Search the Community

So I have a handful of friends and family all pretty happily using my Emby server at their various locations, but some of my users are stuck with some pretty slow DSL internet. That, and sometimes there is congestion even to users that have fast internet. I'd like to be able to give these users with slow internet a local cache of some or all of the files on my server, and use network path substitution so they can play the file from their local network share. I'm wondering, if the file naming structure is the same, can I have multiple file servers and have the remote client attempt to use the UNC path, even if its going to a different place? For example: My house, which has the main emby server, has \\server\movies\hd movies\ on, say, a 4TB drive. My mothers house, with slow DSL internet and a TV with a roku app, has a local server, also called 'server', that shares the path \\server\movies\hd movies\ and has an identical copy of the data. If I want to direct play a file on emby at my mothers house, will it try to access '\\server\movies\hd movies\movie.mkv" ? Or will it assume that because she is connecting through the internet that there is no point in attempting a UNC path, and go straight to streaming? My follow up idea is asking if multiple network path substitutions might be possible in the future, which would eliminate the need to have identical naming/folder structure. For example, \\server\movies might have \\asusrouteratmomshouse\movies, \\netgearrouteratsistershouse\movies\, or \\serveratoffice\movies, and emby makes a few attempts to direct play the file from the network share before reverting to HTTP.

There used to be a tab in Libraries to setup path substitution, but now it's nowhere to be seen. Where did it go to? I can't find it anywhere and can't use external players without it. Previous: Now:

Howdy, I have been having issues with my setup after switch to streaming to Kodi using direct paths and path substitution on the server side. I have found a work around and am posting here in case someone else was having this issue. Issue: When setting path substitution for folders movies are handled differently than TV shows. EX: For movies the trailing \ is required to resolve a path properly (\\EXAMPLE\Movies\ will resolve correctly but \\EXAMPLE\Movies won't as it merges the file name and the folder name together). TV shows on the other hand behave differently and require the opposite when setting the Path Substitution per folder (\\EXAMPLE\TVShows will resolve correctly but \\EXAMPLE\TVShows\ will not as the Kodi plugin resolves it as SMB:\\EXAMPLE\TVShowsSMB:\\(TVSHOWNAME)). It seems that the movie handler won't add the trailing \ when resolving a network path and the TV handler interprets a trailing \ as SMB:\\ Work around: When setting the path substitution on the server be sure to include a trailing \ (\\EXAMPLE\Movies\) for Movies and when setting the path substitution for TV folders omit the trailing \ (\\EXAMPLE\TVShows) If anyone has any questions please reply and I will try to clear up anything I can.

Hi all :-) I'm a new user, trying to setup my Emby + Kodi environment. I've issues in library setup, during the "path substitution" phase, now integrated with library folders. The issue is that Emby "shared network folder" field seems to accept only UNC paths (\\server\share...), so any linux client tries to access the share via Samba instead of using NFS. My NAS exports shares both via SMB and NFS, but since I'm using some RaspberryPi as Kodi front-ends (OSMC distribution), I want to avoid using Samba, since it has an overhead on CPU. The only way I've find to end the library setup is by using UNC paths, but of course all clients try to access the share via Samba. Example, from kodi log: I've already tried to search for a solution on wiki and forum, but I've seen only threads (eg. https://emby.media/community/index.php?/forum/116-linux/)without solutions to get NFS works with Emby. It seems that it was supported without problem in the previous "path substitution" way: https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/24109-no-playback-with-beta-add-on/?p=235928 Is there any solution or workaround (even by edit manually some config file...) to pass to clients an NFS path instead of UNC, with the new library setup procedure? Thank you in advance. Bye, Edoardo

Hi All, I was hoping i could get some help with Path Substitution. i have upgrade to version 3.0.8200.0 (latest version) and i can see that the Path Substitution has move to Libraries and with in the folder. i have some old paths the i would like to update and it is not allow me to add the path. it say it is a invalid path. im running emby on a Ubuntu Server 16.04 with Samba the layout iim using is: smb://<username>:<password>@<IPaddress>/Media/Movie smb://<username>:<password>@<IPaddress>/Media/TVShow can someone confirm this is the right way Regards

I have read conflicting answers about what is best or if it really matters... UNC paths or path substitution. Is there any advantage or noticeable difference in performance relating to any aspect when using either or? My current setup: Emby Server installed on a Windows 2012 server VM. All media is stored on a separate, physical Windows 2012 server with SMB file sharing. I used UNC paths for the library locations in the Emby Server settings. Is there really any benefit of using path substitution? Any precautions if I switch to path substitutions? If starting a new install would you recommend UNC or substitution?

