Interface Overview

Sovereign serves its library to more than one kind of client. They all talk to the same server, so your library, watch progress, favorites, and account settings follow you between them.

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The Web Interface

Web is the client Sovereign serves itself, so there’s nothing to install: browse to your server’s address and sign in. It works on any modern browser, on a desktop or a phone, and it’s the only client with the administration pages. Users, jobs, logs and a read-only view of the server’s settings are all there, whichever device you watch on.

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The Roku Channel

The Roku channel puts the library on the TV, driven entirely by the remote. It mirrors the web interface’s look and feel and covers browsing, search, playback, favorites, and your account; administration stays on the web.

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The Android Apps

The Android apps come in three builds: one for phones and tablets, one for Android TV and Google TV, and one for Amazon Fire TV. The TV builds follow the Roku channel’s look and screen flow, and the phone app covers the same screens with touch controls. Like the Roku channel, they sign in, browse, and play, and leave administration to the web.

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What Carries Across Clients

Playback position is reported to the server as you watch, so a title you stop halfway through on one device resumes at the same point on another. Favorites, watched state, and the playback preferences on your account work the same way.

What doesn’t carry across is anything the device decides for itself. Playback is negotiated per client from what that device can decode and how much bandwidth it has, which is why the same title may play untouched on one screen and be transcoded on another. Transcoding explains how that decision gets made.