embyforkodi (next-gen) 12.X.X support

[quickmic 1703]

On 8/19/2025 at 6:12 PM, RonB26 said:

Hi @quickmic

Recently tried to add a few collections from my My Media/BluRay Collections folder.

Works fine when using (Dynamic Node) emby_dynamic_movies_Blu-Ray_collections/Folder_folder.xlm
The new items are showing up fine, and work when selected.

But not when using (Sync Node) Blu-ray_collections/sets.xlm
The existing folders/collections show up and work fine, but the new and changed
movies do not. (currently 39 items in sync mode, and 41 in dynamic mode).

I have tried Manage Libraries/Refresh Boxsets, Update libraries, and Repair libraries.
No Change.

My main issue is that for some reason, Kodi/Aeon Nox Silvo will not allow poster
view with Dynamic Mode.  It shows them as "list, "Icons" or "wall"
which for movies looks not so good. 

I suspect there was a change in Emby (I'm running the latest Beta)
But I don't know exactly when the changes occurred as I have not added to that
Folder/Collection in some time.

Also, I'm not sure if it's my setup or intentional.  When I reboot
Kodi, I must go back into the add-on and Enable LiveTv again.
For some reason after rebooting, It gets reset.

My Device: NVidia Shield 2017 Android Ver: 11  Shield Ver 9.2.0
Kodi Version: 21.2 Stable
Skin: Aeon Nox Silvo
Emby for Kodi Next Gen Ver: 12.1.2

Please let me know what logs, and what if any queries you'd like me to do before
sending the logs to you.

I know you're busy, no rush.

Thanks!
 

Checked, and seems to be fine.

Is there more than one movies assigned to the set? Kodi does not show sets with a single movie (unless you configure Kodi todo so).

 

[RonB26 14]

14 hours ago, quickmic said:

Checked, and seems to be fine.

Is there more than one movies assigned to the set? Kodi does not show sets with a single movie (unless you configure Kodi todo so).

 

Thanks for checking quickmic.

I Found the problem.  I had hoped to streamline  my collections a bit by having some collections within another collection.
For example, I made a new collection called "Stallone Collection" and added "Rocky Collection", "Rambo Collection", Etc.
into the "Stallone Collection".  You get the idea. Once I changed them back, they're working fine in Kodi.
I guess this is another Kodi limitation.

It did work well with my other devices such as  Emby for Android (on my shield), and Roku boxes. Oh well.

I've got a question if I may.  For some reason Kodi seems to have a memory leak (for me anyway). 
I had investigated this issue for a few months.  I posted logs and so on at the Kodi forum.
Tried older versions of Kodi, and the latest "Piers".  Not to mention other versions of
Android.

I get 2 days max before Kodi uses all the ram, and it crashes and reboots.

Basically, they suggested I try without running Emby for next gen.
Since no one else is complaining, They couldn't help.

I really didn't want to do this because I'm really happy with Emby for next gen. 
It works great. Not to mention I really don't want to maintain multiple databases.
The biggest problem is dealing with watched items.

Do you think it's even possible that Emby for next gen could be causing this?

This is the main reason I asked about the issue with Live TV not sticking after rebooting.

Just wanted to get your opinion, and thanks again for all your hard work.

 

 

 

[quickmic 1703]

@RonB26

Quote

I guess this is another Kodi limitation.

Exactly, Kodi's database design allows only single movie assignments. I would call this a flaw.

 

Quote

Do you think it's even possible that Emby for next gen could be causing this?

No, that's also a Kodi flaw and I run into the same issue. I performed countless tests also with disabled next-gen plugin to rule that out. Actually it depends on the images/devices.

Here are workarounds.

I use "MALLOC_ARENA_MAX=8", but you could also try "MALLOC_ARENA_MAX=1".

Since the modification, it runs stable for weeks.

 

Here is another example what could also cause the memory issue even without emby plugin enabled.

https://github.com/b-jesch/skin.estuary.modv2/issues/141#issuecomment-1867398840

...not saying the skin has a flaw, but it's easy to reproduce.

As I use estuarymodv2, here are some recommendations in case you use it too.

