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Has anyone managed to get a good Install of Emby Theather on a Raspberry Pi 4?


OurfamilySpot

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OurfamilySpot

I see a lot of differing statements, and can’t tell if I am chasing something that just hasn’t been done.

I have a Raspberry Pi 4, 4MB and a 8MB.   I have using the “bundled” Raspberry PI so & Emby image and the play back and navigation of very poor (stutters, frame skips).  This is on H264 video encoded at 480p. 

I have tried doing the Raspian desktop (32bit) and the followed the instructions to install ET.   Same results.  Poor Playback and navigation

I have installed Ubuntu 21.04 Desktop then ET.   Better results.

I have even installed LibreElect with the Emby add-in —- Great Results it works.

I am looking for a recommendation and hopefully someone will come out and say “Hey yeah it works for me” to help me get this working.    I rather not use Ubuntu because I am carrying the weight of a desktop OS and packages.  I rather not use LibreElect and I really only want ET.

I would love to use the combined Raspberrypi Image and ET but no one seems able to say what needs to be done to get smooth playback and navigation on it, or if it is a known issue and being worked on.

 

Help?

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rlp122

Same issues.  I've got it down to where it plays decent, but the audio dips out randomly.  Still haven't found any settings or hacks to get it to be smooth. 

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  • 1 month later...
EdwinH
On 6/4/2021 at 6:22 PM, Luke said:

Hi, we're looking into improving it. Thanks for reporting.

This 'answer' has been given for the last 8 months now on all Rpi4 problems installed Emby Theater.

A little more detail would be appreciated.

Like , is it known yet why Emby theater movie playback is stuttering on a Rpi4 ? is there a solution in the making ?
Communication is more than the line ' thank you for your report'

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EdwinH
On 6/2/2021 at 1:45 AM, OurfamilySpot said:

I see a lot of differing statements, and can’t tell if I am chasing something that just hasn’t been done.

I have a Raspberry Pi 4, 4MB and a 8MB.   I have using the “bundled” Raspberry PI so & Emby image and the play back and navigation of very poor (stutters, frame skips).  This is on H264 video encoded at 480p. 

I have tried doing the Raspian desktop (32bit) and the followed the instructions to install ET.   Same results.  Poor Playback and navigation

I have installed Ubuntu 21.04 Desktop then ET.   Better results.

I have even installed LibreElect with the Emby add-in —- Great Results it works.

I am looking for a recommendation and hopefully someone will come out and say “Hey yeah it works for me” to help me get this working.    I rather not use Ubuntu because I am carrying the weight of a desktop OS and packages.  I rather not use LibreElect and I really only want ET.

I would love to use the combined Raspberrypi Image and ET but no one seems able to say what needs to be done to get smooth playback and navigation on it, or if it is a known issue and being worked on.

 

Help?

From time to time I install newest version of ET on a flashdrive, to see is my Rpi4 would play movies in ET stutter free, no success so far.

Till then my Rpi4 runs LibreElec with Emby-con add-in and plays movies stutter free, even H265 !

I also would love to dedicated Rpi4 ET image which would would play movies flawless.

 

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4 hours ago, EdwinH said:

From time to time I install newest version of ET on a flashdrive, to see is my Rpi4 would play movies in ET stutter free, no success so far.

Till then my Rpi4 runs LibreElec with Emby-con add-in and plays movies stutter free, even H265 !

I also would love to dedicated Rpi4 ET image which would would play movies flawless.

 

We do have dedicated images. Have you tried those?

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EdwinH
On 7/29/2021 at 2:25 PM, Luke said:

We do have dedicated images. Have you tried those?

Those are the one's I try from time to time , latest being 3.0.15

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/emby-theater-electron/releases/download/3.0.15/emby-theater-rpi_3.0.15.zip

My experience :
On a Rpi3 3.0.9 runs decent ( just H265 does not play)
On my RPi4 no build has run ever smooth, always noticeable stutter

I tried dedicated builds 3.0.9, 3.0.10, 3.0.12 and 3.015 ,

I tried installing Ubuntu first then ET. I even tried LibreElec then installing ET.

Same result every time : movies / series do not play smooth at all on a RPi4 , very noticeable stutter playing frames, wich make watching a movie unbearable.

Good thing Kodi with emby-con does the trick and plays all ( even H265) on A Rpi4 smooth.

 

facts RPi4 runs smooth on Libre-Elec Kodi with Emby-con plugin, Libre-Elec with ET installed does not, Neither do dedicated ET images.

