Emby Theater Select Server Screen

[THXDD1138 3]

Hi everyone,

Every time I run Emby Theater the 'Select Server' screen appears.  Normally it just goes straight to the home page (as it's been doing for years).

This started happening yesterday.  Noticed it on one client, then on another.

Thought it might be the server version so I updated the server to 4.9.5.0.  No change.

Thoughts?

Thanks

[Luke 42784]

Hi, how have you configured the startup behavior option in the app?

[scottpro 19]

I'm having the same issue.  It started happening last night.  When launching ET (legacy version) it would normally go to the Home Screen after loading.  Now it presents the "Select Server" screen.  You can either select the server and it goes to the home screen or you can press/click the home button/icon and it goes to the home screen as well.  My "Startup behavior" has not changed and is set to "Remember last user".  Changing this to "Sign in as <user>" doesn't fix the issue.  This is happening on multiple PC's.

This issue started happening with client version 4.9.5.14.  Version 4.9.5.13 works as expected.

This is not a server issue.

Edited Friday at 11:22 PM by scottpro

[sward 29]

I'm experiencing the same issue. but with Emby Theater app version 3.0.21. I'm running Emby server 4.9.5.0.

[THXDD1138 3]

Hi, how have you configured the startup behavior option in the app?

Could never get the 'built-in' Emby 'start on windows startup' to work so I've been placing the Emby Theater shortcut in the Windows startup folder.

Like I mentioned, this is happening on all my Emby Theater clients, and they are all configured the same on start up.  They've been working for years until yesterday.

It also just happened on the IOS Emby App, but only once.  Once I selected the server I was able to restart the IOS Emby app without the 'server select' nag screen.

I downloaded the Windows App version of Emby to test it and it does not seem to be experiencing this issue.

Thanks

[Luke 42784]

Hi, startup behavior is an option in the app's settings menu.

[scottpro 19]

The "Startup behavior" has 3 options:

• Remember last user
• Sign in as <your username>
• Show login screen

This is not a user sign in issue, it's a server selection screen issue at startup.

It shows this screen for a second and than transitions the "Select Server" screen.

While on the "Select Server" screen you can either:

• Select the server which takes you to the Home page
• or
• Click on the Home icon (upper left) which will take you to the Home page of the last server you connected to.

This just started happening after update 4.9.5.14.

Edited yesterday at 06:47 AM by scottpro

[sward 29]

5 hours ago, scottpro said:

The "Startup behavior" has 3 options:

• Remember last user
• Sign in as <your username>
• Show login screen

This is not a user sign in issue, it's a server selection screen issue at startup.

It shows this screen for a second and than transitions the "Select Server" screen.

While on the "Select Server" screen you can either:

• Select the server which takes you to the Home page
• or
• Click on the Home icon (upper left) which will take you to the Home page of the last server you connected to.

This just started happening after update 4.9.5.14.

Yes, this is exactly what I'm seeing as well!

[ArtMetz 5]

Same issue here, just started with the last couple days.

[THXDD1138 3]

Hi, startup behavior is an option in the app's settings menu.

Right...sorry bout that.

scottpro described the problem perfectly.

[scottpro 19]

I see there was an update to the appversion, 4.9.5.16, but the problem still persists.

[scottpro 19]

New update was pushed, appversion 4.9.5.17.  Seems to fix the "Server Select" screen issue but still shows this screen just before going to the Home Screen. Previously it would show the Emby logo than transition straight into the Home Screen.  So I would mark this as "Almost fixed".

[THXDD1138 3]

When you say 'New update was pushed, appversion 4.9.5.17', are you referring to the server?

Both Windows clients (Emby Theater & Emby App) that I'm running are at versions 3.0.20 & 2.317.2.0 respectively (Server is at 4.9.5.0).

Server is not showing me to update to a newer version.

Emby Theater is still experiencing the problem.  Emby App is not.

 

[scottpro 19]

Emby Theater 3.0.20/3.0.21 — Legacy Version
This is the original version of Emby Theater, formerly associated with the MediaBrowser platform. It is an Electron-based desktop application that combines custom DLLs with what is essentially a hosted web client.

Most of the assets required to run Emby Theater are web-based and hosted on Emby’s servers. These assets include JavaScript, HTML, CSS, JSON, and other supporting files. When the application launches, it first retrieves the index.html file from the Emby website. As a result, an active internet connection is required during startup; without access to the hosted files, the application will not run.

The index.html file contains an appversion value in the following format:

appversion=4.9.5.xx

Emby Theater uses this value to identify and retrieve the appropriate client assets. The downloaded files are then cached locally in a binary format, with the appversion serving as the cache key.

When Emby updates the legacy Theater client, it generally updates the hosted web assets and increments the appversion value. The version number appears to combine the corresponding Emby Server revision with a client-specific revision. For example, server version 4.9.5.0 combined with client revision 17 results in an application version of 4.9.5.17.

You can verify this appversion by viewing the page source (right click, View page source) from Emby's hosted index.html page.
https://tv.emby.media/index.html?autostart=false

Emby App 2.317.2.0 — Microsoft Store Version
This is the newer, redesigned version of the Emby application. It is written primarily in native C# and is designed to run on both Windows and Xbox.

The application is distributed and updated through the Microsoft Store. Unlike the legacy Emby Theater client, all assets required to run the application are bundled within the installed package. Therefore, an internet connection is not required simply to launch the application after installation.

The Microsoft Store deployment model does impose certain limitations, particularly regarding access to and customization of the MPV player. Users who rely on custom MPV configuration files, scripts, shaders, or plug-ins may find the legacy version more flexible.

However, users who use MPV with its default configuration and do not require custom scripts, plug-ins, or configuration files will generally be better served by the newer Microsoft Store version.