The memory leak heavenly depends on the library size. Smaller libraries has no issues as they generally not using lot of ram. It would take very very long to run into that issue, but larger libraries easy hit the problem.

Also this problem was reported by other (not emby plugin users).

Google MALLOC_ARENA_MAX kodi

 

 

Edited August 27, 2025 by quickmic

[Xopex 0]

@quickmic

do you know where to add MALLOC_ARENA_MAX on coreelec?

Do i need to create a kodi.conf file under /storage/.kodi?

[RonB26 14]

13 hours ago, quickmic said:

No, that's also a Kodi flaw and I run into the same issue. I performed countless tests also with disabled next-gen plugin to rule that out. Actually it depends on the images/devices.

I thought so.

I can run adb top shell command and watch Kodi slowly use up the ram, so I know the leak is from  Kodi.

Once I reboot, Kodi releases the memory. 

13 hours ago, quickmic said:

I use "MALLOC_ARENA_MAX=8", but you could also try "MALLOC_ARENA_MAX=1".

Unfortunately, I am using Android and Google AI shows this:

"Why it is not applicable on Android

Different C library: Android uses a different C library, Bionic, instead of glibc. This means that the MALLOC_ARENA_MAX environment variable has no effect on Kodi running on Android."

So that won't work in this case.

 

13 hours ago, quickmic said:

As I use estuarymodv2, here are some recommendations in case you use it too.

No, I am not using this skin, but I have tested on several other skins including kodi's default
skin Estuary. Doesn't make any difference. I'm currently using Aeon Nox Silvo.

I've also tries countless other things including disabling Kodi's cache and all but the minimum
add-ons and the issue still persists.

Even tried multiple versions of android on my shield and same results.

Now I just accept the fact that I need to reboot every two days.
Hopefully at some point a new version of Kodi will fix this.

[quickmic 1703]

10 hours ago, Xopex said:

@quickmic

do you know where to add MALLOC_ARENA_MAX on coreelec?

Do i need to create a kodi.conf file under /storage/.kodi?

I guess it's the same as on libreelec ->

Create this folder if not exists "/storage/.config/" and add this file:

"/storage/.config/kodi.conf"

with content:

"MALLOC_ARENA_MAX=8"

 

Edited August 28, 2025 by quickmic

[Phenix001 0]

@quickmicHello, I've tried to install the plugin.service.emby-next-gen-12.2.1 into coreelec 21.2 but keep rejecting. please see the screenshots. kodi companion addon not installed on emby server, I've tried to fix this message but I could'nt, I don't know how I can install this kodi companion?? 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2025 by Phenix001

[quickmic 1703]

1 hour ago, Phenix001 said:

@quickmicHello, I've tried to install the plugin.service.emby-next-gen-12.2.1 into coreelec 21.2 but keep rejecting. please see the screenshots. kodi companion addon not installed on emby server, I've tried to fix this message but I could'nt, I don't know how I can install this kodi companion?? 

 

 

Kodi companion is a server addon

 

The second screenshot is not related to the plugin issue, I need more info if you have a question.

[quickmic 1703]

fyi, there is a bug in latest version when updating from an older version.

In some cases a (manual) factory reset might be required (if the automatic resync is not working correctly)

I'll fix it in next version.

[RaptorCentauri 59]

is there a way to make emby4kodi use streamdetails from nfo files rather than information from the emby server? Somethings such as aspect ratio and audiocodecs are not sending properly which results in the wrong media flags. I'm using native mode.

[LongMan 112]

On 8/27/2025 at 11:14 PM, quickmic said:

"MALLOC_ARENA_MAX=8"

With or without the qoutes?

[quickmic 1703]

On 9/2/2025 at 2:10 AM, LongMan said:

With or without the qoutes?

No quotes

[LongMan 112]

Thanks.
BTW is the source still supposed to be available here https://github.com/MediaBrowser/plugin.video.emby/tree/next-gen-dev-python3, or is there a new repo? I could not find it

[quickmic 1703]

2 hours ago, LongMan said:

Thanks.
BTW is the source still supposed to be available here https://github.com/MediaBrowser/plugin.video.emby/tree/next-gen-dev-python3, or is there a new repo? I could not find it

That's the correct path, but I only check-in stable and beta versions, not public testing.

