Add another internal player LibVLC in client for Android TV

[Fabian2101 23]

I want to suggest you guys, please add LibVLC player as an alternative internal player to ExoPlayer. It's just a matter of adding a configuration option in the client for Android TV, in which I can choose between the different options ExoPlayer, or LibVLC, or an external player.

An Emby competitor's Android TV client already has the configuration options ExoPlayer, or LibVLC, or automatic, or an external player. It is that if Emby's competitor already has two internal players, the official Emby clients would also have to have the internal LibVLC.

Since the problem of playing MKV files, which contain Dolby Vision and HDR10, is unique to the Emby's ExoPlayer player, but if I had the option to choose LibVLC, right now I could play absolutely all my files that have DV and HDR10 with LibVLC, if you were as an internal player in the Emby client for Android TV.

Although VLC a few years ago has problems with small jerks or jumps in the image when playing SRT text subtitle lines, I only use forced subtitles with a few lines of text in movies or TV series episodes.

I leave you an attached image with the configuration options that should be added to the client for Android TV:

 

 

Thanks. Greeting.

Edited January 17, 2023 by Fabian2101
correction

[ebr 14910]

13 hours ago, Fabian2101 said:

It's just a matter of adding a configuration option in the client for Android TV,

Hi.  You do realize it is way more complicated than adding a checkbox, right?

13 hours ago, Fabian2101 said:

An Emby competitor's Android TV client already has the configuration

That "competitor" has that because that app is just a really old version of our app (you cannot tell that anymore because they removed all the attribution from the code) with some modifications.  We used LibVLC in some cases long ago but it ended up having way too many limitations.  I doubt we will be looking to re-introduce it but we are constantly working on accounting for whatever deficiencies exist in Google's Exoplayer.  We are working on this now.

[Fabian2101 23]

5 hours ago, ebr said:

Hi.  You do realize it is way more complicated than adding a checkbox, right?

If I understand it, it's a pretty big job to introduce a new configuration option, and especially if it's an option to enable a new internal player. But I think that in several or many months, the work can be done without haste.

5 hours ago, ebr said:

That "competitor" has that because that app is just a really old version of our app (you cannot tell that anymore because they removed all the attribution from the code) with some modifications.  We used LibVLC in some cases long ago but it ended up having way too many limitations.  I doubt we will be looking to re-introduce it but we are constantly working on accounting for whatever deficiencies exist in Google's Exoplayer.  We are working on this now.

I was wondering if ExoPlayer is really the only option, or if there is another player that is better than ExoPlayer for Android clients?

[ebr 14910]

37 minutes ago, Fabian2101 said:

I was wondering if ExoPlayer is really the only option, or if there is another player that is better than ExoPlayer for Android clients?

Exoplayer is Google's (the maker of Android) player specifically designed and developed for Android.  In our experience over several years, it also has proven to be the best - definitely not perfect - but covering the most bases.  It is also extensible which we have taken advantage of which is both good and bad.  The good is we are able to fix things Google may not want to or just takes a long time to and also add things they don't want to.  The bad is, the more we do that, the harder it is to update when Google releases new versions.

We're in the process of updating now.

[Fabian2101 23]

41 minutes ago, ebr said:

Exoplayer is Google's (the maker of Android) player specifically designed and developed for Android.  In our experience over several years, it also has proven to be the best - definitely not perfect - but covering the most bases.  It is also extensible which we have taken advantage of which is both good and bad.  The good is we are able to fix things Google may not want to or just takes a long time to and also add things they don't want to.  The bad is, the more we do that, the harder it is to update when Google releases new versions.

So, hopefully, that everything goes well in the ExoPlayer update process, and that the playback problem in some files with DV and HDR10 is solved.

 

41 minutes ago, ebr said:

We're in the process of updating now.

When your work on the update is finished, please let me know so I can test it from day one. Thanks.

[Fabian2101 23]

On 1/17/2023 at 4:59 PM, ebr said:

We're in the process of updating now.

I want to notify you that the problem with playback, with the previously mentioned files of Netflix content, which contain DV and HDR10, in my case it is completely solved, the playback is direct and without any transcoding, but for the moment the solution It is in the client for Android tablets and smartphones with version 3.2.91.
The successful test was carried out on my Philips 55OLED873 television with Android TV 8, on the Xiaomi Mi Box with Android TV 9.

Unfortunately, the problem persists in the client for Android TV, and what I use the most is the client for Android TV, on my four television devices to watch movies and episodes of television series in HDR quality.

I attach the screenshots, where you can see my Emby server, doing direct transmission with HTTP, without any transcoding: