Apple TV 4K Emby HDR

[stephen_hill 35]

Hello All

Could someone please give me a step by step guide on setting up the AppleTV/Emby for best playback of HDR content?

Most of my content, if not all, is 4K HEVC HDR10 in an mkv container.

Cheers
Stephen

 

[Luke 37071]

HI there, just press play. Are you experiencing a problem?

How to Report a Problem

 

[stephen_hill 35]

Hi

I've read a few threads on here about issues with HDR content and the latest Apple TV 4K.

Are there outstanding issues?

I was hoping you had an official guide on exactly which setting you recommend, both setting on the device and your app.

I've only just got the device but to my eye there are a few issues with the Emby app

- HDR and framerate matching, when enable in Apple settings, don't work

- HDR content doesn't appear to be playing in HDR

- SDR content looks darker than it should

- Changing video setting on the Apple TV have no effect

- Other apps look fine

I've been using the Emby app on an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and I was hoping have a painless switch to Apple.

My TV is an LG C2 55" and the Apple TV is connected via a HDMI 2.1 cable.

I'm going to do further testing, but if there any known issues with the latest Apple TV, I would appriciate if you publicly declared what those are and when they might be fixed.

Many Thanks

Stephen

[stephen_hill 35]

Just been watching bits of Blade Runner 2049 back to back, Apple TV 4K vs Fire TV 4K.

The Apple TV is definately playing HDR content is SDR.

I'm going to try some of Dolby's and LG's own HDR videos as a reference point, so I can present you with more evidence.

But if you are already aware of any issues, please do let me know before I spend time over my weekend trying to debug the problem.

[stephen_hill 35]

Here is a good example

https://4kmedia.org/lg-oled-art-uhd-4k-demo/

This video will not play in HDR unless you specifically fix the device to HDR. But even then, the dynamic range seems reduced.

If you have the device set to SDR or DV, the dynamic range will not switch.

This is not ideal because you need to manually change video mode before you watch something

...

I then tried this with my HDR10 version of Blade Runner 2049 and it did not play in HDR, instead, it played in an overly bright SDR.

---

If you want me to test any other videos, or provide more information, please let me know asap as I intend to send the Apple TV back unless the problem can be resolved.

[stephen_hill 35]

Also worth mentioning that the LG video and all my videos work flawlessly on Infuse.

[Luke 37071]

Hi, we are looking into this. Thanks.

[stephen_hill 35]

Thank you

Worth mentioning that the Kodi wiki have a good selection of test videos

https://kodi.wiki/view/Samples

 

[RanmaCanada 345]

On 13/10/2023 at 08:56, stephen_hill said:

Hello All

Could someone please give me a step by step guide on setting up the AppleTV/Emby for best playback of HDR content?

Most of my content, if not all, is 4K HEVC HDR10 in an mkv container.

Cheers
Stephen

 

The best way is to use an Android device or INFUSE with the Emby plugin.  The devs have been fighting and fighting with HDR on Apple TV for quite some time.  Apple is a PITA when it comes to playing your own content.  It's to the point I've told any family and friends who have a Apple TV on my server that playback problems are their problems, and I can't help them because of their idiotic choice in device.

[generiq 113]

Crapple strikes again.

[bakes82 90]

9 hours ago, generiq said:

Crapple strikes again.

More like crappy emby app, plex and infuse play it fine, just emby tends to have issues.

 

On 10/28/2023 at 8:46 PM, RanmaCanada said:

The devs have been fighting and fighting with HDR on Apple TV for quite some time.  Apple is a PITA when it comes to playing your own content. 

Funny how plex and infuse are able to play the same files, and dobly vision better.  I wouldnt say its the device since well clearly other apps are able to support it just fine.

[RanmaCanada 345]

8 hours ago, bakes82 said:

More like crappy emby app, plex and infuse play it fine, just emby tends to have issues.

 

Funny how plex and infuse are able to play the same files, and dobly vision better.  I wouldnt say its the device since well clearly other apps are able to support it just fine.

Just because other apps can support it doesn't mean the device is fine.  I know you have a rage boner for Plex, but they have tens of millions in financing, and have over 100 dedicated employees.  Infuse has been at it since 2007 and has far more experience than anyone.

I kinda notice you're silent on the fact that even Jellyfin users have been flat out told to use Infuse.  MrMc has also stopped development because of how horrible the crApple TV environment is.

Apple is a horrible enviroment to work in as everything they do is to lock you into their eco-system and do their best to make in as hard as possible to break out of it.

[bakes82 90]

On 10/30/2023 at 11:15 AM, RanmaCanada said:

Just because other apps can support it doesn't mean the device is fine.  I know you have a rage boner for Plex, but they have tens of millions in financing, and have over 100 dedicated employees.  Infuse has been at it since 2007 and has far more experience than anyone.

I kinda notice you're silent on the fact that even Jellyfin users have been flat out told to use Infuse.  MrMc has also stopped development because of how horrible the crApple TV environment is.

Apple is a horrible enviroment to work in as everything they do is to lock you into their eco-system and do their best to make in as hard as possible to break out of it.

