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AppleTV 4K - how is it as a dedicated Emby client?


ShoutingMan

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vdatanet

It’s not an MPV issue... Plex’s “experimental” player used MPV and plays back HDR and matches frame rate. Just saying  ;)

 

I really wish the ATV Emby player was a lot better, then I could drop Plex.

 

I agree. The issue is not MPV, the issue is the implementation of the MPV player done by Emby. I prefer the native player instead a non working MPV implementation, but the desirable would be a correct implementation of the MPV player to minimize transcoding.

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timstephens24

It’s a lot of work to get it working properly, I’m sure they’ll get there eventually. I would like to see a better Live TV implementation for the guide, too, then it’ll be fine.

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It’s not an MPV issue... Plex’s “experimental” player used MPV and plays back HDR and matches frame rate. Just saying  ;)

True, we already know that for a long time already, when Plex introduced the (at that time) experimental MPV based enhanced player.

 

Plex shows us, that everything can be done with the MPV player core and even gives the user the choice, to use MPV or not.

 

They also have subtitle customization under control, where the Apple TV subtitle style settings can be used for displaying subtitles, EVEN with the MPV Player core.

 

Story short, the Emby team is miles behind in development, but that is something we already now unfortunately, for reasons we also know.

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Everbrave

It’s not an MPV issue... Plex’s “experimental” player used MPV and plays back HDR and matches frame rate. Just saying  ;)

 

I really wish the ATV Emby player was a lot better, then I could drop Plex.

 

Yes, this is what I meant but probably wasn’t clearly stated; by “in its current state still not well developed” I meant not well implemented. There is a long thread about the “include a switch ...” where we lengthily talked about the players, MPV vs. naive.

Edited by Everbrave
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Everbrave

It’s a lot of work to get it working properly, I’m sure they’ll get there eventually. I would like to see a better Live TV implementation for the guide, too, then it’ll be fine.

 

I don’t use live TV and use MrMC as an Emby client; works very well in fact!

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Everbrave

I agree. The issue is not MPV, the issue is the implementation of the MPV player done by Emby. I prefer the native player instead a non working MPV implementation, but the desirable would be a correct implementation of the MPV player to minimize transcoding.

Exactly :)

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timstephens24

I don’t use live TV and use MrMC as an Emby client; works very well in fact!

 

Yeah, I’m way more active on the MrMC forum :P

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Yeah, I’m way more active on the MrMC forum :P

That’s easy there, since there is not much activity the last couple of months, probably due the inevitable transition to Metal they we’re planning to work on.
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Everbrave

Yeah, I’m way more active on the MrMC forum :P

 

Currently, I travel a lot and don’t have much time for either forums; the Emby Apple TV app is very slowly progressing and nothing in the player department. Today, I got a good deal (169.- SwissFrancs which is about the same in US Dollars) on nVidia shield (2017) including remote and game controller, since the 2019 Modell isn’t much different. I wanted to replace my NUC by a device with a friendly UI that’s TrueHD Atoms passthrough capable among other things. I plan to run the Emby client there; will play with it and see.

Edited by Everbrave
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Dibbes

I don’t use live TV and use MrMC as an Emby client; works very well in fact!

I have it installed, but somehow it feels vey clunky to me... I really can't put my finger on it, but I'm just not able to get used to it, no matter the skin I'm using...

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Everbrave

I have it installed, but somehow it feels vey clunky to me... I really can't put my finger on it, but I'm just not able to get used to it, no matter the skin I'm using...

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I acquired a Nvidia Shield (2017) at a good price and installed the Emby Android TV client on it. I can confirm that it really works very well; 4K, HDR, Passthrough, very responsive; no complaint! It’s, however, sad to have to buy another Hardware to obtain the Emby client as it should be.

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vdatanet

I acquired a Nvidia Shield (2017) at a good price and installed the Emby Android TV client on it. I can confirm that it really works very well; 4K, HDR, Passthrough, very responsive; no complaint! It’s, however, sad to have to buy another Hardware to obtain the Emby client as it should be.

 

In my opinion, the Emby application for Android TV is the flagship of the Emby applications and Nvidia Shield is the flagship of Android TV devices.

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  • 2 weeks later...
ShoutingMan

I've got both AppleTV HD (4th Gen) and Nvidia Shield (2017). For Emby, the Shield is so much superior to the AppleTV. I use the aTV for everything else (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Movies Anywhere, etc.). But for my Emby client in my main theater room, the Shield is champs. And I'm saying that as an Apple-household (Macs and iPhones and iPads for everything except the Win10 Emby Server).

 

I'd love for AppleTV to be able to do Atmos and stream music without transcoding and so on -- then I could simplify my home around a single streaming box. But since Apple doesn't care about these niche little niceties, I've got to have a Shield as well. :)

Edited by ShoutingMan
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If Emby Devs doesn't reach it's target to finally have frame rate matching and HDR before the first of January 2020, than I will abandon the Apple TV Emby ship just like @vdatanet is planning to do, by purchasing some Shields (2019 versions) for my household.
 
Regarding bringing back the native Apple video player core:

We are working on it. It is getting there. And yes you'll have it before Christmas.

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Dibbes

If Emby Devs doesn't reach it's target to finally have frame rate matching and HDR before the first of January 2020, than I will abandon the Apple TV Emby ship just like @vdatanet is planning to do, by purchasing some Shields (2019 versions) for my household.

