Emby Servers

Emby Servers

You can use shows and movies from any Emby server on your Emby Connect account on your channels. That can be your own server, or a friend's server they shared with you. You pick shows on the Files page and put them on channels, the same way you do with your own media.

How it works

The wrapper can only schedule files it can see. So for each Emby library you choose, it makes a tiny placeholder for every show episode and movie. A placeholder is a black video, about 1.5 KB, exactly as long as the real one. It also gets a .nfo file (for the guide) and the poster.

The placeholders go in your media pool, in a folder called Emby:

Emby/<server>/<library>/<Show>/Season 01/<Show> - S01E01 - <Title>.mkv
Emby/<server>/<library>/<Movie (Year)>/<Movie (Year)>.mkv

When a channel airs a placeholder, the tuner gets the real video from that Emby server, starting at the right second. Nothing is read from Emby while nobody is watching.

• A server on your network: the tuner reads the original file. Emby does no work.
• A server over the internet: the tuner asks that server to make a smaller H.264 copy (6000 kbps unless you change it). That uses the other server's CPU, and it shows as someone watching on their dashboard.

Setting it up

1. Open the Sources page (http://tv-server.local:5004/iptv.html) and scroll to Emby servers.
2. Sign in with your Emby Connect name (or email) and password. The password is only sent to Emby Connect. It is never saved. The wrapper keeps the tokens Emby gives it in config/tuner/emby.json, which only its owner can read.
3. Tick a server. Press Choose libraries and tick the ones you want.
4. Press Read the servers now. A library of a few hundred videos takes seconds.
5. Open the Files page. Your libraries are under Emby/<server>/<library>. Add a show, a season or a movie to a list, or follow it so new episodes are added on their own.
6. On the Stations page, put the list on a channel and build it. A show in a slot plays its episodes in order, with breaks, like any other show.

The wrapper reads the servers again every 6 hours (EMBY_SYNC_HOURS). New episodes get placeholders. Videos deleted from a server lose theirs. If a server can't be reached, its placeholders stay until it's back.

Client mode players

Players don't copy the placeholders. A player plays a channel that has Emby videos coming up by streaming it from the server's tuner, like the guide channel. A channel that mixes your media and Emby videos is streamed whole.

Good to know

• The Emby folder shows up on the Files page only when the media pool is on (it is by default).
• Subtitles from Emby aren't on these channels yet.
• Sign out forgets the tokens but keeps the placeholders, so your lists still work after you sign in again.
• A friend's server that only has an internet address must be reachable from your server. If it isn't, the Sources page shows the error, and its programmes are black.