New Windows App - Aether - A Direct-Play-First Emby Client for Windows & Android TV

[DanielVNZ 3]

Hi everyone

I wanted to share a project I’ve been working on called Aether — a modern Emby client built specifically for people who care about direct play, quality, and control.

Aether
The Definitive Direct-Play Experience for Emby

• Platforms: Windows, Android TV

• License: MIT

• Source: https://github.com/DanielVNZ/Aether

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What is Aether?

Aether is a community first Emby media player.
It is designed to avoid server-side transcoding entirely wherever possible and always request original streams, delivering the highest possible audio and video fidelity.

If your server is already set up correctly and your media is well-encoded, Aether aims to get completely out of the way and just play it — cleanly and efficiently.

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Key Features

Premium Experience

• Modern UI/UX
  Built with React, featuring smooth transitions designed for both desktop mouse use and the “10-foot” couch experience (…mostly, still work to do on d-pad navigation).

• Dynamic Home Screen
  Continue Watching and personalised recommendations synced directly with your Emby account. (optional TMDB API key, also builds recommendations from your watch history)

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Technical Focus

• Direct Play First
  No forced transcoding, no unnecessary quality loss. Aether explicitly requests original streams whenever possible.

• Stats for Nerds
  Real-time playback stats including bitrate, resolution, codec info, and buffering health.

• Rust-Powered Desktop/Android TV App
  Built with Tauri, giving lightweight, secure, and fast native Windows builds without the Electron bloat.

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Current State

This is still early-stage and under active development.
There will be rough edges, and some features are still evolving — but the core playback and navigation goals are already in place.

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Feedback Welcome

I’d really appreciate:

• Feedback from Emby power users

• Bug reports

• Feature requests

• Anyone interested in contributing

Repo & docs are here:
https://github.com/DanielVNZ/Aether

Edited February 5 by DanielVNZ
remove broken links

[serpi 82]

Well it sounds interesting, but i cannot login with a user without password.

Isn't it possible to get a user selection screen (and yes, I understood that it is in an early stage)?

Thanks & Ciao, Alfred