Web UI is very Unresponsive, Shortcuts like Spacebar and Arrow keys

[Anshul99 1]

I've been using Jellyfin for a while, but I thought I'd give Emby a go. It does look quite polished, but my main issue has been that the Web UI is really unresponsive while playing back videos. 

Like, shortcuts like Spacebar for play/pause and Arrow keys for fast-forward/rewind just don't work, or take very long to work. It's kind of hit and miss; they work sometimes, but not always. 

I tried this with two different servers on Windows 10 (both portable installation): one on my home server, and one on the same laptop (localhost). Both cases it was the same. 

I've tried the apps and they seem to work fine; very well made. But this Web UI issue is putting me off. Jellyfin is super snappy and responsive in comparison. So if there's any possible fixes or more troubleshooting I can do for this, that'd be appreciated. Please let me know if you need any other info, wasn't sure on what else to share thanks. 

[visproduction 315]

Ans, 
I have a very old and slower with 15 year old hardware in the server that does not use transcoding because all the media does not need it.  All my shortcuts work immediately for all media on ever hardware playback.  I suspect you have media that may be very large files that need transcoding and your hardware is perhaps older or not setup, optimally.  Perhaps there are some Wifi issue,s if you are not cabled.  The best way to know would be to see log files of the time when the issues happen.  

Hope that helps.

[Luke 42077]

Hi, yes what version are you on? It seems pretty snappy in my testing as well. Thanks.

[Anshul99 1]

Hi, thanks for replying. 

I did some further testing today to investigate the issue: 

When I play a video and press spacebar, it does not pause. But, if I select the seekbar, to fast-forward somewhere, then Spacebar works again. If I click in the middle of the screen, then again Spacebar does not work for play/pause. 

I think for some reason, the spacebar shortcut only works when the seekbar is actively highlighted. It doesn't work otherwise. Ctrl + P does work for play/pause, but it's not as intuitive of course. 

Other than this, it's been working fine. I'm running the latest Version 4.9.0.29 beta, on Windows 10 in portable mode. My hardware isn't old, so that's not an issue. Also as I mentioned I tried running it on my local machine where the media is stored for direct playback. I'm using Google Chrome (latest version) for the Web UI, and I've tried disabling all extensions as well. 

So other than this spacebar thing, everything else seems fine now. Maybe a bit less snappy than Jellyfin, but that's manageable. 

So is there any way to fix this spacebar issue? It just seems like maybe the UI isn't capturing the keyboard shortcuts properly or something. 

I gave my log file to ChatGPT to try and analyze, and it identified these:

It seems like you're sharing a detailed log file from Emby Server. This log includes information about the Emby Server version, plugins, server activities, and various errors encountered during operation. 

**Key Issues Noted:**
1. **Metadata Save Error:** The log shows an `IOException` because a file is being accessed by another process, which is preventing Emby from saving metadata to the `.nfo` file.
2. **Trakt Integration Error:** There is an error with Trakt integration when trying to send a status update. The error report suggests that there was a `BadRequest` during the process.
3. **FFprobe Error:** There's an error in processing a video file with FFprobe, which is crucial for analyzing media files.

**Recommendations:**
1. **Resolve File Access Conflicts:** Ensure that no other applications or processes are locking the `.nfo` files that Emby Server needs to write to. You can use tools like Process Explorer to identify which process is holding the file.
2. **Check Trakt API Configuration:** The Trakt error might be due to incorrect API keys, outdated authentication tokens, or issues with the Trakt API itself. Ensure your Trakt settings in Emby are correct, and try refreshing the connection.
3. **FFmpeg and FFprobe Versions:** The FFprobe error might be due to compatibility issues with the media file format or a corrupted file. Ensure that your FFmpeg/FFprobe binaries are up-to-date. You can try re-encoding the problematic file or using a different media format.

Would you like further assistance troubleshooting any specific issue, or do you need more details on a particular error?

Doesn't seem like anything related to the spacebar issue. Trakt issue is real, not sure why that happened either. Is there a way to sanitize my log files before sharing them? 

 Thanks. 

[Anshul99 1]

For example: I'm watching a video, and when I want to pause, Spacebar doesn't work. But, if I press the down arrow key, it seems to bring the seekbar into focus, and then spacebar works to play/pause. Then I might click somewhere else with my mouse to make the interface disappear, and again when I need to pause, spacebar won't work. Honestly it's a tiny thing that's driving me crazy and so I'm watching my stuff on Jellyfin again, even though I do like Emby. 

[Luke 42077]

OK i do see the issue with the spacebar. It is dependent on what currently has focus. Thanks.