Emby connect remote access

[djandrius 0]

Emby is lacking user friendly setup and is way behind the simplicity of remote access with Plex. With Plex, all the complexity of connection is left behind, with Emby, you are connecting pieces that are broken in between and are frustrating (even to advanced users like me), and are beyond of understanding of how to use for kids, wife and guest accounts as this constantly does not work and I have to keep re-login for user when they are stuck on accessing and are confused which username/password to use - Emby connect or server.

 

1. Emby runs on custom ports: (who on earth decided to run 8096 I can never remember the port, changing to something easy to remember helps me alot).

http: 10010

https: 10020

 

2. Login to http(s)://app.emby.media and link the account to Emby email address, receive email and accept the connect.

3. On another computer now go to:

 * http(s)://app.emby.media - first you must login with Emby Connect

 * Then you are presented with clicking on server, however the error is:

Connection Failure

We're unable to connect to the selected server right now. Please ensure it is running and try again.

 

If I try to add "connect to server"

 

https://hostname.com nor http://hostname.com does not work, however when I simply type in the same browser to go directly https://hostname.com:10010 or 10020 both are working fine and allow to login.

 

Not until Emby developers spend some time and get these serious non-usability issues resolved, Emby will never become mainstream and as popular as Plex.

 

1. Defaulting to http for all connections to Emby - are you kidding me?

2. Hardcoding 8096 (forget that you do allow to change the port, it does not work)

 

I am able to workaround from browser by simply going to https://hostname.com:10020 and forget about Emby connect as that is a completely useless broken feature that over complicates access and is completely unreliable.

[Luke 36999]

Hi there. Of course we would like to get to the point of defaulting to https, but that's going to take time to get there. It also comes at a cost to us in the event we decide to provide a free trusted cert for all users. So I would love to get to the point of achieving this but it's not something that happens overnight.

[ebr 14902]

One of the reasons plex is simpler is because you have to have an online account with them and everything goes through that.

 

We provide the ability to run your complete system without ever having to have an account with us but that comes at this cost of complexity. We are always working to make it as easy as possible though and there is room for improvement.

[djandrius 0]

I do like Emby as it does have very nice features (Kodi+Emby is awesome), however I am discovering quite a few roadblocks that do require advance knowledge and understanding. 

 

I do understand that this is not going to be overnight, however if Emby really wants to become mainstream it really needs to brush up and make it easy for home users with security in mind.

 

I would highly rate these advancement fixes as critical:

 

1. [CRITICAL] https - I know providing SSL cert costs money, however it is a must to have secure connections.

2. By default (at least when I was setting up server) I was never asked to enter the password for the default Admin user account. So... while I was setting up internally, I did not even realize that my server is accessible from WWW, Admin account is selectable/visible by anyone, there is no password required and someone can go in and delete entire library (admin can check to Delete files). Not to mention, connection is going through 'http'.

3. Port forwarding during setup... this is nice feature but it needs additional checks. Majority of users will not even know what that is, on my part I was in the mode of click, click, click and then go into internals to figure out config files. Admin user must have a password and it should NOT show up on login screen unless password is SET.

4. Simplify login from remote devices. app.emby.media is very good way, however IMHO it's not well thought out and is quite buggy. Majority of users want - click, click, click setup and not to have to troubleshoot as they may not know how, where. They only want to have ability to access their files remotely. Android app does not even support https (unless you install your own https cert? Had not verified that yet.), yet it advertises https. I will be installing SSL certs when I get a chance to see if that part works.

[Luke 36999]

I think everything you're mentioning there ultimately traces back to SSL, with the possible exception of port forwarding. For instance, your #4 is most likely due to SSL failures.If you try it on regular http the problem most likely goes away, which is a good indication that as soon as we have better SSL, there's no more issue. If that's not the case then of course it's most likely port forwarding.

[b0dyr0ck2006 57]

One of the reasons plex is simpler is because you have to have an online account with them and everything goes through that.

 

We provide the ability to run your complete system without ever having to have an account with us but that comes at this cost of complexity. We are always working to make it as easy as possible though and there is room for improvement.

Setting up a new user login is more difficult than it should be. Admin should be able to create a user and password and the user should be able to login, many times I find this doesn't work forcing me to either guide them through making an account on this forum to provide connect login or to get them to skip and select server

[Happy2Play 8239]

Setting up a new user login is more difficult than it should be. Admin should be able to create a user and password and the user should be able to login, many times I find this doesn't work forcing me to either guide them through making an account on this forum to provide connect login or to get them to skip and select server

Manually using the server, that is exactly how it work, WANIP or DDNS.  But using Connect you add an additional level of authentication requirements.

Edited April 1, 2016 by Happy2Play

[b0dyr0ck2006 57]

Registering should be all within app, there shouldn't be any reason for the average user to need to come to this site. Plus I get people saying they don't want to sign up to a forum etc etc

[Happy2Play 8239]

Registering should be all within app, there shouldn't be any reason for the average user to need to come to this site. Plus I get people saying they don't want to sign up to a forum etc etc

 

All they need is your WANIP or DDNS address then, and you setting them up with an account.

[b0dyr0ck2006 57]

I know how to do it [emoji13] but trying to explain this to a grandparent over the phone can be a touch tricky at times [emoji23]

[jpaytoncfd 5]

I dont have any of these problems. I can create users and run everything through a reverse proxy with nginx. I dont have a ssl cert setup for the sub-domain I use but that simple as well. 