However, the plugin (zip file) is nothing else than the sourcecode.

[LongMan 112]

Ok. I was hoping to look at PRs to see if I could spot the change that cause music video nodes to stop working with music videos imported with the plugin. It seems kodi has different paths to pull info for the GUI. I see that the music videos show in estuary. They even show in my modded skin if I point the container to "videodb://recentlyaddedmusicvideos/".
The funny thing is when I downgraded to emby_next_gen 11.2.1, the music videos show up as expected with my nodes. however once i upgraded to 12..x.x and reset the database they disappear. This suggest that there is a change in how 11.2.1 and 12.x.x versions of the plugin handles music videos. However, if i understand you correctly, there is no change in music video handling between those versions. As I am writing this I am watching music videos on 11.2.1 with no problems so i know it works. Very confusing

 

[quickmic 1703]

1 hour ago, LongMan said:

Ok. I was hoping to look at PRs to see if I could spot the change that cause music video nodes to stop working with music videos imported with the plugin. It seems kodi has different paths to pull info for the GUI. I see that the music videos show in estuary. They even show in my modded skin if I point the container to "videodb://recentlyaddedmusicvideos/".
The funny thing is when I downgraded to emby_next_gen 11.2.1, the music videos show up as expected with my nodes. however once i upgraded to 12..x.x and reset the database they disappear. This suggest that there is a change in how 11.2.1 and 12.x.x versions of the plugin handles music videos. However, if i understand you correctly, there is no change in music video handling between those versions. As I am writing this I am watching music videos on 11.2.1 with no problems so i know it works. Very confusing

 

Can you upload a not working video node? And if they are your own nodes, there might be changes required, yes.

Edited September 6, 2025 by quickmic

[LongMan 112]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<node order="5" type="filter" visible="True">
       <label>Pop Music</label>
       <icon>DefaultMusicVideos.png</icon>
       <content>musicvideos</content>
       <match>all</match>
           <rule field="genre" operator="is">
               <value>Pop</value>
           </rule>
       <group>artists</group>
       <order direction="ascending">artist</order>
</node>

[quickmic 1703]

4 minutes ago, LongMan said:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<node order="5" type="filter" visible="True">
       <label>Pop Music</label>
       <icon>DefaultMusicVideos.png</icon>
       <content>musicvideos</content>
       <match>all</match>
           <rule field="genre" operator="is">
               <value>Pop</value>
           </rule>
       <group>artists</group>
       <order direction="ascending">artist</order>
</node>

On first sight looks ok to me.

You are 100% sure there is no difference in the Skin, Kodi or helpers version etc when you say it works in 11.X?

It's hard to believe, that the plugin causes the issue. Can you send me a debug log when the nodes was accessed.

[LongMan 112]

Same libreELEC box. downgraded to 11.x.x and music videos show up. Upgrade to 12.x.x and get pop up to reset database after sync no music video

 

[LongMan 112]

This only applies to music videos. movies and tv shows are fine.

[quickmic 1703]

6 minutes ago, LongMan said:

This only applies to music videos. movies and tv shows are fine.

Did you try perform a manual factory reset after 12.X update?

[quickmic 1703]

I know there is a bug when upgrading 11.X to 12.X when 11.X includes playlists syncs. However, I think you are not affected otherwise the default skin shouldn't show the videos either.

[LongMan 112]

I did perform the manual reset. The default skin is using a different path. If i use the path of the default skin, the music videos show up. eg. videodb://recentlyaddedmusicvideos/".

[quickmic 1703]

3 minutes ago, LongMan said:

I did perform the manual reset. The default skin is using a different path. If i use the path of the default skin, the music videos show up. eg. videodb://recentlyaddedmusicvideos/".

Did you try to remove the genre filter from your node?

Did you try to remove "<group>artists</group>"?

 

Edited September 6, 2025 by quickmic

[LongMan 112]

Give me a few. I have to go to another box. The test box beside works with 11.2.1. Will try with one of the 12..x.x boxes