The new Emby app for Windows & Xbox
Entry posted by softworkz in Emby
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Long Promised — Long Awaited — Finally Here!
We are excited to announce the first release of our all-new range of Emby apps, starting today with Windows and Xbox. With a fully redeveloped native foundation, this update delivers improvements across the board: from remote control and gamepad support to background downloading (Windows), as well as refresh and HDR mode switching, and most importantly, enhanced video playback.
The new app also comes with a name change from Emby Theater to simply Emby.
The name is the only simplification though: On Windows it supersedes and replaces both current apps, "Emby Theater Desktop" and "Emby Theater" from the Windows store, combining the best of both in a single app. It provides enhanced video playback driven by MPV player under the hood, like and even better than "Emby Theater Desktop", and the Download features which were previously available in the Windows store app only.
A primary design goal has been to ensure that users of either previous app encounter no drawbacks when moving to the new version.
Video Playback (Windows)
Video options in the previous ET Desktop app were not always straightforward. The new Emby app adopts a fundamentally different approach to video playback configuration, which accommodates to a range from least to most knowledgeable users by boiling quality options down to three simple and easy understandable presets alongside a custom mode which allows to control all the underlying options in detail. The main presets are:
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High Quality
A no-compromise choice for the best possible quality, regardless of resource usage. Recommended for powerful PCs with high-end GPUs. Video decoding and filtering occur in software for optimal quality, and output scaling uses custom GPU shaders.
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Balanced
The default and recommended choice for most users. Similar to ET Desktop and a standalone MPV player with default settings.
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Efficiency Mode
MPV player is generally focused on quality rather than power saving, and even with the Balanced preset, you can get short of energy rather quickly when running on batteries.
This mode is not built-in or available in the regular MPV player. All video operations are fully performed in hardware while scaling at the video output (no shaders/gpu kernels) gets disabled.
Too simplistic for you? Enter the Customize mode where you can control all options in detail to find your perfect setup.
Video Playback (Xbox)
In the new Xbox app, we have a new playback implementation which is based on ffmpeg and takes place of the HTML video playbaback which which had limited codec and format support. By combining ffmpeg decoding with elements from Windows Media capabilities, it combines the best of both worlds: The rich format and codec support from ffmpeg and the built-in hardware acceleration of the Xbox for playing 4k and HDR videos in the best possible way
Automatic Refresh and HDR Mode Switching (Windows & Xbox)
Refresh rate switching is now as simple as enabling or disabling a single option. The new app can track its window position across multiple monitors and adapt the refresh rate accordingly. On both Windows and Xbox, it can also automatically toggle HDR mode based on the video content and the capabilities of your monitor and graphics hardware.
Download Feature (Windows)
With the download feature, you can transfer media from your Emby Server to your client device in a suitable format and size, so you can enjoy your media when you're on the road or without an online connection and even automatically synchronize items based on the watched status.
The new Windows app implements this with a completely different approach. Instead of periodically polling and running in the background, it uses Windows Push Notifications for server-side activation and the Windows BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer) service for downloads. As a result, the app runs only briefly whenever the server notifies it about newly available items or when BITS reports a completed download. If you don't use this feature, nothing runs in the background at all.
Enhanced Support for Remote Control and Gamepad Input (Windows & Xbox)
Remote Control support has been extended to cover almost all functions defined in the Windows Media Center remote button schema. For game controllers, mapping has also been expanded to assign functions to all available controls. New options pages provide a reference for button assignments and allow you to test inputs to ensure everything works as intended.
Windows Theme (Windows)
As a visual highlight, the Windows app features a new and exclusive Windows theme with Mica material background (Win 11) and seamless integration with your Windows desktop appearance, matching theme colors and dark/light switching accordingly.
High Contrast Themes (Windows)
As part of the Windows theme, the new Emby app also supports the Windows High Contrast settings. Fonts adjust in size and weight for better visibility, and fewer — but thicker—lines are drawn to enhance readability for those who need it.
Edited by softworkz
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