Hello, I'm a new user of Emby, i really love it !! it's so easy and powerfull i didn't know why i don't heard about it before. Here is my setup of Emby to explain what i excpected to do with it : Actually i use substitution path for local Kodi and i would know if it's possible to have two path substitution system ? One for local device and one for remote device. I got strong internet connexion and didn't need transcoding to play files on my remote Kodi so it would be really interessant if it's possible to dissociate local acces to files from remoted one. To resume : Local Kodi -> NFS access to NAS with substitution path Remote Kodi -> FTP access to NAS with substitution path Is this possible ? Need a bunch of modifications ? Again thanks for your great works !! PS : Sorry for my poor english, i 'm French i tried to write something understandable.

Hi, I'm trying to get direct play to work for the movies that reside on my NAS via NFS. But Emby is unable to verify the path. The NFS path listed in the log below is exactly the same path that works from the file manager in Kodi. My Emby server is Windows 8.1 and cannot access the NFS share outside of Kodi, but this shouldn't matter because of the path substitution, correct? Is the Kodi client verifying the path or is the Emby server? Setup: Emby Server - Window 8.1 Prof. NAS = WD My Cloud NFS/SMB Kodi = Windows and RPI2 Emby library folder: \\192.168.0.101\media\movies Emby Path Substitution: \\192.168.0.101\media to nfs://192.168.0.101/nfs/media Log: 21:05:33 T:26124 NOTICE: EMBY PlaybackUtils -> logMsg : Play called. 21:05:33 T:26124 NOTICE: EMBY PlayUtils -> logMsg : Verifying path: nfs://192.168.0.101/nfs/media/movies/4 Minute Mile 2014 HDRip XviD-EVO/4.minute.mile.2014.hdrip.xvid-evo.avi 21:05:33 T:26124 NOTICE: EMBY PlayUtils -> logMsg : Failed to find file. 21:05:33 T:26124 NOTICE: EMBY PlayUtils -> logMsg : Unable to direct play. 21:05:33 T:26124 NOTICE: EMBY PlayUtils -> logMsg : Direct play failed: 1 times. 21:05:33 T:26124 NOTICE: EMBY PlayUtils -> logMsg : The add-on settings bitrate is: 100000000, the video bitrate required is: 1130172 21:05:33 T:26124 NOTICE: EMBY PlayUtils -> logMsg : File is direct streaming. 21:05:33 T:26124 NOTICE: EMBY PlaybackUtils -> logMsg : Playlist start position: 1 21:05:33 T:26124 NOTICE: EMBY PlaybackUtils -> logMsg : Playlist plugin position: 1 21:05:33 T:26124 NOTICE: EMBY PlaybackUtils -> logMsg : Playlist size: 2 21:05:33 T:26124 NOTICE: EMBY PlaybackUtils -> logMsg : Resetting properties playback flag. 21:05:33 T:26124 NOTICE: EMBY PlaybackUtils -> logMsg : Play as a regular item. 21:05:33 T:18164 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening: http://192.168.0.143:8096/emby/Videos/f6637b59b53496deee3f2e371320b107/stream?static=true 21:05:33 T:18164 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player)::Put MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED

