Reading ebooks works fine on pc but in Google streamer app gives a play error 2005 ( in roku does not even sho

[Jimemb 3]

Reading ebooks works ion pc works fine but not in google streamer , it gives playback error 2005.  Also 90 % of meta data is missing.  I have several plugins to get the meta data. even if use identify option.  . Do nor want to manually update hundreds of ebooks.

[Abobader 3464]

Hello Jimemb,

** This is an auto reply **

Please wait for someone from staff support or our members to reply to you.

It's recommended to provide more info, as it explain in this thread:

Thank you.

Emby Team

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

3 hours ago, Jimemb said:

Reading ebooks works ion pc works fine but not in google streamer , it gives playback error 2005.  Also 90 % of meta data is missing.  I have several plugins to get the meta data. even if use identify option.  . Do nor want to manually update hundreds of ebooks.

I have asked virtually the same question about the Android app and I was told that no client, even those that show the book library (It is not shown on Roku at all), cannot play the books at all. I also was told that Emby has no timeframe as to when or if client support will be added.

In fact it seems that the development of reading ebooks has simply halted and, even in a browser, books that are two or three columns cannot be effectively read. It is a lot like Emby is justteasing and will either pull support or implement a charge for reading ebooks. Development on that front just stopped a couple of months ago and nothing more has been seen or heard for those months.

Fortunately, for me, I have no pressing need for ebooks at this time as my eyesight has declined to the point where any long term reading gives me headaches and when I desire reading a book I read an audio book or have one read to me by one of the many text to audio apps around. It should be noted that I use MediaMonkey for my audiobooks and it is on a different machine from Emby. It feeds a whole house audio system and the player is controlled by an Alexa app so I can move through my house listening to a book. At any place in my home I can say "Alexa book" and the book reader either starts or stops. 

I do not really miss having a working ebook player in Emby but I really prefer all parts of Emby to work when needed, just in case.
Maybe they will fix it soon but, more likely, I think it may just be that Emby removes ebook functionality rather than dealing with the headaches. It is the only part of Emby that I might use that seems to be a total failure.

Ebook reader is a stalled app and does not seem to be progressing at all.  

[Jimemb 3]

Emby on android trys to open and gived option to open with but cant seem to find where to change that or specify what app - specifically i have  Readera

anybody know how.. several people say they have same problem.

[Luke 42077]

@Jimemb

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

[Jimemb 3]

Welll I dont think I can take screenshots on the roku or Google streamer . so dont think can give more of a examle for that.  I could probably give a screen shot from android.  However have found that if i use the web interface in chrome and type in the address 192.168.1. whatever: 8096 or whatever setupas it works fine on two different androids.   Have not tried remote.

[Jimemb 3]

On 11/16/2025 at 5:13 PM, Gilgamesh_48 said:

I have asked virtually the same question about the Android app and I was told that no client, even those that show the book library (It is not shown on Roku at all), cannot play the books at all. I also was told that Emby has no timeframe as to when or if client support will be added.

In fact it seems that the development of reading ebooks has simply halted and, even in a browser, books that are two or three columns cannot be effectively read. It is a lot like Emby is justteasing and will either pull support or implement a charge for reading ebooks. Development on that front just stopped a couple of months ago and nothing more has been seen or heard for those months.

Fortunately, for me, I have no pressing need for ebooks at this time as my eyesight has declined to the point where any long term reading gives me headaches and when I desire reading a book I read an audio book or have one read to me by one of the many text to audio apps around. It should be noted that I use MediaMonkey for my audiobooks and it is on a different machine from Emby. It feeds a whole house audio system and the player is controlled by an Alexa app so I can move through my house listening to a book. At any place in my home I can say "Alexa book" and the book reader either starts or stops. 

I do not really miss having a working ebook player in Emby but I really prefer all parts of Emby to work when needed, just in case.
Maybe they will fix it soon but, more likely, I think it may just be that Emby removes ebook functionality rather than dealing with the headaches. It is the only part of Emby that I might use that seems to be a total failure.

