Recommendations for a Tablet

[Greggers 4]

Hey all, 

 

I just made the switch to Emby after Plex unofficially (officially) announced to axe the Windows Store app which was the only way to sync on windows, enjoying it so far! 

 

I'm on the lookout for a new tablet now to pair with emby for on the go travels, I'm thinking of the surface go but wary that the store isn't the most populated app store around as a dedicated tablet but i think it'll have most of what I want, netflix, emby, nowtv, social media apps etc , wondering what you think about the alternatives iPads or Android tablets (can't really find anything decent apart from Samsung)? 

 

I think my main requirements are, has a kickstand or a nice case that can function as one like the ipad cases, has a 10" screen or there about and ideally can do direct play but that isn't a dealbreaker, just would like to know. I think maybe iPad can't direct play MKV? I had real problems on my apple tv a few years back. 

 

Next year is the full hardware refresh, getting a new nas, spinning up a domain controller and setting up emby with LDAP and all the fancy features! 

Edited April 29, 2019 by Greggers

[Guest asrequested]

If you get the Surface, you will also be able to use the desktop app, which has much greater capability.

[Greggers 4]

If you get the Surface, you will also be able to use the desktop app, which has much greater capability.

 

Thanks, have you seen anyone put up reviews of the Emby app with a Surface Go? My only concern is that it's a fairly low powered device running Windows 10, my Surface Pro 3 (i7) slacks a bit when it comes to VLC playback but Emby is fine, I'm not sure how low you can go before it comes an issue. 

[Guest asrequested]

Sorry, I don't recall anyone reviewing one of those.

[Greggers 4]

Sorry, I don't recall anyone reviewing one of those.

 

No problem, I realise it's a bit of a specific thing to search for, I couldn't find anything myself. One person reviewing the Plex app but that was fairly negative hence my jump to Emby!  

[serpi 82]

I would recommend the 2016 Galaxy A 10.1 tablet from Samsung.

 

I don't think you can get any better for the money at the moment.

 

I don't know about your prices, but I just saw it for 139€ here at Media Markt (Germany).

 

It's a very good tablet, my kids and some friends use it and are very satisfied.

 

I'm pretty sure it can all the stuff you need.

 

Ciao, Alfred

[WilhelmStroker 102]

Not used a go but my old Surface 3 ran the Emby app without issues and that was lower spec than the current Go.

Plex really mismanaged their store app and luckily Emby seem to have no issues keeping theirs up to date.

[Greggers 4]

I would recommend the 2016 Galaxy A 10.1 tablet from Samsung.

 

I don't think you can get any better for the money at the moment.

 

I don't know about your prices, but I just saw it for 139€ here at Media Markt (Germany).

 

It's a very good tablet, my kids and some friends use it and are very satisfied.

 

I'm pretty sure it can all the stuff you need.

 

Ciao, Alfred

 

Thank you, I did have a look at some of the Samsung tablets as they seem to be the only ones really doing Android tablets these days. Didn't think to get an older model. I will take a look, need to find myself a nice kickstand case for it!  

[Greggers 4]

Not used a go but my old Surface 3 ran the Emby app without issues and that was lower spec than the current Go.

Plex really mismanaged their store app and luckily Emby seem to have no issues keeping theirs up to date.

 

Yeah I'm not sure why Plex did what they did, I'd get it if their normal Win32 app had feature parity, but not being able to do offline sync on what is most likely one of their bigger platforms seems a bit silly to me. Annoyingly they already have a lifetime license from me but I bought it long enough ago I don't feel right asking for a refund, will try Emby for a few months doing month to month before I dive in with a lifetime, liking it so far though. 

Edited May 1, 2019 by Greggers

[Carlo 4561]

Let me ask a question.

 

How important is SYNC really to you?  Since it's your media could you not just copy any media you want to a thumb drive and attach it to basically any full size tablet via USB connection and play your media back this way?

 

Device Sync built into some of the different apps is nice and all but takes time.  Being the impatient persona I can be at times I find the copy to thumb drive a lot quicker.

With a thumb drive, file size isn't quite as important and using internal space on the device and pure "copies" vs transcoded syncs can be done as well which will give you the purest/unaltered videos as well.

 

Certainly not trying to change your mind, but asking a legit question to how/why you need SYNC.  There are lots of possibilities to doing things slightly different depending on need/want.  On Android or Windows tablets for example you can run an Emby server which could allow you to stream your "portable" media to other devices if you want.  Or you could have some flavor of Kodi installed on either tablet as well.

 

Lots of different ways to "skin the cat". LOL

[Greggers 4]

Let me ask a question.

 

How important is SYNC really to you?  Since it's your media could you not just copy any media you want to a thumb drive and attach it to basically any full size tablet via USB connection and play your media back this way?

 

Device Sync built into some of the different apps is nice and all but takes time.  Being the impatient persona I can be at times I find the copy to thumb drive a lot quicker.

With a thumb drive, file size isn't quite as important and using internal space on the device and pure "copies" vs transcoded syncs can be done as well which will give you the purest/unaltered videos as well.

 

Certainly not trying to change your mind, but asking a legit question to how/why you need SYNC.  There are lots of possibilities to doing things slightly different depending on need/want.  On Android or Windows tablets for example you can run an Emby server which could allow you to stream your "portable" media to other devices if you want.  Or you could have some flavor of Kodi installed on either tablet as well.

 

Lots of different ways to "skin the cat". LOL

 

Hello, 

 

Thank you for your response, although I could get away without sync, I do like it. If I'm travelling in a hotel I can just connect to wifi or tether, open emby and press download. If I go to copy the files manually I need to remote onto my file server or download from emby, it also makes my watch history go out of whack.