So, why Emby

[arrbee99 1560]

Any thoughts on the above ?

I mean I love Emby, but I'm just wondering, whenever it seems like I spot a 'recommend me a media server thing' anywhere, people recommend Plex, cause its just big and well known, and has a dedicated music player (whatever its called)  and, believe it or not, is pretty good, or they go for Jellyfin, cause its you know, free, yes not perfect, but hey, its free.

Emby seems to be the last to do things - why even mention Nextgen TV ? that group watching thing - nope, standalone music player, nope, smart playlists, nope...

So whats special, really, about Emby ? Has it got a USP, is there one, wow, thing.

And I really do know the devs work their assets of, and we've all got our pet feature we promote etc etc

[Junglejim 351]

Personally I think Emby shines with it's community/support. I know it lags behind in the areas you mentioned but usually the community of plugin dev's will step up with a solution of some kind to tie us over until it gets added to core. Intro skip is a good example, the core dev's saw the potential and added it in quick smart.

So yeah it's the community for me!

[Gilgamesh_48 943]

You are pretty much correct in that just about every advertising method shows Plex as the better media manager but that is because Plex spends money to advertise and Emby dose not, at least not near as much.

Also, because Plex usually comes up first in searches for media managers people tend to install Plex more often than Emby. That then produces "confirmation bias" where people tend to say what they regularly use and spent a lot of time in is the "best."

In some ways Plex is better:
1. If you do not want to run your own server then Plex is better than Emby because they have moved well away from local media management.
2. If you do not want or feel you do not need decent support then Plex is the way to go.
3. Plex is prettier and they spend lots of time making up their face.
4. Plex is easier to install if and only if you do not want anything the least bit unusual in you system.
5. Plex handles live TV a bit better if you use a standard tuner but they fail miserably if you have anything non-standard in your setup. I could not find a way to get an M3U tuner to work in Plex while I was super simple to do in Emby.
6. There are many other things Emby does better than Plex but Plex is prettier. And that is important to many people.

Using searches to find things is often a pretty easy and accurate operation. However "search" only works if the data being searched is both reliable and accurate. Data for "What is the best media manager" is not currently accurate and is very unreliable.

I will be honest here and say that when I first started being interested in hosting and playing my media locally the first one I tried was Media Browser which later became Emby and I thoroughly detested it. I then tried a very early version of Plex and I felt it was even worse.

I tried several other media managers and used two for several years. Those both used Apache as a database manager and required. Both of those two are now defunct but before they became so I tried Plex again and was able to use it with little problem but "all good things come to an end" and Plex began changing and it became the media manager that I hated to use but I had no other reasonable choice.

Then I tried Emby again and I was very pleasantly surprised. Gone were the issues that I hated in Media Browser and it was a slick manager that pretty much did what I wanted in that it allowed me to find and play my media locally and, other than that, usually stayed out of the way. It is still that way, mostly, but Emby has added/detracted from their user interface by trying to be too "pretty."

Right now Emby is still way way ahead of Plex is the usability area and usability is the only thing that matters to me.

I hope that answers some questions but remember that it is just one person's opinion and really of no more value than anyone else's.

"Opinions are like a...holes. Every one has one and most are full of s..t."

[arrbee99 1560]

I do think Emby is better. Way better support and in the way it works.

But Plex is bigger and prettier (which does help) and JF, as mentioned, free. And they have some (well, a few) things Emby doesn't, so I struggle with something concrete to say when it comes to recommending Emby. It might well work better, but people do tend to expect that kind of thing anyway, so they'll gravitate to the big popular one, which must be popular cause its good, or they go for the free one, cause why pay if you don't have too. So to me, atm, its a bit stuck in the middle and needs a wow, look at this 'something', or at least to catch up on things it doesn't have.

[kaj 241]

I generally live in very remote areas with internet that is ok...not super fast, but ok, in the 35MB-50MB DL, 5Mb-20MB UL. Having started on Plex I was incredibly frustrated in getting remote users to be able to watch any content easily....found Emby and wow, remote connections worked, transcoding worked as it should...it was night and day...this for me is the biggest advantage Emby has over Plex and Jellyfin - plus the reasons the others listed (personally I don't find Plex prettier that Emby though  )

[neik 837]

13 hours ago, kaj said:

found Emby and wow, remote connections worked, transcoding worked as it should

That's the biggest plus of Emby is, it just works.
Sounds pretty boring but it's essential that it simply works when a user expects it to.
Especially the work that has been done on (HW) transcoding is remarkable - props to softworkz for all that.
And for sure the big community that is always here to help.

