...anybody with enough storage space that they're keeping whole seasons/series around would probably use it fairly often. It's not like I'm keeping the entirety of Seinfeld on my hard drive because I plan to marathon it or slowly work my way through the series again...it's because every now and then I want to watch some Seinfeld.

Similar to how Apple, IIRC, places a "shuffle" button at basically every level in the iPod, because they know that at any given time it's likely the user really just wants "something out of this group, but I don't want to choose, then I want it randomized."

This isn't to knock on XBMC, mind you. This is ignored pretty much everywhere (I came across this because I was talking about Netflix not having such a feature in Instant Watch, and wanted to figure out how to make it happen in XBMC).
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#9
You might play with it a bit more...I only had to do what I stated above the one time on one series and it works on all of my series every time now. Play on the series plays a random from that series. Play on a season plays a random episode from that season.
The XBMC team, plug-in devs, skinners, etc. do this for us for FREE in their spare time because they want to. Think about that for a second before you start bitching...
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#10
TechLife Wrote:Thanks for the lead. In Aeon Nox, I was able to start an episode playing, press 'Backspace', then 'C' to open the context menu, choose 'Now Playing', press left twice to get to options for the now playing list and choose 'Random". Now it works exactly the way I suggested it should above. (WAF+10. Woot!)

I tried looking for this in Confluence for those using the default skin and couldn't find it. That being said, it still worked in Confluence so it must be a setting in an XML somewhere...I'll post when I find it.

Took me forever to figure this out, thanks!

For those that don't get it based on the keyboard keys, go back to the TV show menu while your TV show is playing in the background. Navigate to the TV show, then press the button on either your keyboard or remote that normally lets you edit the entry you are selected over(it was the 'guide' button on my harmony) (you can be on any TV show for this to work ), go down to now playing to get to the Now Playing playlist (is there any other way to get here?) and then go left twice.

I know, it sounds just like repeating, but it took me a minute to figure this out based on just his keyboard presses.

I was using Aeon Nox as well, if it is unique to the skin.

Thanks!
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#11
Yeah selecting them and choosing "Random" isn't a solution. Kinda like ordering on Audio Codec isn't as valuable as one might think.

I don't know how we go to this level of development without having this conversation.

What people want to watch are episodes _not_ of the same series back to back and shows not recently watched.

This requires nested queries, I fear.

--------------------
We need this:
--------------------
(Series A OR series B) AND LastPlayed NotInTheLast 30 days

----------------------
We have this:
----------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<smartplaylist type="episodes">
<name>Action-TV</name>
<match>all</match>
<rule field="lastplayed" operator="notinthelast">10 days</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Andromeda</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Are You Afraid of the Dark?</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Cashmere Mafia</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Clash of Wings</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Cougar Town</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Does God Exist</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Dogfights</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Due South</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Early Edition</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Four Years of Thunder</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Green Acres</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">History Channel Lectures</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">How I Met Your Mother</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Lexx</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Mad Men</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Modern Marvels</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">My Boys</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">My Name Is Earl</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Patton 360</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Petticoat Junction</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Private Practice</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Star Trek: The Next Generation</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Star Trek: Voyager</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The Big Bang Theory</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The IT Crowd</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The Middle</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The Nanny</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The Western Tradition</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">True Blood</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Two and a Half Men</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Vietnam</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Why We Fight</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The First World War</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">WWII in HD</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The Vampire Diaries</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">2 Broke Girls</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Hart of Dixie</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">How It&apos;s Made</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">New Girl</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Pan Am</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Desperate Housewives</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Great Planes</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Grey&apos;s Anatomy</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Band of Brothers</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The Pacific</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Tank Overhaul</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The Nanny</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Wings of the Luftwaffe</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Battlestar Galactica</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">A Gifted Man</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Suits</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Unforgettable</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Unhappily Ever After</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Titus</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Firefly</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Gilmore Girls</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The Walking Dead</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Cake Boss</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Hoarders</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Pawn Stars</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The Secret Life of the American Teenager</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Discovery Wings</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The L.A. Complex</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot"></rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Arctic Air</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Combat!</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">White Collar</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Raising Hope</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Roseanne</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Suburgatory</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Pretty Little Liars</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Whitney</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Supernatural</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Happy Endings</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Modern Family</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The Oblongs</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Wizards of Waverly Place</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Keeping Up with the Kardashians</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">iCarly</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Justified</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Archer (2009)</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">GCB</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">Fairly Legal</rule>
<rule field="tvshow" operator="isnot">The Lying Game</rule>
<limit>50</limit>
<order direction="ascending">random</order>
</smartplaylist>

- Every new show added pops up in this list, requiring an edit
- It points to shows that aren't there after they're gone
- It's very hard to read - can you tell this is a selection of "Action" shows?
- It's darned inconvenient to use!

(And no: Genre isn't an answer either: Shows like Angel are in almost EVERY genre!)


Please tell me I'm just doing something wrong....
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