I think it would be better if it did not auto play

Hi, I’m new to using Shotcut but as a completely new user, I’d like to make a suggestion. When a clip is dragged into a new project, it auto plays for that first new clip. Given that a new user doesn’t know it auto plays or to adjust the volume on the player due to unfamiliarity and it’s set to full volume, I think it would be better if it did not auto play. That’s just my two cents. Thanks for creating the program.

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Just mute the player before opening media or lower the volume.

There is already an option to turn it off in the list of Playlist options. Just press this button

and it will bring up this menu with the Play After Open option at the bottom.

Although for a brand new project, if you drag your very first video directly to the player it will always start playing but that’s to be expected. But after the very first video it will respect the option chosen above.

However, @shotcut I do think that for future new users Play After Open should be off by default. A lot of people don’t seem to like media playing automatically after bringing it in.

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Thanks for the replies and tips. Yes DRM, I agree with that. I posted thinking that it might be helpful to other new users who just installed. I’m dragging a video onto the playlist following along with a tutorial on Youtube and didn’t expect auto play to start up the first video I pulled in on a new project.

I can do that, but I think there are 2 things here:

  1. adding one or more files to the playlist of a new project
  2. double-click to open a playlist item in the player

Currently, the Playlist option Play After Open governs both because due to a technical issue Shotcut needs to open the first item if nothing is opened yet in the Source player, and that is an open action.

@C2V definitely wants #1 to be off (and probably by default or always). But what about #2?

Should the change instead be to always make it off for #1 and change the existing option to only apply to #2? (I am not very open to adding an additional option in the UI.)

I don’t think anyone finds it to be a problem. Double clicking to open something is the expectation after all. The only change being suggested is that Shotcut comes out of the box with Play After Open being off instead of on.

I know what you suggested, but I am still not sure you fully understand the implications and the original problem reported. I am not talking about whether double-click opens a playlist item. I am talking about the two user interaction contexts of Play After Open.

It’s not really a problem that he reported. @C2V just didn’t seem to be aware that there is an option to turn off Play After Open. Turning Play After Open off solves his issue. I would say many aren’t aware also because I don’t think many know of that menu button for the Playlist (maybe a new image for the menu icon would be better?). That’s why I suggested to just have Play After Open off by default because I don’t think many users are expecting media to automatically play every time they bring something into the Playlist.

So really all of the current behavior is fine when having Play After Open either on or off. It’s just that it may make sense for new users to have it turned off when they first start using Shotcut.

Yes, but it also changes the behavior of double-clicking a playlist item, and I am not going to change the default behavior for that.

maybe a new image for the menu icon would be better?

No, it would not make a difference; this is commonly used.

I don’t think many users are expecting media to automatically play every time they bring something into the Playlist.

But that is not the case; it only affects adding to the playlist of an empty project. However, in that case, I agree that can be startling behavior. I just do not agree that changing this default is the solution.

I cannot give more time talking in circles. I am not changing this option’s default. Instead I am changing only the behavior of adding playlist items to an empty project.

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