Troubles with Search Function on webOS Emby for LG TV

[Embellish1881 0]

Hi everyone,

I recently started using the webOS Emby app on my LG TV. I usually stick to the Android version, but since I got this TV, I’ve been giving the webOS version a try.

I’ve run into quite a few issues with the search function. For starters, there’s no voice input option, so I have to manually type each letter, which is already tedious. On top of that, the app begins searching as I type, and I suspect this might be part of the problem.

The search feature barely works—maybe 20% of the time—and often only seems to register the first letter or something incomplete. I’ve tested the same process on the Android Emby version, and it works flawlessly. It doesn’t auto-search while I’m typing, and I can choose to search when I’m ready.

Is there a way to disable this auto-search and add an actual search button? For reference, I’m using an LG G4 TV. I’m seriously considering getting an external box just for a better experience, but I thought I’d check here first to see if there’s a fix.

Thanks

 

 

[SamES 1056]

When your entering letters, is it showing the LG full keyboard on the screen, or are you using the alphabet row under the search bar?

Are you using the TV's standard remote (not a universal or 3rd party remote)?

[Embellish1881 0]

Hi there, thanks for getting back to me! To answer your question, I’m using the alphabet row on Emby to type. It is not the full LG keyboard (is this a thing?). For example, when I type "Blade Runner," it begins searching as I type but often fails. Occasionally, I get lucky and see results for "B" or "Bla," but it’s inconsistent. I’m using the standard remote that came with my G4—nothing fancy—and Emby is downloaded directly from the LG store.

 

[Embellish1881 0]

I took two photos to show the difference - one from Emby (which I got from the LG store) and another from the LG store itself. It's pretty clear to see the difference: the LG store gives me this nice virtual keyboard, but Emby only shows this basic alphabet row at the top. Same TV, totally different keyboard experience between the two apps.

[Embellish1881 0]

I came across this Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/emby/s/1APwNybCuj, where another user described the same issue—only the alphabet row is visible, and there’s no virtual keyboard. The key difference is that their searches populate as they type, while mine just keeps spinning and eventually fails. It seems like the system is searching in real-time for every letter, which doesn’t work well for users like me with large libraries.

[SamES 1056]

4 hours ago, Embellish1881 said:

I came across this Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/emby/s/1APwNybCuj, where another user described the same issue—only the alphabet row is visible, and there’s no virtual keyboard. The key difference is that their searches populate as they type, while mine just keeps spinning and eventually fails. It seems like the system is searching in real-time for every letter, which doesn’t work well for users like me with large libraries.

Thanks for the extra information. This is the way it is supposed to work.  There shouldn't be any LG virtual keyboard, just the alphabet row that you see, and it should be searching as you type.

What server version are you using?  It should work fine for large libraries due to the indexing on the server.

[Embellish1881 0]

4 hours ago, SamES said:

Thanks for the extra information. This is the way it is supposed to work.  There shouldn't be any LG virtual keyboard, just the alphabet row that you see, and it should be searching as you type.

What server version are you using?  It should work fine for large libraries due to the indexing on the server.

Thanks for confirming . I’m using server version 4.8.8.0.

Is there anything I can do to prevent this behavior? It’s clearly not working as intended.

 

[SamES 1056]

Can you enable debug logging on the server, restart the server , then try and do a few searches on the tv, then upload the server log please? 

[Luke 42077]

@Embellish1881?