Plex to Emby - My Initial Feedback

[chenks 21]

yeah that one.
this thread is about me comparing plex to emby, and my feedback on moving from one to the other.

[elpirate 5]

yeah that one.

this thread is about me comparing plex to emby, and my feedback on moving from one to the other.

 

Give Kodi + EmbyCon + Estuary Skin Cloner a go. You wont go back.

 

You can also get Embruary skin for Kodi which replicates the Emby app, aka makes Kodi look virtually exactly as the Emby app looks (minus the advert info)

 

Or, I believe there may be a way for you to replicate the Plex GUI through Kodi and use along with Emby Connect, may need to do some tweaking though.

 

There are skins that can make Kodi look like Plex I believe, you may go down this path and still have EmbyCon or Emby Kodi Addon as your connection to your Emby server.

Edited January 22, 2019 by elpirate

[chenks 21]

i'd previously used PlexConnect with Kodi but it didn't support the newer features of plex like combining content into their collections within the main library amongst others.

[Carlo 4331]

I've commented about the contradiction of the green circle for movies which indicated WATCHED while in TV Shows the Green circle means UNWATCHED (and a number for the episode count). I too think movies should change to mark unwatched only so this is consitant.

 

Flatten TV Shows like Plex does it is nice and I do miss that feature as well.  This would be ESPECIALLY helpful in DVR recordings as it's quite likely you don't have multiple seasons showing up.

 

We completely disagree on Android TV UI.  I like the Emby layout so much better.  You can choose horizontal vs vertical grids (in the beta about to be released), have quick access to watched/unwatched, and the way favorites is implemented in Emby is far superior to anything Plex has.  This way I can select 30 shows out of 500+ I have to "follow" easily.  Combine the use of favorites and UNWATCHED and I always have content I can get to quickly.

 

Not only that but in Emby I can choose the size of my posters. Can't do this in Plex which drives me nuts as the posters are SO BIG.  On my 75" TV this is a ridiculous use of space.  In Emby I can set the poster size to small and see a whole lot more content per screen which makes navigation so much better!

 

Emby Android TV starts playing media a lot faster then Plex does as well.  It also supports higher bitrates reliable.  I've got 4K content that when direct played in Plex is choppy while it plays perfect in Emby.

 

Also in the Beta Emby is doing Refresh rates correct while Plex is not.  For example if you record or playback  1080i content Plex will deinterlace it but only show the content at 29.97 Hz vs Emby at 59.94 Hz so it's smooth as butter.  Plex is throwing out half the temporal resolution.

 

The two clients really are worlds apart when you dive down and really use them.  I run a few different media server products but to me the Emby Android TV app is the "FLAG SHIP" of all clients by any vendor.

[chenks 21]

yeah i did know i would be in a minority in prefering the UI of the plex app to that of emby, but it was solely the UI, not the not backend stuff that emby might do better.

I dunno, i just think the emby app doesn't look "polished", if that's the best term to use, so in essence "factor over form".

i'm only basing this on the current release version though.

[Carlo 4331]

Well if you think about it, people are here for a reason. Typically that would mean they like the feature set and clients from Emby better.

If you posted the opposite in the Plex forums the reaction would probably be the same there favoring the Plex apps.

 

I run both, and like everyone else have certain features I like better in one over the other which I think is natural.

 

I'd signup for the Android TV Beta if I were you and give that a shot.  It's progresses rather nicely from the current release version or just wait a bit as it's very close to release.  It might very well change your mind.

 

I'd suggest with Android TV to get a good feel for how to use the icons immediately above the grid on the right side which includes the WATCHED/UNWATCHED & FAVORITE toggles which make it's use really nice and fast.

[Gilgamesh_48 948]

yeah i did know i would be in a minority in prefering the UI of the plex app to that of emby, but it was solely the UI, not the not backend stuff that emby might do better.

I dunno, i just think the emby app doesn't look "polished", if that's the best term to use, so in essence "factor over form".

i'm only basing this on the current release version though.

