Jellyfin for Android TV v0.20 release plan

[nielsvanvelzen]

The next major release of our Android TV app is coming. Version 0.20 is a significant upgrade over 0.19 and will bump its server requirement to Jellyfin 10.11 or newer.

This discussion will be used to share updates about the release. The first beta will be released in the coming week(s), after which you can expect another version every 1 to 2 weeks until I feel good about the stability.

Each release will use a slow rollout (including the non-beta releases). This means not all users will get the update at the same time, it might take a few days.

If you have feedback or bugs related to the changes in this release: please do not comment here, open an issue instead! Questions related to the release plan can be asked in this discussions comments.

[Dnkhatri]

Are you updating the minimum android version?

[nielsvanvelzen]

Yes, as mentioned in the blog post for the 0.19 release we'll be requiring Android 6 or newer. Devices running Android 5 or Android 5.1 are no longer supported.
We'll also be dropping Android 6 support (and requiring Android 7 or newer) starting with 0.21.

These requirements are forced upon us by Google, nothing we can do about it.

[robobeau]

I recall seeing some back and forth with regards to ASS subtitle support. Will 0.20 have better support for them, or is there still an issue with libass or somesuch?

Also, thank you for all the work on this client!

[nielsvanvelzen]

I've seen no issues so far about performance issues, so please open one that explains the issue and attach a file that allows me to reproduce it. In my own use I did not encounter any performance issues, but then I do use an Nvidia Shield which is a bit more powerful than other devices.

[MrGcGamer]

Can the latest build artifacts be tested already?

[nielsvanvelzen]

Yes, you can always test the master branch and pull requests

[slackerlinux85]

i have been running with maxRendererPixel ever since peerless released 0.5.0-beta1. just turned it off and tested now only could find one series now that is very slow which is weird. extractred sub is like 3MB so quite big most of its black magic with 13,382 subtitle events most of which only for opening and ending so surprising it only chugged with it will have to see if i can find something better might not be as much of an issue anymore. didnt see much that would improve it since june but i dont watch the commits will leave it off and see if i find anything more

[alpha-tango-kilo]

If you want to test some powerful ASS subtitles, I have a repro attached here that used to crash an alternative client when trying to direct play: damontecres/Wholphin#1561

it should be noted the ASS subtitles go beyond just "karaoke subs with special effects" and are extremely complex with blurring and static effects

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We use the libass library for it, which should give you the same result as the current transcode pipeline and other video players like VLC and MPV

To caveat this, ExoPlayer + libass (which from a cursory glance I guess is the combination being used here) unfortunately doesn't have perfect subtitle syncing - or plans to support it - which can be noticeable with karaoke subs and typeset signs (i.e. subtitles masking in-scene signs). See androidx/media#2289. MPV does not have this issue (unsure about VLC)

[nielsvanvelzen]

v0.20.0-beta.1

The first beta is here! This one will only be available for people that manually install the APK, if no major issues are reported the next one will be pushed to the Google Play beta track as well.