Mum's Firestick

[adrianwi 279]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm trying to get my Mum manually connected to my new emby server using her Firestick and when she types in the address and port number it's coming up with an error.

 

Now, like most Mum's mine isn't what you'd call tech-savvy although I suspect she's typing everything in OK.  I got her to try and her phone using the web browser and she hit the login screen and could connect.

 

I didn't think she needs any port forwarding setup on her router for it to work, but I'm wondering if that's the problem.  Pretty sure her phone was connected to the same router, so maybe not, but I'm not sure what else might be the problem.

 

I was talking her through it whilst setting up on my Firestick, and that's connecting fine, although I'm in Scotland and she's down in Durham so I can't easily see what she's doing.

 

Any ideas?

[CBers 7450]

I assume she's entering either your ISP-assigned IP address or a DDNS address?

 

Or is she using Emby Connect?

[adrianwi 279]

Trying not to use Emby Connect, so I've got a subdomain pointing to my IP address, so she's supposed to be entering that e.g. https://emby.domain.com and then putting in the secure port I've mapped at my end.

 

It's working fine for me and she sees the login screen on her phone when entering the address https://emby.domain.com:port, but not on the Firestick.

 

I didn't think she'd need to forward any ports, and really don't fancy trying to provide telephone support to talk her through it 

[CBers 7450]

I have a Shield (3 in total) and I can access my friends and family's Emby server from the add/switch server screen using their DDNS addresses, so not sure why the FIRESTICK is having an issue.

 

I assume she's using the Emby ATV app?

 

Hopefully @@ebr may have further advice.

[pir8radio 1312]

Trying not to use Emby Connect, so I've got a subdomain pointing to my IP address, so she's supposed to be entering that e.g. https://emby.domain.com and then putting in the secure port I've mapped at my end.

 

It's working fine for me and she sees the login screen on her phone when entering the address https://emby.domain.com:port, but not on the Firestick.

 

I didn't think she'd need to forward any ports, and really don't fancy trying to provide telephone support to talk her through it 

 

 

is she actually entering  "HTTPS" and not http or leaving it out all together?   An in Firestick the port goes in its own box, so she shouldn't be entering that in the url field..   Just asking, sometimes it's the small stuff that breaks things..  

[adrianwi 279]

Thanks for all the suggestions.  I might have to get her on FaceTime so I can see what she's entering on the screen, but what I'm hearing is that she shouldn't need to make any changes to her router so long as it's connecting to the internet?

[ebr 16171]

Do you have a true valid SSL cert for your domain?  The Fire will not accept a self signed one.

[BAlGaInTl 288]

Thanks for all the suggestions.  I might have to get her on FaceTime so I can see what she's entering on the screen, but what I'm hearing is that she shouldn't need to make any changes to her router so long as it's connecting to the internet?

 

Correct.

 

The changes are all on your end.  She shouldn't have to do anything as long as she is online and can reach that domain/IP.

 

Do you have a valid SSL cert?

 

Edit: Dang... Ninja'd by @@ebr

Edited September 25, 2017 by BAlGaInTl

[adrianwi 279]

Yes, it's all good at my end!  I have a subdomian pointing to my IP and the port is forwarded on my router to the emby jail.  I have created a letsencrypt certificate and combined the .pem files into a .pfx. 

 

It's strange.  I've FaceTime'd with her and she's typing everything in correctly, and its working fine in a browser on both her iPhone and Windows laptop which are connected to the same wireless network.

 

We've tried clearing the data/cache on the Firestick app and also removing and reinstalling.  Restarted the Firestick made no difference, and I left her to think about rebooting the router as I was running out of ideas.

 

It works on my Firestick just fine!

[ebr 16171]

Can you test it with plain http?

 

I'm still suspecting the cert not being delivered properly.  There have been instances (especially in Linux) where the entire certificate chain is not forwarded so the Fire rejects it.

[adrianwi 279]

I can certainly test it using http, but it wouldn't explain why it works on my Firestick and not hers.

[ebr 16171]

I can certainly test it using http, but it wouldn't explain why it works on my Firestick and not hers.

 

Is yours local to the server?

[adrianwi 279]

Mine is, yes.  Well, I've just Facetime'd Mum again and tried to connect through the HTTP port I'd just open and voila!  It worked, so it looks like it probably is an issue with the certificate.

 

Is this just something that's cropped up before with Amazon Firesticks, or a wider issue with SSL certificates?  Whilst my Mum is happy that she can finish watching the show she'd started, I really don't want to leave it running on the HTTP port.

 

Thanks for helping with the diagnostics though, and identifying the root cause!

[ebr 16171]

Yeah, if local to the server it won't be using ssl (no way to validate a certificate).

 

Try this.

[adrianwi 279]

I'd just found that, but thanks again!

 

I could follow the first page of that thread OK, but then it all got a little technical for me 

 

I've added a comment in there and will see if I get something back that I can understand...

 

ps:  I've actually found a workaround for this by connecting emby through my reverse proxy server, which is doing all the SSL stuff for my other jails.

Edited September 26, 2017 by adrianwi