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Emby w/o internet (offline)


piecesofme

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piecesofme

Hello,

 

I’m finally starting to make some good progress with my first Emby server setup. :) It will be used at home, with Gigabit internet on a Linux based Intel NUC.

 

However, we have to travel several times a year and are typically gone a month or so at a time. While sometimes the places we stay have decent WiFi/internet access, oftentimes we don’t. So, we’ve been working on a way to bring some of our media along on an external HDD and still have good access to it all in a beautiful and easy UI. We already have an Nvidia Shield and we tried using it multiple ways on our last trip but it was an unmitigated disaster. We setup a secondary Plex server on the Shield that we brought with us and had all the media content locally but without good internet, Plex can’t even run local files. So, I spend several days setting up Kodi thinking that would be a no-fail solution but instead, it crashed and hung every time we tried to use it and I couldn’t get back into the app even with multiple reboots (it like just got stuck in a crash and wouldn’t open). I tried a couple of the forks of Kodi & had the same experience. I also tried just using VLC and another media player and I couldn’t get those to work either. It was depressing.

 

So, I wondered if there’s any chance that Emby can handle being a local server or media player (not sure the correct term). Ideally, I’d have the server setup on the Shield (I think I read Emby supports that) and have the ability to start the server whether or not there is active internet. All the media would be contained on a couple of small external HDDs that plug directly into the Shield so it would not need to pull any media from the internet. I would make sure that the metadata is setup before we left with likely having Emby pull it and embed it into nfo files so that it could be easily read locally.

 

I’m hoping to retain the gorgeous interface, playlist capability, etc. Obviously, this would be a secondary setup to my home server which would continue to remain accessible for those times when I do actually have good internet when traveling.

 

If this just isn’t possible, I’d love to hear some ideas about how I might come up with something like this. The only other thing that I could think of is to get something like an older, used Mac Mini that could run any number of other things including Kodi (hopefully without crashing like on the Shield), possibly Emby, or something similar. Since it’s a full computer shrunk down, it should be able to play anything directly. But I’m totally open to other ideas, too!

 

Any info and advice would be really brilliant! Thanks so much in advance!!

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Hi.  If you purchase the Shield app unlock (while connected to the internet and play store) then this should work for you.  The only thing we would require internet for would be the Premiere and device check and that would not be needed if the app had the unlock purchase.

 

Please let us know if this answers your question.

 

Thanks.

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piecesofme

Hi.  If you purchase the Shield app unlock (while connected to the internet and play store) then this should work for you.  The only thing we would require internet for would be the Premiere and device check and that would not be needed if the app had the unlock purchase.

 

Please let us know if this answers your question.

 

Thanks.

 

 OK, interesting. So, just so that I completely understand, even if I end up paying for Premiere, it sounds like I should also buy the app unlock for the Shield so that it wouldn’t need internet verification for the Premiere status. Is that correct?

 

Am I also correct that I can use the Shield to run a secondary Emby server, as described above? If all that I need to do is to purchase the app unlock - even with Premiere, that would be brilliant to have it all working offline. :)

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 even if I end up paying for Premiere, it sounds like I should also buy the app unlock for the Shield 

 

You don't need the unlock if you have Premiere. The unlock is only applicable for basic playback and would not apply to other Premiere related features.

 

 

 

Am I also correct that I can use the Shield to run a secondary Emby server, as described above? 

 

Yes you can !

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piecesofme

You don't need the unlock if you have Premiere. The unlock is only applicable for basic playback and would not apply to other Premiere related features.

 

 

Yes you can !

 

Oh, OK. I thought the previous poster meant that I would need both because Premiere would have to pull it’s data from the internet and the standalone app purchase would not. So, it sounds like that isn’t the case? 

 

Will Premiere be able to verify my status once and then hold a cookie/token for further offline use? I just want to be sure I understand how this will work without internet. :) Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it. 

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You don't need the unlock if you have Premiere. The unlock is only applicable for basic playback and would not apply to other Premiere related features.

 

In his case, he will need the unlock.  Otherwise, the device validation is going to fail since he won't be connected to the Internet.

 

Pieces - yes, you interpreted my post correctly.

 

Thanks.

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