Plex to Emby... (how did it go?)

[skidmarks 188]

I just figured i would share my experiences transitioning to emby from plex.  I have been using both emby and plex for a long long time.  They both coexist on the same server perfectly fine btw.

 

I am still using plex, even with the awful new UI until the new release of emby comes out in the near future (see lukes post in the announcements section).  Waiting to do a clean install of emby.  At that point Plex will be gone off my server.  Plexs new Roku app is very, uh, unpolished and much slower than the previous one.  Hence why everyone is kicking the tires on emby currently.  I am glad that Plex made this horrible mistake so users can at least see what emby is about.  And as people transition and have issues or concerns you are going to be very surprised to see how this community works to help resolve your issues.     

 

For the most part IF you have set up your libraries correctly you will not experience many difficulties at all during the transition.  There are not many differences with how the libraries should be set up.  The only real pain in the butt is how Plex and emby handle certain extras.  For large libraries this is a rather large time consuming process.  (although i think i might have seen a post somewhere with a batch file?)

 

In Plex you just added these in the same folder that your movie was in:

 

/movies

    /Home Alone (1990)

     file-behindthescenes
     file--deleted
     file--featurette
     file--interview
     file--scene
     file--short
     file--trailer

 

In Emby they have this structure:

/Movies   /Home Alone (1990)      Home Alone (1990).mkv      /extras         deleted-scenes.mkv       /behind the scenes         video1.mkv       /interviews         video1.mkv 

Anyway, this is really the only major structure differences in setting up a emby library vs. plex that i find any issues with at all. 

 

I know someone might ask...  Why are you using plex still if you enjoy emby so much...  Truthfully, Plex dealt with (served) my library much faster that emby did.  Nothing against emby at all!  I think i out grew the files that emby was prepared to handle (actually it was MB back then and the early stages of emby).  Now Plex is having the same issues since the new UI was released.  I am looking forward to the upcoming release with emby, and the new improved performance for large libraries that was a key note in Lukes post.

 

It would be interesting to see what others are having issues with during the conversion over to emby...

   

[Sammy 735]

I run both side by side but my Plex Server is shut down most of the time as it is a CPU hog for me.

 

I don't bother with the extras and have always formatted my files as required by MB 2.6 and before so that wasn't much of a problem and Plex reads that structure just fine.

 

I have always preferred Emby even during the growing pains..

[Luke 36997]

 

/movies

    /Home Alone (1990)

     file-behindthescenes

     file--deleted

     file--featurette

     file--interview

     file--scene

     file--short

     file--trailer

 

Actually we should support this structure as well. I would suggest trying it out on 3.6. Thanks !

[KarlDag 25]

I love Emby, and am currently running the 3.6 beta and it does FLY compared to previous versions.

 

One thing that doesn't seem to work for me is mobile sync/download on android, but it didn't really work in Plex either so can't knock Emby for it.

 

Clients support a lot more file formats so require a lot less transcoding so huge plus there.

 

The Xbox One X app has been buggy for me with 4K content, but Plex's is worse with all the buffering issues.

 

All in all, for me, they do a very similar job but I like Emby's clients power and layout a lot more, and the devs actually respond on the forums and try to fix bugs quickly... So I'm sold.

Edited December 13, 2018 by KarlDag

[Luke 36997]

 

 

One thing that doesn't seem to work for me is mobile sync/download on android,

 

Hi, can you please describe this in more detail? thanks.

[AVTechMan 7]

Is the 3.6 version of Emby still in beta for just the server? I have the beta version installed on a test machine while my production server is still on the current release. I have also used Plex for awhile myself to test the waters but two things about it that kinda struck it out for me....the main thing was the fact of whenever I had internet outages Plex was really slow and sluggish to work without the internet. I shoudn't need internet at all to watch material from my own server. The other issue I had was in dealing with the movie boxsets, in which I had alot of them. I've read on the Plex forums many users that have been requesting proper implementation of the movie boxsets for awhile, but those request pretty much went into the black hole.

 

I've used Emby since the early MB days when WMC was still king of the hill. For the last few months I have been trying to decide what server/media server to utilize, and I have finally rested on the use of Emby. The main plus with Emby, besides the great dev support, is that I can organize my collection and movie boxsets just about any way I want. The Android app is also great, though I have not yet tried using it outside the home network (we have satellite internet out here in the sticks and upload speed is a joke for streaming anything). Though I use another media software for critical and dedicated playback (music and movies to watch in my theater room), Emby is perfect for bedroom use and in the living area for non-critical viewing with the Roku app. 

