Replace Roku box with ?

[Happy2Play 8296]

1 hour ago, Bingie said:

They could easily ad more in the future, and they probably will.

But then they would have to inject info into devs code (don't see that going over well) or require it in all third party apps (don't see that happening either).  But yes, it is on Roku Home page and nothing within Emby itself.

But as a non-Android user I have no idea how their client's work.

[justinrh 174]

6 hours ago, mastrmind11 said:

Where are the ads on the shield?  I don't believe I have ever seen one.

On the home screen, above your pinned apps.

[One2Go 98]

On 25/02/2023 at 15:27, Bingie said:

It just irks me that they can do whatever they want.  Today, it's just the ad on the main page.  Tomorrow, they could make it worse.  Who's to stop them

Don't take this the wrong way, but you need to put yourself into the position of the ones that own the products. The corporations don't spend billions of dollars so that you can enjoy a viewing pleasure. They ONLY bring you a viewing pleasure if they can make money of you. That's is the world we live in and it is called capitalism. The time it takes when Tom Cruise farts on set costs thousands of dollars, who is going to pay for that? The consumer, plain and simple.

So, since that is the environment in which we consume our entertainment, the ONLY thing we can do is to minimize the junk that is being thrown at us and I am in that boat. The solution that works for me and the users that I give access to my Emby server is this:

1. Get a stable and well supported hardware device and software media organizer / center. For me Roku, Shield, Chromecast and a Windows PC will do. Emby bar none is the gold standard of the media organizers.
2. Pay for a years subscription of advertisement free streaming services, some offer free heir TV channel but then you are again in the world of advertisements.
3. [redacted]

Some time ago there was a passionate discussion here about Emby going the route of Plex and Emby's Devs selling out their product to some mega rich corporation which means we would truly be f****d. The Devs answered it to my satisfaction as Emby is their child which they truly love and treasure and want to see it grow to maturity and be successful. Therefore, they convinced me that Emby would not go the route of Plex. Since we all are under the constraints of time and grow old who knows what the future may bring. For me it means stop futzing around with solutions and use the time to enjoy the media consumption.

 

Edited February 28, 2023 by seanbuff
Excess info / foul language

[Bingie 99]

Here's the latest:

I've been playing around with Kodi (libreelec on a mini-pc), with the Emby addons, and it has one major feature I really wish Emby had: the ability to fast forward thru media while still watching, instead of the media pausing every time you want search for a certain scene, or skip the current scene.  This one feature is almost enough reason to switch, but not quite.  I really wish Emby could add this capability.

However, I've been playing around the rest of Kodi, lots of addons out there, but not very intuitive to use, especially the "free" stuff where you have to switch to a browser to enter a code to watch... that's fine for young tinkerers who don't mind doing that stuff, but normal family members, including myself, would never want all those extra steps, not to watch free streams.  Not worth the hassle.

Also, I've noticed playback video and audio just seems better with normal emby client, compared to kodi.  Probably because I still need to tweak kodi to play better, but I never had to tweak anything in Emby, it just works, is easy to use, and has great quality.

I'll keep playing with Kodi, to see if there is anything else I like about it, but for now, we're sticking with just Emby client.  At a minimum, I'll still get rid of these boxes with the roku spyware that permanently records everything you watch, and uploads that info to be sold to any advertiser willing to pay.  I have a mini pc running libreelec, it boots nice enough, but instead of running kodi, I'd like it to run the emby theater client instead.

More tinkering to do...

 

[GrimReaper 3308]

11 minutes ago, Bingie said:

it has one major feature I really wish Emby had: the ability to fast forward thru media while still watching, instead of the media pausing every time you want search for a certain scene, or skip the current scene.  This one feature is almost enough reason to switch, but not quite.  I really wish Emby could add this capability

Guess I'm missing something as I'm not quite following: which Emby client app doesn't behave like that? 

[Bingie 99]

1 hour ago, GrimReaper said:

Guess I'm missing something as I'm not quite following: which Emby client app doesn't behave like that? 

We've been using the emby app for roku.  It has always paused the video when fast forwarding.  I'd love to get that feature working.

 

[Bingie 99]

1 hour ago, GrimReaper said:

Guess I'm missing something as I'm not quite following: which Emby client app doesn't behave like that? 

I just tried the emby theater for windows, it has forward +10 seconds and backwards -10 seconds, but no fast forward x2/x4/x8 etc.?

Both would be nice, but the skip ahead/back 10 seconds is already much better than the emby for roku app.

[Bingie 99]

1 hour ago, GrimReaper said:

Guess I'm missing something as I'm not quite following: which Emby client app doesn't behave like that? 

I just double checked all of our roku setups.  Either a separate roku box, or a tcl smart tv with roku built in.  They ALL pause the video, when you press the right or left key.  You press it to the time you want, then hit the OK button, and emby searches for the new content, then begins playing from there.  Always been this way.

