My own private channel over Sage - how?

[theagc]

Hey guys,

I have a challenge for one of you.. .I would have picked this challenge myself, but my knowledge with coding is soooo limited.

Anyhow, this is what I really wanted to do with my Sage: My own private channel.
How?
The idea is quite simple.
It is like a shuffle for movies, or maybe ‘random playlist’ is a better way to describe it.

Lets assume my kid (it is all for him) have like 4 tv shows he likes.
I already have all the different episodes recorded for him and filed in different 4 folders.
Each folder is named as the name of the show and includes all relevant episodes within it.

Now, what I really wanted to have is like a playlist that will do the follow:
The first item he will play, will always be the same (like a movie peace I will add with my kid picture and labeled as my kid private channel).
Then the playlist will go into a predefined folder and pick on file randomly to play it.
When over, the playlist will go into a second predefined folder and pick a file (again randomly) to play.
And so on, and so on.
The idea is that I could tell the playlist exactly which folder to go into (thus say, defined exactly what show will be played), but the episode it self, will be randomly.

I can think on many other extra features for that, but I guess this will be enough.

Again, I would have done this myself, but I really don’t know how 
I assume it require some kind of a Sage add on or STVI.

I could really use someone to help with this as I think it will be a cool tool for all of us Sage users.

Thanks in advance.

The AGC

[nielm]

Already possible in the V6 beta with no extra coding using video playlists and random playback...

• Add all the recordings/movies to a playlist: eg 'kids shows'
  (to do this for a sage recording, enable advanced options in the popup, and then 'Add to playlist'. Enabling advanced options will also allow you to add groups of programs/movies to a playlist
  
• Go into video library; playlist view
• Select Random/repeat playback (select the bottom button until it is a wiggly line with a loop)
  
• Highlight your 'kids movies' playlist and hit RIGHT
  (or Select your playlist and 'view playlist details')
  
• Select the show you want to start with, and in the menu popup select 'Start playing this playlist here'

The rest of the shows in the playlist will be random.

(use this regularly myself I have 'Dora' and 'Pingu' pre-loaded in playlists )

[briands]

Originally Posted by nielm

Already possible in the V6 beta with no extra coding using video playlists and random playback...

• Add all the recordings/movies to a playlist: eg 'kids shows'
  (to do this for a sage recording, enable advanced options in the popup, and then 'Add to playlist'. Enabling advanced options will also allow you to add groups of programs/movies to a playlist
  
• Go into video library; playlist view
• Select Random/repeat playback (select the bottom button until it is a wiggly line with a loop)
  
• Highlight your 'kids movies' playlist and hit RIGHT
  (or Select your playlist and 'view playlist details')
  
• Select the show you want to start with, and in the menu popup select 'Start playing this playlist here'

The rest of the shows in the playlist will be random.

(use this regularly myself I have 'Dora' and 'Pingu' pre-loaded in playlists )

Neilm, thanks for pointing out this great solution... Any thoughts on getting to this in a kid friendly way? I even have one of those "WeeMotes" (actually one of each) I would like to let my daughter use one to control her own viewing experience.

[nielm]

Once you have set up the playlist(s), you can use my dynamic menus to have a new menu item to play your kids playlist...

The following menuitemlet (pasteable menu item) will start playback of a playlist named 'Kids playlist' at the first item, and then random playback thereafter (replace 'kids playlist' in the code with your playlist name, and then copy it and paste it in my dynamic menus).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE sageMenu PUBLIC "-//NIELM//DTD SAGEMENU XML 1.3//EN" "http://www.sage-community.org/~nielm/nielm_modules/dynamic_menu/sagemenu_1_3.dtd">
<sageMenu version="1.3">
    <internalScreenMenuItem
        icon="STVs\dynamic_menu_icons\mm_video.png"
        screen="MediaPlayer OSD"
        title="Random Playback of 'Kids Playlist'">
        <evalExpression>SetProperty("random_video_playback", true)</evalExpression>
        <evalExpression>SetProperty("video_lib/repeat_playback", true)</evalExpression>
        <evalExpression>AddStaticContext("Playlist", "Kids Playlist")</evalExpression>
        <evalExpression>StartPlaylistAt(GetElement(FilterByMethod(GetPlaylists(),"GetName",Playlist,true),0),1)</evalExpression>
    </internalScreenMenuItem>
</sageMenu>

Or, if you prefer, starting with a random item:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE sageMenu PUBLIC "-//NIELM//DTD SAGEMENU XML 1.3//EN" "http://www.sage-community.org/~nielm/nielm_modules/dynamic_menu/sagemenu_1_3.dtd">
<sageMenu version="1.3">
    <internalScreenMenuItem
        icon="STVs\dynamic_menu_icons\mm_video.png"
        screen="MediaPlayer OSD"
        title="Random Playback of 'Kids Playlist'">
        <evalExpression>SetProperty("random_video_playback", true)</evalExpression>
        <evalExpression>SetProperty("video_lib/repeat_playback", true)</evalExpression>
        <evalExpression>AddStaticContext("Playlist", "Kids Playlist")</evalExpression>
        <evalExpression>StartPlaylist(GetElement(FilterByMethod(GetPlaylists(),"GetName",Playlist,true),0))</evalExpression>
    </internalScreenMenuItem>
</sageMenu>