Videos won't play on Fire TV or Android Phone Apps

[jmbond04 1]

I just bought an emby lifetime subscription today and I can't get any of the android apps to work. I can log in fine to Web Gui, Emby Theater, Kodi work (although EmbyCon is extremely slow and part of the reason I want to use the apps). I bought this subscription mostly to use the apps so I'm currently feeling like I wasted money.

 

I can log into each of the apps (Fire TV and Android Phone). I have used my reverse proxy using apache, direct https and direct http ports and I can sign in using all of them but when I try to select something to play it just sits there. Although sometimes it seems I can get a SSL Handshake Error and other times it seems like it's not even recognized.

 

Any ideas on what could be wrong?

 

I have attached a couple server log.

[ebr 14897]

Based on what you describe and the fact it is both apps it seems that it has to be related to the reverse proxy or network setup.

 

@@pir8radio

[pir8radio 1292]

I just bought an emby lifetime subscription today and I can't get any of the android apps to work. I can log in fine to Web Gui, Emby Theater, Kodi work (although EmbyCon is extremely slow and part of the reason I want to use the apps). I bought this subscription mostly to use the apps so I'm currently feeling like I wasted money.

 

I can log into each of the apps (Fire TV and Android Phone). I have used my reverse proxy using apache, direct https and direct http ports and I can sign in using all of them but when I try to select something to play it just sits there. Although sometimes it seems I can get a SSL Handshake Error and other times it seems like it's not even recognized.

 

Any ideas on what could be wrong?

 

I have attached a couple server log.

 

 

you can not use redirects 301, 302 from http to https..  especially in those apps, make sure the address that is in your app is your https://xxxxx and https port number.    dont expect the app to figure out the http redirect you may have in place. 

 

What format are the files that just sit there?  MP4?  or something else?   Post your apache config.   I'm not the best with apache but there are some on here that use it. 

 

Also make sure that you are not using https from apache to emby, it will cause all kinds of headaches.  you should be using your http port, and have the option in emby set to "reverse proxy". You shouldn't see ssl errors in your emby log if you are running through a reverse proxy.

Edited May 20, 2018 by pir8radio

[jmbond04 1]

you can not use redirects 301, 302 from http to https..  especially in those apps, make sure the address that is in your app is your https://xxxxx and https port number.    dont expect the app to figure out the http redirect you may have in place. 

 

What format are the files that just sit there?  MP4?  or something else?   Post your apache config.   I'm not the best with apache but there are some on here that use it. 

 

Also make sure that you are not using https from apache to emby, it will cause all kinds of headaches.  you should be using your http port, and have the option in emby set to "reverse proxy". You shouldn't see ssl errors in your emby log if you are running through a reverse proxy.

I attached my apache config 8096 is the port that is going to the emby server. Should I be using something other than apache for this?

 

I have tried

https://REPLACED.duckdns.org and https port 8096 -- reverse proxy port to emby http

https://REPLACED.duckdns.org and https port 8920 -- emby https port.

(using "openssl pkcs12 -export -out /mnt/letsencrypt/live/REPLACED.duckdns.org/REPLACED.duckdns.org.pfx -inkey /etc/letsencrypt/live/REPLACED.duckdns.org/privkey.pem -in /etc/letsencrypt/live/REPLACED.duckdns.org/cert.pem -password pass:PASSWORD"

 for the certificate used in Emby)

http://REPLACED.duckdns.org and http port 8097 -- redirected from the router to port 8096 on emby

 

I've tried multiple files and yes they are in MP4 format and play in firefox on the Fire TV  Stick.

 

The ssl errors because I have tried multiple different ways to get this to work. I did have emby set to "reverse proxy" during some of my testing.

[pir8radio 1292]

I attached my apache config 8096 is the port that is going to the emby server. Should I be using something other than apache for this?

 

its personal preference...  IIS, Apache, but I prefer Nginx. If you have no issues switching i would give it a try...    I bet it just works with one of the configs listed on this forum.   But if you want to keep apache, make sure you are passing the "range" and "if-range" headers in apache.  is it only mp4 files you have issues with?  can you try a mkv or something.. 

[Luke 36991]

What android phone device are you using?

[jmbond04 1]

What android phone device are you using?

The phone is a Samsung Galaxy S6.