I'm new to the forum.. So if I say or ask something that may seem (ignorant) you will have to excuse me. On point ... I'm running Emby on Windows 7 with Kodi Jarvis. Ultimately all I want to achieve is Emby automatically pulling the entire Kodi Library so that it can be used in various ways and on other devices. MY PROBLEM, however, I'm not sure what correct folders and pathways are supposed to be for Kodi and emby to do that. I do not have any external drives or downloaded "movies or music" - I only stream content from Kodi. So the importance from a user standpoint and making sure its in my "movies" folder because I have 10 tb of video, DOES not apply to me. That being said, does someone have the basic library paths for kodi to be used inside emby or can someone help me set it up? Again, I have no movies or anything anywhere. Only inside Kodi do I have the streaming content. Feeling a little lost and little frustrated. Up onto this point I have spent 2 days straight now trying to figure this out. Can I just say "Venting here" - I VERY MUCH DISLIKE AND HATE "ROKU" the limited functionality or how about no functionality for KODI makes me want to take my 55" inch LED Roku TCL HDTV and toss in my yard and take a baseball bat to it! I'm done venting, now. So, anyone who can make this super easy setting up these paths and libraries, that would be great! Also, I have Premiere account - if the functionality works flawlessly after being setup .. I'm definitely in for an Annual or Lifetime membership!

I have Emby Server installed in a docker container on an Unraid server. I have Emby for WMC installed on a separate Windows 7 machine. I am using the Path Substitution feature of Emby Server. I have configured Virtual CloneDrive in the Emby for WMC Configurator tool. When attempting to play an ISO in Emby for WMC I receive an error message in a VCDMount widow outside Emby for WMC saying... "Can't mount " and then the path. The path displayed is the path on the server, not what has been configured in Path Substitution - which is why it fails to mount.

Hey All, I have run a FreeNAS for my home media server for some time (over 6 years)... but my current box was quite outdated (running FN 0.7.2, SAB, SickBeard, Couchpotato) and was due for an upgrade. Long story short, I upgraded my FreeNAS with a whole new hardware build and am now running the latest 9.3.1 with SAB, SR, CP, and Emby! I am thrilled to start using this setup with my Kodi clients to stream my media library. This will be my first time using Emby to keep my media library updated at a central location and synced down to my Kodi clients! As of last night, Emby Server is up and running on my FreeNAS. Admittedly, I have not had much time to test yet so I tested a couple videos via web browser. I am now focusing on installing Emby plugin on my Kodi clients and have some questions. Once the plugin is installed I can test further to ensure things are working nicely together. Path Substitution. I believe I have configured this on the Emby Server so that the Kodi clients play the media from my CIFS/SMB shares. Any other tips/tricks/words of wisdom? Are any settings changes required on the Kodi Emby addon to ensure the media is playing from the CIFS/SMB share instead of transcoding and playing from Emby? CIFS Authentication. Do I need to tweak any settings in Emby Server or the Kodi plugin to store user/pass for CIFS authentication? Media Library ​I assume that Emby is handling all of the media locations so I do not need to add the remote locations (SMB shares) directly to Kodi. Also assuming that it would be smart to remove existing media sources and blow away my existing Kodi library... or will Emby handle the library portion automatically? I would hate to end up with a jumbled mess up duplicated items. Once Emby is up and running can I still access my media from 'Movies'/'TV Shows' on the Kodi boxes or do I need to configure custom playlists and shortcuts to Emby? Hopefully you all can help clear up some of this confusion for me. -bmcclure937

First of all, let me say that I searched the forum and haven't found anything that covers this topic. I have a few questions regarding the setup of Emby together with Kodi when they are running on the same machine, to be precise, a headless Ubuntu-based HTPC. I scanned my video files to Emby, they show up just fine on the server side. Emby fetches all the artwork properly, including extrafanart and extrathumbs. I use the Kodi addon (1.1.53) and want to get direct playback running as smooth as possible. As said, Kodi runs on the same device with the same user and same filesystem access. But now a few questions arise: 1. Do I need the option to use local paths instead of Emby redirection enabled? When I do not enable that option, Kodi does not see the extrathumbs Emby provides because the skin needs the actual filepath to see them. 2. Will a path substitution solve the issue mentioned above? My video files are stored under /media/Media, will a substitution /media/Media -> /media/Media make a difference? 3. And, next big issue: I know that Kodi handles music different from the video files. How will path substitution and direct playback work here? How does the add-on provide the music cdart to Kodi? Will it set the item.art(discart) property? Again, the problem is that the skin I use right now needs the actual filename path for cdart, extrafanart and extrathumb. It would not be a big problem to change the skin a little, but right now I just don't now how because I don't know what artwork is provided to the music.db directly and which not.

