From Finch's built-in help · All help pages

Getting started

Finch plays the videos already on your drives, and nothing is streamed. It is made for a controller, on the couch. Plug in a drive and Finch offers to add it.

New here? Help, then Tutorial, walks you over the real screens again, on a practice library. Each step asks for one thing and A does its usual job until it’s done; then the card shows a tick and A continues. B steps back and holding B skips the rest.

Buttons are named as on an Xbox pad; a PlayStation pad’s ✕ ○ □ △ are A B X Y.

Moving around

  • The stick or D-pad moves; A opens or chooses.
  • B goes back; on a tab, it goes Home.
  • B on Home asks whether to quit Finch.
  • LB and RB switch tabs: Home, Search, Shows, Movies, Settings, Help.
  • Up from the top row reaches the tab bar.
  • LT and RT turn pages and jump letters (grids sorted by name).
  • Start opens the filters in Shows, Movies and Search.
  • Select switches profiles.
  • Settings, then Controls, puts a job on another button.

Watching

  • A plays a title, or resumes where you stopped.
  • On a title’s page, LB and RB switch its tabs.
  • B pauses the video and goes back.
  • Y opens a title’s menu; rarer entries are under More….
  • Add to My list, in that menu, sets a title aside.
  • X marks a title watched or unwatched; a show asks first.
  • Left and Right skip 10 seconds; LT and RT change chapter.
  • LB and RB play the previous or next episode.

Things only Finch does

  • Search finds episodes, extras and Unsorted files, not just show names.
  • X skips openings, recaps, credits and previews.
  • A sleep timer fades the sound and stops playback.
  • Finch remembers audio and subtitle choices for each show.
  • A title’s menu, then More…, fixes a wrong poster or name.
  • Each profile keeps its own progress.

On a TV

  • Docked, the size suits the screen: Normal on TVs, Small on monitors.
  • Settings, then Appearance, keeps a Deck size and a TV size.
  • Picture soft after docking? Quit Finch and start it again.

Your drives

  • Plug a drive in and choose “Add this drive”.
  • Unplugged drives stay listed, dimmed, until you plug them back.
  • Settings, then Sources, adds or removes a folder.
  • A on a source browses its folders and plays its files.
  • Organising a drive: see the “Your drives” page.

Something went wrong

  • Settings, Advanced, “Save a problem report” saves one.
  • The message on screen says which folder it went to.
  • A title’s Details can save one with its tracks and chapters.
  • With No, file and folder names become placeholders.
  • Nothing is uploaded: attach the finch-report folder to a bug report.
  • Damaged library? Finch sets it aside (library.db.broken-…) and starts afresh.
  • It says what came back and what needs setting again.
  • Boxes for letters? The Deck has them; elsewhere install Noto (noto-fonts, noto-fonts-cjk).
  • Library won’t open? Move library.db, library.db-wal and library.db-shm out of ~/.local/share/finch.
  • Then start Finch again: profiles and watch history return from sync.
  • Add your drives and set PINs and My list again.
  • To keep a log of a crash, add this Steam launch option:
RUST_LOG=info %command% > ~/finch.log 2>&1
  • Then attach finch.log, from your home folder, before starting Finch again.
  • Each launch starts the log afresh.
  • Unlike the report, it keeps real file, folder and share names.