Using Emby WITHOUT Internet

[Jamr 3]

4 hours ago, roaku said:

A lot of legal users will be punished if the app stores/rights holders decide Emby isn't doing enough to prevent piracy through its platform.

I love how people justify the idiocy of the people with the keys without any firm ideas on how to fix the problem. Sarcasm.

There are always bad apples in a group. To say "Well we all will be punished if the warden finds out" without helping the problem, is no help at all.

Obviously the makers here do not want to do this. Until they do, they are not getting my $$

[ebr 14944]

15 hours ago, pwhodges said:

Which may be less of an issue than you think, because while the server is off the Internet there's no significant possibility of large numbers of new clients connecting to it.  The scope for misuse is miniscule.

Paul

Except that "off the internet" to the server would just mean "can't access our server" - not really the same thing...

[cptlores 23]

I wasn't going to go there.

But since there does not seem to be any plan to address this, I am going to suggest looking into Jellyfin for those that need a 100% offline solution.

 

[justinrh 175]

Emby really does need to address this.  Even having a 'days left until re-validation' counter could be helpful to some users (avoid surprises and guessing).

[js28194 15]

Why??  I do not understand this conversation at all.  Emby is/was a Media Management Solution first.  If people want a pure offline capability w/o internet then they can always turn to Kodi with MySQL centralized db for watch status sync.

I have been a long-time Emby Lifetime user, and I exclusively use Kodi as my front end on my shield devices in my local LAN.  Remotely, I use the Emby App which obviously requires an internet connection at the server level at the house with transcoding on my GPU.

Why bother using Emby if you always want to be in the local LAN with no internet?  Strange to blame Emby when other solutions are available at NO COST to do what you want.

All metadata / images / eye-candy requires the internet anyway even if you are offline and ripped your own blurays.  You need to get images from "somewhere".  I smell a rat somewhere, there is no good faith in this conversation when there are other mature solutions available for your needs.  Heck Kodi, with centralized mysql has become so easy nowadays, why are you are bothering with EMBY then?  Yes, i go back to the WMC with MediaBroswer days.  Emby was designed to be Media Management and EyeCandy first.  The playback app came much later.

Edited December 13, 2023 by js28194

[js28194 15]

I actually meant "Automated Media Management with EyeCandy" downloaded from the internet if the titles where properly name according to the themoviddb.org and thetvd naming conventions....

Again, super confused why you WANT Emby if you are in offline state all of your natural life.

[laie_techie 12]

I see both sides.

It would be nice to load up your media while connected to the internet (get all the metadata, posters, etc), then take your server with you for a road trip where you don't necessarily have internet connection. Will the road trip last so long that Emby needs to phone home? maybe.

From Emby's side, they walk a fine line allowing us to consume the media we've (legally) acquired while trying to appease the media creators by claiming they don't facilitate pirating. The method Emby chose is limiting the number of devices, and for that it does need to phone home every now and then. I wish it were more like torrent which argues they are just a technology and not responsible for how their users use it (I use torrent to download my distro of Linux).

The compromise might be a button to force Emby to refresh the cache. Before heading out you could force the cache to refresh so you would have the maximum time before Emby has to phone home again.

[seashell 35]

On 11/11/2022 at 8:35 AM, ebr said:

Yes, that is correct.  The apps need to validate the device limit.

So exactly how often does a premier app need to reactivate?  It seems the staff in this thread is being intentionally vague on this answer.

I get the impression it needs to phone home to reactivate every time it starts to play anything.  Is that correct?

 

[ebr 14944]

1 hour ago, seashell said:

So exactly how often does a premier app need to reactivate?  It seems the staff in this thread is being intentionally vague on this answer.

I get the impression it needs to phone home to reactivate every time it starts to play anything.  Is that correct?

 

I don't know what you mean by "reactivate" but the device limit is checked with each playback, correct.  However, it has an allowance for failure due to not being able to reach our server.  That should survive for several days since the last successful check.

[seashell 35]

Odd, no email notification of the reply this time.  Here I was just thinking everyone was off for the weekend. 

By "reactivate" I meant requesting permission to play media, verifying it is authorized, whatever.  I guess what you call checking the device limit. 

So I think I get the model now.  Each time media is played in an emby premier app it phones home to ask permission.  If it fails to reach the emby server it refuses to play media if it has been longer than (still vague) "several days".

So if one uses a device frequently, you're saying it should be able to continue to function through a partial day internet outage correct?

The problem would come if the device was not used frequently.  The "several days" would have expired since the last time it played.

Is that correct?

Also, just how much info is in this authorization request?  Are you tracking every file played?

And what happens for an unlocked android TV app if you have emby premier and no internet?  It checks for the other upgrade features (theme color or such) but not for playback?  Hopefully the answer isn't that emby premier effectively undoes the app unlock.

 

[ebr 14944]

16 hours ago, seashell said:

So if one uses a device frequently, you're saying it should be able to continue to function through a partial day internet outage correct?

Actually should be good for an outage of about 6 days.

16 hours ago, seashell said:

The problem would come if the device was not used frequently.  The "several days" would have expired since the last time it played.

Correct.  That is when people usually run into this problem.  Trying to start an app they haven't used in a while.

16 hours ago, seashell said:

Also, just how much info is in this authorization request?  Are you tracking every file played?

We don't track anything about what you play or what is in your library.  In fact the check that is done doesn't even know it is due to a playback attempt.

16 hours ago, seashell said:

And what happens for an unlocked android TV app

If playback is all you require from Premiere, then that should work indefinitely I believe.

[TonyStark81 0]

I know exactly how this can be done so you can be completely free of Internet and stream AND not have to worry about someone doing a merchant charge back. 

1) Create a USB dongle that has an encrypted key on it that the software checks for all the time without anyone knowing.

1.5) If you wanted to go the extra step you could; tie this whole setup to the mobile app on your phone that's connected to the same router, it calls out for the app and you place your finger on the biometric scanner (most modern phones have this feature). 

2) The person mails in a check or money order for the required amount to you, you deposit it and ship out the software, no electronic transactions allowed with the perm offline installer. It's more tedious, yes, BUT, the person gets what they want and the company gets their share. 

3) User installs the software from the same dongle, it detects the dongle upon install and checks daily for that key. No dongle... No play. If you lose the dongle you have to buy another, no questions. If you break the dongle, no refund and you have to buy another. 

 

4) Option number 4, the software runs from the dongle, you lose it, you lose your emby server. You still have your content but you have no means of watching it. This is actually the easiest way out. With modern computers you can run a virtual environment/hypervisor very easily. You cannot install it as it literally runs from the dongle. This is probably your best bet to reduce hackers taking the product. The person can't give them key as there is none. It's the dongle. And I was just thinking you don't even need a virtual session/hypervisor - you can boot directly from the drive and into your emby. You can connect to the net to pull down meta data for each movie, when that's done you disconnect and can go to Mars if needed. Don't think about copying the data from the thumb drive and putting it on another, can't copy from it that's all blocked. It's pretty sad that we have to go to such extremes to block piracy ( I say this with a bit of guilt and shame, as I have downloaded and used pirated software before but not anymore. Gave my life to Jesus Christ and a lot of that stuff changed). 

There are more options this is just off the cuff.

All the dongle options really wouldn't be that expensive. Once the foundation is laid it's easy to do. 

 

[roaku 797]

I've got an idea for how to make breakfast.