Currently running Emby Version 3.0.5675.1 on my Windows 8.1 machine, and the Emby for Kodi addon version 1.1.17 on my Amazon Fire TV within my home network. I also like to access my library remotely to stream via my mobile devices. When trying to play from my Video Library while within my network, I receive the message that I am unable to direct play, and whether I want to stream via HTTP or HTTPS. I believe my issue has to do with my path substitution being set up incorrectly. I have my share permissions set up correctly for NFS, but think my syntax is wrong in my Emby Server for path substitution. For example, my current path substitution is set up like: From To "G:\TV" "nfs://192.168.0.10/G/TV/" "H:\Kid Movies" "nfs://192.168.0.10/H/Kid Movies/" It's my understanding that NFS does not require a username/password to access the Windows shares, versus if I were using SMB I would need to configure the setting within the Emby for Kodi add-on with the credentials. The above are a couple of examples, for which I thought were working correctly up until a few days ago when Emby for Kodi or my Emby Server were updated (I was out of town and something auto-updated). Now I receive the HTTP message and 'Warning: Unable to direct play'. I'd like to direct play my library from within my network, while still accessing media outside of my LAN. My examples above include the quotation marks because I am not aware of how Emby will process paths that contain spaces, so that's how I originally entered them. With borrowing from my above examples, what would be the official syntax to use for my NFS shares? For those paths that contain spaces, do I use quotes? Am I able to use the IP Address, or is Emby looking for the server name? For those paths that DO NOT contain 'spaces', would I use: Option A) nfs://192.168.0.10/TV Option B ) nfs://192.168.0.10/TV/ Option C) nfs://ServerName/TV Option D) nfs://ServerName/TV/ Option E) None of the Above (please provide a better suggestion) For those paths that DO contain 'spaces', would I use: Option A) nfs://192.168.0.10/Kid Movies Option B ) nfs://192.168.0.10/Kid Movies/ Option C) "nfs://192.168.0.10/Kid Movies" Option D) "nfs://192.168.0.10/Kid Movies/" Option E) nfs://ServerName/Kid Movies Option F) nfs://ServerName/Kid Movies/ Option G) "nfs://ServerName/Kid Movies" Option H) "nfs://ServerName/Kid Movies/" Option FML) None of the Above (please provide a better suggestion) Lots of play above with IP Address vs Server Name, quotes vs no quotes, slashes vs no slashes.... As you can see, just a little lost looking for some help. Thanks

Hi guys, I'd really like to upgrade my rather old Kodi HTPC setup by replacing the backend with Mediabrowser. I like the possibility to watch on multiple devices in my home network without keeping media databases in sync. So what I did was installing Mediabrowser on my Ubuntu server (HP N36L) for testing before buying a faster server (for transcoding). I am running into the problem that I cannot playback any content without transcoding being in place. The library is set up using linux local paths ( /media/Storage/movies ). I configured path substitution so that the clients can access the files directly. This is the point where I am not sure why transcoding is still in place. I tried the following configurations for substitution None of these worked for the web client on my Macbook (using Google Chrome), since I still see the bandwidth settings in the top right corner. All the options also didn't work for a Windows 7 client using Firefox. I did not test the following clients yet. Kodi, iPhone, iPad. My server can provide access to the media files via NFS, AFP or SMB. Can anyone help me troubleshoot the setup so I can playback with direct file access? Is it even possible that devices with different OS can playback with direct file access at the same time? Regards, Bondfreak

So I'm an idiot and set up my path substitution but i actually forgot to share the folders on the network, so my path substitution was not working and I was getting transcodes even when playing locally same machine server and MBT finally tracked it down to the substitution being invalid...

Path Substitution is not covered in the current wiki and seems to be a recent addition to the Media Library Options. Is there an explanation somewhere on how to utilize it? Thanks.