 

I pretty much agree. If I was choosing between Emby and Plex based solely on their respective Roku apps appearance and the way media is accessed I would have to choose Plex BUT that is not the basis for the choice I have made. On my system much of the time Plex is very very slow to start the app and even relatively slower to start a show when I choose to play one. The difference is as much as 10-15 seconds in starting playback and usually more than 30 seconds in the startup of the app.

 

The other, and it really is VERY important, is the responsiveness of the developers. In Plex if you ask a question or post what you believe is bug you are lucky to get a response from a "ninja" and you almost never get a response from a developer. In Emby it is extremely rare for a problem to not get an official response within a few hours at most. Even problems that seem related to just my setup gets responses and often a good diagnostic conversation that leads toward a resolution.That difference is very important for me.

 

I still have to use Plex (Plex server running on my Shield TV) for audiobooks because Emby's current audiobook support is simply quite bad and the "audio book" library type does not even display all my folders with mp3s in them. But I have hopes that Emby will fix the problems and I have almost no hope that Plex will fix any of the many bugs they have.

[chenks 21]

the reaction would probably be the same there favoring the Plex apps.

 

i'm not too sure about that !!!     

the plex apps aren't particularly liked over there

Edited January 22, 2019 by chenks

[Carlo 4331]

i'm not too sure about that !!!     

the plex apps aren't particularly liked over there

Yes I know that, especially with the new style Type First UI they've been pushing the last couple of years.  They are currently working to remove that and make it Server/Llbrary again like it used to be.  I WAS a Plex Ninja so I know all to well how Plex works (or doesn't).   I disagreed so much with their approach on the UI and DVR implementations I just couldn't use the product daily anymore and had no faith (even when I had access to devs in chat) that things would improve.  The Devs are at the mercy of management and PR teams that don't use the product like the typical power use does so it's been creating a lot of conflicts between the two.

 

So yes, maybe a bad comparison, but I was just saying in "general" the typical user will likely like feature of the product they are currently using, hence why they use it.  But in the current days of Plex a lot of people aren't happy and have been looking for other Media servers to switch to, Emby being the leading competitor.

 

People who use both can probably give a betting opinion.  This would be people like yourself who have tried both or someone like me who's ran them both for years.  It's OK if we disagree on what we like best as that is good and keeps things very getting stale.

[chenks 21]

I'd signup for the Android TV Beta if I were you and give that a shot.  It's progresses rather nicely from the current release version or just wait a bit as it's very close to release.  It might very well change your mind.

 

I'd suggest with Android TV to get a good feel for how to use the icons immediately above the grid on the right side which includes the WATCHED/UNWATCHED & FAVORITE toggles which make it's use really nice and fast.

 

i've just installed the beta version of the android tv app, and the UI is certainly an improvement (i instantly disabled the side bar function).

 

one thing... what's the difference between the "simple grid view" and "tabbed view" options? i can't seem to see any visual difference between the two.

with the icon set set to "medium" (which is the same as "auto" for me), i feel the spacing between the icons is a little large. the result is 6 movies per row, but i feel with a little less spacing it could be increased to 7. setting it to "small" is just a little too small and compact for me.

 

and the "use card style" - again that's a setting where i don't see what impact it has?

 

is there a way to disable to the youtube trailers that get present when viewing the movie details screen?

[Carlo 4331]

From homepage go into TV Shows.

Bring up settings via the cog icon.

Switch to TAB View.

Exit back to homepage

Go back to TV Shows

You will have a set of "tabs" up top with Shows, Suggestions, Favorites, Upcoming, Genres, Folders, etc

 

Simple Grid View does not have the tabs.

Chances are after you are changing this you aren't going back to the homepage then re-entering that section to see the change.

 

I like the TAB VIEW for the additional information it provides which can be useful.  If you have a small screen and want to fit more icons on the screen you may like the simpler view???

 

There are different tabs depending on the content type.

 

As for the space issue you mention.  If you turn the left menu back on and NOW look at the spacing you will see it's tighter looking.  Without the stub menu (not open) on the left it's a bit more open.  That spacing is affected by the left menu being on or off.