Besides that, it feels a lot like development is slow.
Lots of stuff is starting but apparently are never finished, examples:

- Nextgen LiveTV
- Unification of Windows Apps
- Unification of Android Apps
- Intro Skip, compared to the plugin still no credit detection and if it wasn't for ChapterAPI plugin there wouldn't even be an editor by now
...

 

[Spaceboy 2493]

when considering cost vs stability/function its the latter every day for me. so i wouldnt use jellyfin

apart from the music player (which unless its an app that can match spotify in terms of ease of use then i'm not interested) none of the plex differentiators interest me. i also value my privacy too much for their setup.

by default that leaves emby. it plays everything in my library and live tv fine too. i don't really care for too much pretty and emby is fine for me here. it does that for what i thought was a very reasonable licence fee, slightly off topic but the value in the product is ridiculously good. so i'm pretty happy at the moment.

yes there is definitely stuff that could be better, for me nextgen live tv is top of the list because i saw it all working and it solves all the issues with the current implementation. thats also why its difficult not to be frustrated about that. the rest, watch together - gimmick IMO. music player - yep would be good but is currently ok. smart playlists - would be great for music but there is no chance of emby matching the smart playlist function of Apple Music of Spotify due to not having the user data. can't see them being smart enough to be useful.

[tedfroop 33]

I was a Plex user for a long time.  Simple truth is - they are building a "push the button and it works" solution that is increasingly aimed at mobile users. 

Lots of simple customization that made it more usable in apps etc is disappearing to be replaced by long lists - better suited for scrolling on a phone or something.

Lately they are messing with their "plex agent" and setting it as the only way to match media.  Because a few years ago someone at plex had a pi$$ing match with thetvdb - they simply avoid what I see as the best community maintained meta source out there as much as possible - to their users hair pulling frustration.

So....I became an Emby user, basic first until I found it worked and was configurable the way I needed and it would allow me to pull the correct meta for my massive Looney Tunes collection (thetvdb is the ONLY accurate meta source) without jumping through hoops.  My analogy is that I kept ending up "down the rabbit hole" with meta and got sick of chasing after fixes - because as soon as one was posted - they changed stuff so it wouldn't work.

I am getting close to renewal so I guess I have been a Premier user for nearly a year now.  I find improvements and updates are constant and if you are on the bleeding edge of tech, check or make requests to the developers.  I have found them to be very helpful and that most updates are already on the roadmap.

[ebr 14913]

33 minutes ago, tedfroop said:

they are building a "push the button and it works" solution that is increasingly aimed at mobile users

Actually, they are building a content (and advertising) delivery mechanism and using you to harvest users .

[arrbee99 1560]

If you want a USP, try TV that tunes like this for EVERYONE -

 

 

[tedfroop 33]

On 17/05/2023 at 12:16, ebr said:

Actually, they are building a content (and advertising) delivery mechanism and using you to harvest users .

Yet another reason to like Emby.......

[justinrh 174]

I just want to know what a USP is ...

[Gilgamesh_48 943]

20 minutes ago, justinrh said:

I just want to know what a USP is ...

Maybe an attempt to type UPS where the right hand was faster than the left?

Or it could be somehow related to:
A USP Reference Standard (also known as a physical standard) is a known quantity of a drug substance or ingredient, developed in alignment with the specifications outlined in the USP–NF. These standards come in small vials, and enable pharmaceutical manufacturers to test their product against USP’s standards to ensure it meets published specifications.

I have said before that people, myself included, should spell out abbreviations the first time they get used in a thread unless the letter combo is so pervasive that no mistake is possible.

But really I haven't a clue, but, from context, it must have something to do with television, maybe,

Edited May 20, 2023 by Gilgamesh_48

[arrbee99 1560]

USP = Unique Selling Point. So its that one special thing a company has that makes people / customers gravitate towards it. So I guess for this discussion it would be Jellyfin - the free one, Plex - the all in one media solution (like it or not), Emby - the...what ?