 

Regarding bringing back the native Apple video player core:

 

@@Senna Make that @vdatanet and Dibbes. Not quite sure what I'll replace it with (and in comparison with the both of you, a lot less of an impact), but I'm pretty much fed up with the Apple TV Emby app. Next to this, the Apple TV is the only up to date Apple product left in my household, having gotten rid of the rest...

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Spaceboy

@@Senna Make that @vdatanet and Dibbes. Not quite sure what I'll replace it with (and in comparison with the both of you, a lot less of an impact), but I'm pretty much fed up with the Apple TV Emby app. Next to this, the Apple TV is the only up to date Apple product left in my household, having gotten rid of the rest...

more chance of [emoji882]

 

The shield is far and away the best device

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vdatanet

The main devices of my home are three Apple TV 4K. Some time ago I bought three Nvidia Shield, with the idea of selling them when Emby for Apple TV was a decent app. But now it turns out that most likely I will sell Apple TV instead of Nvidia Shield. It's a hard decision because I like Apple TV more than Nvidia Shield. The other option is to use Plex, but I like Emby much more. The only advantage of Plex is a good application for Apple TV.

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Dibbes

I only really use Emby, Amazon and Clan TV (A Spanish kids' app)... my partner is pushing for Plex, but I don't really want to... 

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vdatanet

I only really use Emby, Amazon and Clan TV (A Spanish kids' app)... my partner is pushing for Plex, but I don't really want to... 

 

You will have no problem, all of them are available on Android TV. I've changed Apple Music for Tidal. For me the only drawback is the lot of content that I have purchased on iTunes, the Apple TV application and the photo gallery of my iPhone. This is what makes me keep using my Apple TV and I will wait until my patience runs out.

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Grumpy1

i too am thinking of switching back to plex just for apple tv, just got my first 4k tv and also have a shield but prefer the appleTV. i have Been waiting on Infuse to get Emby support but not sure what is taking them so long, it has been in the planned features for awhile now.

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vdatanet

If Infuse supports Emby, Emby + Infuse would be a good combination. But I think that although it is planned it is far away. In addition, we would have neither Live TV, nor Music, nor Photos.

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Everbrave

The main devices of my home are three Apple TV 4K. Some time ago I bought three Nvidia Shield, with the idea of selling them when Emby for Apple TV was a decent app. But now it turns out that most likely I will sell Apple TV instead of Nvidia Shield. It's a hard decision because I like Apple TV more than Nvidia Shield. The other option is to use Plex, but I like Emby much more. The only advantage of Plex is a good application for Apple TV.

 

I recently acquired a Nvidia shield (2017, for few reasons) to replace my NUC HTPC beside my Apple TV 4K.

there are two thinks to consider, the HW with OS running on it and the Playback client/Player.

 

On tvOS the UI is fantastic, with, now better, native client for Plex or the excellent infuse playback as Plex client. So, Plex is definitely preferred hier. MrMC works fine as Plex and Emby clients but still suffers from XMBC origin, but one can forgive it for the sake of its excellent player. What is missing is Audio passthrough. Although Dolby Surround or DT Neural:X up mixing on capable AVR would cover 99% of my audio needs, the residual 1% can be achieved only by the Passthrough.

 

Android TV on the Shield simply cannot reach the elegance of tvOS but it allows you to get the best clients for Plex and Emby, period!

you can also install Kodi with EmbyCon and Embuary skin and you have an excellent Emby clients in minutes. Audio passthrough is no problem also. The Shield suffers however from the small storage (16GB) and few OS/firmware related things (read on the forums).

 

in the end, I think to I keep both and switch a according to the needs. Both, especially the Shield, are quite good low-power replacement for an HTPC running Windows especially when it comes to the UI, but I have to live with on, I would keep the Apple TV due to my Apple environment and tvOS UI.

As for Emby/Plex, I personally have no obsessions with either, I can happily live with both save for the better interaction with the developers on the Emby forums, this must be said!

Edited by Everbrave
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vdatanet

The only thing I miss in Nvidia Shield is HDR to SDR tone map. Apple TV 4K GPU is powerful enough for HDR to SDR tone map. Infuse and Plex take advantage of it using mpv player. This can tip the balance in favor of Plex. 

 

It's a pity, because for me Emby server is much better and the developers are closer to the user. But after all, playback is the most important function, and at this point Emby for Apple TV is far away from competitors.

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Everbrave

The only thing I miss in Nvidia Shield is HDR to SDR tone map. Apple TV 4K GPU is powerful enough for HDR to SDR tone map. Infuse and Plex take advantage of it using mpv player. This can tip the balance in favor of Plex. 

 

It's a pity, because for me Emby server is much better and the developers are closer to the user. But after all, playback is the most important function, and at this point Emby for Apple TV is far away from competitors.

 

Agree, the HW on Apple TV 4K is powerful and can perform audio passthrough if Apple wants to (tvOS 11.2 was able to pass through the audio) but again DTS Neural:X is also very good. Again, if I have to decide for one, I would take ATV 4K.

Currently, Plex has the lead overall and are very active in updating both server and clients!

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vdatanet

I don't mind using two systems, Plex an Emby. But I have to keep the metadata on both servers. I try to follow the naming conventions to minimize manual matches. I would also like to stop using Trakt. My dream is to use a single server, and if it is Emby much better. But If I want to use Apple TV, my dream will have to wait.

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