 

If anything I think a future idea would be to try adding a collection feature for TV series like that with movies, especially when they have mini-shows or episodes related to that series. I am also still testing out the multiple versions of TV series with the different languages. 

[Luke 36997]

3.6 is still in beta, but not for too much longer. 

 

 

 

If anything I think a future idea would be to try adding a collection feature for TV series like that with movies

 

You'll be able to group series into collections with 3.6.

[vdatanet 1549]

Hi,

 

Recently I have migrated a Plex server to an Emby server without too many problems. I am delighted with the change but I am still using Plex to watch movies encoded with the hevc codec on my Apple TV without transcoding.

 

I hope that this problem is solved soon to be able to leave Plex permanently.

 

Thank you

[c0utta 10]

Hi, can you please describe this in more detail? thanks.

 

Hi Luke,

 

I agree with KarlDag in regards to Emby and Android sync not working.  Currently on the latest beta.

 

My use case is a Favourite music playlist that has >1000 entries syncing to Android.  So far, the sync has taken 3 days and still "Ready to transfer" on the first item but transcoding much of the playlist is still "Queued".

[Chyron 221]

I love Emby, and am currently running the 3.6 beta and it does FLY compared to previous versions.

 

One thing that doesn't seem to work for me is mobile sync/download on android, but it didn't really work in Plex either so can't knock Emby for it.

 

 

Stable v3.5.3 works fine syncing to Android for me, just for the record.

[KarlDag 25]

Hi, can you please describe this in more detail? thanks.

Tried syncing a few episodes, I keep getting download unsuccessful and never downloads.

 

Edit server is 3.6 on win 10 and app is on an up-to-date pixel 2 xl

Edited December 13, 2018 by KarlDag

[KarlDag 25]

Is the 3.6 version of Emby still in beta for just the server? I have the beta version installed on a test machine while my production server is still on the current release. I have also used Plex for awhile myself to test the waters but two things about it that kinda struck it out for me....the main thing was the fact of whenever I had internet outages Plex was really slow and sluggish to work without the internet. I shoudn't need internet at all to watch material from my own server. The other issue I had was in dealing with the movie boxsets, in which I had alot of them. I've read on the Plex forums many users that have been requesting proper implementation of the movie boxsets for awhile, but those request pretty much went into the black hole.

 

I've used Emby since the early MB days when WMC was still king of the hill. For the last few months I have been trying to decide what server/media server to utilize, and I have finally rested on the use of Emby. The main plus with Emby, besides the great dev support, is that I can organize my collection and movie boxsets just about any way I want. The Android app is also great, though I have not yet tried using it outside the home network (we have satellite internet out here in the sticks and upload speed is a joke for streaming anything). Though I use another media software for critical and dedicated playback (music and movies to watch in my theater room), Emby is perfect for bedroom use and in the living area for non-critical viewing with the Roku app.

 

If anything I think a future idea would be to try adding a collection feature for TV series like that with movies, especially when they have mini-shows or episodes related to that series. I am also still testing out the multiple versions of TV series with the different languages.

FYI Plex implemented collections this year. Edited December 13, 2018 by KarlDag

[AVTechMan 7]

FYI Plex implemented collections this year.

 

They did....well its about time, though a bit late now. 

[cookieflips 0]

Hi, I'm new to Emby. Currently moving out of my Plex structure because of the new update, and the people in my home hate how they can't find their media.

So far I am having a good experience with how was easily I able to install on my Ubuntu CLI.

I'm currently setting up and I have to rename the Extras folder for my Blu-Ray extras to get this to work.

 

Can anyone redirect me to a guide for proper naming conventions? A lot of my extras are getting read as actual movies and it's making a bit of a mess on my dashboard! (I name my extras: "Features", I know some people name them "Featurettes") Otherwise I am liking the media server more and more. I also like that Emby respects multiple artists for my music! I see a very good future between me and Emby, I'll take a look into subscribing for a lifetime as soon as I'm all set up!

Edited December 13, 2018 by cookieflips

[d00zah 127]

Hi, I'm new to Emby. Currently moving out of my Plex structure because of the new update, and the people in my home hate how they can't find their media.

 

So far I am having a good experience with how was easily I able to install on my Ubuntu CLI.

I'm currently setting up and I have to rename the Extras folder for my Blu-Ray extras to get this to work.