Then emby and plex should drop support for it, and just let the infuse guy do it all, I dont see a problem here lol,  seems like your complaint is emby small and cant devote time to fixing their product, so stop dev on it and let other people do it.  Also saying it doesnt matter that other devices support it, well clearly the device does support it if others can make it work huh.  Lots of people like apple, pretty sure they are one of the top brands, and oh right, luke is trying to model is software afer their designs lol.  whos MrMC?  I dont have a boner for any product, I use multiple platforms and devices, I use the ones that work lol, I also have shields but those have aged out and nvidia has no desire to make new ones since nintendo dropped them.  Apple also works amazingly well, especially if you have other apple products like most appletv people do.  So saying oh plex is large and has money to do it so the product is hard, and oh infuse has been doing it for so many years so its hard, no the issue is emby is small and isnt devoting time and resources to fixing their devices most likely because they have a small income stream and market share, not because apple has a poor device, emby could also say hey guys we dont have the resources to devote to this we endorse infuse and maybe work with the infuse guy and make integration easier with some custom apis which would be backend changes which are easier to deploy, the issue is, emby loses money this way, so they would rather lock you into their apps so they can paywall them, this is fine if they can support the product, which seems like they cant, its not a device issue as clearly other apps do it fine, its like saying its shitty look netflix, apple, prime, all the streaming apps cant even do HDR/DV, nope they can do it just fine bud, so whats left.  Pretty sure apple has a great dev environment as apple actually supports their devices and most apple products upgrade timely, unlike android.

[RanmaCanada 345]

Again, Apple only works well if you stick to their eco-system, which you even state.

As for Apple being a great dev environment, no it's not.  If it was, this problem would have been solved ages ago.

[stephen_hill 35]

@Luke

Please can you lock this thread.

[raudraido 43]

On 11/2/2023 at 12:05 AM, RanmaCanada said:

Again, Apple only works well if you stick to their eco-system, which you even state.

As for Apple being a great dev environment, no it's not.  If it was, this problem would have been solved ages ago.

Is AppleTV and iPhone platforms really that different? Both use same A15 bionic SOC, and Emby iPhone app works great.

[BeachBum83 7]

On 11/2/2023 at 3:14 AM, stephen_hill said:

@Luke

Please can you lock this thread.

The sense of near-abandonment of the Apple TV client is incredibly frustrating to everyone who uses it. Metaphorically putting your hands over your ears and chanting "la la la" loudly (locking the thread) is not the solution.

[Luke 37071]

We have a new release for Emby for Apple TV coming soon, so stay tuned.

[bakes82 90]

On 11/1/2023 at 6:05 PM, RanmaCanada said:

Again, Apple only works well if you stick to their eco-system, which you even state.

As for Apple being a great dev environment, no it's not.  If it was, this problem would have been solved ages ago.

Who says its not a great dev environment?  Last I checked other apps support it, so again, you based your information on what?  Oh right cus emby doesnt support it so it must be bad or hard, more like emby only has 1 or 2 devs and they are doing multi platforms instead of having dedicated resources that actually have deep understanding of the platform.  Yet plex/infuse both dont have issues, so its not an apple issue, just an emby issue.  You can also find multi references to show ios development is actually easier over all as its a closed/mature, this can also be more issues for emby as to dev ios you need macs which not all dev might have, so if its only luke working on it, he might not be a full time ios developer and know what the issue is

 

On 11/3/2023 at 3:22 AM, raudraido said:

Is AppleTV and iPhone platforms really that different? Both use same A15 bionic SOC, and Emby iPhone app works great.

They are two diff dev kits if I recall, so the APIs between the two might be slightly different with ios probably have greater support/maturity and resources over all, plus its only designed for STREAMING platforms and that can be seen in the DV/Audio codecs it supports.

[vdatanet 1549]

Apple is a great dev environment, the problem is that the native player is designed for streaming platforms, for local media there are many formats not supported. The fact of having to incorporate an alternative player hinders the development of the application. 

[raudraido 43]

2 hours ago, vdatanet said:

Apple is a great dev environment, the problem is that the native player is designed for streaming platforms, for local media there are many formats not supported. The fact of having to incorporate an alternative player hinders the development of the application. 

Yet somehow Infuse app in my AppleTV work flawlessly streaming local media.

[ellisd4 54]

I think all of us on the Apple Platform have learned to live with the nuances of mpv vs native player. Dealt with it for many years with Plex and even infuse leverages emulates for a lot of the features it implements (ex Atmos). However, there are things us Apple users have been asking for that just aren’t making it into the App that’s pretty frustrating:

1) Access the app, select a user, and see content without having to go through the whole password process. Streaming apps accomplish this well and the android versions seem to do this ok. 
2) Freaking alpha pickers on the library screens. 
3) Properly functioning search
4) Lyric support

 

…just to name a few that I’ve been waiting for… 

I stick with Apple for one reason… I’m not inundated with someone’s else’s streaming ads every single time I turn on my tv. I pay for my streaming device, don’t shove ads down my throat. The shield is nice, but damn it’s 4 years old at this point. 

[bakes82 90]

19 hours ago, raudraido said:

Yet somehow Infuse app in my AppleTV work flawlessly streaming local media.

Yeah, because the infuse dev only deals with ios like I said...  Its more a time/skill issue on the emby side, not an issue on the platform side.  AppleTV DOES have some limitations that even infuse cant get around for specific codecs but thats known.

[iTushit 0]

On 11/3/2023 at 6:36 PM, Luke said:

We have a new release for Emby for Apple TV coming soon, so stay tuned.

Hello @luke

When do you think this will happen? before I switch to Infuse!

[vdatanet 1549]

The beta version of Infuse actually works very well with Emby. They have created a direct mode where metadata synchronization is no longer necessary and the home screen is very similar to Emby's.