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Sync Issues / Offline Mode


dubs

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Hi,

 

I've been having some issues making my Emby server visible externally (I'm not entirely sure why, viewing http://myinternetip:mycustomembyport works fine, lets me view the web interface and play videos!)

 

However, I have currently subscribed for Emby Premiere so planned to make use of Sync. So the steps I go through, mentioning any issues:

 

1. Select show, click sync. First issue, doesn't seem to be any way to see the progress of the synchronization process, either on the device (an android phone) or via the web interface. The "Status" on the sync page on the mobile app even shows idle, when it is in fact transferring (confirmed by the server itself and the data transfer rate on the device).

2. Leave the house, get off wifi and head out.

3. Boot up the emby app, it sits spinning for 30 to 60 seconds. Then lists the server. Click it and wait........then it errors "We're unable to connect to the selected server right now" which is expected since I know it isn't externally visible.

4. Sign in via Emby connect again, same error as above.

 

So while the data is synchronized for offline viewing, I have to be online to watch it? To me this makes the sync/offline mode useless (I accept in a weak connection area it might be useful, authorize if the server was visible then play locally).

 

Am I missing something? Should the app not have some sort of local mode that just lets you view local files, then synchronize watched status from wifi later?

 

If anyone can advise why I can view the web interface externally without issue,but the android app still can't connect, that would be appreciated as well!

 

dubs

 

 

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Hi, we have not yet added offline viewing into the app but it's a planned feature for the future. In the meantime, the videos are stored in an easy to read directory structure so you can just watch them by opening the file using a file browsing program like ES Explorer. I'll look at the progress issue you're mentioning. Thanks.

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CBers

I have to be online to watch it?

As Luke says, offline mode isn't available as yet.

 

I assume the device is a non-wifi or non-3G device?

 

What I have done in the past, is install VLC Player or MX Player on my tablet and let the app find the content on the device.

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  • 2 weeks later...
teshiburu

Hi, we have not yet added offline viewing into the app but it's a planned feature for the future. In the meantime, the videos are stored in an easy to read directory structure so you can just watch them by opening the file using a file browsing program like ES Explorer. I'll look at the progress issue you're mentioning. Thanks.

 

@@Luke - do we have a planned date that we may see this working as expected? rather than installing 3rd party apps to view our media, what about syncing offline playback and such when i get back online? 

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Sammy

I'm having an issue with syncing too..

 

If I use the main client with the rights to manage the server (only one) then it will show as "Ready to Transfer" but never transfers.

 

If I use another client without server management rights (all other clients) it will say it is starting the sync but then immediately cancel the sync. All clients have full sync rights in the dashboard. I have it set to use only one core of my i5 HTPC and to only upload at 1.5Mbps to conserve upload bandwidth for other tasks such as streaming.

 

The issue is that in either case, I'm not actually getting any files to sync.

 

What logs would you like to see?

 

Thanks.

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cherup

The same for me. App stops with ready to transfer but never starting transferring to my mobile phone...

 

Gesendet von meinem SM-G900F mit Tapatalk

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Dizzy49

The same for me. App stops with ready to transfer but never starting transferring to my mobile phone...

 

Gesendet von meinem SM-G900F mit Tapatalk

 

Due to recent changes to the Android OS, it may be because it no longer has permission to write to the SDCard.  If you set the path to your device storage it will work.

 

There is a work around, WITHOUT rooting your device!  You have to connect the SD card to your computer (not via your device, but using an adapter or something).  Then you create an android folder, and then a program folder for emby (copy it from your device storage).  Then you have read/write access within that folder.

I'd double check that though since I'm writing this off the top of my head and I did this months ago...

 

It's annoying, but it should work for you until we bitch enough to get it fixed in Android OS

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cherup

Thanks for that info, so now I can better understand the issue. I have changes the sync directory to '/storage/extSdCard/Android/media/com.mb.android'

Without any more sd card operation. Video is now transferring... So looks good until now. If this will solve the issue would be good if this will be the default path in the app.

 

Gesendet von meinem SM-G900F mit Tapatalk

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tobedeleted

1. I ran into the issue with the external SD card, too. If you use the right path, everything is OK. I just wonder, why the Android app does not simply default to a correct, writeable path??????? Or why it does not give a human-discernibile error message??? Error messages which help you fix problems aren't really Emby's strength...

 

2. Even if I have set up a correct path, I don't have any idea when Emby really starts to transfer the files to the mobile device. I can wait forever for the files to appear on the SC card. Most of the time I have to manually trigger something in the Emby app to get things going.

 

This is really not very intuitive :(.

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  • 5 months later...
cuddlepuncher

I've had the same issues.  I just purchased the lifetime premiere pass because I wanted the sync features for offline media.  I was surprised and bummed that when I have no network connection I can't play any of my media.  Then I spent some time trying to figure out why.  Grr..

