A better media player for Roku on TCL TV

[JayStevans 0]

Hi all,

I know the Media Player built into Roku on my TCL TV was designed to play video from a USB drive - understood.

I have a lot of media on a Windows 10 media streaming server that I want to be able to stream.  I want to install within Roku a streaming app that works will with a server.  This means the app needs to "understand" directories, be able to move through a directory structure so I can find and play the right episode of whatever series I am watching, display at least medium length file names, etc.

Ideally, it should also be able to play MOV, AVI, MPG, MP4, WMV and maybe FLV.

Is Emby the right answer?  Will the basic Emby do what I'm looking for or do I need the premium?

Thanks,

Jay

[speechles 1917]

If you use Emby on your Roku device the application will work without Premiere. Premiere is only needed on the Roku to access the Live TV features.

The Emby Roku app has a much better interface and UI than Roku Media Player and also has better media support. The Roku Media Player cannot transcode your media to a format the Roku can handle. Your Emby server can convert any media not compatible to a compatible format on-the-fly to your Roku.

Try it and let us know if this works for your media your way.

[Chenc033 0]

The issue is emby transcodes audio to Dolby digital and does not pass through dts. Selecting alternate player (tcl media player) works with dts pass through but you lose seek functionality. Wonder if it’s something emby can fix… seems like the emby player cannot use the dts pass through feature

[ebr 14903]

Hi.  DTS works fine for me.  Can we please look at a specific example?

 

[martincom 25]

An Emby/Roku will play DTS or DTS+.  The limitation is not with Emby, but the Roku.   For example, you can have the DTS-HD MA set as the default in Emby.  When performing playback through the Roku, it will convert it to DTS or DTS+ as that is the best it presently supports.  I haven't seen any DLNA playback devices that do better and most, not as well, in my limited experience.  I'm going to speculate it is a transmission bandwidth issue.  Not even a BD player will playback DTS-HD MA though a coaxial or optical interface, only HDMI.

When I add a selection to my library from a DVD or BD, I add all the english language audio tracks.  There is usually a high end track, such as DTS-HD MA, other surround tracks with less sophisticated encoding, and commentary tracks.  Audio is a drop in the bucket in terms of storage space, compared to video.  On playback, I select the best audio track the Roku can decode without conversion.

Maybe some day, a newer product will be able to decode the higher end surround encoding.  I don't want to have to go back and add it.

[Luke 37008]

@Chenc033 does this answer your question?