[jmbond04 1]

its personal preference...  IIS, Apache, but I prefer Nginx. If you have no issues switching i would give it a try...    I bet it just works with one of the configs listed on this forum.   But if you want to keep apache, make sure you are passing the "range" and "if-range" headers in apache.  is it only mp4 files you have issues with?  can you try a mkv or something.. 

I may give Nginx a try when I have some free time but right now I'm just wanting to get this working any way possible through the app.

 

I tried again using a mkv file. I received the same result I did notice if I was connected to my home wifi it did work on my phone though. So it seems like the issue may just be outside of my home network.

[Luke 36991]

The phone is a Samsung Galaxy S6.

 

There's an issue in the android mobile app specific to Samsung devices that we are looking into for the next update. Thanks.

[jmbond04 1]

There's an issue in the android mobile app specific to Samsung devices that we are looking into for the next update. Thanks.

OK that explains the phone not working. Any idea on when that update should be out?

Any ideas on why the Fire TV Stick is also not working? 

[Luke 36991]

Hopefully soon. For the fire stick, it depends. What kind of SSL cert? It needs to be a certificate that the android operating system will trust.

[jmbond04 1]

Hopefully soon. For the fire stick, it depends. What kind of SSL cert? It needs to be a certificate that the android operating system will trust.

 

I'm using Let's Encrypt for my certificate.

[Luke 36991]

Do amazon devices accept that out of the box? That would be the question, assuming the issue is certificate-related.

 

What you can do is submit an in-app log by following the instructions at the bottom of the page here:

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/739-how-to-report-a-problem/

 

Then @@ebr will review. Thanks.

[ebr 14897]

Also, if you are using a Linux server search out here for certificate linux and fire tv because there may be some things you need to do to get the OS to pass the full certificate chain.

 

Thanks.

[jmbond04 1]

its personal preference...  IIS, Apache, but I prefer Nginx. If you have no issues switching i would give it a try...    I bet it just works with one of the configs listed on this forum.   But if you want to keep apache, make sure you are passing the "range" and "if-range" headers in apache.  is it only mp4 files you have issues with?  can you try a mkv or something.. 

 

I finally had a chance to setup nginx to use for my reverse proxy and it looks like that worked for the fire stick. In case anyone else has the same problem and wants to switch to nginx here is my setting for the proxy.

server {
  server_name example.com;
	location / {
		proxy_pass http://192.168.11.51:8096/;
                proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP               $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For         $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_set_header        Host                    $host:$server_port;
                proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-Proto       $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-Protocol    $scheme;
                proxy_redirect          off;

                proxy_http_version      1.1;
                proxy_set_header        Upgrade                 $http_upgrade;
                proxy_set_header        Connection              "upgrade";  
	}
    listen [::]:8096 ssl ipv6only=on; # managed by Certbot
    listen 8096 ssl; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
    include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem; # managed by Certbot
}

There's an issue in the android mobile app specific to Samsung devices that we are looking into for the next update. Thanks.

 

I am still not able to use my Samsung S6 to play anything through the app but at least this device functions well with the web app. Is there any way to get Samsung devices to play or any way to get more information of this issue? 

 

Thanks everyone for the help. 

[pir8radio 1292]

I finally had a chance to setup nginx to use for my reverse proxy and it looks like that worked for the fire stick. In case anyone else has the same problem and wants to switch to nginx here is my setting for the proxy.

server {
  server_name example.com;
	location / {
		proxy_pass http://192.168.11.51:8096/;
                proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP               $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For         $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_set_header        Host                    $host:$server_port;
                proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-Proto       $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-Protocol    $scheme;
                proxy_redirect          off;

                proxy_http_version      1.1;
                proxy_set_header        Upgrade                 $http_upgrade;
                proxy_set_header        Connection              "upgrade";  
	}
    listen [::]:8096 ssl ipv6only=on; # managed by Certbot
    listen 8096 ssl; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
    include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem; # managed by Certbot
}

I am still not able to use my Samsung S6 to play anything through the app but at least this device functions well with the web app. Is there any way to get Samsung devices to play or any way to get more information of this issue? 

 

Thanks everyone for the help. 

 

 

I think i recall seeing a post that @@Luke posted about a known issue with the samsung devices, that may be fixed in the next release?  But my memory sucks, so don't quote me.   Oh It's a few posts up....  post number 9

Edited May 24, 2018 by pir8radio

[Luke 36991]

For now with Samsung you'd have to use http. Please try https again with the next release of the app.