[Workaround] Temporally fix for Smartplay feature

[psp2111-ADSLGATE]

This is a Fix for Smartplay known BUG with TMDb Helper, using @inb4after Seren Fork and Modified UpNext addon by @MoojMidge special Thanks to them.

Download:

• Seren fork by inb4after. Edit: My Seren Fork with MoojMidge fix.
• UpNext by MoojMidge "currently v2.0.25+dev.0+matrix.1".
• Latest TMDb Helper "currently v5.1.28"
• Seren Player. NOTE: make sure "is_resolvable" is set to "true".

How to Setup:
Seren Settings → Playback:

• Check ✔️ Enable Smartplay and Pre-emptive scraping.
• change "minimum seconds left.." to 10s
• disable "playing next dialog" and "still watching dialog".
• press OK.

UpNext Settings → Expert:

• Check ✔️ Enable TMDb Helper integration.
• Uncheck "exact match only" and "queue all next episodes"
• press OK
• ALSO YOU CAN CUSTOMISE "Behaviour" as you prefer .
  Restart Kodi.

NOTES:

• This is only a workaround by using Modified UpNext addon by @MoojMidge and making it take care of "Next episode popup" instead of Seren, so that mean UpNext could works, showup or interferen with other players not just Seren, for example: this workaround also work with Umbrella v6.626 Source select player, even so Umbrella does not natively support that.
• ONLY TESTED WITH Seren source select players.
• Pre-emptive scraping works half the time meaning: 1st ep works, 2nd not, 3rd works, 4th not... and so on. Edit: Fixed thanks to @MoojMidge

Tested on:

• Windows 11 and Kodi 21 Alpha 2

[psp2111-ADSLGATE]

@cgwprs @eengert @welovewebs @unicornsandcandies

[MoojMidge]

• Pre-emptive scraping works half the time meaning: 1st ep works, 2nd not, 3rd works, 4th not... and so on.

Do you have a debug log for this? It can probably be fixed.

[psp2111-ADSLGATE]

• Pre-emptive scraping works half the time meaning: 1st ep works, 2nd not, 3rd works, 4th not... and so on.

Do you have a debug log for this? It can probably be fixed.

I could make a quick debug log but do I need to enable any debug logging inside TMDb Helper or UpNext?

I am not 100% sure but I think it is a Bug in Seren not UpNext since SmartPlay almost behave the same way.

[MoojMidge]

Ah ok. I don't use Seren so I don't know what SmartPlay or Pre-emptive scraping actually do.

If it is something that can be fixed in UpNext then just a normal debug logging will be fine.

[psp2111-ADSLGATE]

Ah ok. I don't use Seren so I don't know what SmartPlay or Pre-emptive scraping actually do.

If it is something that can be fixed in UpNext then just a normal debug logging will be fine.

Here is my log I played 4 episodes.
kodi.log
Start playing episodes at 2023-08-05 12:13:53.192 T:2716

About Smart Play as far as I understand it is just a build in UpNext inside Seren, with the following features: Play Next popup, Still watching popup, Skip intro and Pre-emptive scraping.
for Pre-emptive scraping: it is just to make Seren search for links saliently in the background while you watching the episode and after you finish watching and hit "Watch Now" for the next episode the results will show up immediately without waiting for Seren to scrape it.

Quick unrelated question:
Can I make the previous episode "pause or stop" after pressing "Watch Now"?
Becuase right now the previous episode will keep playing until I choose the next one!

[MoojMidge]

Thanks for the explanation of Smart Play and Pre-emptive scraping. I suspect I know what the problem is - the pre-emptive scraping processes the next playlist item and then runs the plugin script, which changes the next item from a plugin url to a scraped video url. After this is done, UpNext is unable to do anything because there is no plugin url that it can use.

In this case, you are right, it is a Seren issue. Ideally Seren should store the pre-scraped video url and use xbmcplugin.setResolvedUrl when the original plugin url is called, but there may be specific technical reasons why this is not done.

Here is my log I played 4 episodes.

Sorry, should have been more clear. The log supplied is not a debug log, just a regular event log. I will need either a Kodi debug log: https://kodi.wiki/view/Log_file/Easy#Steps; or enable debug logging in UpNext: UpNext > Settings > Expert > Troubleshooting > Log level > Debug, otherwise UpNext won't log anything useful.

If you can get this, then I can see whether anything can be done in UpNext to workaround the problem.

Can I make the previous episode "pause or stop" after pressing "Watch Now"?

It is easy enough to add this, but it may cause issues with the Kodi playback event order sequence, which is why I never tried to implement this.

[psp2111-ADSLGATE]

Sorry, should have been more clear. The log supplied is not a debug log, just a regular event log. I will need either a Kodi debug log: https://kodi.wiki/view/Log_file/Easy#Steps; or enable debug logging in UpNext: UpNext > Settings > Expert > Troubleshooting > Log level > Debug, otherwise UpNext won't log anything useful.

no problem man here a new one with debug logging enabled.
kodi.log

It is easy enough to add this, but it may cause issues with the Kodi playback event order sequence, which is why I never tried to implement this.

That a bummer, it will be nice to have and make the UpNext more polish.

[MoojMidge]

It looks like everything is actually working properly, except the TMDB Helper player file that you are using doesn't use pre-emptive scraping. You could try changing action=getSources to action=preScrape in the player file and see if it works.

[psp2111-ADSLGATE]

You could try changing action=getSources to action=preScrape in the player file and see if it works.

Nope. that bricked the player, now only scraping and does not show the results window after finishing.

[MoojMidge]

🤷

There probably should be a way to get it to work, but I don't use these plugins so I can't help.

[Needmorepixels]

I'm getting a the dependency on xbmc.python version 2.25 could not be satisfied when trying to install the modded up next. I'm running 20.2 and it was tested on 21.2 which I presume runs Python 3 so I'm not sure how to get this to work or how it worked for you guys. Appreciate any help as I'm really not a tech savvy guy!

[MoojMidge]

@Needmorepixels - the zip file with matrix in the filename is for Kodi 19+, you have downloaded a version for Kodi 18 which is why you are getting that error.