Include "Audio" Resolution in Main Player

[goyalyashpal]

Checklist

• I made sure that there are no existing issues - open or closed - which I could contribute my information to.
• I have read the FAQ and my problem isn't listed.
• I'm aware that this is a request for NewPipe itself and that requests for adding a new service need to be made at NewPipeExtractor.
• I have taken the time to fill in all the required details. I understand that the feature request will be dismissed otherwise.
• This issue contains only one feature request.
• I have read and understood the contribution guidelines.

Feature description

The most concise way to put this would be:

• either: "Allow a video resolution of none in main player mode"
• or: "Allow an audio only option in main player mode"
• or: "Create a new audio mode to essentially overtake background mode"

Why do you want this feature?

Further back story

Currently:

• when the current mode of playing is anything other than main (i.e. not playing, bg, or popup)
• then the "main" player (i.e. in video details UI) functions just as a placeholder for:
  • video track's thumbnail
  • the play button
  • total duration of the track
  • the current playing position: textual time and visual progress bar

The above behaviour is fine for not-playing, or popup mode - as they don't need the player UI of the main player, but not for bg mode.

Don't confuse "background mode" with audio mode, "background mode" is two things:

1. the "audio" only stream
2. a separate player mode (similar to how the popup mode is)
   1. consequently, it has its own player UI - the "playing queue UI" which opens on clicking via notification (hereafter called TRIGGER)
   2. supporting observation: "playing queue UI" doesn't open from TRIGGER when playing in main mode

And the requirement of additional TRIGGER to reach the dedicated player UI (the playing queue UI) in bg mode makes things to feel inconsistent and limiting.

Proposal

This suggestion is about rearranging those two things (audio stream, & playing queue UI) for a more consistent UX:

1. bundle the "audio only" stream within main player - it can be done in the resolution drop down
2. make "playing queue UI" to be accessible on TRIGGER even when playing in video - however, automatically switch to audio while TRIGGERED - i.e. change from point 2.ii above

Required complementary/cosmetic changes:

3. the "background" button in the video description UI will be renamed to "audio" and will function as a shortcut to select the audio stream in the main player
4. in "audio", the main player will show the thumbnail of the stream, and the "fit to" options - may either be hidden, or made to act on the shown thumbnail - whichever is easier/efficient to implement
5. the required refactoring for above changes
6. i can't think of any other major changes that would be required anywhere else - rest all things will function exactly same way as they do now
   • ... (cntd) 'cz all other contexts mostly mean "audio only" and have nothing to do with the UI used for it - so, whether it be the current "playing queue UI' or the proposed "main player UI"

Mockups:

1. Audio in the resolution panel

2. "Audio" for the background button in video description ui, and the main player for audio stream containing video thumbnail scaled down

Additional information

• NewPipe v0.24.0

[SameenAhnaf]

To make things simpler, we might exclusively discuss Include "Audio" Resolution in Main Player on this issue.

This suggestion is about rearranging those two things (audio stream, & playing queue UI) for a more consistent UX:

#7973

"Allow an audio only option in main player mode"

#2610

[goyalyashpal]

THIS COMMENT IS RESERVED AS A PLACEHOLDER COMMENT

[goyalyashpal]

THIS COMMENT IS RESERVED AS A PLACEHOLDER COMMENT

[goyalyashpal]

• well, i just want to be able to use the "main player ui' for audio - just that, whichever fits it 😄
• the current implementation of "bg mode" is kinda non-sensical to me (no offence)
• this was in part, the reason i thought to file issue: Fix the player UX #8958 itself - see the "Player queue UI" in that table
• ... of which i have yesterday updated the body to include the problem, but left it closed as i was still thinking about solution

[opusforlife2]

What you're describing is exactly what happens for Soundcloud and Bandcamp if you set "Minimise" to background and play a song in the main player.

[SameenAhnaf]

@opusforlife2 We'd also like to completely abandon current background player and introduce a common queue management as explained in #7973. Bandcamp and SoundCloud still have both background and main player despite being audio-only platform.

[opusforlife2]

If behaviour similar to what I mentioned above is implemented for audio playback in general, that would automatically solve the problem of queue not being accessible from within the app in the popup and background players.

[SameenAhnaf]

That's true. But we want to improve the experience further. As I mentioned earlier, this issue, #7973 and #2610 can be implemented separately.

[opusforlife2]

Somewhat off-topic: 2610 is a long-shot. I was also new when I opened that issue. Now when I look at it I can tell how difficult it would be to implement. Incremental changes are much better, and cause far fewer regressions.

[MD77MD]

i would suggest removing the audio background player all together and when hitting the background button just switch normal player from audio/video to audio only

[goyalyashpal]

i would suggest removing the audio background player all together and when hitting the background button just switch normal player from audio/video to audio only

hi! umh, i am not sure u entirely read the whole proposal. It's not as simple as just removing it and doing audio only, there are other things to consider too - which are shared already in the issue description.