 

CARD STYLE affects the home page.  Try it on and off and look at the difference in graphics on the home screen.

 

Not sure what exactly is the question about the trailers.

 

Hope that helps for the first two sets of questions,

Carlo

Edited January 22, 2019 by cayars

[chenks 21]

if you select a movie and get the movie details screen, scroll down and it list trailers for the movie (below the chapters section).

 

the card style - ok i see a very subtle difference, with it enabled there is a grey box surrounding the tile text. very suble though.

 

tabbed/simple - ok yes i wasn't going back out the main menu with each change to see the difference - much prefer simple grid, less cluttlered.

[Deathsquirrel 741]

Well if you think about it, people are here for a reason. Typically that would mean they like the feature set and clients from Emby better.

If you posted the opposite in the Plex forums the reaction would probably be the same there favoring the Plex apps.

 

So much this.  I have, on occasion, threatened a mob with torches and pitchforks should the Plex UI be inflicted on me by the Emby devs.  I have no fear they would do this but I say again, a mob with pitchforks.  I expect there would be torches as well.

[arrbee99 1562]

Torches ? I assume the flaming variety, those powered by a couple of AA's just won't have the same impact 

[Carlo 4331]

Dang LED torches would take the fun out of it, now wouldn't it.

[arrbee99 1562]

But obviously much safer. One has to take all aspects of Health & Safety into consideration nowadays...

[elpirate 5]

i'd previously used PlexConnect with Kodi but it didn't support the newer features of plex like combining content into their collections within the main library amongst others.

 

EmbyCon displays collections / boxsets as it should (as a collection / boxset and not individual titles).

[Tang! 3]

Dang LED torches would take the fun out of it, now wouldn't it.

Yeah - but they'd last for DAYS! ::grin::

[Chyron 238]

Where I'm from, those are called "flashlights".

[crusher11 861]

The biggest thing I miss from Plex is being able to skip chapters during playback. Handy if I want to skip half time of a sporting event, a match on a wrestling card, or the opening credits of a TV show.

 

I'm also not a fan of the giant overlay that pops up every time you press a remote button. I disable even the smaller displays in the corner on my Blu-ray player so I can watch films in peace.

 

I love that we can customize the forward/back skip time, have multiple version of films and choose between them, and play back 3D in 3D. Casts for episodes instead of just entire TV shows are fantastic as well, and the ability to manually tag people means I can insert sportspeople or wrestlers into their events. It's still clearly designed for movies and TV and it would be great if someday someone decided to put together something for sports and wrestling, but it's a lot friendlier.

 

Other things I miss are views refreshing on their own when I make changes instead of having to go back to the previous screen and manually reload, being able to reload libraries from the main view, and being able to set at both a library and collection level whether collections displayed only the collection, only the contents, or both.

[Luke 37259]

Thanks for the feedback. We are working on improving the chapter and thumbnail seeking experience. Thanks.

[crusher11 861]

Even if scrolling through thumbnails (which Plex does support) is too much, simply having a next/previous chapter button would do the trick for me. On my LG Smart TV, Plex maps left and right to the time skip and up and down to chapters. Works a charm.

 

Had a look at Kodi, which also supports 3D and does have previous/next chapter buttons, but browsing for a film is an awful experience on there. I like being able to look at poster thumbnails, rather than just a list. Got horribly lost in the navigation multiple times as well.

[Luke 37259]

Thanks for the feedback.

[chenks 21]

If you want a better / different UI than the Emby version explore using Kodi and the EmbyCon add-on. It's brilliant!

 

think i must be missing something obvious here, but when i tested embycon it just gave me a basic list of the content rather than an nice UI?

[elpirate 5]

 

think i must be missing something obvious here, but when i tested embycon it just gave me a basic list of the content rather than an nice UI?

as well as EmbyCon, use the estuary skincloner add-on from the Emby beta repo for a traditional Kodi estuary look or use embruary skin add-on to look like the Emby app. Best using the EmbyCon version from the beta repo aswell.

Edited February 9, 2019 by elpirate