[Plugin] Emby Theme Maker

[Oratorian 48]

 

Theme Maker — Emby Server plugin

Auto-generate theme videos & theme music for your TV shows — straight from Emby's own Intro markers. Now as a native plugin, no external script.

From script → plugin: this is the plugin version of my earlier command-line tool (Emby Theme Creator). Same idea, but it now runs inside Emby — no Python, no API key, no ffmpeg install, no path mapping. Just drop in a DLL and run it from Scheduled Tasks.

Source & downloads: github.com/Oratorian/emby-theme-maker  ·  grab the DLL from the latest release (GPL-3.0; releases carry a verifiable build attestation).

Most of us let Emby's Intro Detection scan our libraries so we can skip the openings. But those IntroStart / IntroEnd markers already point at the exact theme-song sequence of every show. This plugin reuses them: it cuts that segment out of a representative episode and drops it into the series folder as a looping backdrop video (and, optionally, theme music) that plays on the detail page. See it as an alternative to the TV-Theme plugins.

No manual clipping, no hunting for openings, nothing to install alongside Emby — if Emby detected the intro, you get a theme.

How it works

1. Reads each series' intro markers directly from Emby (in-process — no HTTP, no API key).
2. Picks a representative episode per series (median intro length — robust against cold opens / creditless specials).
3. Uses Emby's built-in ffmpeg to cut [IntroStart → IntroEnd], re-encode with fade in/out, and write the result where Emby expects it — then it kicks off a library scan so the new themes show up.

video →  SeriesFolder/backdrops/theme.mp4  (h264/aac video backdrop)

audio →  SeriesFolder/theme.mp3  (theme music, series root)

both  →  both of the above, in one pass

Highlights

• Native plugin — one self-contained DLL, no Python, no external ffmpeg, no API key, no path mapping. It uses the server's own ffmpeg and item database.
• Runs from Scheduled Tasks — set it on a schedule or run it on demand, with progress and last-run status in the dashboard.
• Preview task — a read-only "Theme Maker: Preview" task logs exactly what would be generated (source episode, intro span, already-has-theme) before you write anything.
• Full settings page — mode (video / audio / both), quality (CRF, preset, max height, peak-bitrate cap), fades, audio language, output names, parallel jobs, and an optional "only under this folder" scope.
• Safe by default — never overwrites an existing theme unless you enable Overwrite; even protects a hand-curated theme-music/ folder.
• Atomic writes — a cancelled run never leaves a half-written file, and an overwrite never leaves a series themeless.
• Idempotent — re-run any time and it only fills the gaps.

Requirements

• Emby Server with Intro Detection already run on your shows (that's where the markers come from).
• That's it — the plugin uses Emby's bundled ffmpeg and reads your items directly. No API key, no separate install.

Quick start

1. Grab EmbyThemeMaker.dll (attached below, or from the latest GitHub release) and drop it into your Emby plugins folder, then restart the server.
2. Open Dashboard → Theme Maker and set your options (mode, quality, etc.).
3. Dashboard → Scheduled Tasks → run Theme Maker: Preview (read-only) first to see what it would do, then Theme Maker: Generate to create the files. Add a trigger if you want it to run on a schedule.

Tip: Emby only registers new theme files on a full library scan. The plugin triggers one for you automatically at the end of a generate run (toggleable in the settings).

Notes

• Built for Emby 4.9.x (tested on 4.9.5.0, Windows & Linux).
• Bare-metal / VM installs where Emby can write into your series folders. (Container/NAS setups where the series folders aren't writable by the server won't be able to drop the theme files.)
• Series with no detected intro are simply skipped and logged.
• Everything it does is logged to the Emby log with a [ThemeMaker] prefix.
• Provided as-is by a fellow user — feedback, issues and PRs welcome!

 

EmbyThemeMaker.dll

Edited 1 hour ago by Oratorian