Some real newbie advice needed on using a portable ssd as server.

[stringman 1]

Hi all

I was advised to use emby for my  situation but seem to be stumbling on the first block, so wondered if you could point me in the right direction.

I used to have said ssd loaded with films plugged directly into my samsung smart tv. This is not really ideal as the tv wont allow us to delete wtched films and I have to physically remove the disc to load new films.

Discovered my router trooli branded Technicolour had a usb socket and was advised to plug that in and use dlna to link them together

Went down the dlna route and although the tv sees it as technicolour dlna it doesnt see any content.

Was advised to use emby.

From what i can gather i need to set up a server (store the films etc) and then the devices I wish to watch said films on ( tv, laptop, phone) become clients.

My issue is how do load the server onto the usb. Is it as simple as installing it onto the usb It doesnt seem to give you an option to choose install location or do I install it on to my laptop and set up the usb as a remote server?

I am sure its something very obvious.

Whats frustrating is that when I added the ssd as a network device on the laptop it connects straight away.

Apologies for being so useless.

Thanks

[Abobader 3307]

Hello stringman,

** This is an auto reply **

Please wait for someone from staff support or our members to reply to you.

It's recommended to provide more info, as it explain in this thread:

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Emby Team

[stringman 1]

So progress of sorts.

In trying to install the server on the usb stick ( clutching at straws) I installed it on my laptop.

So I am at the stage now where my server is my laptop, but the films are stored on a ssd connected to the router. 

I can access the films from my laptop, phone and TV- all good. BUT

the moment the laptop is switched off I lose everything.

To be fair I do have spare old laptops I could strip out and use as both the server and the storage but thats not really what I was after.

Is there a way to achieve what I want without permanently having a laptop on 24/7?

Thanks

 

[Neminem 791]

No, not that I can think off.

well not unless you turn the server on when you want to watch something,

but then you would need to wait for it to boot up.

[stringman 1]

Thank you for the reply.

Thats a bit of a bugger I was hoping that emby could somehow grab the films from the ssd which is always live as its connected to the router.

But , if I am correct with my very limited knowledge, I need both the film storage device to be live and the server (controller) to be live as well?

[Neminem 791]

Yes other wise you could not connect to the server.

Servers are suppose to run 24/7 doing there thing, to help you do your thing, when needed

Think of Emby server as your waiter, and Emby client as you.

You want you media, when you snap your fingers, and the waiter is there taking your request.

If you turn of your waiter or let it take a rest. You would have to wait till it leaves the breakroom. 

Hope this makes sense

[pwhodges 1814]

28 minutes ago, stringman said:

I was hoping that Emby could somehow grab the films from the ssd which is always live as its connected to the router.

Yes, the Emby server can do that, and then passes them to the client, either directly if the client can handle them, or transcoded to an easier format if the client needs that.  The server is a middle-man, and if you want to use it then it must be up and running.  Emby clients talk to the server - they do not get media from other addresses by themselves.

Paul

[stringman 1]

thanks for the very basic explaination- I understand now.

So I either need a laptop for the server which might as well be the storage as well or a different method.

I know this is going off brand but a nas drive help>

it seems to me that the samsung tv doesnt support many (if any) players that can play from a network direct like vlc

 

[Gilgamesh_48 1096]

1 hour ago, stringman said:

thanks for the very basic explaination- I understand now.

So I either need a laptop for the server which might as well be the storage as well or a different method.

I know this is going off brand but a nas drive help>

it seems to me that the samsung tv doesnt support many (if any) players that can play from a network direct like vlc

 

Emby is a client/server system. It is possible to have the server also be the client but I do not recommend it. The storage that attaches to the server can be most anything from USB drive(s) to internally mounted hard drives to NAS storage that gets mapped to the server so it looks like a drive. I use a, kind of, combination and everything works fine.

The way Emby works (assuming that the server is already set up) is that the client requests a file from the server and the server finds it and, transcoding if needed, streams it to the client. 

I use a separate desktop computer (I do NOT trust laptops to be reliable enough) for my server and I have about 10-11 USB hard drives connected and pooled using StableBit's DrivePool software. I take care to be moderately sure that the files I stream are easy for the server to stream. That is they mostly require no transcoding and are not above 3.5 gigs in size. (moderate to low bitrates are more important to me than actual size)  My server is on 24/7 and I give my server no other tasks except those directly needed to serve Emby or handle the side tasks Emby needs. 

My server sits in a back room away from everything else but I chose it for being quite so I may, quite soon, move it into my main viewing room so its heat can help me be more comfortable this winter.

The server itself does not need to be particularly powerful hence you can buy an older computer and be quite successful turning it into a server. You can use an NAS for storage but, even for the ones the server works well on, I do not recommend running the server directly on an NAS. 

If you need/want Emby just to play a few files from time to time you can run Emby on almost anything but, if you want a stable always available server you need, I believe, to isolate the server so its primary task is Emby and little to nothing else.

There are also considerations involving remote access but I don't like anybody (that is still alive) well enough to "share" with them so you will need help from others to set up remote access if you want/need to do that.  BTW: I do not share with any dead people either and I do not think there is an Emby configuration that reaches into the afterlife anyway.  

[stringman 1]

Gilgamesh,

Thank you for your reply.

II have a 5 year old laptop ( it was high spec when it was new) that has a clean install of windows as I was going to sell it (for parts as the touchscreen had become delaminated) I was intending to use this and it would run nothing else apart from emby. I dont have a huge collection of films as I usually delete once I have watched them. So I was intending to put the content on as well. But  your idea of a different drive makes sense.

When I get time I shall throw it all together.

Thanks