skank 82 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 (edited) Hi, Question Is emby theater a worthy competitor vs kodi? Does it also have multiple skins/addons? I'm i correct to say when i say that emby theater is in fact the front-end (mediaplayer) side? Does it do hd-audio, atmos ? Does it do 3D iso (MVC) so not sbs/tb? Does it bitstream? So no transcoding It's only for windows? thanks Edited October 22, 2015 by skank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deathsquirrel 741 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I don't think Emby Theater is currently any sort of kodi-killer for the audience that actually likes using Kodi. Emby Theater doesn't, and I think shouldn't, have the flexibility of Kodi. However, it's definitely a Kodi killer for those of us that can't stand working with Kodi and just want a working player with a good workflow and user experience. Were I the product manager for Emby Theater I'd be focusing my attention on users that install Kodi and recoil in horror at the user experience but who still want a dedicated Emby client. Personally I'd focus on Mac and Windows, not Linux. Users that like Kodi already HAVE a product after all, and that product already works as an Emby client. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skank 82 Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 kodi doesnt do 3d mvc you need external player for that if emby would do this then why not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgileHumor 123 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 No, Emby Theater (an unreleased beta product) does not compare with Kodi's flexibility as currently described in the blog teaser. Kodi is not hard, it's not easy either. If you want simple, use the web client (or Windows 8.1 client) until ET has time to mature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdiesel 1114 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 (edited) kodi doesnt do 3d mvc you need external player for that if emby would do this then why not Kodi is able to do 3d mvc internally on some devices (Raspberry Pi 2, and certain Chinese Android boxes). Both players are able to able to bitstream Atmos audio as it packaged as TrueHD. Why not try both and see what you like best? There are not issues resulting from switching between players. Edited October 22, 2015 by Jdiesel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z0mbi 76 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I'm hoping the player in ET will be at least somewhat as robust as Kodi's so I'm not transcoding over my local network. Also, hoping that the ET skin will have some view-type options like Kodi skins do, where you can change the look and feel of your library (ex: coverwall vs rolodex etc). The nice thing about how flexible Kodi is, is that if something isn't quite the way you want it, you can usually change it. Hopefully with ET being skinable this will also be the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14955 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Users that like Kodi already HAVE a product after all, and that product already works as an Emby client. This is a great point. There is no reason to build a "Kodi killer". If you like the experience and flexibility of Kodi, then there is a good solution for you thanks to the hard work of some of the members out here. Theater will strive to be simple, intuitive, fast, and beautiful "out of the box". That will be our primary goal. Once that is achieved, the ability to expand it with things like more and different themes will come. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z0mbi 76 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Yeah, fast and light are definitely what I'm interested in the most. Kodi is great, but it is heavy. I'm getting my SurfacePro4 next week and am far more interested in running a touch friendly 'app style' solution for emby on it than I am running Kodi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14955 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Yeah, fast and light are definitely what I'm interested in the most. Kodi is great, but it is heavy. I'm getting my SurfacePro4 next week and am far more interested in running a touch friendly 'app style' solution for emby on it than I am running Kodi. For a touch device I would suggest the Windows Store app. I think ET will work with touch but our primary target interface will be a 10' one with a remote control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke 37214 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 and the other thing we're striving for is supporting more devices than the previous version, but we'll share that later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deathsquirrel 741 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Yeah, fast and light are definitely what I'm interested in the most. Kodi is great, but it is heavy. I'm getting my SurfacePro4 next week and am far more interested in running a touch friendly 'app style' solution for emby on it than I am running Kodi. As a surface pro 3 user I'll second EBR's suggestion of the windows store app, it's great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wally007 6 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 and the other thing we're striving for is supporting more devices than the previous version, but we'll share that later oh oh , is this new keyword for web app ? (I hope not, I've already seen one in action.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skank 82 Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 Kodi is able to do 3d mvc internally on some devices (Raspberry Pi 2, and certain Chinese Android boxes). Both players are able to able to bitstream Atmos audio as it packaged as TrueHD. Why not try both and see what you like best? There are not issues resulting from switching between players. Give me one device that does kodi, hd audio and 3d iso mvc The pi2 doesnt, and android boxes not either (yet) only android box that does it is himedia Q5 but its using external player, so thats not it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skank 82 Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 This is a great point. There is no reason to build a "Kodi killer". If you like the experience and flexibility of Kodi, then there is a good solution for you thanks to the hard work of some of the members out here. Theater will strive to be simple, intuitive, fast, and beautiful "out of the box". That will be our primary goal. Once that is achieved, the ability to expand it with things like more and different themes will come. For me there's a reason to get another player Theres no single solution for: - Kodi + hd audio + 3d iso (mvc) without using external player. and without need for windows htpc that doesnt feel like a simple box Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skank 82 Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 So in short, will theater do 3d iso mvc + hd audio? (atmos too) ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deathsquirrel 741 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 So in short, will theater do 3d iso mvc + hd audio? (atmos too) ? I'd guess there's about a 0.0000000% chance of the internal player in Emby Theater doing those formats. You'll almost certainly need an external player. I don't know as I don't use those formats, but just given the number of users of those techs, it's not likely a target function for the default player engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdiesel 