Why doesn't media library view look more like web version? Current media library view on android TV looks messy

[Daikamar]

I really want to switch from Plex to Jellyfin, but the Android TV version of Jellyfin just doesn't look/feel right. The web version is nice and I think what most people expect coming over from something like Plex, but for some reason the Android TV version went with a "minimalist" view or something that is just hard to use.
My main gripes are:

• Can't see TV/Movie titles until you select them at which point they are displayed at the top. I really just want titles under the posters so I can browse a page worth of shows without highlighting each. I have several shows in the library that auto-selected posters that don't have the show title on them and this little addition would go really far.
• Adding titles would also help with how cluttered the posters feel. They are too close to one another and while there is an option to increase/decrease poster size, there isn't any option for poster spacing.
• In addition to the general poster spacing, the background being replaced with a blown-up version of the poster for the currently selected show further exacerbates the issue as it blends the gaps between show posters and can cause what accounts to "blending" of posters that neighbor each other. An option to disable that feature would help, but ultimately, given how "filled" the screen is already, I don't see any value in replacing the background with the poster as it is already all but totally obscured.

Generally curious if I'm alone in these issues or not, but would love to hear feedback as well as any plans to address these CX concerns. I am an engineer and willing to contribute, but I presume CX changes along these lines would require approval of some sort (haven't gotten around to reading the contribution wikis yet).

[nielsvanvelzen]

The browsing UI in the app right now is not great (although it did improve somewhat overtime). The points you make are all fair. And you're not the only one that wants it improved (I've been harassed because that's how you get volunteers to fix your problems apparently 🤷). I have an experimental branch to completely rewrite browsing that is in extremely early stages. But my main focus is on other parts of the app right now and the UI library we want to use (Jetpack Compose) is still not working properly on TV (focus issues).

[Daikamar]

Thanks for this follow-up. Nice to hear that this is something that's being looked into. Curious about your experimental branch and the focus issues you're seeing (anecdotally a build of your branch seems to work without problems in an emulator for me).

[nielsvanvelzen]

There is currently one focus issue that is a deal breaker, and that is the interoperability between "legacy" Android views and Compose views. When you switch focus from an Android view to compose it doesn't update. Since the experimental browser branch is fully compose you'll only notice it when you initially open the browser, it won't have an item focused by default because that is just not possible right now.

A different branch that I made over a year ago is the compose-nowplayingview branch. This rewrites the "now playing" button you see in the old browser when playing music. The focus issue is extremely obvious in this one.

Google is still working on TV support for Compose so issues like this one are to be expected. We're slowly adopting compose for non-interactive elements and when the focus issues are fixed we will migrate more and more.

[nylimited]

Just wanted to add a coupe of things as food for thought ... the AndroidTV app is difficult to navigate, indeed. Not impossible, but difficult.

As an example, navigating sideways - TV shows as an example - is odd compared to other systems (JF web or Plex) and users are confused by it.

Placing buttons at the bottom of the display (i.e. TV Guide or genre or whatnot) is cumbersome and most renditions show these choices on top or near the top of the screen.

Incidentally, the loading of the TV Guide fails if one has too many channels. Yes, I know this is not a proper bug report, sorry. Just mentioning it in case someone happens to be playing with that part of the code.

Sadly I am not a programmer to give a hand here but I do appreciate everyone's time and effort. Would love to be more involved but I lack knowledge and skill set. :(