Official Steam Version.

[Mkilbride 83]

So the Steam Deck is pretty hyped now.  They showed it as a streaming device in some videos today. It's powerful enough to play pretty much anything directly, heck it could even be a server quite easily with it's specs.

 

A lot of people got to talking and now people are saying Plex is going to release a version to Steam so that it'd just run through that and play onto SteamOS without the user having to muck about outside of Valves ecosystem. There are plenty of free tools / video players in Steams Software section, so it'd be a pretty neat little thing I imagine.

[Luke 40082]

Hi, yes it's a good idea. Thanks.

[Jägs 85]

Speaking of Emby server, I'm very interested in using the Steam Deck as a portable Emby server—among other things—so the kiddos can stream videos to their iPads.  I know I can install Windows on it and then just run the Windows server app, but it'd be great to get a native version for SteamOS.

I currently use an RPi 4 for this, which works pretty well, but having a more general purpose device is ideal, especially given that it has better/faster/more M.2 storage.

[Mkilbride 83]

That'd be a really cool idea.

[Dazik 45]

Reviving this. I got my reservation email earlier today. Should be getting my Steam Deck next month some time.
I'll play around with it and see what can be done.

For the most part, using it as a client should be easy enough. I mean, browser access is all you need.
Server: SteamOS 3 is based off Arch, it just uses a modified KDE GUI. I have a feeling it wouldn't take much to get the Emby Server running, you should be able to install the emby-server package that already exists. That said, I haven't messed with SteamOS since the older versions, not much information on how application installs may work. Could just need to repackage the arch package and submit it to Steam for some kind of approval.

The older SteamOS versions (2 and 1) used Debian and Ubuntu + GNOME. Same kind of thing.

 

I am intending to use mine as a sort of HTPC in my bedroom. Real HTPC in living room. Tired of Roku these days, half the time nothing works anymore, on anything.

[Jägs 85]

On 3/31/2022 at 12:44 PM, Dazik said:

Reviving this. I got my reservation email earlier today.

(reads with envy)

I'd be curious if you can install Emby from the Discover app store—like the author of this article did to install Chrome—and then launch it from within Steam?  Definitely not as convenient as a app in the Steam Library, but it should suffice.

No rush, though.  Mine won't get here until October.  Maybe.  

[n00b42 38]

Got my SteamDeck some days ago, Discover (using flathub) only offers "Emby Server", not the client.

Nonetheless, you can just download the flatpack file from the Emby site and install it.

Edited May 27, 2022 by n00b42

[erikphilips 13]

Looks good on the Deck.  Probably needs a custom Controller Settings Layout, but still works pretty darn well.

 

[erikphilips 13]

Installing Emby on Steam Deck.

1. Pre-Installation Setup
2. Visual Emby Install
3. Command Line Emby Install
4. Add Game to Steam
5. Customize Game in Steam

Pre-Installation 

After you have booted into the SteamOS, Press and Hold the Power Button, until the Power menu appears:

 

Select Switch to Desktop

Visual Install

Launch Firefox, head over to emby > download > Amby Apps & Devices - Linux > click X64 to download the flatpak.
(https://emby.media/emby-theater-linux.html#flatpak)

 

Firefox download option:  Open with Discover (Default) -> Ok

 

Click Install in the upper right hand corner of discover.
(The UI seems to be buggy here, once Emby is installed the progress
bars will disappear, but the install button will remain.  Click install again
will result in a message that Emby is already installed.)

Command Line Emby Install
(Must be desktop mode, see pre-installation)

From the Terminal Run:
(note: the version linked below was the current version as of this writing and is the same link on emby.media linux install.  Check for the latest version there)

(CURRENTLY NOT WORKING)

flatpak install --from https://github.com/MediaBrowser/emby-theater-electron/releases/download/3.0.15/emby-theater-flatpak_3.0.15_x86_64.flatpak

 

Add Game to Steam
(Must be desktop mode, see pre-installation)

Launch Steam, click Add a Game, then click Add a Non-Steam Game...

Check the Checkbox next to Emby Theater, then click Add Selected Programs

 

Navigate to your Library and Emby Theater should be an option

[erikphilips 13]

@Luke Getting a weird error on command line installing the flatpak (SteamOS / ArchLinux).

[erikphilips 13]

Customize Game in Steam
(5 Locations)

Download: Icon


Download: Box Size


Download: Backdrop






1. To update Icon, in the Uncategorized List, right click on Emby Theater then click Properties...

 

Left Click in the Black Square (Icon) Next to the "Emby Theater" label.
Navigate to /home/deck/Downloads
and select Icon.png then click Open.
The icon should now be applied.




2. Update the Library Box Cover, Right Click the Emby Theater, Click Manage, then Click Set Custom Artwork
Navigate to /home/deck/Downloads
and select box-size.jpg then click Open.
The artwork should now be applied.




3/4. Update the logo and backdrop, Click on Emby Theater.


 

Right click on the backdrop and click Set Custom Logo
Navigate to /home/deck/Downloads
and select icon.jpg then click Open.