 

[GrimReaper 3308]

32 minutes ago, Bingie said:

I just tried the emby theater for windows, it has forward +10 seconds and backwards -10 seconds, but no fast forward x2/x4/x8 etc.?

Both would be nice, but the skip ahead/back 10 seconds is already much better than the emby for roku app.

Those intervals are adjustable, typical setup is +30/-10. On AndroidTV app there's no pause, click fwd/back and it just resumes from that point. Longer you keep button pressed, longer chunks are skipped, i.e. 30s/1m/5m, like ffwd. 

[Bingie 99]

4 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Those intervals are adjustable, typical setup is +30/-10. On AndroidTV app there's no pause, click fwd/back and it just resumes from that point. Longer you keep button pressed, longer chunks are skipped, i.e. 30s/1m/5m, like ffwd. 

The emby theater for windows instantly skips 10 seconds, that's great!  So much better than the emby for roku app.  Now I'm even more motivated to rid our home of these roku spyware boxes.

 

[viking19 24]

4 hours ago, Bingie said:

However, I've been playing around the rest of Kodi, lots of addons out there, but not very intuitive to use, especially the "free" stuff where you have to switch to a browser to enter a code to watch... that's fine for young tinkerers who don't mind doing that stuff, but normal family members, including myself, would never want all those extra steps, not to watch free streams.  Not worth the hassle.

Also, I've noticed playback video and audio just seems better with normal emby client, compared to kodi.  Probably because I still need to tweak kodi to play better, but I never had to tweak anything in Emby, it just works, is easy to use, and has great quality.

I assume the first part is about the more dubious parts of Kodi. If you have multiple clients you can install different "builds" of Kodi per client, so some have access to that "stuff" and some don't (more rabbit hole). I'm certainly not a Kodi fanboy, I don't use the extra "stuff" part.

I am curious about the playback differences you see though, I don't have an apples to apples comparison. I have a Minix U9H with CoreElec connected to a Samsung plasma(1080p) vs an Hisense 4k Google TV and there is definitely a difference, but that is to be expected.

Edited February 28, 2023 by viking19
grammer

[Bingie 99]

25 minutes ago, viking19 said:

I assume the first part is about the more dubious parts of Kodi.

 

I don't see why people consider kodi apps that provide free live streaming illegal.  If an addon makes it easy to find free live streams available over the Internet, I consider that a kindness.  After all, new tv's today all offer free streaming too, even our two year old tcl tv's come with a built-in roku player and hundreds of free live streaming channels.  Why is it legal for tcl to offer hundreds of free channels, but not kodi or the recently decimated locast, which offered access to live streams for free, but asked for voluntary donations, and were sued, because they may profit from donations, but tcl does profit by selling tv's with free streaming built-in.  I hate the hypocrisy.  Damn lawyers and politicians.

Anyways, yeah, I'm curious about the differences in quality too.  I just went back to our roku ultra (emby app), and it does have noticeably better audio and video playback, not sure why, maybe a faster cpu/gpu than our cheap tcl tv w/ built-in apps.  I'm no expert by any means, but even I notice a difference.  I'm not qualified to test the differences though.

Going to load windows on a mini pc and test emby theater next.  If it's as good as the roku ultra, that's an easy decision to switch.

 

[HKEmby 0]

I love my Shield Pros (have more than one). I changed the default launcher...ads gone

[Bingie 99]

24 minutes ago, HKEmby said:

I love my Shield Pros (have more than one). I changed the default launcher...ads gone

I am seriously thinking of picking one up.  I should at least try it, since I'm trying everything else.  Very tempted to order one.

Also, I just noticed this item, anyone know the story with these:

https://www.amazon.com/Dune-HD-Max-Vision-4K/dp/B08XPQFS2Q/ref=psdc_13447451_t3_B08LL3BJ85

 

[mike3821 61]

57 minutes ago, Bingie said:

I am seriously thinking of picking one up.  I should at least try it, since I'm trying everything else.  Very tempted to order one.

Also, I just noticed this item, anyone know the story with these:

https://www.amazon.com/Dune-HD-Max-Vision-4K/dp/B08XPQFS2Q/ref=psdc_13447451_t3_B08LL3BJ85

 

I may have one for sale if interested.

Im testing to see if an Xbox can be our replacement.

[Bingie 99]

I finally ordered a shield pro, will test that next.  Yes, the hardware is 4 years old (2019 version) and they are way overdue releasing a new model, but it's still considered the best by many, so time for me to see for myself.

I do like Kodi on libreelec (on a mini-pc), but it's not what I'd call stable, crashes too easily from addons, even skins.  That's not good.  Some features work intermittently, requires a reboot to clear up.  That's not good either.  I installed and tested both emby addons, the channels dvr addon, and the emby skin (embuary) to make it look/function just like emby theater, which is really cool.  I like that a lot.

