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Emby Server and Emby Theater - iTunes Movies and TV Support


funwithmedia

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funwithmedia

I have a few handfuls of movies within iTunes Movies. I'm not a big fan of iTunes, but since I have these digital movies I've been exploring how to more easily access them. I recently came across the excellent Retune iTunes Remote software for Android ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.squallydoc.retune&hl=en ), created by SquallyDoc ( http://www.squallydoc.com ). This nifty piece of software is able to connect to my local iTunes library, display a list of my iTunes Movies, and then Play them in iTunes directly from within the app (ie, they do not play on my Android device, rather they play within iTunes on my computer). The fact that this is possible opened my mind to interesting possibilities for Emby integration (if there is enough user interest, of course).

 

I think there would need to be two components to this:

  1. Emby Server would need to use the remote functionality (ie, whatever the mechanism is that iTunes provides for apps like Retune to be able to connect to the local iTunes library) to read what Movies (and TV Shows) exist within the users iTunes library. And then there'd need to be a way for the user to designate which Movies and TV Shows to display within Emby. The server would store whatever internal marker/id data is needed to later directly play that item in iTunes. And of course iTunes would need to be installed on the same network as Emby Server (so that it can access ITunes).
  2. iTunes is primarily on PC and Mac (and other Apple devices, of course), so Emby Theater should in theory be able to connect to a particular iTunes instance (ie, on the same PC) and then using the already acquired data from Emby Server, launch a given video in that iTunes instance (iTunes would need to already be open for this work, though it may be possible to lauch it via command line).

Now, the thing that would make all this even cooler is if support for iTunes Extras (https://www.apple.com/itunes/working-itunes/enhance/extras/ ) could be added. I have reached out to the developer of Retune and he is going to see if that data is made accessible through the remote protocols. Ideally, we'd be able to import the list of iTunes Extras (including some basic metadata), and then launch them directly in iTunes.

 

:)

 

PS - If this is something you might like to see implemented, be sure to "Like" this top/first post (as well as any subsequent posts in this thread that highlight particular aspects of what you are interested in) -- "Liking" the top/first post helps the Devs to know how much interest there is in a given Feature Request.

Edited by funwithmedia
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  • 2 years later...

They accomplished that via partnerships with all of the major streaming providers, so kudos to them. But they also don't support locally owned media. If they did, I doubt they would have been able to make those deals due to concerns over piracy.

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funwithmedia

I hear ya and understand all that. I just have a daydream/fantasy about eventually having some integration between Emby and all of that content. And there being a plugin (probably would end up having to be created/maintained by community members) that could hook into iTunes on Windows using the remote functionality would achieve some of that for me. :) Currently, I have all of my online media referenced in Emby via Media Stubs and using Tags to indicate where the online media is located (eg, MoviesAnywhere [which includes iTunes], Vudu-only, etc.).

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