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Sharing Movies & TV Show Access via Google Drive


JulesC

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JulesC

To avoid taxing my Emby Server and home network, I'm considering syncing some of my movies and TV shows (NOT ALL) to Google Drive for family members to access.

 

My current movies and TV shows storage exceeds 2 TB. The monthly cost for Google Drive - 2 TB is $9.99/month and the next option is 10 TB at $99.99/month (not feasible). Is there an option to add more TBs without jumping to the 10 TB cost tier? Are there discounts, etc.? If I could sync all my Movies and TV shows at a reasonable cost, then problem solved.

 

My current folder setup and storage is:

1. Movies 1 = 1.66 TB

2. TV Series 1 = 849 GB

Total: ~2.5+ TB

FYI - Movies 1 & TV Series 1 are on separate Server Folders.

 

What is the best way to get below 2 TB so can use Google Drive at $9.99/month? Note: I do not wish to remove any of this media because at home we want to be able to watch all of them.

 

I was considering creating separate folders for Movies (i.e. Movies 1 + Kids Movies) and TV Series (i.e. TV Series 1 + TV Series Archive) and move movies and TV shows to these other folders that I know our other family members wouldn't be interested in watching. I would then "Sync" these folders (Movies 1 and TV Series 1) to Google Drive.

 

Is this the best option? Do you have other options I should consider?

 

FYI - I'm already in the process of setting up SSL + Reverse Proxy for a more secure access to my Emby Server by following the steps found in the forum:

SSL Made Easy - https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/81404-ssl-made-easy/?hl=%2Bssl+%2Bmade+%2Beasier&do=findComment&comment=831764

SSL Made Easier with a Reverse Proxy - https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/81476-ssl-made-easier-with-a-reverse-proxy/

Any guidance or assistance would be appreciated.

Edited by JulesC
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Have you thought or tried to setup 2 separate Google Drive accounts and use one for movies and one for shows?

So $9.99 x 2 or $19.98 per month (using your costs from the op post).

 

But my question would be why sync your whole library?

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JulesC

Have you thought or tried to setup 2 separate Google Drive accounts and use one for movies and one for shows?

So $9.99 x 2 or $19.98 per month (using your costs from the op post).

 

But my question would be why sync your whole library?

@@cayars you raise a good point. I’ll most likely go with the 2 folders under my “Movies” library and only add the movies I know they would love to watch to one of the folders which I would sync to Google Drive. And I decided that I will not sync the TV shows as they would not be as interested. This would greatly reduce the required storage space. Thank you for your input.

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JulesC

@@cayars and others, once I sync my desired movies to Google Drive, can I force all family members outside my home to stream the movies from there vs my Emby server?

 

Is there a specific Emby app my family should use that forces movies to stream from Google Drive vs my Emby Server?

Edited by JulesC
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Once it's synced Emby server will track this (since it's managing the syncing) and will serve up the external version to external clients and will use local versions for local users (home users).  If there is a problem with the synced content, Emby will fall back to using the local version.

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  • 2 weeks later...
JulesC

@@cayars As I believe you're aware, I have Reverse Proxy (Caddy V2), Google Drive & Cloud Sync setup and running. My son is testing this setup from his home. I want to ensure he's being routed to the Google Drive vs. streaming the movies from my local server.

 

Attached is my Emby Server log.  Can you please show me how I can tell if this is working as I'm hoping?

 

Thank you.

embyserver.txt

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I honestly can't tell from that log file but I have the feeling it wasn't used due to "Server returned 403 Forbidden (access denied)" from google.

But I'm not actually sure what it should look like in the log using the synced media.

 

How I normally tell is just watch my bandwidth or lack of used on the upload portion of my router or Emby Server.

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JulesC

I honestly can't tell from that log file but I have the feeling it wasn't used due to "Server returned 403 Forbidden (access denied)" from google.

But I'm not actually sure what it should look like in the log using the synced media.

 

How I normally tell is just watch my bandwidth or lack of used on the upload portion of my router or Emby Server.

 

Could this have anything to do with the "403" error . . .