 

Luke, Maybe emby could include integration with Apache and/or nginx for a reverse proxy. You could install it if its missing or simply add a sites available file if its already setup. I use nginx along with other programs for my easy urls:

 

emby.mydomain.com

kodi.mydomain.com

sonarr.mydomain.com

couchpotato.mydomain.com

[suds2712 1]

Any chance someone can do a pure idiots guide including pictures of all the steps to get remote access. I love the app, local streaming is great but the setup of remote is S***E. 

[Vidman 589]

That is impossible because it requires port forwarding setup which is done in your router, and everyone's network and router are different

But you can start here https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki/Connectivity

Edited May 17, 2016 by Vidman

[Luke 36999]

Any chance someone can do a pure idiots guide including pictures of all the steps to get remote access. I love the app, local streaming is great but the setup of remote is S***E. 

 

Hi, welcome. As mentioned, please take a look at our Connectivity Troubleshooter. Please try the steps listed there and let us know if you get stuck somewhere. Thanks!

[Nannyjeff123 0]

They should offer this free to paid subs.trying to get my family on is a pain the arse. I left plex to go with Emby as the look and feel are so much better. I HATE having phone calls I can log in to Emby.it need sorting ASAP. How can you expect to draw more customers when you can't even do a simple thing as logging them people in simply. it's retarded.

[ebr 14902]

They should offer this free to paid subs.

 

Emby Connect is already a completely free service.

[Luke 36999]

They should offer this free to paid subs.trying to get my family on is a pain the arse. I left plex to go with Emby as the look and feel are so much better. I HATE having phone calls I can log in to Emby.it need sorting ASAP. How can you expect to draw more customers when you can't even do a simple thing as logging them people in simply. it's retarded.

 

Hi, welcome. We're not retarded here. We actually work pretty hard on this, and if you'd like to take the time to describe your issue in more detail, we'll do our best to help you. Thanks!

[anderbytes 139]

Hi, welcome. We're not retarded here. We actually work pretty hard on this, and if you'd like to take the time to describe your issue in more detail, we'll do our best to help you. Thanks!

 

I sure know that you work as hell... Anyone that follows the GitHub commits can be amazed, in some moments.

 

As I stumbled here ... I just want to give a suggestion, as usual.

 

Maybe all that Emby lacks here is something to help troubleshoot the connectivity issue, because a full and stable connectable environment from internal and external with http and https from any device is actually a hard job.

 

In other topic, I already mentioned that Emby Connect is useful but lacks more information on servers list screen. This relates to that.

 

What if via Emby Connect, when connection to server is unsuccessful, emby servers (your, devs) would do a checkup on:

- Name/IP reachable

- Ports forwarded OK

- Connection speed / stability (via latency, maybe)

 

And do a screen report friendly (but with all needed info) to user what is wrong... so user reports to admins can be really useful.

[Wolfzz 0]

Its a piece of crap software in my books spent hours just trying to login and no go, was using the old Media Browser V2.6.0.1 for years and loved it until it stopped downloading the new movie posters extra's, so decided to try this but hell no.

Get this crap sorted.

Come on to login to a server (which you cant) just to watch your own personal movies from your home theater computer even without sharing to any other device,s let alone to the world.....And you cant....

Going with Plex so much easier.

Good luck people.

[mastrmind11 717]

Its a piece of crap software in my books spent hours just trying to login and no go, was using the old Media Browser V2.6.0.1 for years and loved it until it stopped downloading the new movie posters extra's, so decided to try this but hell no.

Get this crap sorted.

Come on to login to a server (which you cant) just to watch your own personal movies from your home theater computer even without sharing to any other device,s let alone to the world.....And you cant....

Going with Plex so much easier.

Good luck people.

So 99.9% of the user base has no trouble using Emby, but you can't figure out how to get going and it's crap software?  Interesting perspective.  Perhaps asking the community for help, supplying logs, and/or reporting a problem officially could help the situation?

[Luke 36999]

@@Wolfzz, the emby web app now supports logging straight in, no need to click through a login screen. Enjoy.

[Tur0k 143]

Emby is a great tool IMHO. The media scanning, backup creation, friendly interface, and general flexibility are major advantages IMO. These are part of the reason I chose this as my HTPC centerpiece. That said, There are some components that could be made more N00b friendly.

I can agree that remote access configuration and management may not be as well developed as it could be, but enhancements have been made. For example, the PFX certificate portion of the advanced menu now supports password locked PFX files. This means that users can now purchase a domain (with public DNS management) for $10-$30 annually), purchase their SSL certificate from a CA for somewhere in the neighborhood of $10-$15 annually, download a P7B certificate, and use the Microsoft built in certificate MMC to convert it to a password protected PFX file. This is much simpler and a more direct path than it used to be when the Emby app didn't support password protected PFX files and you had to convert it from third party command line based tools into an unprotected PFX file.

Maybe a basic how to for fresh users can be put together on possible domain registrars and SSL CA options can be put together.

Port forwarding on your home router/firewall is a difficult subject to address because the management interface for each vendor is different. doing a quick google search for your make and model router/firewall is the best direction we can give most people. But that could be better related in the aforementioned guide.

I actually think user creation is pretty simple. For the sake of completeness we could probably add that and security considerations, to the aforementioned guide as well.

Personally every service o run at home from my HTPC system to my home automation I have had to address remote access, security considerations, and backup/recovery routines. After I have worked those problems out I have had a really good experience

I am actually very pleased with what the Emby team has been focusing on. Recently the addition of alternate platform compatibility, interface improvements, expanded supported formats, improvements with the certificate imports, etc are well received IMO.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited May 28, 2017 by Tur0k

[ABNParatrooper 6]

If you don't want to set up accounts for others, or don't want them to have to do one, then create a guest account. I did that, then I sent that to my cousins and that is how they connect using the web app.