Need Help Building an Emby Theater Client

[TolkienBard 54]

If this belongs in the Emby Theater thread, I apologize. This seems to me more of a general community knowledge question though, so I am posting here. Now that I have my server up and running the way I want it (more or less), it is time to move on and get all the clients working exactly as desired. Mostly, that has been easy, as the clients simply are what they are. The Roku is going to Roku, the web client is what it is. However, one thing I have come across, is the Emby Theater will play files from my server that the Windows App will not. I have also found that the player in my 2012 Samsung plasma television is not always up to some of the most complex content. If an ATMOS track is the default track, it throws a fit (easily fixable, but annoying). I also found while watching Return of the King, that during some of the most visual action+sound intense scenes were simply a bit too much for the plasma to handle cleanly, resulting in either studder, or odd colour bars popping up as making things look like an old VHS on FF. At first I thought my server was falling behind on transcoding. But when I went and checked, it was doing just fine. So I tried watching the movie in Windows Media Player. The poor aspects still existed, but were very minor, and far less frequent. Then, moving to VLC player, it played flawlessly. That led me to try the Emby App for Windows. The app refused to play the movie at all. Emby Theater, on the other hand, not only played it flawlessly (with the exception of a subtitle issue I am having), but it provided by far the best looking picture.

 

That made the decision to accelerate putting a new HTPC out with the Samsung an easy one. The Samsung app will still get used for the vast majority of "casual viewing" as it is part of the Smart Hub interface and that makes things easy. However, for times when the Samsung app is throwing a fit (Error: Undefined 0 or Undefined 3), or simply not up to the task, I would then have the Emby Theater option. This would also allow me to mix in the AVR for those times when we are having a "viewing event".

 

That brings me to where I stand now though. My desktop PC runs Emby Theater just fine. It is also a rather large piece of equipment that runs a bit warm(ish) and has about 256,392 (just guessing) various options and such that no HTPC would ever make use of. I want to build a client HTPC that will run Emby Theater. I know what sort of hardware I need for a normal HTPC that is simply working as a high-end streaming device. Those can be made very small, cheap, and silent for almost no money. A decent i3 processor with HDMI out is all that is required. However, Emby Theater is a slightly different beast. I seriously doubt (especially given the presence of integrated MadVR and such) that a bare-minimum HTPC is going to get the job done.

 

What sort of specs should I realistically be looking for when building a HTPC that is going to use Emby Theater as its main client for providing content? I am assuming that I will, at the least, need a somewhat robust dedicated GPU on an i3. I'm guessing that i5 or possibly even i7 would be far more recommended, but honestly do not know for sure. Trying to explain to the guys at Fry's or Red Seven what I am wanting to do always results in them just directing me to the most powerful gaming rigs they have available. Obviously, those are going to both be overkill, and not exactly the most friendly in terms of noise/heat/WAF. My budget for building this HTPC is fairly liberal, but I don't want to be spending loads of extra money at more expensive equipment if the returns over something mid-tier will be marginal at best.

 

What are the basics I should be looking for, and where will I find the best increases in performance should I wish to take a step up?

 

 

[legallink 187]

Emby theater is going through a solid rework right now, but I would assume almost anyone would recommend one of those Intel nuc's as an easy fix for an Emby theater client.