Random Playlist Mode
Random Playlist Mode creates a shuffled playlist of episodes (and optionally movies) from your library. One click and playback starts immediately — perfect for eliminating decision fatigue.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Now Playing: The Office S04E01 - Fun Run │
│ │
│ Up Next: │
│ 1. Breaking Bad S02E03 │
│ 2. Fargo (2014 film) │
│ 3. Better Call Saul S01E01 │
│ 4. Parks and Recreation S03E12 │
│ 5. The Sopranos S03E08 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
- EasyTV gathers candidates — Your shows (and optionally movies) based on settings
- Builds a shuffled playlist — Randomizes the order
- Prioritizes partials — Unfinished content moves to the front
- Starts playback — First item plays immediately
- Continues automatically — Playlist plays through without interaction
Choose what goes in your playlist. Settings → Random Playlist → Basics → Playlist content
| Option | Content |
|---|---|
| TV episodes only | Only TV show episodes |
| TV and movies | Mix of episodes and movies |
| Movies only | Only movies, no TV |
Settings → Random Playlist → Basics → Playlist length
Set how many items (episodes + movies) appear in the playlist. Range: 1-50.
Tip: Shorter playlists (5-10) work well for casual viewing. Longer playlists (20+) are great for background watching.
Control which TV episodes are included. Settings → Random Playlist → Content Options → Episode selection
| Option | Episodes Included | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Unwatched only | Only unwatched episodes | Plays your "next" episode for each show |
| Watched only | Only watched episodes | Random rewatches from your history |
| Both | Unwatched and watched | Mix of new and rewatches |
When using Both, this slider controls the mix. Settings → Random Playlist → Content Options → Unwatched episode chance
| Value | Result |
|---|---|
| 100% | Always pick unwatched (same as "Unwatched only") |
| 80% | Mostly new episodes, occasional rewatches |
| 50% | Equal chance of new or rewatch |
| 20% | Mostly rewatches, occasional new episode |
| 0% | Always pick watched (same as "Watched only") |
Note: Unwatched episodes always play in order (your next on-deck episode). Watched episodes are picked randomly from your watch history.
When Playlist content includes movies:
Settings → Random Playlist → Content Options → Movie selection
| Option | Movies Included |
|---|---|
| Unwatched only | Movies you haven't seen |
| Watched only | Movies you've already watched |
| Both | Mix of new and rewatches |
Settings → Random Playlist → Content Options → Movie chance
Controls the percentage of the playlist devoted to movies (only for "TV and movies" mode).
| Value | Result (20-item playlist) |
|---|---|
| 0% | No movies (TV only) |
| 10% | ~2 movies |
| 25% | ~5 movies (default) |
| 50% | ~10 movies (equal mix) |
| 75% | ~15 movies |
| 100% | All movies |
Settings → Random Playlist → Content Options → Start watched movies at random point
When enabled, watched movies start playing at a random point (5-75% through), like catching a movie already in progress on TV.
Only available when Movie selection includes watched movies.
Settings → Random Playlist → Content Options → Filter movies by playlist...
Use a Kodi smart playlist to limit which movies are included. Click to select a .xsp file.
Examples:
- Only comedies
- Only movies from the 90s
- Only highly-rated films
See Smart Playlist Examples for ready-to-use filters.
EasyTV can move unfinished content to the front of your playlist, so you finish what you started.
Settings → Random Playlist → Content Options → Start playlist with unfinished episodes
When enabled:
- Episodes you've partially watched are identified
- They're moved to the beginning of the playlist
- Sorted by recency (most recently watched first)
Settings → Random Playlist → Content Options → Start playlist with unfinished movies
Same behavior for partially watched movies.
- All partials are gathered — Every partially watched item matching your selection filters
- Sorted by recency — Most recently watched items first
- Same-show order preserved — If you have two partial episodes from the same show, they stay in episode order
- Moved to front — Partials become the first items in the playlist
- Random content follows — Shuffled content fills the rest
Example: You have:
- Breaking Bad S02E05 (partial, watched yesterday)
- Inception (partial, watched 3 days ago)
- The Office S04E01 (partial, watched last week)
With both partial settings enabled, your playlist starts:
1. Breaking Bad S02E05 ← Most recent partial
2. Inception ← Second most recent
3. The Office S04E01 ← Oldest partial
4. [random content...] ← Shuffled remaining items
Control whether EasyTV automatically skips to where you left off.
Settings → Random Playlist → Content Options → Seek to resume point for episodes
| Setting | Behavior |
|---|---|
| On | Partial episodes resume where you stopped |
| Off | Partial episodes start from the beginning |
Settings → Random Playlist → Content Options → Seek to resume point for movies
Same behavior for movies.
