[Feature]: Request for Start and End Action Settings for Enhanced Media Control in Meeting Media Manager App

[vangquan]

Is your feature request related to a problem?

Yes, the issue lies in the Meeting Media Manager app's lack of user control over media playback behaviors. Specifically, it currently doesn't allow users to define the start action (Play, Pause) and default end action (Continue, Stop, Freeze, Repeat) for videos and images.

Describe the solution you'd like

I propose integrating two key features into the Meeting Media Manager app:

A setting to select the start action for media, allowing users to choose whether a video or image plays immediately or pauses on the first frame when selected. A setting to define the default end action for media, giving users the option to either continue to the next file, stop playing, freeze on the last frame, or loop the current media after it finishes playing.

These features are currently implemented in the JW Library Sign Language app and would be greatly beneficial if introduced in the Meeting Media Manager app.

Describe alternatives you've considered

An alternative could be for users to manually control the start and end actions for each piece of media. However, this would be more time-consuming and less efficient than having the ability to predefine these actions.

Additional context

In the JW Library Sign Language app, these settings significantly enhance the user experience by allowing more control over media playback. Integrating these features into the Meeting Media Manager app would similarly improve its functionality and user-friendliness, making it more versatile and accommodating to individual user preferences.

Screenshots from the JW Library Sign Language app, illustrating these features, can be found at the following links: Screenshot 1 Screenshot 2 Screenshot 3

[mtdvlpr]

Hi @vangquan, could you describe the scenarios when these freeze, auto play next and loop features would be used?

[sircharlo]

I believe implementing these settings would be useful especially for sign-language meetings, correct @vangquan ? Like @mtdvlpr , and keeping in mind that M³ is mostly designed with meetings in mind, I'm struggling to see when the "Continue", "Freeze" and "Repeat" would be used during meetings. Perhaps you could elaborate?

[alanfermtz]

From my 30 minutes research:

The images that vangquan addded, are the default action when you make a playlist. The first setting is for when you click an item from the playlist what you will do (play, pause) and the second one what the playlist will do after each item ends (continue, stop, freeze, repeat). This will establish the default one for every playlist you create.

In the playlist you can select individually how each item will end (continue, stop, freeze, repeat)

Use case: Play an image or video inmediatly after a video or image

Maybe this could be useful if after introduction video from teasures you want to project inmediatly the image.

Use case: A slideshow if you want to run image another to another, when is only to show something and not analyzing.

I think will be a really cool feature, but really suggest to be optional because can be confusing if you havent use the sign language app. Maybe this feature will be added to Jw library when the playlist version arrives.

[sircharlo]

Here how I see it.

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Videos

Type	Action	Behavior in JWL SL	Potential use case	Equivalent in M³
Start	Play	Starts the video playback	Playing a video for the congregation	This is already the current behavior when the "play" button is clicked
Start	Pause	Starts the video playback and immediately pauses it on the first frame	Unclear; the first frame is usually black	None
End	Continue	Continues to the next item automatically when the current video ends	Show an image immediately after a video has finished playing	Image can be manually displayed using the "play" button
End	Stop	Returns to the "black screen" when the current video ends	This is the desired behavior for the majority of videos	This is already the current behavior
End	Freeze	Pauses the current video when it reaches the last frame	Unclear; the last frame is usually black	None
End	Repeat	Loops a video until it's stopped manually	Announcement videos, welcome banners (currently unused at Kingdom Halls)	None for the moment; videos can be restarted manually after ending if desired

---

Images

Type	Action	Behavior in JWL SL	Potential use case	Equivalent in M³
Start	Play	Displays the image and starts a 5 second timer	Displaying an image for the congregation	Irrelevant, M³ displays images for as long as needed when the "play" button is clicked
Start	Pause	Displays the image but does not start the 5 second timer	Displaying an image for the congregation	Irrelevant, M³ displays images for as long as needed when the "play" button is clicked
End	Continue	Continues to the next item automatically after displaying the current image for 5 seconds	Unclear	None
End	Stop	Returns to the "black screen" after displaying the current image for 5 seconds	Unclear	None
End	Freeze	"Freezes" the image before it's stopped automatically after 5 seconds	This is the desired behavior for the majority of images	M³ already displays images for as long as needed, until the "stop" button is clicked

---

Unless I'm mistaken, I don't believe adding any of these functionalities would provide significant benefits based on the use cases we've identified so far.

In my view, the only potentially useful additions could be:

• Allowing an image to be shown a few seconds before a video ends, instead of only after the video is fully stopped
• Allowing videos to be looped (currently not used in Kingdom Halls, but may be useful in the future)

Thoughts?

[vangquan]

I'm sorry that I couldn't answer your question earlier.

Please check this video for my explanation.

The Pause Start action is very useful for Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls that use video mixers (e.g., Blackmagic ATEM Constellation HD—Watch this video to understand why a video mixer is needed). The Pause Start action will display the first frame of a video (or an image) and wait for the user to click on the Play button (▶︎). On the video mixer multiview screen, the video or image will be ready to switch more quickly.

The Repeat End action is very useful for displaying a video banner (e.g., those found at the Regional Convention) in a loop.

The Freeze End action helps to avoid a black screen after each item in a playlist has played, allowing for smoother switching.

The Continue End action is great in instances where speakers request to display a series of items (images succeeding images, or a mix of images and videos).

[vangquan]

Dear brothers,

JW Library 14 has been released. The new feature is Playlists, which contain Start and End actions.

Now I can confirm that these features are not exclusive to sign language. There must be a need for their use in Kingdom Halls/Assembly Halls worldwide, hence Bethel created such features to cater to this need.

I hope you will find these features useful and consider adding them (or a few of them) to the Meeting Media Manager.

[mtdvlpr]

Hi @vangquan, I agree that this update makes it somewhat more useful to implement, so that it's an easy transition from JW Library to M3. Altough I'm not totally convinced yet (M3 won't be used for regional conventions and a slideshow, which the continue action would be, is not allowed for regular meetings).

I'll definitely think about it some more :)

[vangquan]

Thank you so much for taking the time to assist me. Your consideration is greatly appreciated. 😀

[sircharlo]

The Pause Start action is very useful for Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls that use video mixers (e.g., Blackmagic ATEM Constellation HD—Watch this video to understand why a video mixer is needed).

Granted, this is a scenario for which we haven't really provided.

The Pause Start action will display the first frame of a video (or an image) and wait for the user to click on the Play button (▶︎). On the video mixer multiview screen, the video or image will be ready to switch more quickly.

How and when is the yeartext displayed on the Kingdom Hall monitors in such a scenario?

The Repeat End action is very useful for displaying a video banner (e.g., those found at the Regional Convention) in a loop.

This could perhaps be useful eventually, but right now I don't see the need for this, as M³ is not used during conventions and video banners are generally not used in Kingdom Halls.

The Freeze End action helps to avoid a black screen after each item in a playlist has played, allowing for smoother switching.

I wonder if adding an option to display a checkbox on each media item that would enable or disable the "fade to black" effect for that element could be practical. This would allow to switch between pictures, or from a picture to a video, with a "cut" rather than a "fade".

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