Calling all Plexiles

[tdiguy 96]

Not sure if i count or not, i only briefly played around with plex. This was just before plex came out with support for live tv. I was looking around at how i would go about setting up plex on the pi and such. There were options ( or lack of ) with plex that i did not like and I was really turned off that i would have to get a plex pass to have live tv support. Then i was unsure how it would work to use plex with all my devices since some are on google play and some are amazon. 

Now that i know emby a little better i have become very fond of the customization that is possible with ffmpeg.

[dawkid 5]

Hi. Just installed emby for the first time yesterday.

I have been using Plex since at least 2014, maybe earlier and have been very happy with it until this year. After an update, a large portion of my metadata disappeared. When I read posts on the Plex forums by users with similar problems the general theme seemed to be to chastise them for not having their media sorted and named correctly. Then they would be directed to jump through multiple hoops and do the Plex "dance".

I had already spent many hours getting my files named correctly and don't want to make a career out of learning the inner workings of Plex media management.

Twice I had installed older versions of Plex and my metadata all came back, but then got screwed up when Plex updated to the latest version.  All of this started in Dec 16, Jan 17. I have been hoping they would fix this but they haven't and I am tired of it.

 

I only use the server these days to stream to my Blu-Ray player as my wife finds that the easiest to navigate. I don't care about streaming to phones etc.

 

So yesterday I uninstalled Plex and installed emby to try it out. So far I really like it. It picked up all my metadata and then some. It only missed one thing that Plex  had gotten and that was because I had miss-spelled the name of a TV series. It got the metadata for all the shows, just didn't have a poster for the main series. I never realized that was a problem in Plex but it became obvious in emby because it showed a little red icon next to it in the metadata manager. In Plex two thirds of the shows in a series would be OK and a third of them would not even show the names of the shows, even though the name was in the filename.

 

Sorry. This got longer than I had intended.

So far it has been a good experience. I don't think initial set up is any harder than Plex and to me the settings screens make more sense.

[CBers 6771]

Welcome @@dawkid

[adamstewiegreen 147]

I "switched" from Plex to Emby yesterday.  After waiting about 8 hours for the server to scan my content the first thing I did was turn on the FireTV and play 5.1 ACC, AC3, AAC, & DTS files.  They all played in surround sound, and I was happy.  For about 10 minutes.  Then the server disconnected, then connected about 20 seconds later and it was sharply downhill from there.

 

So this might be shortlived.  I've found the software to be buggy, with constant server disconnects, slow interfaces (sometime waiting up to 30 sec to get into the "all movies" screen) and freezing.  Add to this the poor metadata support, mediocre kodi integration (compared the PKC) and ugly UI.  Emby really makes Plex look pretty good.

Sorry, I really wanted it to work.  They got $5 out of me for the one month anyways, maybe I'm doing something wrong, who knows.
 

Edit:  So I was goofing around with Emby today and getting logs and such to see what the problem might be and I had a lightbulb moment.  So I went into my router and port forwarded the appropriate port. Well!  Now it's a completely different program!  Even the metadata which was only coming in pieces has started to work well again.

 

My apologies for pulling the trigger too soon.

Edited October 16, 2017 by adamstewiegreen

[adamstewiegreen 147]

I came here to see what Emby can offer and I like trying new stuff. Guess I keep Plex for now for the wife and keep playing with Emby for myself, let's see how that goes. I am also a Plex pass lifetime victim from 6 months ago, so I hesitate to give my have earned Euros to another company.

 

I was a Plexpass Lifetime victim from Dec 2016.  I sent them a polite email describing my problems with Plex (News, 5.1 not working for Fire TV, android not working posting logs and getting no reply etc) and asked for a partial refund (Lifetime fee minus months I've used it) and they credited my account and closed it (it was $100+).  I'll probably end up back at plex but I can imagine Emby surpassing them in a couple years.

[ebr 14913]

I "switched" from Plex to Emby yesterday.  After waiting about 8 hours for the server to scan my content the first thing I did was turn on the FireTV and play 5.1 ACC, AC3, AAC, & DTS files.  They all played in surround sound, and I was happy.  For about 10 minutes.  Then the server disconnected, then connected about 20 seconds later and it was sharply downhill from there.

 

So this might be shortlived.  I've found the software to be buggy, with constant server disconnects, slow interfaces (sometime waiting up to 30 sec to get into the "all movies" screen) and freezing.  Add to this the poor metadata support, mediocre kodi integration (compared the PKC) and ugly UI.  Emby really makes Plex look pretty good.

 

Sorry, I really wanted it to work.  They got $5 out of me for the one month anyways, maybe I'm doing something wrong, who knows.

 

Hi.  This is definitely not normal.  Can you please open a new thread in the server forum with the information in How to Report a Problem?

 

I'm pretty sure we can get you fixed up.  Thanks.

[CBers 6771]

@@adamstewiegreen Sorry to hear of your troubles.

 

If you're willing to start a new thread in the Android TV / Fire TV forum, I'm sure @@Luke and/or @@ebr will be able to assist.

 

Also, follow the instructions here for providing logs etc.

[Nisten 15]

Plexile here,

 

Started initially with Plex but I was beyond frustrated - In my mind, I was like "there has to be something better"

Ended up stumbling across Emby/MB and after trying it a few days, I was pleasantly impressed, All these years of mkv remuxing finally paid off 

[Luke 37071]

Thanks for the feedback !

