Audiobook-As-'TVShow' won't play on Shield TV (But Good on Web/Mobile)

[Hawkwinter 11]

Preamble / Background:
I have a ton of Audiobooks, mostly Audible, but some not. But None of my options are any good at organizing them, and having them on multiple platforms is a nuisance, as is not being able to stream them from my media server.

So - I tried making an "Audiobook" Library, but that was a big sea of files (or folders) and the audiobooks had the metadata fields of a song and I couldn't structure my collections into series, all of which was really not great. In a Stroke of 'What If' - I thought - "Maybe I can import them all as a TV Series instead?" So I tried it. I renamed the m4a files to mp4.

And then I tested it on web. And it worked perfectly. ff/rw/pause/resume/continue. And then I tested it on Mobile. And it worked perfectly there as well. I know it's kind-of off-label , but Audiobooks-As-TV-Series is perfect interface-wise.

I made the audiobook into a 'season' within the overall series, and that let me have individually sectioned chapters (as episodes), and jump between them easily.
I also tried converting the same audiobook to a single m4a/mp4 with 'chapters' and Emby detects those correctly as well - though only accessible on Web, no mobile.


 If you could access the chapters on Android when opening it as a TV-Show, all-in-one, All-In one would be ideal, organizationally - but I can manage with many short episodes instead - that's not the reason for this thread.

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/288765161_868742904085050_4858505779076026758_n.png?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=ae9488&_nc_ohc=BVfNNBZabnQAX9cbNly&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=03_AVIjvEAgPwfankfz-LOLbPy_tyjcgti5CyCiZanXT4_hLQ&oe=62F059D2

I mean - I had to populate the metadata myself, but that's not so hard. Mostly copy paste. And I've gotten pretty good at it at this point. It's a bit rough looking and only partly filled in, but it is a test.

With this working - I would / will be able to neatly insert my "The Clone Wars" audiobooks (Ahsoka, and the Ventress novel) where they fit into "The Clone Wars", which would / will be ideal.

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The Problem:
It does not work on the TV. The TV says "Too Many Errors, Giving Up", rather than playing the audio over a black screen with controls like I expected after seeing it work flawlessly on web and mobile.

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The Request / Bug Report / Whatever this is:
I would really like it if the TV Client handled such files the same way mobile and web do, by playing the audio and not freaking out about the lack of a video track. Then I can import the rest of my audiobooks (many of which are Forgotten Realms Novels written by a dozen authors, that I would like to add to my media library in chronological order making up one giant forgotten realms "show" with like 50 "seasons" (that I own). I can manage without being able to use it on my TV, but being able to use it on my TV would be very helpful.

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Aside: Feature Request
Being able to access video chapters on mobile would be handy.

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Thank you for your time.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Hawkwinter

[ebr 15439]

Hi.  Can you try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares?

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

 

[Hawkwinter 11]

3 hours ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Can you try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares?

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

 

That fixed it! Thanks!

Before uninstalling the uncooperative version I noted down which one it was. "Emby for Android TV, v4.0" Sideloading the same version (from the play store) I have on my phone, fixed it.

[Hawkwinter 11]

On 7/9/2022 at 11:46 AM, ebr said:

Hi.  Can you try sideloading our standard android app on the same device and see how that compares?

https://emby.media/emby-for-android.html

Thanks.

 

So - switching to the main Emby app - it will play my audiobooks.

But it seems it won't play my videos with AC3 audio. And neither app likes my 4k HDR EAC3 content - but maybe that's to be expected. I dont have much of that, so I dunno.

Which leaves me with two versions of Emby on my TV Box, needing to use a different version depending on what I'm watching (and some stuff I have to use my PC for) - which isn't an ideal UX.

[Hawkwinter 11]

@ebr
Just in case you missed my re-opening of the thread due to the new bug the solution led me to - in case you weren't aware of the issue.

[Luke 38874]

On 7/13/2022 at 7:39 PM, Hawkwinter said:

So - switching to the main Emby app - it will play my audiobooks.

But it seems it won't play my videos with AC3 audio. And neither app likes my 4k HDR EAC3 content - but maybe that's to be expected. I dont have much of that, so I dunno.

Which leaves me with two versions of Emby on my TV Box, needing to use a different version depending on what I'm watching (and some stuff I have to use my PC for) - which isn't an ideal UX.

If you try downloading and sideloading again, this should be resolved now. Thanks.

[Hawkwinter 11]

10 hours ago, Luke said:

If you try downloading and sideloading again, this should be resolved now. Thanks.

I'll test it tomorrow then. That's great news. 

[Hawkwinter 11]

On 7/15/2022 at 2:22 PM, Luke said:

If you try downloading and sideloading again, this should be resolved now. Thanks.

They appear to all be working now. Thanks a ton!

[Luke 38874]

Thanks for the feedback !