 

I guess it's my own fault for not reading closely enough.  Now I see that it says that feature is coming in a future release for android.  The podcasts feature advertised as part of premiere is kind of misleading too.  It has the absolute bare minimum capabilities to even call it a feature.  Literally all you can do is stream a podcast directly.  You can't mark them as watched, you can't add them to a playlist, you can't sync them for offline etc...  

 

I should have waited to go for Premiere.  The 2 biggest features that made me want to get premiere don't even work. There's almost no reason to get premiere really because the only features that work well and as advertised are the features that are free anyway.

 

Edit:  I just realized my post sounds really grumpy.  I'm just frustrated.  I really like the project as a whole and love that it's built on open source.  I don't necessarily regret paying for premiere I just wish I had waited.  I'm happy to support the project though.  Keep improving things please and thanks for all your hard work.

Edited by cuddlepuncher
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I've had the same issues.  I just purchased the lifetime premiere pass because I wanted the sync features for offline media.  I was surprised and bummed that when I have no network connection I can't play any of my media.  Then I spent some time trying to figure out why.  Grr..

 

I guess it's my own fault for not reading closely enough.  Now I see that it says that feature is coming in a future release for android.  The podcasts feature advertised as part of premiere is kind of misleading too.  It has the absolute bare minimum capabilities to even call it a feature.  Literally all you can do is stream a podcast directly.  You can't mark them as watched, you can't add them to a playlist, you can't sync them for offline etc...  

 

I should have waited to go for Premiere.  The 2 biggest features that made me want to get premiere don't even work. There's almost no reason to get premiere really because the only features that work well and as advertised are the features that are free anyway.

 

Hi, we know you're waiting for offline and we're actively working on it.

 

As far as podcasts go, those ideas haven't been brought up before but they're good suggestions. Definitely something we can look into.

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Since it's a quick thing, I'm going to enable sync for podcasts for the next server release. The ability to resume I'd made a note of for later. Thanks!

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cuddlepuncher

Hi, we know you're waiting for offline and we're actively working on it.

 

As far as podcasts go, those ideas haven't been brought up before but they're good suggestions. Definitely something we can look into.

 

Check out this thread for some of my and other users' ideas for improving the podcasts feature.

 

Just being able to add podcast episodes to a playlist so that I can mark that playlist for offline usage would be a step in the right direction.

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cuddlepuncher

Since it's a quick thing, I'm going to enable sync for podcasts for the next server release. The ability to resume I'd made a note of for later. Thanks!

 

Awesome!  Are forum threads the best place for issues and feature request discussions?  Or is there somewhere else that you want those submitted?

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Yea the forum is great, although I would suggest creating new topics as that's easier for us to track. Thanks!

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  • 4 weeks later...
cuddlepuncher

Hey, I saw that I can add podcasts to playlists now, but it doesn't seem to be working.  I go to podcasts and then to one of my feeds and select an episode.  Click add to playlist and a message at the bottom pops up saying it was added to my "Podcasts" playlist that I created.  I go to view that playlist and nothing is in it.

 

I have also tried selecting an episode and choosing the sync to other device option.  It creates a sync job for that episode but it is empty. 

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For the next server release there's a fix to allow the channel content in playlists and collections. i'll do some additional testing trying to sync them. thanks.

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cuddlepuncher

I am running server version 3.0.73000 and I still have the same behavior of podcast episodes not appearing in a playlist when I add them and not syncing either.  

 

Also, I have a request for the offline synced content.  Would it be possible to have it create separate folders for each playlist that is synced or a .m3u playlist file or something?  As it is it just dumps everything into the main folder you specify. So if you have multiple playlists saved offline you just have a jumble of stuff when you open it in a 3rd party app since offline viewing isn't supported in the emby app yet.  If it separated them into folders then at least I could open my external app and select just that folder.

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ddjj767

My Emby app Doesn't sync at all. Even to a local directory. I select a music play list to keep offline how ever I go back into the "Downloads" tab and there's nothing there?

 

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

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My Emby app Doesn't sync at all. Even to a local directory. I select a music play list to keep offline how ever I go back into the "Downloads" tab and there's nothing there?

 

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

 

Hi, sorry to hear this. I think there some issues syncing playlists that we're looking to but in the meantime, individual media should be fine. thanks.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Deihmos

Is there still no offline mode? I just bought an android tablet and thought I could use it for offline playback. There is an option that says make available offline but it seems i still need to be online.

 

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

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Hi.  We are still working on this but, for now, you can get to the files that were synced using any other mechanism available on the device.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Is there any kind of rough ETA on when offline mode will arrive?

 

Essentially I'm coming to a point where I need to figure this one out. The kids are getting old enough to get their own tablets (Amazon Fire Kids Edition) and I'll need some sort of content available when offline. Asking them to open an external app and navigate to their content is out of the question.

 

If offline mode is not on the horizon I think I have two choices: 1) Find a Kodi like player for the Fire tablets that will scrape media and create a video wall from a saved location on the tablets SD card or 2) look at Plex.

 

Also while I'm here. Is it possible to lock down the Android mobile app so that the app settings cannot be accessed without a pin code?

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