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Emby Times Out on Roku Stick


knight2024

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knight2024

I have the Roku streaming stick in which i find works best with Emby and voice control, way better than chromecast or firestick. Anyways i can go to the you tube app and instantly when clicking cast in the youtube app the roku stick shows you tube right away. 

 

I noticed with Emby that unless i have the Emby app running on Roku the Emby app on my phone will not see the Roku to even cast to it. Which does make sense but how come Emby will not start up automatically like you tube.

 

And because Emby app on the Roku seems to timeout after a few hours the Emby app always has to be started again on the Roku, then back to the Emby phone app just to see the Roku then play a movie, Not friendly.

 

Are there any plans on a change for this.

 

Thanks

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knight2024

When opening the app on the phone then pressing cast, the Roku stick will not appear in there to cast to unless the Emby app is already running on the Roku. 

 

So then i go to the Roku start the Emby app, then restart the phone app and Emby on the phone then see's the Roku to select for playback.

 

I never have problems with the connection during playback ever, it's just that if i am not a show for a few hours i noticed that Emby closes on the Roku by itself, back to the Roku home menu. Therefore everytime i want to watch a show after a few hours i have to open the Emby app again on the Roku. I see no settings to combat this

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it's just that if i am not a show for a few hours i noticed that Emby closes on the Roku by itself, back to the Roku home menu.

 

 

Hi.  The app doesn't do this (mine stays up for days) but some Roku devices may shut down apps after inactivity.  I'm not sure if this is device-specific or if there is any way you can control this (@@speechles?).

 

Also, the Roku OS is not multi-tasking like Android or iOS - only one app can ever be running at a time and, in order to communicate with our app, it does have to be running.

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The issue is going to be firmware updates. When the Roku is not the active input device this can happen. Say you leave the Roku on HDMI2. But on HDMI1 is your cable box. Go to the cable box and watch. The Roku knows HDMI2 is not being viewed. It will take liberties during this time to do housekeeping. If the Emby app is up and running during this all is fine. Until the Emby app gets an update or your firmware on your Roku gets an update. In case of an Emby app update this must close the app to let you know the updated app is ready to launch. Perhaps they should just launch the same app you were last in but they don't presently. After the app update it just puts your back on the Roku homescreen. In case of a firmware update the Roku will reboot/restart itself. Then it will wind up at the same Roku homescreen when you come back. The Roku does this housekeeping check when not the active input device once every 24 hours.

 

There isn't really anything we can or should do in this case. We could have the Roku app constantly send keypresses to itself every 10 minutes to keep itself from going into "update mode" but doing this will risk users not knowing updates are ready. They could be using an old outdated app/firmware on their Roku and they never leave Emby. This is bad and likely why Roku does this self updating process. For us to break that update process might risk our certification on the Roku store. They do not like apps doing things like this.

 

 

 

The reason the Roku has to be running Emby in order for remote control to work is because of user context. With YouTube it can launch into a guest account. There is no such thing as a guest account for Emby. You can't get on the app without logging in. On YouTube you can and use everything that guests have permission to use and then when you want to see more restricted content you actually login to your user to do so. This is how YouTube works. On Emby you have to login as you enter the app. There is no concept of a guest account. This is the difference.

Edited by speechles
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The reason the Roku has to be running Emby in order for remote control to work is because of user context. With YouTube it can launch into a guest account. There is no such thing as a guest account for Emby. You can't get on the app without logging in. On YouTube you can and use everything that guests have permission to use and then when you want to see more restricted content you actually login to your user to do so. This is how YouTube works. On Emby you have to login as you enter the app. There is no concept of a guest account. This is the difference.

 

Actually, we could overcome that.  The problem is that the system you are trying to cast from has no knowledge of the Roku device unless that device is connected to the same server as the one you are trying to cast from.  And, it isn't connected to the server unless our app is running.

 

YouTube doesn't work like this.  It is talking to its own central server, not one on your network.

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Actually, we could overcome that.  The problem is that the system you are trying to cast from has no knowledge of the Roku device unless that device is connected to the same server as the one you are trying to cast from.  And, it isn't connected to the server unless our app is running.

 

YouTube doesn't work like this.  It is talking to its own central server, not one on your network.

 

ECP will never work over the internet nor will DIAL or SSDP. Roku OS 9.0x will no longer allow it. You need to use SSDP to discover the Roku on the network. Then using that IP you can broadcast a DIAL command to launch an app. Then use ECP to control the app that is launched. Emby is using DIAL and ECP commands. But SSDP for discovery I don't think is being used. This is the missing part. It would be entirely possible but would take some time and we have other features and issues that have higher priority. I can add this to the tracker as something to potentially address in the future once time permits.

 

Reference: Issue #298: [Roku ECP] SSDP discovery with DIAL launch and ECP control

Edited by speechles
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