Conclusion problem must lie in ET software.

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OurfamilySpot
2 hours ago, EdwinH said:

Those are the one's I try from time to time , latest being 3.0.15

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/emby-theater-electron/releases/download/3.0.15/emby-theater-rpi_3.0.15.zip

My experience :
On a Rpi3 3.0.9 runs decent ( just H265 does not play)
On my RPi4 no build has run ever smooth, always noticeable stutter

I tried dedicated builds 3.0.9, 3.0.10, 3.0.12 and 3.015 ,

I tried installing Ubuntu first then ET. I even tried LibreElec then installing ET.

Same result every time : movies / series do not play smooth at all on a RPi4 , very noticeable stutter playing frames, wich make watching a movie unbearable.

Good thing Kodi with emby-con does the trick and plays all ( even H265) on A Rpi4 smooth.

 

facts RPi4 runs smooth on Libre-Elec Kodi with Emby-con plugin, Libre-Elec with ET installed does not, Neither do dedicated ET images.

Conclusion problem must lie in ET software.

My answer is the same.   Yes I was testing and using the combine image as I stated in my first post.  Would love to see that answered, I think I lot of people here would like to see that answered.

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OurfamilySpot
On 7/29/2021 at 7:25 AM, Luke said:

We do have dedicated images. Have you tried those?

That's been the statement we have a been making.   That dedicated image has unusable playback characteristics.    The ask has been has anyone gotten it to work acceptability, and not a single person has stated yes.    The next ask is what tuning if any should we try that might help, but given you prepared this as a dedicated image I would assume it is already tuned for optimal use.  The next ask was, is this a known issue or not and is it being worked?

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't think the Pi 4 is very suitable for running video apps on the Desktop because everything is software rendered. Your best bet would to be to install something like LIbreElec which is optimized for video playback and does not use a running Desktop. Install the EmbyCon nextgen plugin and the skin and you'll get a very good interface to Emby.

Also, performance wise, running the 32bit mode OS is not great. I have seen vastly improved performance on my 4gb Pi since installing the 64bit OS.

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  • 1 year later...
JTFlynn

This is a fairly exhaustive step-by-step guide describing how to setup an Emby-Server on a Raspberry Pi4b.

The Emby Theater image (as mentioned in the question) is just an Emby Client that worked well for me on an RPi4 when connected to my existing Emby-Server located on my home PC. I had zero issues while watching my TV and Movie media. However, I used a wired connection to my pi on my home network.

Using the attached guide, You should be able to initially configure a stand-alone Emby-Server using the Emby Client app you install on Roku (maybe a Roku TV will work also). Be aware that an internet connection is required to activate Emby Premier, install plugins for server configuration backup, and refresh video metadata (if needed). Once that is completed, internet connectivity will no longer be required to enjoy your media which is ideal for people who spend a lot of time on boats or in motor homes.

Hardware I used:

Raspberry Pi4b w/8GB (wireless connection to GL-SFT1200 router)

Western Digital 6TB My Book USB Drive (connected to RPi4 USB 3.0 port)

Roku Ultra 2020 (wireless connection to GL-SFT1200 router and HDMI cabled to Monitor)

GL-SFT1200 (Opal) Secure Travel WiFi Router (Router Website)

ViewSonic 24" Monitor (any monitor or TV with HDMI connectivity will do)

Install Enby-Server on RPi4.txt

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  • 4 months later...
hukt_own_fonikz

I tried the Emby image on my new Pi4, 4GB, and both the menu and playback had very poor performance. So I went with RPiOS 64 (Bookworm, brand new this month) with Emby Theater and it runs very smoothly.

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  • 2 weeks later...
hukt_own_fonikz

Well, I thought it was fine but now I'm having issues with dropped frames, even on lower res videos. So it's got issues.

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Sorry to hear the Pi is not working out. I tried Pi4 w/8G RAM but it was 'not quite' powerful enough to be up to the task. My recommendation is to switch to a mini PC platform. I removed my Ubuntu SSD from my Pi4 and installed it into an Intel NUC6i3SYK (or NUC6i3SYH if you need more internal storage). For my particular setup, I used 16GB RAM and have not looked back since. If you need a tiny bit more umph!...you can get an Intel NUC6i5SYK/H for the task. Either way I think you'll be satisfied. FYI, Intel no longer makes the NUC Mini but you can pick one up on eBay usually for less than $100.

I love the RPI computers but I find they can handle smaller tasks really well for the money but just don't quite make it for a reliable Emby server. Good luck with what ever you decide.

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