Release Notes - v0.0.8-alpha

Major Updates

Enhanced Video Player Controls: Completely redesigned gesture controls with visual on-screen indicators for brightness, volume, and seek actions
Smooth Seek Functionality: Replaced custom gesture-based seeking with a standard slider component providing live position preview while dragging
Seekbar Preview Thumbnails: Added video preview thumbnails that follow the user's scrubbing position on the seekbar
Centralized Playback State Management: Refactored playback reporting logic into a dedicated PlaybackStateManager for improved separation of concerns and reliability
Server-Side Filtering: Moved hero carousel item filtering to server-side using API parameters for improved performance
Episode Support in Latest Media: Episodes now appear in the "Latest Media" section alongside movies and series
Brightness Initialization: Player now initializes to system brightness level on startup, preventing abrupt changes on first gesture
Adaptive Grid Layout: Introduced shared grid column sizing across Library, Search, and Content screens for consistent UI
Standardized Top App Bar: Introduced AfinityTopAppBar component for consistent navigation headers across Libraries, Watchlist, and Favorites screens

Playback Stop Reporting: Fixed race condition by ensuring playback stop is reported before state notification
Track Selection Sync: Resolved issue where audio and subtitle track selections weren't reliably reflected in UI
Duplicate Items Prevention: Fixed duplicate entries appearing in home screen carousels (Continue Watching, Latest Media, Latest TV)
UI Element Positioning: Corrected alignment and positioning of skip button and metadata row

Gesture Sensitivity: Enhanced responsiveness with reduced activation thresholds and minimum drag distances
Seek Controls: Increased forward seek interval from 10 to 30 seconds for more efficient navigation
Seek Bar Usability: Larger touch target and improved visual appearance with thicker track and better padding
Toggle Remaining Time: Users can now tap duration text to switch between total duration and remaining time display
Improved Gesture Seeking: Refactored horizontal drag-to-seek for more predictable, non-jittery behavior
External Links UI: Refined visual presentation with cleaner, circular icon buttons
Player Controls Visibility: Controls now hidden by default and appear when media is ready
Code Cleanup: Removed verbose debug logging and unnecessary code blocks across multiple components
Theme Code Cleanup: Removed obsolete commented-out dark theme implementation code
Dependency Update: Updated Jellyfin Core from 1.7.0-beta.6 to stable 1.7.1

Full Changelog: v0.0.7-alpha...v0.0.8-alpha