 

2020-05-31 19:52:42.517 Error App: Error getting synced media source
*** Error Report ***
Version: 4.4.3.0
Command line: C:\Users\jgcia\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\system\EmbyServer.dll
Operating system: Microsoft Windows NT 6.2.9200.0
64-Bit OS: True
64-Bit Process: True
User Interactive: True
Runtime: file:///C:/Users/jgcia/AppData/Roaming/Emby-Server/system/System.Private.CoreLib.dll
System.Environment.Version: 3.1.4
Processor count: 4
Program data path: C:\Users\jgcia\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\programdata
Application directory: C:\Users\jgcia\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\system
 
How can I (or anyone else) confirm if Google Drive and Sync is working (i.e. remote users redirected to Google Drive to stream movies)? Is checking the bandwidth the only method or are there others?
 
Thank you
Edited by JulesC
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@@Luke should be able to tell, but you can certainly figure this out quite easily by watching the bandwidth your server is using sending data.

I'm lazy and just look at my router which has a nice graphic of bandwidth being used.  Same with using Perfmon in Windows.

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JulesC

@@Luke should be able to tell, but you can certainly figure this out quite easily by watching the bandwidth your server is using sending data.

I'm lazy and just look at my router which has a nice graphic of bandwidth being used.  Same with using Perfmon in Windows.

 

@@cayars

Ok, so I launched a movie remotely that I know is synced to Google Drive and played it for about 20 minutes. I noticed on my router traffic meter that 1.29 MBs of data was being uploaded and 10.19 MBs of data being downloaded during this time. Note: There was no other network activity at this time. Can I assume that it was streaming from my Google Drive? Thank you

 

@@Luke

In my Post #9, can you tell me what's causing this error? Also, is there a way with the Emby Server log to verify if a movie is streamed from Google Drive vs. local Emby server? Thank you

Edited by JulesC
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With that little traffic it would have to be from the cloud.

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JulesC

With that little traffic it would have to be from the cloud.

 

@@cayars my son tested watching a movie on synced to Google Drive tonight. I noticed on my router traffic meter that 1193 MBs of data was being uploaded and 820 MBs of data being downloaded during this time. This looks like the movie was streaming from my server vs. Google Drive - Right?  I wish there was a way to validate the activity.  Does Rclone work better? Do you have any knowledge?

 

What does your Google Drive folder structure look like after syncing movies?

 

Most of my .mp4 movies that I synced went straight to the root of my Google Drive (i.e. "My Drive"). However, one movie created this sub-folder structure: 

     My Drive

          \Emby Sync

               \Videos

                     \<Movie Title>

 

Does it matter?  Thanks again for your help. 

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What are those quotes of MB of?  Is this per second or total MB over time?

Any chance you could post a pic of your router doing this?  Just black out anything sensitive.

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JulesC

What are those quotes of MB of? Is this per second or total MB over time?

Any chance you could post a pic of your router doing this? Just black out anything sensitive.

The MBs represents the network traffic (upload/download) results after a remote user streamed “1” movie. It represents total MBs - see attached image.

post-181856-0-00032000-1591104140_thumb.jpeg

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JulesC

 

Could this have anything to do with the "403" error . . .

 

2020-05-31 19:52:42.517 Error App: Error getting synced media source
*** Error Report ***
Version: 4.4.3.0
Command line: C:\Users\jgcia\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\system\EmbyServer.dll
Operating system: Microsoft Windows NT 6.2.9200.0
64-Bit OS: True
64-Bit Process: True
User Interactive: True
Runtime: file:///C:/Users/jgcia/AppData/Roaming/Emby-Server/system/System.Private.CoreLib.dll
System.Environment.Version: 3.1.4
Processor count: 4
Program data path: C:\Users\jgcia\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\programdata
Application directory: C:\Users\jgcia\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\system
 
How can I (or anyone else) confirm if Google Drive and Sync is working (i.e. remote users redirected to Google Drive to stream movies)? Is checking the bandwidth the only method or are there others?
 