Catch-up buffer: When resuming, EasyTV seeks to 10 seconds before your last position. This gives you a moment to remember where you were before the action continues.
Note: These settings work independently from partial prioritization. You can prioritize partials without auto-seeking, or vice versa.
Settings → Random Playlist → Basics → Allow multiple episodes of same TV Show
| Setting | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Off | Each show appears at most once in the playlist |
| On | The same show can appear multiple times |
When enabled with Unwatched only, a show appearing twice means:
- First appearance: S02E05
- Second appearance: S02E06 (the next episode)
When you combine Episode selection: Both with Allow multiple episodes, EasyTV uses a special "lazy queue" mode:
How it works:
- Only 2-3 items are added to the visible playlist initially
- As you watch each item, the next one is added
- On-deck episodes are recalculated in real-time
- If you watch S02E05, your next appearance of that show will be S02E06
Why this matters: In normal mode, the playlist is built upfront. If Breaking Bad appears 3 times, all three would be S02E05 (the on-deck episode at build time). Lazy queue mode ensures each appearance advances naturally.
Get prompted to generate another playlist when the current one ends.
Settings → Random Playlist → Playlist Continuation → Prompt to continue playlist
When enabled, a dialog appears after the last item finishes:
Settings → Random Playlist → Playlist Continuation → Countdown duration
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
| 0 | Prompt stays until you respond |
| 1-60 | Auto-dismisses after this many seconds |
Default action when countdown expires: Stop (doesn't generate another playlist).
The same show filters from Browse Mode apply to Random Playlist.
Settings → Shows → Show Filter → Use only selected shows
Limits which shows can appear in random playlists.
Use a Kodi smart playlist to dynamically filter shows.
Settings → Shows → Show Filter → Selection method → Use a smart playlist
This is incredibly powerful. See Smart Playlist Integration for details.
Filter shows by typical episode length.
Settings → Shows → Episode Duration
This affects random playlists — only shows within your duration range are included.
Example use case: Create a "quick watch" playlist with only shows under 30 minutes.
Control which premiere episodes appear in random playlists.
Settings → Shows → Show Filter → Series premieres / Season premieres
Each setting has three modes:
| Mode | Series premieres (S01E01) | Season premieres (SxxE01) |
|---|---|---|
| Skip | Unstarted shows excluded from playlist | New-season episodes excluded |
| Mix in | Included alongside regular episodes (default) | Included alongside regular episodes (default) |
| Only | Playlist restricted to premieres only | Playlist restricted to premieres only |
When either setting is Only, the random playlist contains only premiere episodes. The other setting controls which types:
| Series premieres | Season premieres | Playlist contains |
|---|---|---|
| Only | Mix in | All premieres (S01E01 + season premieres) |
| Only | Skip | S01E01 only — discover new shows |
| Mix in | Only | All premieres (S01E01 + season premieres) |
| Skip | Only | Season premieres only — catch up on new seasons |
Shows marked as "random order" behave differently in playlists.
Instead of playing the next sequential episode, EasyTV picks any random unwatched episode.
See Random-Order Shows for configuration details.
Settings → Random Playlist → Notifications → Show info when playing
When enabled, a notification appears when each item starts:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Now Playing │
│ Breaking Bad - S02E03 - Bit by a Dead Bee │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Random playlist generation typically takes a few seconds, depending on:
- Library size
- Whether partial prioritization is enabled
- Content type (TV only is faster than mixed)
| Scenario | Typical Time |
|---|---|
| TV only, small library | Under 1 second |
| TV + movies, partial prioritization | 3-5 seconds |
| Large library with all features | 5-10 seconds |
- Playlist content: TV episodes only
- Playlist length: 20
- Episode selection: Unwatched only
- Start with unfinished episodes: On
- Multiple episodes: Off
- Playlist content: TV and movies
- Playlist length: 5
- Movie chance: 100%
- Movie selection: Unwatched only
- Movie playlist filter: "Highly Rated Movies" smart playlist
- Playlist content: TV episodes only
- Episode selection: Watched only
- Include only random-order shows (via show filter)
- Playlist length: 10
- Playlist content: TV and movies
- Start with unfinished episodes: On
- Start with unfinished movies: On
- Seek to resume point: On (both)
- Playlist length: 5
- Browse Mode — The other way to watch
- Settings Reference — All Random Playlist settings
- Smart Playlist Integration — Advanced filtering
- Smart Playlist Examples — Ready-to-use filters
- Random-Order Shows — Shuffle-friendly shows