Most reliable TV client?

[Spaceboy 2505]

but your polish is another person's meh. channel surfing just isnt as common these days with a dvr

[clucky 5]

3 minutes ago, Spaceboy said:

but your polish is another person's meh. channel surfing just isnt as common these days with a dvr

You're the only one here saying that. 

 

Edit: also funny how the "top contributors" are always the least helpful with my OP. Too busy karma farming 

Edited August 5, 2023 by clucky

[Spaceboy 2505]

6 minutes ago, clucky said:

You're the only one here saying that. 

 

Edit: also funny how the "top contributors" are always the least helpful with my OP. Too busy karma farming 

dude - the lack of the feature says it louder than i ever could. but you plough on

[clucky 5]

Just now, Spaceboy said:

dude - the lack of the feature says it louder than i ever could. but you plough on

There are a lack of many features, haven't you read the thread at all Mr. 6000+ posts? 

[pwhodges 1539]

I suspect that most of the issues with live TV are down to the server rather than the clients.  It has long (years now) been rumoured that there is a major re-write of the live TV code going on, or even nearly ready.  But as it's not reached a public beta, who knows?

 

  50 minutes ago, clucky said:

There are a lack of many features, haven't you read the thread at all Mr. 6000+ posts? 

Sniping at other users (not even developers) won't get you anywhere.  If the system as it stands doesn't satisfy you, you're free to use another.  If you still want to use Emby, then contribute by supporting or creating feature requests, reporting, with evidence, issues which need fixing, and so on.  As regards the thread title, in several years use, I've never had a client crash on any device, but the behaviour of every one has gradually improved.

Paul

Edited August 5, 2023 by pwhodges

[clucky 5]

50 minutes ago, pwhodges said:

I suspect that most of the issues with live TV are down to the server rather than the clients.  It has long (years now) been rumoured that there is a major re-write of the live TV code going on, or even nearly ready.  But as it's not reached a public beta, who knows?

 

  50 minutes ago, clucky said:

There are a lack of many features, haven't you read the thread at all Mr. 6000+ posts? 

Sniping at other users (not even developers) won't get you anywhere.  If the system as it stands doesn't satisfy you, you're free to use another.  If you still want to use Emby, then contribute by supporting or creating feature requests, reporting, with evidence, issues which need fixing, and so on.  As regards the thread title, in several years use, I've never had a client crash on any device, but the behaviour of every one has gradually improved.

Paul

Sorry but I'm not wrong. In fact you're exactly who I'm talking about too. Your first post in this entire thread was practically an auto-bot response.

To be honest, until now you haven't provided any significant info to my OP. The server issue is news to me, makes sense with how glitchy the clients are.

To further drive it home... The Gilgamesh dude doesn't even watch live TV, Spaceboy apparently watches live tv but doesn't use simple functions on a universal remote, and you haven't really given any good substance to the live TV topic until minutes ago. I feel like I'm on Reddit. If you don't have the proper experience with thread title, why comment?

Edited August 5, 2023 by clucky

[pwhodges 1539]

1 hour ago, clucky said:

Your first post in this entire thread was practically an auto-bot response.

Yes, because you asked a vague question with little substance about what your problems were.  So I pointed you at the preferred way of reporting problems, in case you'd missed it at the top of the page.

Several people have remarked, at varying length, on their experience, in the hope that you might find it useful.  If you're complaining that the people who are replying don't have the exact same usage patterns as you - well, there's nothing to be done, now is there.  Few people have experience of multiple dedicated TV clients, and if you want to know about the Android clients or the Roku client, you can read the relevant parts of the forums (especially the beta ones) where they are being discussed day in, day out.

Paul

[Gilgamesh_48 948]

7 minutes ago, pwhodges said:

...  Few people have experience of multiple dedicated TV clients, and if you want to know about the Android clients or the Roku client, you can read the relevant parts of the forums (especially the beta ones) where they are being discussed day in, day out.

Paul

There is a problem with trying to find data on the current Roku beta as it is a closed beta. There is a limit on the number of people that can be in the beta and no one not in the beta can even read the Roku Beta forum. That is mostly Roku's fault but it meant that I had to leave the Roku Beta when I realized that my intermittent health problems would not let me be as much help as I like to be and there are limited spots. So I opened up one spot for a user that might contribute more and be able to test thoroughly. I wish the beta's forum was open, at least for reading, for everyone but the choice was made to have the Roku Beta completely closed.

I intend to go back to the release server as well as soon as the release and the beta are the same for the same reason however it is not as critical because the server beta forum is open so everyone can read it.

When you reach a certain age and/or your health gets poorer it sometimes gets very hard to actually test stuff. I have pretty much reached that point some time ago. I can still post OK but my ability to test effectively is quite limited.

[softworkz 3349]

4 hours ago, Spaceboy said:

but your polish is another person's meh. channel surfing just isnt as common these days with a dvr

I regularly use it on plain TVs and the goal was to make it work in the same way and as quickly as on hardware TVs.
This goal has been largely achieved. For tuners on Linux, and when the Emby server is on the same LAN as the client, similar timings can be achieved like hardware TVs - despite the fact that it's being streamed to the client. For tuners on Windows, it's 300-500ms slower (we might be able to overcome this later, but it's tricky). If transcoding is required, it's another 500ms slower. That's still a sensational result: Even when transcoding is done, channel switching takes less than 1s longer than a hardware TV for switching channels.

I'm talking about relative values here, because same like on a hardware TV, channel switching times are not always the same. It depends on whether the switched-to channel is "on the same frequency" like the current one.

[pwhodges 1539]

37 minutes ago, softworkz said:

It depends on whether the switched-to channel is "on the same frequency" like the current one.

