SOLVED emby: dataset inaccessible (host path)

[voodoo5_6k]

After testing Jellyfin, I wanted to look at emby, but somehow I fail to get it running.

I'm on TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.4, and installing "apps" from the official repository (charts).

With Jellyfin, I could disable remote connections without issues, and it was also able to access my media files via host path (while I temporarily disabled the SMB share).

Now, emby...

• LAN vs. remote:

I log in as admin, from a private IP address, different subnet (my entire LAN is within 10.0.0.0/8), which is correctly shown in the activity section of emby. If I now disable remote access, I'm locked out after a few seconds, although private IP addresses should be accepted, based on how I read the description in the emby network section. But even when explicitly/redundantly entering 10.0.0.0/8 in the LAN config, I'm locked out as soon as remote connections are disabled.​

• Inaccessible dataset:

I have a test dataset emby_test, with the apps user in a group with read-only access (the only addition to the standard permissions which are set after creation of the dataset). In the app config, this dataset is added as host path to be mounted as /mnt/emby_test. I did this with "read-only" checked, and later also unchecked.​

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Selecting this folder via the add library function results in an empty box for the folder name/path. I can however enter the path /mnt/emby_test in that box and it gets accepted. However, scanning the library results in nothing being found.​

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Then I changed the dataset owner from root:root to apps:apps, just like Jellyfin for some reason wants. But this also has no impact, no files are found, even after re-deploying.​

This really baffles me, as Jellyfin worked fine, with the same config concept, on the same system, just a few days earlier, with no changes to the system itself (I had seen the same issues already when first trying emby on TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.3.3, I just tried everything again today 22.12.4).

Has anyone recently tried to set up emby and encountered similar issues? Thanks!

Edit: The LAN vs. remote part in the config seems to be meant for bandwidth restrictions rather than access segregation. I therefore removed that part.

 

[sfatula]

I use my own custom Emby image, but, for yours, if you do ps waux | grep EmbyServer on truenas while Emby is running, who is the user shown? That user needs to be the owner of the files in your host path directory mounted as /mnt/emby_test. So, just execute:

ps -C EmbyServer -o user

For my custom builds, it's user emby so emby is the owner of the files in the media hostpath.

How are you disabling remote access?

 

[voodoo5_6k]

Thank you!

I'll look into the user part tomorrow morning. I was assuming it was using the apps user. But if there's another user involved, that would explain the dataset inaccessibility.

Regarding remote access. In the emby options/settings (within emby), in the network section, there's a list of configuration items. The first part is for LAN access. It states that, if left blank, all private IP addresses are accepted (basically RFC 1918). Below that, there's a part for remote access, starting with a checkbox for allowing remote access. There, I disable remote access, and the remaining part is "collapsed". If I hit save, a warning is shown that this might disrupt the service or something along those lines (not important for me, as I am only using this internally and want to explicitly eliminate the remote connection possibility), and after that, I'm locked out, although I'm on a private network, and emby also registers that (in the activity section, it prints the correct IP address of my client).

 

[sfatula]

Interesting. Is your remote ip addressfilter mode set to whitelist or blacklist?

When you say you cannot log in with remote access disabled, are you using emby connect?

What URL are you using to try to access the Emby Server (and what IP is it), and what IP is blocked?

What does the dashboard show in Emby Server for In-Home LAN access and Remote (WAN) access?

Can you attach a screen capture of your Network settings screen for Emby (or a link)?

Note it is not required at all to disable allow remote access, unless your Truenas server has port forwarding set up, is in a DMZ, or your router has uPnp on, or other ways to get into your network from the outside. By default, no one outside your network should be able to access Emby.

 

[voodoo5_6k]

Alright. I think the network settings part is focused on bandwidth restrictions and therefore distinguishes between LAN vs. remote, I was too much in "Jellyfin mode" and didn't look close enough. I have now settled on whitelisting 10.0.0.0/8 in the remote section.