Thank you

 

 

@@Luke Do you know what's causing this error? Could it be the culprit of why I'm seeing so much upload MBs when one movie is supposed to be streaming from Google Drive? Thank you for any guidance that you can offer.

Edited by JulesC
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Thanks,  ok so that's total mega bytes used not megabits streamed per second or minute.

That's not very much bandwith so it appears it was streamed from the cloud drive or I'd think it be more than that.

 

Try using Perfmon and the performance tab.  You will see REALTIME use of bandwidth and will EASILY see spike when something is played back.  You can check this by playing back a movie in house from any device other than the server.  You'll have no mistake seeing movies streamed directly from the server as usage will jump.

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JulesC

@@cayars thank you for your help. Sorry for the naive question, but can you please further explain how I can execute this test you’re suggesting...”play back a movie in house from any device other than the server”?

 

I’m just not following. Thank you so much for all your help.

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All I meant was to use a different computer, tablet or device other then the Emby Server to play something while looking at the Perfmon app built into windows looking at real time networking.

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JulesC

@@cayars I accessed my domain via my iPhone + Google Chrome using the Emby Web App (tv.emby.media) per @@ebr suggestion from other posts, which directed me to Emby login. I used a test account that only has access to the movies I Synced to my Google Drive. I also turned off my WiFi on my iPhone.

 

The way I read the attached "ffmpeg" log, the movie (Sonic the Hedgehog) was direct play from my server vs. Google Drive.

 

I tried playing a couple other movies from Google Drive but I received the following error:

 

Playback Error

No compatible streams are currently available. Please try again later or contact your system administrator for details.

 

I've also attached the Emby server log in case that could help with the trouble-shooting.

 

Let me know if you need any additional information or if I can do any other tests.

 

Thank you

ffmpeg-directstream-a6de964b-139b-4385-bea8-37d35cb7747a_1.txt

embyserver.txt

Edited by JulesC
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@@Luke can you take a look at this log and confirm.

Is this because it's a store app and we only allow the client to playback info directly from the server?

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JulesC

@@Luke - any ideas or guidance here would be greatly appreciated.

 

Separately, Google Drive Plugin & Sync are great concepts, but there is no clear way for me (and maybe others) to validate the remote users are actually being redirected to stream their movies from Google Drive vs. Local Emby Server. I've looked at the "Dashboard" - Active Devices and Activity, and I've tried to review the log files. This concept only works because of my limited Upload Speeds if I can be 100% assured the remote users are being redirected.

 

If this is my intended objective, can I achieve this with Google Drive Plugin & Sync or should I pursue other options (i.e. Rclone, Google Drive File Stream, etc.)?

 

Thank you and your awesome team for all the support and guidance.

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JulesC

@@Luke @@cayars and others, I'm currently stepping away from Emby's Google Drive plugin and Sync options and instead, I'm using "RaiDrive".

 

This allows me to map a network drive to my Google Drive, so I can add this drive as a separate Emby library for my remote users to access. Within my "users" settings, I point them to this external drive letter and path where the library is stored.

 

With this approach, I can validate that my remote users are actually being redirected to stream their movies from Google Drive vs. my local Emby Server. This approach works for me because of my limited Upload Speeds.

 

Hope this helps others.

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By doing that all traffic will go through you server since only your server has access to the drive.  Sort of like using rclose and other similar programs.

The Emby solution is a combination of both server and client who TOGETHER know how to access the external content.

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JulesC

By doing that all traffic will go through you server since only your server has access to the drive. Sort of like using rclose and other similar programs.

The Emby solution is a combination of both server and client who TOGETHER know how to access the external content.

@@cayars thank you. As you well know, I was trying with the Google Drive plugin and Sync solution and you’ve tried to help me along the way. However, in my Posts #20 & 22 I shared the issues I was encountering and tried to provide all the appropriate information (i.e. details & logs). From the data I provided, I couldn’t confirm if the movies were playing from Google Drive or my server & I was encountering play back issues. You and I both asked @@Luke for assistance, but never heard back. Not sure where to turn from here. Suggestions? Thank you

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