Ebook reader is a stalled app and does not seem to be progressing at all.  

ive found that on android if you put the web address of emby into chrome browser ( e.g. 192.168.1.  ,,, 8096  whatever you have , books open fine. I am using emby 4.9.1.90 

trid thi in Google streamer and Roku but still get the player erroror 2005

[Jimemb 3]

34 minutes ago, Jimemb said:

Welll I dont think I can take screenshots on the roku or Google streamer . so dont think can give more of a examle for that.  I could probably give a screen shot from android.  However have found that if i use the web interface in chrome and type in the address 192.168.1. whatever: 8096 or whatever setupas it works fine on two different androids.   Have not tried remote.

Ii'll see if can get logs for ya

[Jimemb 3]

Here is the log from server nov 16  sent on the 19th around 2 am est user jicm

I am using android  emby settings says 3.5.16  logs on android says 0 logs

i will get a amdroid screenshot of the open with message later.

 

embyserver-63898934399.txt

[ebr 16169]

Hi.  The Roku app does not support ebooks at this time.

[Luke 42077]

HI, do you have a pdf reader installed on your google device?

[Jimemb 3]

Yes I do have a pdfreader as well as epub leader . Emby  tries to open a book and give option to open with but the pdf epub reader izs not one of the options.  t

thought I had figured out how to set default app for emby , but it didn't work. 

[Jimemb 3]

Screenshots

[Luke 42077]

51 minutes ago, Jimemb said:

Screenshots

Maybe the reader you’ve installed can’t be landed this way?

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

2 minutes ago, Luke said:

Maybe the reader you’ve installed can’t be landed this way?

I have asked this same question and received no meaningful response. It is a lot like being gaslighted with a few people saying it works and no one saying how. 
So, someone at Emby must have tested this and found what reader actually works? I asked in another thread and received what resembled a snide response. 
If you have this working on Android then please tell your users how.  

[Luke 42077]

2 hours ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

I have asked this same question and received no meaningful response. It is a lot like being gaslighted with a few people saying it works and no one saying how. 
So, someone at Emby must have tested this and found what reader actually works? I asked in another thread and received what resembled a snide response. 
If you have this working on Android then please tell your users how.  

Testing on Emby for Android 3.5.17 and playing a pdf, it launches the system provided pdf viewer just fine. I did not have to install anything.

[horstepipe 422]

5 hours ago, Luke said:

Testing on Emby for Android 3.5.17 and playing a pdf, it launches the system provided pdf viewer just fine. I did not have to install anything.

So pdf works on Android.

what about other formats on Android, which app shall we download?

what about androidTV? I still did not find a way to open even a pdf from Emby there…

what about IOS? When can we expect support there?

[Jimemb 3]

On 11/21/2025 at 5:36 PM, Gilgamesh_48 said:

I have asked this same question and received no meaningful response. It is a lot like being gaslighted with a few people saying it works and no one saying how. 
So, someone at Emby must have tested this and found what reader actually works? I asked in another thread and received what resembled a snide response. 
If you have this working on Android then please tell your users how.  

I did say ireading a book in emby works fine on android if I use the web interface amd enter the server ip address.  ( my srver is running emby 4.9.1.90 )

[Jimemb 3]

4 minutes ago, Jimemb said:

I did say ireading a book in emby works fine on android if I use the web interface amd enter the server ip address.  ( my srver is running emby 4.9.1.90 )

Perhaps the emby app cant  open with, i trid adding a reader app default but not sure if did it right or could be added.

On 11/21/2025 at 5:28 PM, Luke said:

Maybe the reader you’ve installed can’t be landed this way?

trid a few. no luck

[Luke 42077]

16 hours ago, Jimemb said:

Perhaps the emby app cant  open with, i trid adding a reader app default but not sure if did it right or could be added.

trid a few. no luck

Did you find one that supports being launched with intent? That's what the Emby android app is doing.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

Did you find one that supports being launched with intent? That's what the Emby android app is doing.

I, for one, don't understand what that means. Is it some kind of Android code or is it just some buzz word intended to confuse the issue. 
I guess I do not really care much anymore as my health is getting worse and I really only want to watch or listen to my media. 