Kodi does support time shifting (able to watch the video while fast forwarding) whereas the roku does not (pauses video while fast forwarding), which is a really big issue for me.

 

[justinrh 174]

On 3/3/2023 at 6:07 PM, HKEmby said:

default launcher

Can you expound on this?  What is a launcher, and how did you change it?

[mike3821 61]

12 hours ago, justinrh said:

Can you expound on this?  What is a launcher, and how did you change it?

Just google, how to install wolf launcher.

[Bingie 99]

7 hours ago, mike3821 said:

Just google, how to install wolf launcher.

Thanks, I didn't know about replacement launchers, should get my nvidia shield pro today, it's "out for delivery".

I'm watching youtube videos on launchers, and reading forum posts.  Plenty of info out there on the wolf launcher, so I'll probably start there, because I HATE ADS!

Then I'll install both the emby addon and the channels addon, and start playing around with those.  My servers are all done, ready for the new client

[Bingie 99]

Should I downgrade the shield pro OS to 8.2.3 ?

Reading about how people revert their shield pro to the older firmware, that gets rid of ads, gets rid of the background processes (spyware) reporting everything you do, and speeds it back up:

https://florisse.nl/shield/

Wondering if anyone here reading this has done this...

 

[mike3821 61]

11 hours ago, Bingie said:

Should I downgrade the shield pro OS to 8.2.3 ?

Reading about how people revert their shield pro to the older firmware, that gets rid of ads, gets rid of the background processes (spyware) reporting everything you do, and speeds it back up:

https://florisse.nl/shield/

Wondering if anyone here reading this has done this...

 

Not sure. Launchers are fine with me. 

[Bingie 99]

Okay, that was easy.  I downgraded the nvidia shield pro firmware to the old 8.2.3:

https://florisse.nl/shield/

I'm always a little nervous when flashing firmware, but since this was a new purchase, wasn't worried, if I bricked it, I can just send it back to Amazon and get another one, no questions asked.  Those instructions are perfect though, every single step well documented.  Works great.

I also debloated the shield, removing lots of apps, using this one:

https://florisse.nl/shield-tweaks/

I also installed a new launch manager and the wolf launcher, followed the directions on the troypoint site:

https://troypoint.com/wolf-launcher/#Wolf_Launcher_on_NVIDIA_SHIELD

However, it looks like there is a newer launch manager out there.  So hard to find the latest version of these things, no central site, you have to google and check all the sites, and hope to find the latest one.

 

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by Bingie

[Bingie 99]

Finally got around to installing the Emby app on the nvidia shield pro.  I like it!  The live tv integration of the channels dvr server is much better on the android platform.  The roku client was just too slow (usually takes 10-30 seconds to tune to a channel).  Now it only takes a few seconds, and the delay is the Sling TV service (I'm all very high speed, everything wired gigE, my server runs 95% idle).  Maybe I'll try different streaming services, I've already tried a few of the free m3u servers, and it's a mixed bag.  Lots of testing to do.

Never did get the wolf launcher widgets working, not too worried about that right now.  It's a clean interface, will load an auto-run addon, to just have it start the emby client by default.

One thing in the emby client for android, there is no fast forward option, only time skip.  On the kodi, I can click fast forward button and watch the video at 2x/4x/8x etc., but on the android, it instantly jumps ahead x seconds.  I'd really like to actually see the video skipped at higher speed, if possible, to see what got skipped.

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by Bingie

[mike3821 61]

1 minute ago, Bingie said:

Finally got around to installing the Emby app on the nvidia shield pro.  I like it!  The live tv integration of the channels dvr server is much better on the android platform.  The roku client was just too slow (usually takes 10-30 seconds to tune to a channel).  Now it only takes a few seconds, and the delay is the Sling TV service (I'm all very high speed, everything wired gigE, my server runs 95% idle).  Maybe I'll try different streaming services, I've already tried a few of the free m3u servers, and it's a mixed bag.  Lots of testing to do.

Never did get the wolf launcher widgets working, not to worried about that right now.  It's a clean interface, will load an auto-run addon, to just have it start the emby client by default.

One thing in the emby client for android, there is no fast forward option, only time skip.  On the kodi, I can click fast forward button and watch the video at 2x/4x/8x etc., but on the android, it instantly jumps ahead x seconds.  I'd really like to actually see the video skipped at higher speed, if possible, to see what got skipped.

 

Just set the library to show video previews with thumbnails at 10 seconds. This will act more like Netflix to scrub through your videos.

 

[Bingie 99]

16 minutes ago, mike3821 said:

Just set the library to show video previews with thumbnails at 10 seconds. This will act more like Netflix to scrub through your videos.

 

Thanks.  I've searched both in the client on the tv, as well as the server gui.  I don't see any "preview" or "thumbnail" option at all anywhere.  I did change the skip ahead from 30 to 10 seconds though.