[Dair 0]

I used Plex in multiple homes for the last two years. Initially, it worked great and I had few issues. Every update this year seemed to cause me issues, but I worked through them usually by rolling back until things were better. That coupled with the whole authorization issue (I have frequent internet issues) and News feature crap nobody asked for really turned me off to it. Browsing the forums and Reddit it seemed clear the developers were no longer listening to their userbase. Add in the fact that I'm planning on adding Live TV to my setup which Emby is way better at and it was a simple decision to switch. I installed emby alongside plex for a few weeks, using Emby for Kodi on 17.4 with Titan, and PsuedoTV for channel surfing. Now I no longer run Plex and it'll eventually be uninstalled. Very happy with Emby and like how much developer interaction I see here.

Edited October 19, 2017 by vintage66coupe

[CBers 6771]

Welcome @.

[Chyron 221]

I installed emby alongside plex for a few weeks, using Emby for Kodi on 17.4

 

I can't use Kodi. Kodi's interface is too small on a phone or even a phablet; and my streaming box of choice is Roku, which has no Kodi app.

Edited October 19, 2017 by chyron8472

[mastrmind11 717]

I can't use Kodi. Kodi's interface is too small on a phone or even a phablet; and my streaming box of choice is Roku, which has no Kodi app.

So use the Emby native interface...

[Dair 0]

I can't use Kodi. Kodi's interface is too small on a phone or even a phablet; and my streaming box of choice is Roku, which has no Kodi app.

Have you tried using one of the skins designed for a touch screen? Estouchy and re-Touched come to mind, I'm sure theres a few others

[Chyron 221]

So use the Emby native interface...

 

I do. It was a comment, not a complaint. I just personally don't see the appeal for or basis of hype of Kodi---since access on mobile is a thing and the streaming box with the largest market share happens to be Roku, and neither scenario favors Kodi use.

 

Have you tried using one of the skins designed for a touch screen? Estouchy and re-Touched come to mind, I'm sure theres a few others

 

Yes. No, they might be serviceable on a tablet but not on a phone. The layout just doesn't work.

Edited October 20, 2017 by chyron8472

[Dair 0]

I have an old Amlogic S812 box running LibreElec Krypton, upside is it will directplay almost anything you throw at it, and it's dirt cheap. Our Roku 3 on the other hand, needs to transcode almost everything on my server. It works, but if I can limit transcoding I will. That combines with extensive skin support for Kodi makes it my preference. On mobile devices I just use the web browser, but mobile playback is not a big concern for me.

[Chyron 221]

Mobile playback is a very large portion of my media server use; my Roku 2 (2015) was inexpensive at the time, especially for the decent performace it has; and its Plex app worked well right out of the box (especially compared to my (likely defective) Amazon Fire Stick, my PS3 and my parents' AppleTV 2). Also, I run everything I rip or download through Handbrake to make sure it's compatible with my clients.

 

 

Everyone can have their preference, but I find Kodi's interface to be somewhat lacking despite its customizability. I'm not really a fan of the PS3/4-style dashboard interface that Kodi has, and no skin changes that.

Edited October 23, 2017 by chyron8472

[adamstewiegreen 147]

Everyone can have their preference, but I find Kodi's interface to be somewhat lacking despite its customizability.

 

I agree there is a serious lack of good interfaces for Kodi (and most are just skins of 2 types of interface).  And the ones that are different are often convoluted.

 

That said, I have found one that I like (Artic:Zephyr) and one that is bearable (Eminence) and they work very well with Emby.

 

But the best thing about using Kodi (and the only reason to use it - I have a firetv) is that there is no transcoding.

[molbdron 0]

Chiming in on this thread. I have been a lifetime member of Plex for 4 years. I am a Premier member here as well. Rather than compare I would rather give focus as others have done, to the developers here which seem very active and responsive. I like the *feel* of Emby. I started with Emby on OSX10.11. The newer Mac version runs on 10.12 and above. @@Luke replied quicky about the version. I appreciate that. I am building in a linux VM. I am also OpenMediaVault friendly and giving a docker build a shot. In the long run, I am drawn to the feel of Emby. Keep up the great work! 

[BAlGaInTl 279]

Chiming in on this thread. I have been a lifetime member of Plex for 4 years. I am a Premier member here as well. Rather than compare I would rather give focus as others have done, to the developers here which seem very active and responsive. I like the *feel* of Emby. I started with Emby on OSX10.11. The newer Mac version runs on 10.12 and above. @@Luke replied quicky about the version. I appreciate that. I am building in a linux VM. I am also OpenMediaVault friendly and giving a docker build a shot. In the long run, I am drawn to the feel of Emby. Keep up the great work! 

 

I was an early plexile (before it was cool) and feel the same way.

 

Also an OMV/docker user.

 

Welcome!

[anthonws 40]

+1 I really love Emby *feel*. Specially the way that users are positively treated, including the fast feedback. Overall, a community feeling.

 

I was/am a Plex Pass user, and migrated to Emby Premier without thinking twice.

 

Simply adore the software and the update cadence, PowerUser settings like HW Transcoding, etc.

 

Mobile play is way more reliable, with much more DirectPlay and DirectStream sessions. Oh! And Emby plugin for Kodi is amazing!!!

 

To sum it up. Thanks a lot to all the Devs and Users that make this an amazing community and software/solution ecosystem!

 

Cheers,

anthonws.

[Luke 37071]

Thanks for the feedback !

[heciruam 23]

I just want to say thank you for offering the new extended premier lifetime licenses. I'm now ready to commit fully, bring over all of my users and throw out my PLEX docker.

 

cheers

Edited October 27, 2017 by heciruam

[BAlGaInTl 279]

I just want to say thank you for offering the new extended premier lifetime licenses. I'm now ready to commit fully, bring over all of my users and throw out my PLEX docker.

 

cheers

 

Wow... I just noticed that.

 

I may purchase that even though I don't "really" need it to support the project.

[FreeBSD_Lover 13]

I guess you could say I am using both at the moment.  Currently evaluating Emby and then I will make a decision.  I like what I see so far I must say.