If I just had the name of the app that works as on my Shield I have FX installed but it has no ability to display PDFs and FX is what Emby launches as an attempt to play PDFs. It would also be good if someone would inform us of how to make an app be the one launched for PDF reading. I am not an Android expert and I just use the devices and info like "Emby uses the default app" is totally useless to me. 

I am quite good with Windows but not with Android. Shoot I don't really like Android and all I want is to use my devices and not understand them. I am good with Windows but Android makes me feel like the boy in a Fire Side comic strip where he is sitting in class at school and raises his hand and says: "Mrs. Brown, can I go home now. My brain is full."

Since Emby does NOT have PDF reading built in all I want is to know is EXACTLY how to make it work. No "default app" or "It just works" I just want to make my Emby on my Shield and/or my Fire stick work correctly for reading PDFs. 

[Jimemb 3]

i dont know what Luke means by "intent" either I presume he means inentIonally or by default.

I tried folling a guide to make an app the default app ( i pasted a link in another post , which worked for another app but not Emby

I dont  remembe if you've seen my reply before that it works in the web Emby app.  Don't know if your server is on the shield ( but i think web ap should work) I I presume: you have an emby serve; .my server is on a pc, version 4.9 or more,   i enter the server wheb address in chrome ( which you can get  from the dashboard by clicking on the gear icon in emby) selecting your book from the emby that pops up in the browser, It opens with no problem.  Attached are sone screen shots (using local host, but works thew same on Android using web interface)

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

9 hours ago, Jimemb said:

i dont know what Luke means by "intent" either I presume he means inentIonally or by default.

I tried folling a guide to make an app the default app ( i pasted a link in another post , which worked for another app but not Emby

I dont  remembe if you've seen my reply before that it works in the web Emby app.  Don't know if your server is on the shield ( but i think web ap should work) I I presume: you have an emby serve; .my server is on a pc, version 4.9 or more,   i enter the server wheb address in chrome ( which you can get  from the dashboard by clicking on the gear icon in emby) selecting your book from the emby that pops up in the browser, It opens with no problem.  Attached are sone screen shots (using local host, but works thew same on Android using web interface)

I do not use my Shield as a server. I tried that years ago and it failed miserably. I finally decided that the Shield was totally unsuited for my use as a server and it failed horribly, requiring a factory reset of my Shield to recover. I believe it might be fine for a small database but I have a rather large amount of media and the Shield worked when the library was limited but even having my entire movie library scanned in caused my shield to hang and become totally unusable. Also my Shield was totally unusable for any other task.
FWIW: I also tested Plex on my Shield and it failed pretty much like Emby. It hung my entire Shield.

As far as using the browser functionality to access books that does work but is totally unacceptable as I use the Emby app on my Shield and I have no desire to open up a browser just to read books. If I were to do that it is easier to just use a reader that actually works.

This is just not important enough to jump through hoops to just read books. Emby has failed, in this case, simply because it has been released without true support but that is unimportant. Emby is still, by far, the best media manager it is just that their attempt at ebooks is a total failure as they cannot provide basic instructions to get it working. I have a reader on my Shield that works and Emby works great for everything else but the ebook reader is a failure as long as Emby does not provide instructions that work on my Shield. Yes it works on a browser on a computer but it does not work on my Shield and I do NOT ever use a browser on my Shield. It should be unneeded if Emby could just provide the method to make a PDF reader the one that gets launched by Emby.

Sometimes companies overstep their abilities and a working PDF reader built into the Emby app seems to be beyond their abilities.

[Jimemb 3]

Yes I agree with all that.  I am not too worried about using the local network. At teh mement one could use separate apps but It would be nice  if could use just one for all media, but alas , i don't think iit is  the current state (and look how msny years it has taken to get this far.

[ebr 16169]

On 11/24/2025 at 1:55 AM, Jimemb said:

i dont know what Luke means by "intent" either

Sorry, it is a semi-technical term.  "Intents" are the mechanism by which Android apps can talk to each other.