I was using 10.20.10.10 to access the server at 10.10.10.10:8096.

I know that I don't need to disable the remote access. No ports are forwarded, and my pfSense is set up very restrictive in terms of internet but also intranet access. But I always like to shut down any possibilities on both ends. A little paranoid, I know ;)

Anyhow, thanks for pointing me into the right direction!

Regarding the dataset access. I have looked at the user topic. In this case, it's bin running EmbyServer. My bad for blindly assuming it would be apps like for Jellyfin.

Interestingly, I can only access the dataset when I explicitly set read-only access for bin as a user. If I include this user in a group with read-only access, it doesn't work. Feels odd somehow.

Again, thank you very much! I was unable to see the forest for the trees.

 

[sfatula]

Interestingly, I can only access the dataset when I explicitly set read-only access for bin as a user. If I include this user in a group with read-only access, it doesn't work. Feels odd somehow.

More details needed. Where are you setting up access? Filesystems? ACL? Inside container? Outside? Can you provide some screen capture of your setup with directories, etc? Read only actually isn't good if you intend to store NFO/Metadata/Artwork/Thumbnail previews in the folders with the media, which IMHO is the best way to use Emby.

 

[voodoo5_6k]

I'm setting up access via ACL for the dataset, in TrueNAS. All datasets are SMB shares in nature. The default in SCALE is root:root as owner, group builtin_users with modify privileges, group builtin_administrators with full control privileges. I then add another group with full control (for administration), and one with read only privileges (for users). I had added user bin to that last group, and it didn't work. But if I add user bin with read only privileges directly to the ACL, then it does work.

I'll get some screen captures over the weekend.

I agree that read only might not be the best way to work with emby/Jellyfin/Plex, but I will never allow any of these tools to "mess" with my data, I just don't trust them that much. I feel better if they just work with data that can't be changed/deleted. It feels like an additional safety net.

 

[sfatula]

You better watch your settings then as Emby might be generating a LOT of log file errors as it expects not read only.

I don't use SMB and don't use ACLs, I just use plain linux permissions. I am not sure I'd be able to help much with SMB, only recall some stuff about it. For the shares I do have, not many, I use NFS. Emby has no shares as it's not needed for me.

 

[voodoo5_6k]

Yeah, for the moment it's only for testing anyhow (and I've already seen that it can't do what I need). But the app (how I hate this "word") explicitly allows configuring the host path as read-only. So, I'd expect it to be able to handle that without exhausting its storage with logs.

Anyhow, I got it working. And without the missing but essential (from my use case's perspective) feature being implemented some time in the future, I'm out anyway, as emby is useless for me (as is Jellyfin, and Plex can't even get the library imported as they still don't support *.nfo files...).

Thanks for your time!

 

[sfatula]

Why is Emby useless, what is it missing? I did not say Emby couldn't not handle it, I said you had to set the settings correctly ("watch your settings") so you don't tell it for example to store nfo files in the same directory as media as if it's read only, it can't obviously then. Or posters, etc.

I suspect your issue is ACLs, which I am sure can be solved. There is no issue with Emby that you have presented.

 

[voodoo5_6k]

Ah, sorry, then I misread that part. Yes, I routinely set these settings so the application doesn't try to write anything into my datasets (as I always grant just read-only privileges to applications). But thanks for pointing that out.

The "technical" issues with emby were the remote access disabling locking me out (my own fault, as I didn't read the description carefully enough and assumed it would work like Jellyfin), and the host path dataset being inaccessible although user apps had sufficient privileges (again, my initial fault for assuming that using user apps would be some sort of rule for "app" creation to have a consistent approach). The latter one got solved enough for me to get emby working for testing it on a functional level. Yes, the potential issue with user bin directly on the ACL vs. in a group, with identical privileges, is still out there, but that didn't stop me from finally testing emby.

