The app is dreadful, are Chromecast or other options better?

[Paulshelling 9]

I was wondering if it was worth purchasing a Chromecast or other option in the even that their Emby apps are better?

 

Things I appreciate that are unique to the app (why can't these be on other apps?):

• Shows Release date instead of Added date as the date shown on a video's information screen
• Description supports natural line breaks

 

Here's my issues:

• Missing Functionality - No people on Search
• Missing Functionality - No tags on Search
• Missing Functionality - No tags under videos (it appears tags are completely lost as a feature to this app)
• Aesthetic - No Backdrops (for videos or People)
• Aesthetic - Playing a song displays '(Artist) - (Album)' which is bizzare, obtusive and incorrect formatting. (This is not exclusively an Apple TV issue)
• QOL - The videos under a person - are in a nonsensical order and there is no way to change this (the order is at least not based on Title, nor Title order, nor Released date, nor Added date)
• QOL - The videos under a person - are presented as a list to horizontally scroll through making it tedious for situations where there are 50+ videos. No option is given for a grid-based view which is how videos are naturally displayed under folders - this option exists on the Web, iPhone and iPad apps.

 

The above cripple the experience of using Emby; it's such a poor user experience, I'm considering deleting the app and instead mirroring my iPad which has none of the above issues (sans the music).

What upsets me is that unfortunately, these issues are likely so low priority they won't be addressed for years.

Edited July 4, 2021 by Paulshelling

[corey 312]

Hi @Paulshelling --

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Missing Functionality - No people on Search

Missing Functionality - No tags on Search

Can you clarify the problem here please? People are returned in the search results of Emby app for Apple TV.

Similarly tags do show up in search results as well.

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Missing Functionality - No tags under videos (it appears tags are completely lost as a feature to this app)

This is correct tags don't display for any items on their detail screen currently. Space is at a premium on this screen and it's something we can look to add in the future.

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Aesthetic - No Backdrops (for videos or People)

That's correct people (and videos -- although if a video had a backdrop assigned it should display) don't support backgrounds currently. This is something we can add in the future.

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QOL - The videos under a person - are in a nonsensical order

They should display as the same order as the web app. In my testing they match the webapp. Do they match for your data?

Quote

QOL - The videos under a person - are presented as a list to horizontally scroll through making it tedious for situations where there are 50+ videos. No option is given for a grid-based view which is how videos are naturally displayed under folders - this option exists on the Web, iPhone and iPad apps.

This is a limitation of tvOS, more specifically TVML, which we use to render these screens. We can look and see if there are any additional options but there may not be without significant development (think custom).

I hope this feedback helps!

[Paulshelling 9]

Thanks for the reply.

 

No, neither actors nor tags are not found on my Apple TV, I'll have to find a way to take a picture and show.

With tags - either tags or genres are fine as Clickable items, but one of them is needed.

Backdrops do not display, I've tested almost every type of art.

Unfortunately, the order makes no sense. On the web app, videos are sorted via the last saved preference. This preference is set after clicking 'Videos' and being presented with a grid-based view. Whatever order is chosen in this view becomes the set preference. On the Apple TV, it's always the same, unknown order and it cannot be changed.

 

[RanmaCanada 338]

Chromecast with Google TV should do perfectly fine and playback everything, or even a 4k Firestick.

[Paulshelling 9]

Does it have any of the features omitted above?

[corey 312]

@Paulshelling --

Support for backgrounds on People should land in the next beta release.

As far as the other issues you identify it might be helpful to understand what version of Emby Server you're using. Furthermore it may be helpful to grant me access to your server if it's Internet facing so I can testing to see if there's anything I can figure out.

Thanks!