[Feature Request] List synchronization with Jellyfin

[cch85]

As we do for Trackt (partially) lists, It would be great to have capability to synchronize with Jellyfin Server lists/watchlists on per user basis (as watch history already is):

• pull/update all the watchlists from Jellyfin and add them to scrob list.
• push update/selected list (a global push could be nice, but being able to select which list to push to Jellyfin would avoid issues) to Jellyfin Serber as Watchlist

[GlenNicholls]

I don't think Jellyfin even has a native watchlist feature. It has playlists, which are completely awful, so I don't use those. But I'm curious to know what watchlist you're referring to?

[cch85]

You are right, I meant matching to the Playlists in Jellyfin.
Sorry I see it as watchlists.

I do use them on Android TV to display on the home page but as you said it is not the easiest to manage.
That's why I think it would be great to push/lists to Jellyfin.

I know some use collections in Jellyfin for similar use cases. Might also be a easy to do this?

[GlenNicholls]

So I agree, list integration would be awesome! But, at least to my understanding, playlists in Jellyfin use soft links to physical files rather than a media ID (tvdbid, tmdbid, imdbid, etc.). The consequence is you're adding the physical file to the playlist, and idk how this is affected by things like transcoding, moving files, changing filenames, etc.. Plus, the single biggest issue is: you have to add single episodes to playlists because they don't support adding a full show. This is manageable for movies, annoying logic for mixed-resolution libraries (multiple SD/HD/UHD/extended cut/etc. for a single media ID), and unusable for shows. I think this would be problematic because Scrob would have to:

• sync updates based on the next episode and remove watched items
• would need to manage resolution
• would need to map exact files on disk
• keep track of how media IDs are moved/renamed/deleted
• and, would be a hot-spot for bugs

note: I played with playlists 1-2yrs ago and recall many issues, and that was without an external tool syncing. I remember the above points being significant barriers, so I abandoned Jellyfin playlists entirely. Things may have changed, so the premise of my comment might be completely outdated.

Similar to playlists, I think Jellyfin collections use symbolic links, so it isn't just a list of IDs; it's a link to a physical file on disk. That probably carries some overhead from a syncing perspective, but I'm not positive. The other thing is visibility; I think Jellyfin collections are global so multi-user deployments could be problematic. I.e. you would have to adjust user settings for who can see each "library" (collection), I would disable that integration entirely to avoid the ongoing maintenance headache.

Not sure if you've heard of it, but understanding crosswatch's implementation for list sync with Jellyfin (if they do at all) might be enlightening. That tool is on my list of things to look at, I just haven't gotten around to it.

I haven't kept close tabs on Jellyfin 12.0 so I'm not sure if they plan to fix the above issues. My opinion is to prioritize high-value features, and the current state of Jellyfin playlists is so beyond unusable that I don't think the integration effort is worth it (in its current state).

When I sit down to watch something, scrolling Scrob lists/explore/discover on my phone feels more natural and productive than clicking through Jellyfin. I'm not a maintainer; those are just my thoughts as I envision significant issues integrating Scrob lists with Jellyfin playlists based on my limited understanding of Scrob's code.

Don't get me wrong and hopefully this comment isn't discouraging, I would use this feature if it existed and was integrated seamlessly. I just think the current state of Jellyfin playlists would require chasing a "diminishing returns"-type of feature that will incur significant maintenance costs for the maintainers.

[GlenNicholls]

More concisely: what is the problem you're trying to solve?

I deployed Scrob in my household with great success. If you explain what you're trying to do or how Scrob isn't meeting your needs, I'm more than happy to provide guidance/advice or help draft issues if there's something specific you're looking to solve.

[cch85]

I have to look into client such as Fladder or Wholphin in Android TV, Their management of Playlist is not too bad especially fladder which allow filtering in the playlist either per episode or per show.
And I 100% agree with you the playlist management is clearly in Jellyfin a forgotten feature. I understand why they do it per episode because you would play all the episode, but my usage of it I believe it more like yours. I use Playlist as watchlist.
So mostly on Wholphin you can add on your home new rows in addition to Next, llibraries etc.
I created few Playlist as item I want to watch in the future base on genre or similar, then I add the row to Wholphin.
I give me a better granularity than just using favorite which become big after a while like on Netflix.
I should explore if collection would be better.
But mostly I use this as having custom list of item I want to watch depending on the day :)
Ideally Jellyfin would provide Watchlist as Scrob, Floppy (Track in the past when I used it) does.