Question about sharing library

[williamdosa 6]

So given how terrible Plex has been for me recently, the main issue being stability, speed, and features of clients, I think I am switching to Emby. I have set up the server and it's working great for me so far, but I don't really understand how I can replicate what I've been doing with Plex, using Emby.

On my current Plex server, I have about a dozen users whom I share my library with using their Plex accounts. Since I have Plex Pass, I think the premium features are experienced by all the users. Emby users seems to work differently - and I want to replicate the Plex functionality. What's the easiest way to manage sharing your library with friends, etc? With Plex I just have them make a Plex account and send them an email invite to the server. With Emby, it seems that the Emby account and user accounts are separate (which is nice, due to lack of dependence on Emby for logins), but there's also a client limit connected to Emby premiere which would be more than surpassed by me and my users.Nox Showbox Mobdro

Any ideas for a solution to this? I don't want to have all the people I share the library with having to pay a recurring fee. Also, when (on what clients/devices) is the easy pin used instead of a password?

Thanks, loving Emby so far aside from this one thing.

Edited October 13, 2018 by williamdosa

[Carlo 4561]

Essentially you will setup up Emby similar to Plex.  Emby is more flexible login wise.

 

Do you have a registered domain name or Dynamic DNS solution?  If so then any and all clients can use that domain name to log directly into your server.  With Plex you always had to validate login to Plex and have each and every user create an account on Plex's system.  With Emby this is optional.

 

If you DO NOT have a domain name or Dynamic DNS setup (you really should), then you can do something similar to Plex.  You create a user as normal on your Emby System using what ever username you want them to have.  You have the user create an Emby Connect username.  

https://emby.media/connect.html

 

You then link their Emby Connect username to the local username.  So in this way you could have created a user on your system as "Marcus".  They could have created a crazy Connect username such as PinHead911 which would normally be meaningless to you.  But once you link PinHead911 to "Marcus" you now know who this user is when looking at your user list (way better then on Plex).  This user can then login directly to your system via IP or domain name resolution using "Marcus" or they could login via Connect with PinHead911.  But to you and your system it's just "Marcus".

 

Look at the chart here: https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki/Emby-Premiere-Feature-Matrix

This should help you to figure out what clients will use "Premier" features.

 

For example if you have 5 users who are on Roku devices and you aren't sharing your Live TV and these users just need playback of your Libraries (probably like on your Plex system) then they won't require any of your Premier licenses.

 

If you are worried about "your" premier license counts and have friends with devices like "Android TV" then you can have them purchase a one time $5.00 license.  They will then use their one time license vs your Premier license.  Remember for them it's a one time purchase for each device type (if you don't want them using your license).

 

You will only want to use Easy PIN for "Home" users on your same network as the server as it's only 4 digits and not super protective for Internet use.

 

Hope this helped.  Let us know what other questions you have.