Right click on the backdrop and click Set Custom Background
Navigate to /home/deck/Downloads
and select backdrop.jpg then click Open.

The artwork should now be applied.

5. Update the recently played artwork, launch Emby, then quit.
Scroll down the list to recently played.
Right click Emby, click Manage, then click Set Custom Artwork.
Navigate to /home/deck/Downloads
and select backdrop.jpg then click Open.




When you're finished you should now have all custom artwork set for Emby.

 

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by erikphilips

[orbitron 0]

Unfortunately once installing the flatpak via the command line or Discover, Discover stops working and crashes. The fix is to uninstall the Emby flatpak. I am doing some further troubleshooting.

[Luke 40082]

45 minutes ago, orbitron said:

Unfortunately once installing the flatpak via the command line or Discover, Discover stops working and crashes. The fix is to uninstall the Emby flatpak. I am doing some further troubleshooting.

Maybe there's some sort of system log with more info on what happened?

[Romek123 42]

Emby client official on steam would be a great thing. With build-in emulator support it would go through the roof

[Dizzy49 98]

@erikphilips

Thank you so much, very awesome, I got it installed.

Having some issues with the artwork though.  Does this need to be done on the Steam Deck, or can I do it on my personal PC?  If on the Steam Deck does it need to be in Desktop mode or normal (what is that called, SteamOS?) ?

[Dizzy49 98]

@erikphilips

I figured it out, I was having issues with the Box, and I couldn't see it in my list.  I had to do a search to find it and then add it to my Favorites.

Everything must be done in the Desktop side of the Steam Deck.

[Spaceboy 2565]

well i shall be installing this when i get a minute

[Spaceboy 2565]

dead easy. thanks @erikphilips

[Baldman6 0]

Just got my 512 Steam Deck today. Will be trying this before installing any games. Thank you @erikphilips. Rock on!

 

[dicion 2]

Just did all the above. Great.

 

Unfortunately, I discovered that the #1 reason I wanted it on my steam deck isn't supported.

Emby Theater (Other than windows store version) does not support transcode/downloading/offline to the steam deck.

YES, I can download the whole file, but I REALLY don't want to download a 56GB file. I want the option to transcode and save that my daughter's amazon fire tablet already has.

When can we expect the full transcode/download/offline functionality to work in Emby Theater Flatpack? IMO this is absolutely REQUIRED for a portable device like the steam deck.

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by dicion

[erikphilips 13]

On 8/15/2022 at 11:00 AM, dicion said:

Just did all the above. Great.

 

Unfortunately, I discovered that the #1 reason I wanted it on my steam deck isn't supported.

Emby Theater (Other than windows store version) does not support transcode/downloading/offline to the steam deck.

YES, I can download the whole file, but I REALLY don't want to download a 56GB file. I want the option to transcode and save that my daughter's amazon fire tablet already has.

When can we expect the full transcode/download/offline functionality to work in Emby Theater Flatpack? IMO this is absolutely REQUIRED for a portable device like the steam deck.

 

 

This is the downside to Emby Theater, as it wasn't designed like the mobile versions with offline support.  (I'm assuming here and I'm sure @Luke would be able to verify).  Additionally, I can't imagine a SteamOS specific version of an Emby client simply because the effort to make sure it works in Proton for a very niche community vs that same work being done for a feature available to a broader set of end users is most often then not the way to go. 

I would like to think that the Emby team would be able either update the Flatpack version or create a new Linux FlatPack version that allowed transcoded downloads for offline play.  Maybe there is some way to update the Flatpack with some default Emby image files that can be automatically picked up by SteamOS, and we'd be 95% there.

Edited September 2, 2022 by erikphilips

[Luke 40082]

18 hours ago, erikphilips said:

 

This is the downside to Emby Theater, as it wasn't designed like the mobile versions with offline support.  (I'm assuming here and I'm sure @Luke would be able to verify).  Additionally, I can't imagine a SteamOS specific version of an Emby client simply because the effort to make sure it works in Proton for a very niche community vs that same work being done for a feature available to a broader set of end users is most often then not the way to go. 

I would like to think that the Emby team would be able either update the Flatpack version or create a new Linux FlatPack version that allowed transcoded downloads for offline play.  Maybe there is some way to update the Flatpack with some default Emby image files that can be automatically picked up by SteamOS, and we'd be 95% there.

Hi, yes the download feature is certainly possible to add to Linux Emby Theater in future updates. Thanks.

[ich777 11]

On 9/3/2022 at 4:57 PM, Luke said:

Hi, yes the download feature is certainly possible to add to Linux Emby Theater in future updates. Thanks.

Would it be also maybe possible to add Emby Theater to Flathub, the Server is already there but not Theater.

This would make the installation on the Deck much easier.

[Luke 40082]

2 hours ago, ich777 said:

Would it be also maybe possible to add Emby Theater to Flathub, the Server is already there but not Theater.

This would make the installation on the Deck much easier.

Hi, yes we can look into that. Thanks.

[skobkin 7]

It's a mystery to me why Emby Theater has Flatpak version but isn't published on Flathub or at least has it's own Flatpak repository which could've been added to package managers.