Search the Community

Hi there, I'm exploring switching to Emby from my old, custom built setup which consists of: an MS Access database for holding all my data, scraping IMDB, etc.; a SnapStream Firefly RF PC Remote; VLC (running in one-instance mode, headless, using the dummy interface, and the http interface ); and a custom web interface (that I can control via hotkeys via my remote) which sends commands to VLC. My multi-terabyte library of files consists primarily of fully ripped DVD VIDEO_TS folders, with full DVD menu support via VLC. And then I also have a some amount of mpeg files. VIDEO_TS rips consist of movies (single and multi-disc sets) and tv shows (mostly multi-disc, with some as many as 60 disc folders). My video files are stored primarily on a NAS, but are also spread across several other network shares (on Windows computers). I am considering switching to something like Emby because my current metadata system is a bit tedious (eg, I manually enter the title, copy/paste the IMDB ID, and at times manually enter other details), and I'd like to benefit from that and other things that Emby can (I believe) do better than my custom system (which I haven't updated in years, other than adding movies, etc. to it). I am primarily interested in watching movie/tv DVD folders on Windows 10 computers, in a home LAN environment (everything is on the same subnet). Watching on Roku or portable devices is fairly secondary (especially portable devices). I might explore using Roku just for browsing my library (in instances where I'm already in Roku from viewing/considering other video sources), and then can switch to my PC for full DVD menu support (which I understand probably doesn't work in Roku). So, with all that background/context, I have some questions: I'm unclear on what I need to install, and in which locations/computers, in order to have full DVD menu support when playing VIDEO_TS folders. My impression is that installing the Emby server on one machine would allow that Windows machine to play files locally (no transcoding) and thus support full DVD menus. But I'm unclear then on what I would install on another Windows computer for the same functionality. I am considering upgrading to a Synology NAS (which I believe it is possible to install Emby on), so any thoughts, recommendations, caveats, etc. regarding going that route (vs installing on one of the Windows computers) are appreciated. I particularly wonder if there would be any issues with Emby being on the NAS while some of the additional network shares would be on other computers (you can assume that I know how to create user permissions on Windows shares to grant access to whatever the Emby Server on Synology user would be). It does occur to me that my Roku is on a different subnet than the CAT cable LAN, but one of my computers is a laptop which can be connected to both subnets (one via cable, one via WiFi), so I wonder if I'd need to install the server on that if I want the Roku to be able to access my Emby server data? If I wanted to, could I configure Emby such that VLC could handle playing the VIDEO_TS folders on either computer (let's just assume two Windows computers for the moment)? My goal here would be no transcoding, but playing the folders locally over the network such that I'd have the benefit of full DVD menu support via VLC. Have you all ever considered bundling VLC with Emby Theater (in contexts that VLC will work) and using the http interface (like I mention above) to provide full DVD menu support for VIDEO_TS folders? Or alternatively, providing the option of an additional config file where a user could set their parameters related to their VLC config (ie, in this case, the user would have to take care of starting VLC [headless, if they wised] and configuring it however they wished)? I'd love to have the benefits of Emby Theater, but still be able to play everything (or at least designated types, such as VIDEO_TS folders) via VLC, similar to how I currently do via my custom browser interface. Since most of my library is using VIDEO_TS folder rips, and many of these contain extras, I'm wondering if there is any kind of online database that Emby can pull data from regarding Extras that are contained on a given DVD (or Blu-ray, though I'll be using the Media Stubs feature for Blu-ray discs, as I don't typically rip those because of size/space)? I have access (within my custom database) to the UPC for all of my DVD folders, if there is a way to do lookups based on that. I have seen in forum posts and the Wiki that most people rip extras to individual video files and stick them in an Extras folder, but that's not a workable route for me (ie, I'm not going to convert my whole library). I'm not concerned with being able to click "play" and go straight to a specific DVD title/section (though, technically that is possible, as I do that for some items in my custom setup and just pass the proper title/chapter string to VLC), but it would be super-handy to have a list of the extras which are contained on a given DVD be retrievable online and then stored in metadata and displayed when viewing that item in Emby. I suspect this is a long shot, but figured it doesn't hurt to inquire. I'll undoubtedly have more questions, but I think those are all for now. Many thanks to any who offer thoughts, suggestions, etc.!