Emby Theater can't trick-play live TV

[FordGT90Concept 97]

In this case, I used the Windows app.  There's a program recording.  I clicked on it to watch it.  It started me at the beginning of the recording as expected.  I played maybe two minutes in, missed something they said, and then tried to jump back to listen to it again.  Instead of jumping back 10 seconds, it jumped forward probably 30 minutes to live.  This exact same issue is also observed on Xbox One S.

To the layman's eye, it appears like there's something wrong with the progress bar when the stream is live.  Rather, it doesn't show any progress at all.  Because of that, I theorize that is why you can only pause or play.  Any kind of jumping takes you to live because that's all Emby Theater thinks there is.

Issue has been present for years.  Please fix it.


Edit: Edge apparently has the same problem with being unable to show the position of playback relative to the program when live.  There is no green on the progress bar and the position indicator is always stuck to the far left.

Edited March 5, 2023 by FordGT90Concept

[FordGT90Concept 97]

I verified what above is true by simply hitting the up arrow to show the progress bar.  I paused it during the world news and then didn't resume it until the local news started.  When I push the up arrow, it says the name of the local news and the progress bar is stuck on the far left.  In other words, Emby Theater *thinks* it is live, always, which is why if you do anything other than pause/play (e.g. jump forward or back), it can only go to live because that's all Emby Theater thinks there is.

There's clearly some kind of UI problem between Emby Theater and Emby Server that utterly breaks live TV trick-playing.  This issue has been present for years now and affects both Xbox One S and Windows apps alike.


The image below is from a Surface Pro remote controlling Emby Theater on the Xbox One S:

Edited March 20, 2023 by FordGT90Concept

[Luke 42077]

Hi, is it direct playing?

[FordGT90Concept 97]

Nope:

The timeline/indicator at least appears to be in the right place which is an improvement.  Still can't trick-play though. Tried jumping back and it only goes to current.

Edited March 29, 2023 by FordGT90Concept

[Luke 42077]

Are you still having an issue with this?

[FordGT90Concept 97]

Yes, the Xbox One S still has this issue.

[Luke 42077]

Can you try this again?

[FordGT90Concept 97]

I changed from Vega 64 DX11VA transcoding to A770 QuickSync transcoding.

The Xbox One S app sort of worked on the first channel I turned on but I accidentally hit the power off on the Xbox One S instead of turning my receiver off.  When I turned it back on and started Emby up again, every channel would only show a single frame of the channel and stop.  I couldn't do anything other than see that still picture.  After trying many channels, restarting Emby Server, and trying three more with the same result, I gave up.  Attached logs are from this point from the server.

So, Live TV doesn't work at all now on Xbox One S.

Microsoft Store app on my computer, the behavior is the same as it always was: you can pause and play live TV but if you try to go back, it always jumps to live.  Microsoft Store app test isn't in the attached logs.

Edit: Store app was old...

Edit: Same result (Emby for Windows 1.1.482.0).  It's showing green now at least in the timeline but it's always pegged to live.

logs.zip

Edited May 13, 2023 by FordGT90Concept

[SteveFintel 30]

I just tried this on the Emby Theater for Windows Desktop with Emby Server 4.8.0.35. When I start playback from recordings, I can skip ahead. But if I start playback, skip once, wait >15 seconds and attempt to skip again playback continues without skipping.

[FordGT90Concept 97]

4.8.0.35 fixed the Xbox One S so it can playback on Arc A770 but the original issue (can't trick-play live TV) persists.

[rbknox 6]

This is the problem I have documented elsewhere with ET on Windows.  The work around for skipping forward and backward with a live recording is to use the auxiliary controls (line below) with the @  like controls, eg +30 and -10 for my setup (assuming you have the auxiliary function enabled).
 

However, as noted above, the progress bar (timeline) does not display things properly.   While I am able to advance playback using the @+30, there is no indication where the playback is at, so you are left to just bump forward during commercials for example until you can’t advance anymore.  Also, the numbers displayed at each end of the timeline don’t make any sense.   Finally this is all exacerbated by the fact that the resume button (if you exit playback) does not resume but instead starts you back at the beginning again.