Emby compared to other options

[McGregorMX 0]

I know the topic in an emby forum is probably going to generate mostly pro emby answers, but I'm having trouble deciding which way to go. So to start:

 

I want to get away from using Windows based PCs for my home theater environments, as I'm finding I need more, and I get sick of buying windows licenses for them. This means I will also have to replace my current HTPC software of Mediaportal, as it only runs on windows PCs. Also, I'd really like to have native netflix/amazon/hulu/etc... apps that can be accessed easily, and with a remote (no mandatory keyboard).

 

I'm looking at the Nvidia Shield TV as a PC replacement device, and I currently, I can't seem to find a software system (plex/emby/kodi) that runs on it that will read the comskip files, from OTA/cable tv captures. I guess Kodi is kind of an exception to this, since it will read the files if you aren't accessing the information through the mediaportal plugin (I believe this is the TV Shows portion that you see...it has been a while), which is sort of a solution, but in order to watch/record tv, I have to use the interface that communicates with the backend. If there is a better backend tv server out there, I wouldn't be opposed to trying it out; all it would need to do now days is record tv shows. We rarely watch anything live (if ever).

 

The biggest thing I need the system to do is to record tv and skip the commercials without modifying the recorded file (comskip doesn't always work 100%). Everything else Plex/emby/Kodi does well enough that I'm not worried about those features. So any suggestions, solutions, workarounds would be greatly appreciated. I'm leaning toward just letting the server record shows, and telling everyone on the system that they simply can't watch live tv anymore, although Emby does allow for live tv, so I could do a combo of emby/kodi for this, but that kind of defeats the purpose, as I could simply still use mediaportal (albeit I'd still need to pay for those dang licenses).

 

Really, my ideal solution would be that emby just read my edl (.txt) files that comskip generates for the recorded tv shows folder.

[McGregorMX 0]

I may have found my own answer to this within the Nvidia Shield forum. It appears that Kodi is able to read the edl files, even using the mediaportal plugin. I'm going to snag one today, so I'll test this out, and try to remember to post my findings (I know it's not an emby feature or topic, but I can't be the only person looking for this perfect solution).