[Abobader 2945]

43 minutes ago, arrbee99 said:

Emby - the...what ?

You till me

[TMCsw 122]

5 hours ago, arrbee99 said:

Emby - the...what ?0

The app that just works. But we do  bitch and complain about-it

Edited May 21, 2023 by TMCsw

[Jack Burton 94]

On 5/20/2023 at 5:37 PM, arrbee99 said:

USP = Unique Selling Point. So its that one special thing a company has that makes people / customers gravitate towards it. So I guess for this discussion it would be Jellyfin - the free one, Plex - the all in one media solution (like it or not), Emby - the...what ?

Honesty I think of it as Emby is...the best, BUT, you have to work for it. I haven't actually used Plex much, I stumbled upon Emby first when I was looking for a server solution early on and focused on it. I've been in the space a long time though, and have read about issues with Plex, and Emby too (though it seems far more with Plex). I can honestly say in the better part of a  decade(?) -ish I've been with Emby, I've only had maybe 20 problems. I'd say 15 of those were responded to within a few hours (most were me not knowing what I was doing) and a handful of them were legitimate gripes, that were fixed within a day or two on their end ( I mean, realistically, they were mostly fixed the next day. What more do you really need?). The other 5 or so? yeah, it needs work. I've gone through the back end to fix things manually a few times (thought I kind of love that), which brings me to my main point. Emby is to Android what Plex is to iPhone. They both do similar things, they both work, just one is more user friendly and one is more user customizable. 

I guess to answer your question, Jellyfin - the free one. Plex - the all in one media solution. Emby - the one that works.

I'll just add, I'm only here now because I'm cleaning up my music on Emby (things got right fucked and pulled all my movies as soundtracks if I had the composer). Again, yeah, shit needs work. But, and this is a big one, I haven't been on the community page in a year or two and of course, what's the first thing I notice? EVERYTHING has @Luke or @ebrcommenting on things.

[arrbee99 1560]

I do agree that Emby is quite probably the one that just works the best and definitely has the best support. Still wonder if those are things that really attract people. They are undoubtedly important. Just wonder, when you're starting out / browsing round how much they count. You'd expect what ever you're looking at using / purchasing to work I think. Maybe the good support is more of a USP, as so much of it does seem to be yucky nowadays.

Anyway, don't know how important or not how important these things are. As I mentioned at the beginning, You look at Plex and think - pretty (well I do), free channels. Jellyfin, just plain free. Emby...your questions get answered...hmmm.

[TMCsw 122]

1 hour ago, arrbee99 said:

I do agree that Emby is quite probably the one that just works the best and definitely has the best support.

So why not emby? (preface: NO Flaming intended)

Is Plex prettier than emby? I don’t think so. But I just want the information about the movie/show and really don’t care for the `flash`

Plex free channels, have you tried watching them? Commercial happen every 10 min (often in mid word, not at a scene change like regular TV. You can get mostly the same free ‘Junk’ with other free apps like `Crackle` etc...

and jellyfin It’s too incomplete for me.

(side note: I Started with Plex...)

 

[Spaceboy 2493]

one thing that we can probbaly agree on is that emby's marketing attempts are pretty poor. obvs plex throws loads of money at this as its their business model. but when you see jellyfin mentioned as the alternative and hardly anyone mentioning emby you have to conclude that the freeloaders are much better at getting their name out than emby. as a emby user i don't particularly care about this, but the owners probably should

[justinrh 174]

23 hours ago, arrbee99 said:

just works the best and definitely has the best support. Still wonder if those are things that really attract people.

And this is why (among some other things) I no longer use Plex.

[tedfroop 33]

On 21/05/2023 at 17:59, arrbee99 said:

do agree that Emby is quite probably the one that just works the best and definitely has the best support. Still wonder if those are things that really attract people.

Yup...they do.  That's why I use Emby.  

One of the things I appreciate most is that I have a complex mental health problem and have cognition problems.  The kindness and patience shown by the staff and developers has been wonderful as at times it takes me a while to understand things.  To me, that's been a USP......