 

Can anyone redirect me to a guide for proper naming conventions? A lot of my extras are getting read as actual movies and it's making a bit of a mess on my dashboard! (I name my extras: "Features", I know some people name them "Featurettes") Otherwise I am liking the media server more and more. I also like that Emby respects multiple artists for my music! I see a very good future between me and Emby, I'll take a look into subscribing for a lifetime as soon as I'm all set up!

 

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki/Movie-naming

[cookieflips 0]

Thanks d00zah! I'm reading here that I'm using the correct folder name for my movies. I have a tendency to group into folders certain movie series so I think that might be what's messing up my movie collections. (Some of my extras are being picked up as movies.

Below is my setup:

 

/Movies

/Spy Kids Collection

/Spy Kids (2001)

Spy Kids (2001).mkv

/Spy Kids 3-D (2003)

Spy Kids 3-D (2003).mkv

Spy Kids 3-D (2003).hsbs.mkv

/Extras

Game Over.mkv

Deleted Scenes.mkv

Trailer.mkv

[d00zah 127]

One thing that jumped out in the referenced section:

Movie extras

...

 

Note: Be sure the movie file has been put in place at the same time as or before adding extras to avoid the extras being mis-identified as movies themselves.

 

Possible?

[cookieflips 0]

One thing that jumped out in the referenced section:

Movie extras

...

 

Note: Be sure the movie file has been put in place at the same time as or before adding extras to avoid the extras being mis-identified as movies themselves.

 

Possible?

I'm not sure! I did add the hsbs version much later because it took me a while to learn how to rip it from the blu-ray. The rest of the files are ripped at the same time though!

I'll take a look later because Emby is in the middle of scanning and refreshing meta data.

I noticed this isn't the only movie that's having this problem. Some of my extras for my disney movies also refuse to be identified as extras. I'm guessing it's because of the way I named/keep movie files in the same folder?

 

/Movies

/Animated

/The Lion King (1991)

The Lion King (1991) [720p AAC].mkv

The Lion King - Special Edition (1991) [1080p AAC].mkv

/Extras

James Baxter.mkv

Making the Beast.mkv

Deleted Scenes.mkv

 

I'll try to do a more in-depth report later and see how I feel about Emby then!

[skidmarks 188]

Early on in this thread Luke mentioned that the very soon to be released update will read the Plex "extras" folder structure without having to convert over to the current emby "extras" structure.  With the current version of emby i also had issues with extras showing up as movies.  But if i fixed it to work with emby, and it would be a pretty big undertaking for me, then Plex would show them as random movies.  There was no easy solution to make both servers happy with extras.  I would suggest just waiting out the new release, unless you really want to tackle your current folder structure.  I personally am just going to hold off until the new release hits.

[cookieflips 0]

Early on in this thread Luke mentioned that the very soon to be released update will read the Plex "extras" folder structure without having to convert over to the current emby "extras" structure.  With the current version of emby i also had issues with extras showing up as movies.  But if i fixed it to work with emby, and it would be a pretty big undertaking for me, then Plex would show them as random movies.  There was no easy solution to make both servers happy with extras.  I would suggest just waiting out the new release, unless you really want to tackle your current folder structure.  I personally am just going to hold off until the new release hits.

Yes, I shall try waiting this out for now, there's a lot of extras that I need to sort out just to get Emby working out of the box.

 

One more thing I noticed is that it's a bit of a hassle to have Emby recognize different versions of a movie appearing in the same folder with the same meta data just because it uses a different naming convention. Here's an example of two movies, one I got from a different source, and the other ripped from my bluray anniversary disc (They end up as separate movies in gallery view):

/Movies

/Movies

/Home Alone (1990)

Home Alone (1990) [1080p Bluray x265 ckflps]

Home Alone (1990) [720p BluRay DTS x264-MgB]

Edited December 14, 2018 by cookieflips

[Luke 36997]

Hi, are you trying this on 3.5, or the 3.6 beta?

[cookieflips 0]

Hi, are you trying this on 3.5, or the 3.6 beta?

Hello! Currently testing my setup with the 3.5, I'm fairly new and didn't know there was a 3.6 beta! I also juggle viewing my content between the Samsung TV 2013 smart app and the Roku App. I'll check the beta out when I get home thanks for the heads up!

[Luke 36997]

Thanks !

[ebr 14902]

Tried syncing a few episodes, I keep getting download unsuccessful and never downloads.

 

Edit server is 3.6 on win 10 and app is on an up-to-date pixel 2 xl

 

Make sure your download location is accessible to the app and has enough space for the download.

[KarlDag 25]

Make sure your download location is accessible to the app and has enough space for the download.

How do I do that?  Didn't see a path to download location, and turned on the permission for storage...