On Emby Android for Nvidia Shield, Should I update to Emby Android TV App??

[Rew452 15]

I started to watch a movie from my Qnap Emby Server and had some strange oddities with playback and ended up with Emby app locking up and I had to reboot my Shield Pro.

This has happen several times.

Now I did a notice in Emby app about try Emby Android TV but have not done this yet.

So do I need to update to the newer Android TV to reliable playback?

If I do update to Android TV do I remove the original Emby app or does the install take care of that?

Please Advise

Thanks

Rew

 

[Neminem 1517]

They can be install side by side.

But the Emby for android is the newest.

The Emby for Android TV, is not getting updates any more, and will eventually be sun set.

[Rew452 15]

Thanks for the info

I took it that Android TV was a new version.

I am on the latest Shield version      9..2.1

Emby App     2.1.26

Qnap Emby Server   4.8.11.0

Still looking for a reason why I'm seeing playback instability. It has always been very good.

Rew

 

[Luke 42077]

55 minutes ago, Rew452 said:

Thanks for the info

I took it that Android TV was a new version.

I am on the latest Shield version      9..2.1

Emby App     2.1.26

Qnap Emby Server   4.8.11.0

Still looking for a reason why I'm seeing playback instability. It has always been very good.

Rew

 

HI there, can you please provide a specific example?

How to Report a Problem

Thanks !

 

[Rew452 15]

HI Luke have to leave for a couple of hours and when I return will report requested info

 

Thanks

Rew

 

[ebr 16169]

First, please try the standard app and see if it clears it up.

Thanks.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

The "standard" app does have an improved player that does clear up a number of playback glitches and, eventually, I understand it is destined to replace the Android for TV app BUT it is clumsy for me to use and I discovered that most of the playback problems I have had could be cleared up by using playback correction accessed by pressing the down arrow during playback and choosing settings and then playback correction.

The new app does work OK and is useable but it is clumsy to use and it does not have labels under the posters in the next up row. It seems Emby thinks the pictures and having info at the top of the page is enough. But it would be good to be able to see both the poster and the name at the same time. 
There are also many other places where the new app behaves clumsily or is counter intuitive.

I do NOT recommend the new app but I also understand we will all be forced to use it sometime fairly soon. I keep both installed on my Shield but I only use the older app 99% of the time for now. It keeps me from yelling at the TV as much and that keeps peace between me and my dog.  

BTW: It has been weeks since I had a playback glitch using the old app so either the old app has had improvements to its player or the videos I have been playing are simply "better" than the ones I ran into problems with.

[Sammy 790]

9 hours ago, Rew452 said:

I started to watch a movie from my Qnap Emby Server and had some strange oddities with playback and ended up with Emby app locking up and I had to reboot my Shield Pro.

This has happen several times.

Now I did a notice in Emby app about try Emby Android TV but have not done this yet.

So do I need to update to the newer Android TV to reliable playback?

If I do update to Android TV do I remove the original Emby app or does the install take care of that?

Please Advise

Thanks

Rew

 

First off, the developers have been pushing the standard android app for years now. At first I was reluctant but then changed because the standard app supports theme videos but have found this to be just eye candy and am going to put the android TV app front and center and move the standard app to the side because of playback issues. I'll continue to test but am going to stop is using the standard app as the daily driver.

I've had both installed side by side for a couple years now so they can both be used without issue.

[Rew452 15]

Thanks Guys,

I changed to the Standard Emby Android app and it is indeed much better!

Loads movie faster and indeed plays better

Thanks

Rew

[NeverReadyEddie 2]

I have noticed a micro stutter in the Emby Android app on my Nvidia Shield TV but its not present on the older Emby Android TV app. I have a feeling this is the same one I was trying to escape on the Plex app you can see documented extensively in the thread below. In the end it was theorised to be something embedded in the ExoPlayer version that was rolled into Plex after version 9.28. In Emby I can see the exact same issue; a micro stutter that appears only after a little while, maybe 20 minutes of watching and its really almost imperceptible. Like the video skipping a frame but no audio glitch to go with it. It happens in all kinds of formats and in Plex where the recent version had the nerd stats show the number of dropped frames, it would not even show as one. You could see frame skips but the stats showed zero dropped frames. Maybe a screen matching bug but the TV absolutely changes to 24p on playback. I've checked it.

As the old Emby Android TV app does not suffer from this micro stutter, perhaps its the dreaded ExoPlayer version update in the Android app that is the cause. Would love to hear from other Emby on Nvidia Shield users to see if they notice a micro stutter in the newer Android app vs the old Android TV one.

If it is an ExoPlayer + the Nvidia Shield issue, there is nothing Emby can do about it just like Plex could not without rolling back ExoPlayer versions and never updating it again which is not practical.

https://forums.plex.tv/t/recent-update-causes-stutters-and-audio-sync-issues/851641/