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Still no Emby in Android Auto - so I did this...


eebrains

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eebrains

TLDR - get Poweramp

 

Recently switched my whole setup over from Plex - and won't look be looking back any time soon.  Only thing missing was in-car playback on Android Auto.

 

Maybe I'm old school, but I always sync my favorite albums to my phone and play them locally.  No need to use mobile data just for music I play over and over on my ~2 hrs of daily commuting...  It is a must to have Android Auto because I always drive with Waze for route optimization in rush hour.

 

The problem I had with nearly every Android Auto supported player is that it can't read from Emby's data folder.  It is a permissions thing - and while I understand that write access would be bad, why can't they open files read-only?  Well folks, after a couple weeks of no Plex, I finally found a solution which greatly pleases me... (Sorry it's not free.)

 

Step 1:

  Get Emby Premiere & Sync your music to your Android device.

 

Step 2:

  Get Poweramp from the play store.  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maxmpz.audioplayer&hl=en_US

  You can trial it, then buy the unlock for $2.49

 

Step 3:

  Point the library searcher within Poweramp to your sync location: /SD_card/Android/data/com.mb.android/files/emby_downloads/Music

  Now when you sync new music, it is already in your Poweramp library!

 

Poweramp works way better than Plex ever did in Android Auto, plus tons of features as an audio player. Visualization support, multi-band EQ, effects, speed & pitch controls.  It will grab album art for you, or use whatever you have embedded already.

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Hi, thanks for the feedback. We're actually getting closer to being able to do Android auto so stay tuned.

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Sammy

Oh WOW!

 

To both comments!

 

Now if it could play video I'd be set!

 

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

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BAlGaInTl

Oh WOW!

 

To both comments!

 

Now if it could play video I'd be set!

 

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

 

That's probably not going to happen for safety reasons.

 

Understandable though.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 5 months later...

Everyone does but there's HUGE legal issues for anyone that allows that to happen, all the way down the line from the car manufacturer to google and down to Emby itself. I like Emby on all the other devices it works on and wouldn't want development frozen in time due to somebody dying in a car crash while watching Baby Driver when they should be paying attention to driving..

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9 hours ago, cayars said:

Well I like having video in the car myself. :)

 

5 minutes ago, Sammy said:

Everyone does but there's HUGE legal issues for anyone that allows that to happen, all the way down the line from the car manufacturer to google and down to Emby itself. I like Emby on all the other devices it works on and wouldn't want development frozen in time due to somebody dying in a car crash while watching Baby Driver when they should be paying attention to driving..

My car has the ability to play videos whilst driving, as the screen is designed so that the driver cannot see the video, just the passenger.

So I would like video playback possible via Emby in AA as well.

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2 minutes ago, CBers said:

 

My car has the ability to play videos whilst driving, as the screen is designed so that the driver cannot see the video, just the passenger.

So I would like video playback possible via Emby in AA as well.

I forgot you had mentioned this before.. That is some pretty cool technology right there. Does it work for other sources in Android Auto or through a different video player app?

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5 minutes ago, Sammy said:

I forgot you had mentioned this before.. That is some pretty cool technology right there. Does it work for other sources in Android Auto or through a different video player app?

That's something I'd have to test.

The current design is from either from the in-built DVD player, or from the on-board storage that you can "rip" videos to.

 

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A lot of auto's these days come with video systems in the cars. Back in the early 2000s when my kids were small I had video DVD systems strapped to the back of the driver and passenger seats for the kids to watch and it made a huge difference on long trips we used to take.  No more "Are we there yet", "How much longer" starting a mile from the driveway.  LOL

Of course a whole vehicle audio/video system is likely more than this is going for which is driver operated and get that.  What I do think would fit in with the current offerings would be audio  podcasts which are good to listen to while driving.  A little podcast love on the backend wouldn't hurt either. :)

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37 minutes ago, cayars said:

A lot of auto's these days come with video systems in the cars. Back in the early 2000s when my kids were small I had video DVD systems strapped to the back of the driver and passenger seats for the kids to watch and it made a huge difference on long trips we used to take.  No more "Are we there yet", "How much longer" starting a mile from the driveway.  LOL

Of course a whole vehicle audio/video system is likely more than this is going for which is driver operated and get that.  What I do think would fit in with the current offerings would be audio  podcasts which are good to listen to while driving.  A little podcast love on the backend wouldn't hurt either. :)

But that is not what Android Auto is designed for.  If you want an in-car video system you can build that with Emby already.  Android Auto is an interface specifically designed for simple interactions while driving a car.  Video is not a part of that.

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15 minutes ago, ebr said:

Video is not a part of that

Not part of AA, or something Emby won't make available in AA? 

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Well there is always the ability to mirror or carstream video. Not quite as nice as having it built in but understanding liability and all is a good alternative and works.

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On 9/13/2020 at 1:37 AM, Luke said:

What else are you wanting it to allow?

@Luke I just setup Android Auto with Emby today, and noticed 1 big thing missing that would make it much more useful for music: Downloads. Just add that and it would be usable. At the moment it would be impossible to use when driving because the only way to find music is to hunt through songs. Genres would be nice too, but not as critical as downloads.

One question, can you configure Emby to support Google assistant voice commands? Right now it grabs music from Spotify, not Emby when telling it to play a song.

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BAlGaInTl
On 9/15/2020 at 10:58 AM, CBers said:

Not part of AA, or something Emby won't make available in AA? 

I don't think that video is a part of AA intentionally.  Same with Apple Car Play I believe.  Too much liability on car manufactures, Google, and Apple. Plus, the manufactures wouldn't include it if it had video for the same reasons.

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jachin99

I think you should open it up to allow videos also if possible, or at least the audio portion of the video.  I have a lot of concerts for example that I have copied from DVDs.  Also, most of my podcasts are videos so there is some video content that I like to listen to but isn't available in audio only.  

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1 hour ago, BAlGaInTl said:

I don't think that video is a part of AA intentionally.  Same with Apple Car Play I believe.  Too much liability on car manufactures, Google, and Apple. Plus, the manufactures wouldn't include it if it had video for the same reasons.

See my earlier post

45 minutes ago, jachin99 said:

most of my podcasts are videos so there is some video content that I like to listen to but isn't available in audio only.  

You could always extract the audio from the video file and store separately.

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You can always set up a full-blown Emby system in your car if you wish but there is no way we are going to circumvent any of the restrictions built into these "Auto" interfaces.

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BAlGaInTl
1 hour ago, CBers said:

See my earlier post

You could always extract the audio from the video file and store separately.

I read that, but it's something that is specific to one car/system.  Google/Apple can't assume that capability is in all autos.

I don't know of any auto company that does that as an option.  Is it after-market?

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