1114 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) Give me one device that does kodi, hd audio and 3d iso mvc The pi2 doesnt, and android boxes not either (yet) only android box that does it is himedia Q5 but its using external player, so thats not it Since Isengard Kodi supports 3D MVC iso's, and very well for that matter. It doesn't support HD audio bitstreaming therefore Atmos doesn't work at the moment however it is able to decode and send out Dolby True HD and DTS-MA as PCM. Edited October 23, 2015 by Jdiesel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skank 82 Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 bitstream is a most, i need atmos so... nothing yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellomade 140 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 <rant> Here is something I don't understand about this discussion. You guys are going on about needing a box that supports all this expensive (and niche) hardware to do 3d, ATMOS, etc. You claim none of this is possible but all you reference are these cheap POS Android/RPi setups? Why not spend some $$ on decent hardware for Kodi and use OPENELEC? I currently use a Zotac CI520 that does everything you are asking for with OE. It costs more than a hundred bucks - but WTF? With all those speakers and projectors, etc $$$$ shouldn't be a problem, right? </rant> Just a comment on the OP's original question - I think that if the devs focus on ET as a lightweight player that supports as many OS's as possible it can be a worthy competitor to using Emby/Kodi. Kodi is a fantastic piece of player software. Nothing beats it so far. It is a great - light on resources - player that does SO much. What Kodi sucks at is basically everything else required for a good media center experience. Overly complicated skinning engine, horrible library design (uPNP to share....really?), I could go on all day. It is a great player - but not a great media center. Emby really shines at seamlessly handling content management. They blow Kodi away at this. Come up with something like OPENELEC where you are not relying on a separate OS and make it 'just work' with Emby Server and it will put Emby into a class of its own. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdiesel 1114 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) <rant> Here is something I don't understand about this discussion. You guys are going on about needing a box that supports all this expensive (and niche) hardware to do 3d, ATMOS, etc. You claim none of this is possible but all you reference are these cheap POS Android/RPi setups? Why not spend some $$ on decent hardware for Kodi and use OPENELEC? I currently use a Zotac CI520 that does everything you are asking for with OE. It costs more than a hundred bucks - but WTF? With all those speakers and projectors, etc $$$$ shouldn't be a problem, right? </rant> Just a comment on the OP's original question - I think that if the devs focus on ET as a lightweight player that supports as many OS's as possible it can be a worthy competitor to using Emby/Kodi. Kodi is a fantastic piece of player software. Nothing beats it so far. It is a great - light on resources - player that does SO much. What Kodi sucks at is basically everything else required for a good media center experience. Overly complicated skinning engine, horrible library design (uPNP to share....really?), I could go on all day. It is a great player - but not a great media center. Emby really shines at seamlessly handling content management. They blow Kodi away at this. Come up with something like OPENELEC where you are not relying on a separate OS and make it 'just work' with Emby Server and it will put Emby into a class of its own. The reason that people are recommending cheap hardware is because it has reached the point where they are more than adequate for media playback. Android boxes are popular because there is little to zero setup required and you are able to use other apps like Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime which is much more clumsy on a Windows or Linux PC. We will likely never see these apps on unsuported devices and will be stuck viewing them through a web browser or other hacks on a PC. Openelec with a i5 processor and a $200 GPU works great but it is overkill, not to mention it still does not support 3D MVC playback, doesn't support other streaming apps, and doesn't playback a video any better than a $100 device. The RPi2 is such a great system because there is a huge user base and the developers can focus on a very specific piece of hardware. That is why the RPi2 is capable of flawless playback and features not supported by generic HTPCs like 3D MVC playback. The problem is that there is no perfect solution for a media center and throwing more money at it doesn't improve the experience. If you require 3D MVC iso playback and Atmos support the only option is commercial software like PowerDVD which has a very poor library interface nowhere near the quality of Emby, Kodi, or Plex. You must also run windows to use this software and this can make things clunky especially for non-techy family members. This is why people are forced to use external players to get the best experience at the experience of convenience. If there was a software package that did everything perfect it would easily sell for $300, but there isn't. Edited October 23, 2015 by Jdiesel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSattler 387 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 and the other thing we're striving for is supporting more devices than the previous version, but we'll share that later I think for ET to really be successful that has to be the key point. If ET can run on Linux, and we can create a OpenElec approach to ET, then that will be what makes it more successful than the other apps. The install would be simple, and it would run on nearly all hardware. It would allow for playback without transcoding when used locally, and would not require as much tinkering as Kodi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSattler 387 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Give me one device that does kodi, hd audio and 3d iso mvc The pi2 doesnt, and android boxes not either (yet) only android box that does it is himedia Q5 but its using external player, so thats not it Well, add 4k in there as well, as after this winter 4k will become much more relevant with the release of Ultra Blu Ray. Let's hope that the Raspberry Pi 3 supports 4k, h265, TrueHD, and still support MVC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deathsquirrel 741 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I think trying the Kodi approach of everything to everyone is doomed to failure but I'm not on the dev team so I'm not really so likely to suffer for such a decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSattler 387 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I think trying the Kodi approach of everything to everyone is doomed to failure but I'm not on the dev team so I'm not really so likely to suffer for such a decision. In terms of what? The dev's have already mentioned that it will run on all platforms. Same way Emby Server already does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke 37214 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Well no, we didn't say anything about how. We'll do that later. OpenElec and Pi are definitely possible, though we may look for some community help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now