Lifetime Offline with emby Premiere Lifetime

[jxwilliamson 7]

I have emby Premiere Lifetime running on a Synology 918+. I live in a RV and spend a few months at a time disconnected from high speed internet. I typically use my Xbox One with emby Theater  to watch and playback my movies from my emby server. This works great as long as I have an internet connection. 

 

Feature Request - If the emby Server has been authenticated and has Premiere Lifetime at the time of authentication then allow the server and all clients per the terms of the agreement to work without ever being reconnected to the internet. I get the reconnect every 30 days for monthly or yearly subscribers but if it's lifetime why the requirement to reconnect?

 

It's incredibly frustrating to need to be on the internet to watch movies that I already own running on an emby server that I've purchased for a lifetime.  

[ebr 14897]

Hi.  There is a lot of discussion out here on this over the years.  The bottom line is that we must validate keys periodically to avoid the sad fact that, otherwise, people will find a way to steal it.  We have people purchase a key and then dispute the charge with their bank or use a stolen card and then re-sell the key all over the place, etc.

 

We simply cannot allow a key to work forever without periodic validation.  

[jxwilliamson 7]

Hi.  There is a lot of discussion out here on this over the years.  The bottom line is that we must validate keys periodically to avoid the sad fact that, otherwise, people will find a way to steal it.  We have people purchase a key and then dispute the charge with their bank or use a stolen card and then re-sell the key all over the place, etc.

 

We simply cannot allow a key to work forever without periodic validation.  

 

Thank you Chief. I understand the need to ensure no one is using emby or any functionality through illegal means. However if I have a lifetime membership and I have already phoned home to validate why must I continue to validate a lifetime membership. If someone attempts to use or steal the key for a different server wouldn't it be blocked from validation until it calls home. It just seems that there should be a way for a lifetime purchase to work for the life of the server on the emby version it was validated against whether or not that server lives online or offline. 

 

I'm sure there other scenarios out there as well but for me I have two. 1) The aforementioned RV traveling and 2) Vacation rental properties without internet service where emby can be used for movies rather than keeping around old disc players (in every property) and catalogs of DVDs and Blu-rays that get scratched in the common area.

 

I really do enjoy emby and have been using emby for a long time and will continue to use emby.

[ebr 14897]

I'd rather not explain any further but the scenario you suggested still leaves us open to easily stealing an unlimited lifetime key.  Keep in mind, we also have a device limit that needs to be validated.

 

Thanks.

[jxwilliamson 7]

Ok Chief. Thanks for taking the time to respond and explain the rationale behind the requirement to connect periodically.

[gmpmovies 3]

@ebr Why not sell a separate subscription type which implements a strict 1 key per device limit. Assuming that the device needs to be connected to the internet in order to add the key initially, you could check if that key has been used already, if it has, then don't validate the device. I understand that this has the added complexity where what if a user wants to move the key to a new device--assuming they are still in possession of the device they could simply reconnect it to a network and deregister the device. If for some reason they have lost the device and can't connect it to the internet to register it, you could just allow for 5-6 devices to use the same key. I know it's not ideal, but I'm sure this use case isn't incredibly common, but a separate subscription model could allow for offline use?

[Carlo 4329]

Hi,

Why would we want to change to a key per device?  Either way you server needs to "phone home".   We simply can't allow the software to be used without periodic checks.

[speechles 1917]

The apps also verify key. So even if you could get the server license to verify premiere. The applications also verify that the key given to them by "said" Emby server is legimate. What stops a rogue "Emby" server from just throwing garbage keys at Emby apps saying its licensed keys are valid give me premiere features? The apps have to check too. They verify that indeed the Emby server is genuine. It is the same thing Windows is doing to verify you are using genuine software. That is all this check is. To verify everything is genuine.

The unfortunate thing is internet is invaluable in 2020. To lack it means lack of services. That is just how it is. You need a temporary internet hotspot to use when it comes time to authenticate. The moment you lose premiere features on a device or the server shows lack of premiere you need the hotspot. The device or server need to use that hotspot for a bit when starting up. It is what it is.

The smell of smoke in Northern California is back. Back with a vengence.

Edited August 23, 2020 by speechles

[gmpmovies 3]

@cayars @speechles Thank you guys for your responses, that makes a lot more sense. It would be a cool feature for the select few who do use Emby offline, but you're right, it would cause many more problems than it would solve (and it's honestly just a minor inconvenience to check in the device). I appreciate the time for your responses!