I presume you mean the same as what we in the UK call the same multiplex.  But IME successive channels are just as likely to be on different multiplexes.

Paul

[softworkz 3349]

16 minutes ago, pwhodges said:

I presume you mean the same as what we in the UK call the same multiplex. 

Yes, I just said "frequency" to make it more understandable. Several multiplexes on the same frequency are only possible with SAT signals (different polarization), and with a new DVB-T2 feature (forgot the name).

21 minutes ago, pwhodges said:

But IME successive channels are just as likely to be on different multiplexes.

Yes, that's why TVnext allows you to configure tuners to keep running (and tuned to the same frequency) for a certain amount of time. So, when you switch to a channel on a different mux, it uses a different tuner. The more tuners you have, the more likely will it be that the next channel you're switching to will be on a tuner which is still active on that frequency. 
In that case, channel switching is even faster than a hardware TV would take.

[MrPaulo 7]

I strongly vote for Nvidia Shield (Either versions - I have both - they will work happily with Emby android tv - the emby app is slick and lightweight)

I have two TVs and use Shield on both. The only irritating thing is the Android advertisements (this is a google tv issue, not shield).

I bought the Shield many years ago when it launched when I only had 1080p TVs. 

Today, I have the Shield connected to LG 4K Dolby video TV - Soundbar systems. Works to perfection. The AI upscaling of the Shield works well for smart sharpening - I can use a single button on the remote to enable / disable AI upscaling. I prefer the shield wired with gigabit ethernet because I have ethernet ports available next to the TV - not due to bandwidth but for latency - it works fine on wifi too - had it on wifi for years with no probs. Wired just gives that millisecond better response when being served from a local server.

The Shield remote is all I need - the built in illumination is ideal when in low light (I have Emby controlling Philips Hue lights via samsung plugin).

When properly configured there is no need of the TV remote. I have the "Netflix" button on the remote remapped to Emby. A double click opens youtube. Complete cord cutter.

I strongly recommend a Shield as it comes out of the box supporting audio and video - Dolby Atmos and DTS for audio and dolby vision.

I moved to Emby Premiere some time ago from being a long time user of Plex Pass - The Plex server is buggy, the Android TV app of Plex was a long term buggy resource intensive - it had memory leaks crashing android TV all the time. Today I keep Plex for music only on my mobile phone - I still like plex music mobile app.

[Spaceboy 2505]

22 hours ago, softworkz said:

I regularly use it on plain TVs and the goal was to make it work in the same way and as quickly as on hardware TVs.
This goal has been largely achieved. For tuners on Linux, and when the Emby server is on the same LAN as the client, similar timings can be achieved like hardware TVs - despite the fact that it's being streamed to the client. For tuners on Windows, it's 300-500ms slower (we might be able to overcome this later, but it's tricky). If transcoding is required, it's another 500ms slower. That's still a sensational result: Even when transcoding is done, channel switching takes less than 1s longer than a hardware TV for switching channels.

I'm talking about relative values here, because same like on a hardware TV, channel switching times are not always the same. It depends on whether the switched-to channel is "on the same frequency" like the current one.

the speed of channel tuning was pretty high up on my list of things that i liked about the tvnext beta in testing, but that benefits all tuning, not just channel surfing.

and its good that you've built this into tvnext for those that want to use it. but that doesnt help our angry chicken when there are too few buttons on the remote of your standard streaming device to support it at the client end. at best i imagine it would be controllable through the OSD

[Darius 9]

On 8/4/2023 at 6:37 PM, clucky said:

Pretty much sums it up. There is not one polished app for live tv watchers. There was another topic on the forum where someone may have gotten the media center remotes to work with emby theater (channel +/-), but I wasn't able to confirm that.

I'm using the mce remote with the flirc dongle so maybe with the original receiver it behaves differently I don't know.

[softworkz 3349]

41 minutes ago, Darius said:

On 8/5/2023 at 12:37 AM, clucky said:

Pretty much sums it up. There is not one polished app for live tv watchers. There was another topic on the forum where someone may have gotten the media center remotes to work with emby theater (channel +/-), but I wasn't able to confirm that.

I'm using the mce remote with the flirc dongle so maybe with the original receiver it behaves differently I don't know.

There doesn't exist a channel +/- function in Emby apps (except in the Android TV app). 

None of the Emby apps currently as real support for MCE remotes (only some of the buttons which are mapped to standard functionality are working, but not buttons like 'Guide', 'Music', 'TV', channel up/down and others). Full support for MCE remotes is currently in testing though, as part of the WMC Theme beta (soon publicly available) - but limited to Windows.

[iiiJoe 55]

On 8/5/2023 at 5:08 PM, softworkz said:

Yes, I just said "frequency" to make it more understandable. Several multiplexes on the same frequency are only possible with SAT signals (different polarization), and with a new DVB-T2 feature (forgot the name).

Yes, that's why TVnext allows you to configure tuners to keep running (and tuned to the same frequency) for a certain amount of time. So, when you switch to a channel on a different mux, it uses a different tuner. The more tuners you have, the more likely will it be that the next channel you're switching to will be on a tuner which is still active on that frequency. 
In that case, channel switching is even faster than a hardware TV would take.

Been reading about TVnext for some time now. Can you please advise on a potential release date and user benefits? Apologies if this needs to be in a different thread. Thanks!

Edited August 12, 2023 by iiiJoe

[ThePaladinTech 22]

Just stopping here to say that I have tried:
Roku

Tivo Stream (AndroiTV on the cheap)

XBox One S (which to the best of my knowledge uses Emby Theater?)

And for me? We keep on using the Roku App.  Sometimes we use the Tivo Stream. And I gave the XBox to my church. We really just didn't like the XBox UI, not talking about Emby, talking about the xbox ui.

In all cases we use a harmony remote