The “new” player for Android TV (and other platforms I assume) has changed the way using the d-pad handles fast forward and reverse and the change makes it unusable.
In the past versions holding down the right d-pad direction would cause the progress bar to appear and then proceed to skip forward through the video and giving a very intuitive visualization of where you are in the video. It was great. Used it all the time.
The “new” player no longer does this instead of pops up a small icon with a number representing how many seconds you’ve skipped in total… SOOOO I’m supposed to do the math in my head now to know 1) how long the movie is in seconds and 2) how far along I was when I started the press (I guess I should just know this) and 3) how many seconds were left in the movie and 4) calculate how far along in the movie those seconds are actually taking me.
It’s a mess and absolutely unintuitive. The feature is pretty much completely broken now.
Please please please return the original UI visualization of progress while skipping. This new system has broken a core navigation feature in the product.
Press down, then up. Then left/right will jog through the timeline similar to the old way. Works great for me on Shield.
Down brings up the controls, Up highlights the timeline to rewind/fast forward through. Shows thumbnails and everything and is very responsive. I find it a vast improvement.
That’s not what I was asking for. The previous functionality is what I am expecting restored, not the multiple step method they have now which is pretty much unusable.
It’s very usable, it’s only two more button presses. All the functionality you’re requesting is already there and very easy to get to.
If you’re rewinding/fast forwarding so often that two quick button presses is too much trouble, I think you have a different issue to address that has little to do with the interface update.
The current method of quick and additive jumps is far more useful and user friendly. Most people are just skipping 30 second intros, credits, etc. Bringing up an complicated interface to do that just isn’t necessary. The new method is innovative and they should be commended.
That being said, given the technology, there’s little reason these two methods of time shifting shouldn’t be interchangeable via an option in the settings. However, I’m guessing the call for it just isn’t there from their users. The current method isn’t likely to change.
I like the new 30,60,90,… second jump indicator and I really like the progress bar with video preview thumbnails. Is there any reason we can’t have both? Or go 30,60,90, then progress bar automatically?
Neither the left/right buttons or the ff/rev buttons (nvidia shield 2019 remote) bring up the bar anymore. If the ff/rev buttons brought up the bar and the left right did the 30,60,90 jump that would be great.
The down up trick works but yes 2 extra button presses is needed often enough to be annoying. Lets have the software do the work for us and make life easy.
