v2.0.0 - Back to MPV Shim's Roots

This release removes the desktop (embedded webview) mode in MPV Shim. This mode was always intended to buy time until there were better options, and now there are two excellent successors!

Jellyfin Media Player

Jellyfin Media Player (read about it here) is the suggested media player for people who used the desktop mode in MPV Shim. It offers a better and more user friendly experience, with the same great media support you've come to expect from MPV Shim. Jellyfin Media Player includes exciting new features including using the web player interface with MPV, audio passthrough, setting your refresh rate automatically, and support for remote controls and game controllers. It is based on the open source Plex Media Player application and has builds for all major platforms.

Auto Cast in Jellyfin Web

If you select Jellyfin MPV Shim in the Jellyfin web client, you can set it as the default cast destination. This will cause all media played through the web client to play in MPV Shim until you disable it. This is the option I have personally been using as my web browser is usually already open. This is a great option for people who prefer the MPV interface or who use the anime-focused features in MPV Shim.

MPV Shim will continue to be updated, taking a focus on power users who like to customize their player to an extent that other players cannot. It is still an excellent option for remote control and lightweight playback, offering a fully controllable background cast mode not seen in any other player.

v1.10.4 - FFmpeg and MPV Update (Security)

Changes:

• Upgrade to a newer MPV build for security reasons.
• Add more locations to the update checker.

About Windows Downloads:

• The desktop installer (not LEGACY32) is the recommended download and also includes the shim mode.
  • You do not need administrator rights to install the software.
• You can avoid warnings on files by unblocking the file in the properties dialog.
• You can manually build a release using these instructions.

v1.10.3 - Desktop Client Hotfix 3

Hopefully the last hotfix for a bit. Changes:

• #197 Fix shuffle play, play next, and play last.
• #179 Fix "failed to execute script" on Windows.

v1.10.2 - Desktop Client Hotfix 2

This release fixes some important bugs. Changes:

• #191 Playing media from episode page crashes player logic and doesn't set subtitle/audio streams.
• #194 Fix erratic navigation in webclient caused by sending back bad display mirror events.
• #193 Handle trailing slashes in server URLs.

v1.10.1 - Desktop Client Hotfix

This release handles the regressions from the v1.10.0 release. The web client now automatically updates when events happen and you can cast to other players. If you are upgrading from 1.9.0 or haven't already done so, please log out and back in to ensure the player works properly.

Changes:

• Forward websocket events back to desktop web client. (Notably fixes homepage updating after playing something.)
• Re-enable casting in the desktop web client.
• Send remote control buttons to web client when MPV isn't open.
• Upgrade the Flatpak platform version.

v1.10.0 - Improved Desktop Client Reliability

EDIT: Please note this release has some desktop mode usability issues I am working on. Specifically the web client doesn't update after you play something.

Use the desktop mode? Have you ever seen this?

This release completely changes how the desktop mode's web client talks to the player backend. It now communicates directly over http locally and does not require two separate sessions which can lose sync with each other and cause issues. You can also easily and reliably switch between multiple servers in the desktop mode. Please note that casting from the desktop client to other players is currently disabled due to this being an early version of the new communication mechanism.

If you are using the desktop mode, you will need to log out and back in after upgrading if you want to control the client from another device.

Changes:

• Map navigation buttons to seeking when menu inactive. (#146)
• Implement session passing and http-based webclient control.
• Added support for creating a .app file (#184)
• Fix "Unknown" in SyncPlay menu.
• Fix possible seek to end with SyncPlay group join.

1.9.0 - SyncPlay for Jellyfin 10.7.0

I am proud to announce that Jellyfin Desktop (MPV Shim) is now an official Jellyfin project! This release implements the new SyncPlay for 10.7.0 for TV shows! Note that it is relatively new and will likely have issues. I released this version as it is working better than nothing and many people using it will help find issues.

In the desktop (webview) mode, you can join a SyncPlay session using the web client but you must create sessions using the menu within MPV (by pressing c). If you are using shim mode, you must always use the c menu, although you can trigger playback using the web client it doesn't currently join the group properly.

Changes:

• #168 Implement SyncPlay support for 10.7.0. (Drops 10.6.4.)
• #170 Fix sending zero position on finished_callback.
• #175 Fix delay when stopping player.
• Disable server discovery that is not used.
• Upgrade the web client to 10.7.0. (May cause issues for older servers.)
• Update translations.

1.8.1 - Maintenance Release

UPDATE 2020-12-13: The release for Windows was packaged incorrectly and does not show a systray icon in Shim mode. Download the release again to fix the problem.

This is a maintenance update and the last one to support SyncPlay on 10.6.x. Changes:

• Add keyboard shortcut (k) for killing shaders.
• Add track language filter.
• Validate config data and show errors when parsing fails.
• Stop SyncPlay hanging between episodes.
• Fix player flash between episodes after opening menu.
• Add an exact seek config option.
• Do not sync playback while showing the menu.
• Add config option for screenshot directory.
• Fix disable certificate validation option.
• Prepare for project move/rename to jellyfin/jellyfin-desktop.
• Improved localization.

1.8.0 - User Feedback Release

This update integrates many improvements, many directly from survey feedback.

• First localized MPV Shim release! (#68)
  • Thank you to everyone who is helping to translate the application!
• Add mouse support in the menu.
  • This requires lua support. It can be disabled via config if it breaks something for you.
• Add Discord Rich Presence support. (#100)
  • This must be enabled via the menu or config due to obvious privacy implications.
• Warn on first bandwidth-related transcode each session. (Can be disabled.)
• Allow completely disabling bandwith transcoding from menu.
• Prevent playback through the webview when the MPV connection is broken.
  • Instead there is now a clear error message.
• Add NNEDI3 to default-shader-pack.
• Add option to disable SSL cert checking. (Not Encouraged!)
• Add option to use default MPV config with external mpv.
• Add option to disable MPV media key integration.
• Add option to wait for network at startup.
• Remember size of desktop client only by default, not position.
  • This was due to a surprising number of users having the desktop client open off screen.
  • This can be enabled again in the config.
• Remember window full-screen state between episodes.
• Remove unused server discovery calls. (#102)
• Fix 32 bit legacy windows builds. (#105)
• Build Windows builds with recompiled pyinstaller bootloader.
  • This hopefully helps (at least a little) with false positives, which a few people said they had.

About Windows Downloads:

• The desktop installer (not LEGACY32) is the recommended download and also includes the shim mode.
  • You do not need administrator rights to install the software.
• You can avoid warnings on files by unblocking the file in the properties dialog.
• You can manually build a release using these instructions.

1.7.1 - Maintenance Release

This release adds update notifications and fixes various issues. Changes:

• Increase the timeout for logins. (#99)
  • If you were frequently getting "MPV Shim Login Failed", this should fix that.
• Add update check using GitHub. (#50)
  • Update checks happen when casting media by checking where the GitHub releases page redirects to.
  • If there is an update, you will only be notified once, until the application is restarted.
  • You can disable this feature using the menu or the config file.
• Prepare application for translation. (#68)
  • You can help translate the application here.
• Clarify the "Always Transcode" option. (#72)
• Add option to scale web client. (#90)
• Shim mode now fixed in Flatpak. (#89)
• Migrate from deprecated idle event to observer.
• Remove unused SyncPlay config options.