Configure emby server so that all streams route thru the emby server

[JanS48 2]

Greeting everyone, rookie here.

I need to configure my emby server so that all client requests for channel streams route through the emby server. 

Background:  The IPTV provider I'm using allows for 5 connections per account BUT that account is tied to the MAC address of the 1st device accessing their service for a given account.
My emby server is defined as one such account - that is having up to 5 IPTV connections at one time. 

So any emby clients ( I have two types: Android and Windows ) must have all streaming activity routed thru the emby server.  My setup has the emby server running on a Win11 pro box with an ssd for it's cdrive  and a 3TB ddrive for recordings.
I don't anticipate stressing the emby server and it's 5 connection IPTV limit too much with it's main activity being recording.  There is an IPVanish also running on the ebby server box.

Currently is 'seems' that all activity IS going thru the emby server as I see the activity in IPVanish go up for each client and stream I tune. So far I've not tested more than three as my task mgr hit's around 85% with 3 clients hitting the server simultaneously for streams.

Clients:  Windows  - is there anything special I need to configure for windows clients ?

Android (Installed on Smart/TV and FireSticks)  these don't seem to have as many config options but is there anything that needs to be set?

Server Optimization:  will server performance be enhanced if I can define a separate ssd for any cashing ?  If so which ones' (where) ?
Thanks in advance
Jan

 

 

[visproduction 315]

Jan,

You can define caching to be on any drive you like.  It is a good idea for load balancing regarding drive usage. 

If you had hardware to assist with the transcoding, then that would be a help for the server demand.  Otherwise, transcoding is handled only by the CPU which can possible max out, depending on the bitrate and user demand. 

A side note is that some codec content doesn't normally need transcoding at all, unless the file size is huge and the user connection cannot handle it in real time.  This means content, correctly encoded without errors,  that is 1080P or under, less than 3000 kbps, h.264, AAC audio and text based subtitles encoded with CBR (not VBR) can direct play to most everyone, which is much less demand on your server.  Most people do not store media with these codecs.  I like the look of this video and audio combination, if the transcoding was done at a very high quality level, that typically cannot be done in real time. Most everyone prefers h.265 or some newer codec and AC3 audio which can make a smaller file size with similar quality.  I find h.265 quality to be too sharp on the edges , especially when highly compressed.  To me it looks like it is oversharp on all focus areas and seems not natural, compared to the older h.264, which is softer.  h.265 uses hexonigal patterns to scan sectors for pixel changes and compress them. Normally people don't notice artifacts on angles and along spirals, but I don't like the look.  That's perhaps just me.

Hope that makes some sense and helps.

Edited April 7, 2025 by visproduction

[n8tie 1]

try with https://github.com/carlreid/StreamMaster

i use an old version, dunno if the new is good, but it works really nice here!

has nice features btw

[pwhodges 2012]

1 hour ago, JanS48 said:

I need to configure my emby server so that all client requests for channel streams route through the emby server. 

It's not a matter of configuration - any request made by an Emby client goes to the Emby server, which streams the data to it.  The client has no direct connection with the source.

Paul

[JanS48 2]

Thanks so much for the comment - this is very important to my setup.

Jan

[maegibbons 1287]

It is how emby works.  Clients always stream from the server.

Also emby is intelligent enough to reuse an existing stream.

I.e. if two clients are watching the same iptv channel it only uses one incoming channel from the external source.

Krs

Mark