Emby External Player Launcher

[Bloodred 11]

Here we go, I've released E2PL v1.1.1.0. It's available on the releases page on GitHub:

https://github.com/red217/EmbyExternalPlayerLauncher/releases

 

This version brings updates to how MPC-HC status is interpreted and should fix issues with MPC-HC 1.8.7 (and other newer versions). Since these newer versions of MPC-HC sometimes seem to respond very slowly to requests (I don't know why exactly, though it could be happening during refresh rate changes or such), I still recommend increasing the request timeout in the E2PL settings as well. I've set it to 10s on my system and this has cleared up timeout issues in my case. Since different systems may behave differently, the 10s isn't a value set in stone and if you're getting unexpected timeouts in the E2PL log you can try tweaking this value further. Do note that it is possible/normal to sometimes get a timeout when MPC-HC actually finishes playback and closes automatically or if the player is closed intentionally, that's not a problem.

[bitfidelity 1]

I can no longer connect after the latest server update. Emby keeps telling me there was a failed login attempt, but my credentials are correct/haven't changed.

 

EDIT: I solved the issue by going to Local Network Access and turning off the password requirement.

Edited November 22, 2019 by bitfidelity

[Elegant 10]

@bitfedelity Are you using LDAP for passwords?

[bitfidelity 1]

Nope.

[Luke 39416]

Most likely it needs an update to use our newer login requirements. That's why removing the local network password requirement works as a workaround.

[Bloodred 11]

Yes, the problem is probably the fact that the new server's API is no longer completely compatible with the old library. Sadly I can't really update easily since there isn't a new library version released as far as I can see. I guess I could try to re-implement everything without a specific library and calling the server API directly, but I don't really have the time for that right now, so no promises on that front at this point.

[xxsxxism 0]

I'll wait patiently for a hopeful update.  Never realized how much I used this until it quit working. Thanks for the work you do.

[Maximus Naxsus 19]

I can no longer connect after the latest server update. Emby keeps telling me there was a failed login attempt, but my credentials are correct/haven't changed.

 

EDIT: I solved the issue by going to Local Network Access and turning off the password requirement.

 

Please be more specific, I can't find this option

[saltywatermelonsoda 2]

Please be more specific, I can't find this option

 

Manage Emby server > Settings > Users > Password > Local Network Access

Edited November 26, 2019 by saltywatermelonsoda

[Bloodred 11]

I'll wait patiently for a hopeful update.  Never realized how much I used this until it quit working. Thanks for the work you do.

No problem! The work I put into E2PL is for myself too, I needed something to cover this sort of use case and which ticked a few boxes so to speak, so I wrote this tool. I'm still using it on a daily basis. Since I made it anyway, I might as well release it to anyone else who might find it useful.

 

If you really need to get it working again I suppose you can try what the others have suggested, namely disabling the password to see if it works. Another option would be to downgrade the Emby server to a working version (and hope the library remains compatible) and then stop updating. For my own install of Emby that I use daily I went with the latter option and stopped updating a while back, since things will probably keep breaking as the server receives updates.

 

Stopping updates isn't a real solution that I'd suggest doing forever, especially if you're using your Emby server exposed to the Internet since you could potentially be leaving yourself exposed to security vulnerabilities, so it's probably a bad idea in that situation. In my own case, the server is strictly isolated to a LAN. As for the general future, I'll have to decide what I'll do with my own media setup and that may influence what happens with E2PL too. With Christmas and the winter holidays coming I hope I'll have a bit of time to poke around with a few things and maybe decide what I'll do based on that.

[Luke 39416]

Are you using our c# nuget package?

[Bloodred 11]

Yes, I'm using this to be precise: https://www.nuget.org/packages/MediaBrowser.ApiClient/

[Luke 39416]

Ok we need to rebuild the whole thing, but that's going to take a bit of time. The best advice i can think of right now would be to drop the nuget package, pull the source for the library into your app, and then you can easily fix the login method to newer api conventions.

[bitfidelity 1]

Is there a way to configure Emby so I don't have to hit "Play on another device" and select "Emby External Player Launcher" every time I enter/refresh the web client?

[Bloodred 11]

Ok we need to rebuild the whole thing, but that's going to take a bit of time. The best advice i can think of right now would be to drop the nuget package, pull the source for the library into your app, and then you can easily fix the login method to newer api conventions.

I can have a look at doing that. Is this repo the right place to get the code from?

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Emby.ApiClient

Also I remember trying this at one point and having version trouble with the mediabrowser.common dependency, is the code on the ApiClient Github repo compatible with the latest mediabrowser.common? If not, do you know which version of mediabrowser.common to use? Thanks!

 

Is there a way to configure Emby so I don't have to hit "Play on another device" and select "Emby External Player Launcher" every time I enter/refresh the web client?

I've been doing the same thing, I haven't seen an option to set it as default, though I haven't looked very hard either.

[Luke 39416]

I can have a look at doing that. Is this repo the right place to get the code from?

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Emby.ApiClient

Also I remember trying this at one point and having version trouble with the mediabrowser.common dependency, is the code on the ApiClient Github repo compatible with the latest mediabrowser.common? If not, do you know which version of mediabrowser.common to use? Thanks!

 

I've been doing the same thing, I haven't seen an option to set it as default, though I haven't looked very hard either.

 

I would just pull in the mediabrowser.common 3.3.10 version and let's see if that's good enough.

[Bloodred 11]

OK, thanks for the help Luke. I'll give that a try, probably this weekend.

[Bloodred 11]

I've built the latest ApiClient version from source and released E2PL v1.1.2.0-beta which is now using this client instead of the NuGet package.

https://github.com/red217/EmbyExternalPlayerLauncher/releases/tag/v1.1.2.0-beta

 

I haven't made any other changes and haven't had time to set up a VM with the latest version of the server, so I'm not sure if this actually fixes anything or not. It does seem to work with the old server version that I'm using for my own media. Anyone having the authentication issues could give this a try and with a bit of luck it'll work, assuming the new library uses the new authentication method in the background when talking to the server. If not, I'll get an install of the latest server going and look into it in more depth when I've next got a bit of time.

[Elegant 10]

Fantastic! Can confirm that LDAP authentication is now working correctly. Thanks!

[Bloodred 11]

Nice, I'm glad to hear that!

[xxsxxism 0]

Working here as well. Thank you!

[levander 96]

Hi.

 

Can you make this useful for non-Windows users? (Mac to be specific)

[angryblue 2]

Can you make a Mac version?Thank you!

[Bloodred 11]

Working here as well. Thank you!

No problem! Looks like the compatibility issues with the new server have been solved for now.

 

Hi.

 

Can you make this useful for non-Windows users? (Mac to be specific)

Can you make a Mac version?Thank you!

Sorry to say, but the answer to a Mac version is no, at least at this time. I don't own or use any Macs, nor do I have any experience developing Mac software, so I can't really build and test it for Mac since I simply don't even have the hardware. There's also the problem that E2PL works together with MPC-HC, but MPC-HC itself does not run on Mac OS as far as I know.

[levander 96]

No problem! Looks like the compatibility issues with the new server have been solved for now.

 

Sorry to say, but the answer to a Mac version is no, at least at this time. I don't own or use any Macs, nor do I have any experience developing Mac software, so I can't really build and test it for Mac since I simply don't even have the hardware. There's also the problem that E2PL works together with MPC-HC, but MPC-HC itself does not run on Mac OS as far as I know.

 

Thanks for the answer, Bloodred. I understand.

 

Damn, I how I hate Windows...