I posted this thread as "emby" thread because everything worked with Jellyfin. Therefore, I assumed it couldn't be TrueNAS SCALE as a whole. But yeah, in hindsight, I didn't present an issue with emby, that's right. I'll get the screenshots of the ACL setup, and then this might be turned into a "TueNAS SCALE ACL" thread.

PS: The missing feature I see with emby (and Jellyfin) is off topic here I guess (as its a functional thing), but as you asked: Its client(s) can't output at the content's native resolution on the client device I need it, so my Lumagen Radiance Pro 4242-18G could do the upscaling and DTM etc. (as it is way more capable for this than any Jellyfin or emby client/software). This is of course a (very) niche use case, but still essential for me. I have a working setup on a Dune HD Pro Vision 4K Solo with Kodi, but I'd like to retire that device in favor of having this (i.e. local media playback) combined with streaming on a single box (and the Dune is no good for streaming, so it would have to run on the streaming box). So, "useless" was maybe a bit harsh from my end. For me, image quality is paramount, and as it can't perform to the same level as the Dune+Kodi combo does (in terms of image quality), I see no reason for using it.

 

[sfatula]

PS: The missing feature I see with emby (and Jellyfin) is off topic here I guess (as its a functional thing), but as you asked: Its client(s) can't output at the content's native resolution on the client device I need it, so my Lumagen Radiance Pro 4242-18G could do the upscaling and DTM etc. (as it is way more capable for this than any Jellyfin or emby client/software). This is of course a (very) niche use case, but still essential for me. I have a working setup on a Dune HD Pro Vision 4K Solo with Kodi, but I'd like to retire that device in favor of having this (i.e. local media playback) combined with streaming on a single box (and the Dune is no good for streaming, so it would have to run on the streaming box). So, "useless" was maybe a bit harsh from my end. For me, image quality is paramount, and as it can't perform to the same level as the Dune+Kodi combo does (in terms of image quality), I see no reason for using it.

The client device is? I am not clear as far as your exact use case and what software you are trying to use on what device. All my clients play content at the source native resolution, assuming they are capable of it of course. I am an Emby user and unless I misunderstand your exact issue, I do not have the problem.

 

[voodoo5_6k]

Yeah, it's an Apple TV 4K (WiFi + Ethernet). Neither the Jellyfin client (more or less still at beta), nor the emby client can force this thing into display mode changes. The Apple TV is capable of e.g. 480p playback when manually switched to it, but that's of course no solution. Other clients work fine. I have it now also on the Dune player (Linux + Android, so emby Android TV client), and there, it's working fine, using the Dune HD internal player as external player for emby. I may even keep emby on there, instead of Kodi. Still figuring out how to do all the stuff I could do with Kodi (most of it is no problem). The scraper is not as good as Kodi's, had to do some manual identifications (ca. 10), for Kodi zero were required (identical dataset). But with emby I can group titles together (e.g. Director's Cut and theatrical version).

I have also given feedback to Apple that they should enable resolution matching on their devices, because that would make everything a lot easier for client software developers.

My use case is that I need any source device to output at content's native resolution. The next device in my video chain is a Lumagen Radiance Pro video processor. This device does all the upscaling, dynamic tone mapping, aspect ratio corrections, zoom, gen lock, HDMI switching etc.pp. It also has extensive color management capabilities. It was, together with the display device, professionally calibrated (3D LUT). I'd like to have as little source devices as possible (without significant compromises of course), and would therefore like to combine local media playback (TrueNAS SCALE --> Dune HD + Kodi/emby) with internet streaming (Apple TV). I knew that there is not the one player that can do it all, but I still had to try ;)

 

[sfatula]

So, for Emby, you should name based on Embys naming conventions. For Kodi, of course you name based on their conventions, etc. You have 2 potential clients on Apple TV: 1. Use the TESTING version of Emby client, much better and no transcoding needed as far as server and. 2. Use Infuse as the client. Here's a comment from a user of Dune on Infuse: "My main use is for 1080p/24 tv shows, and I think it is certainly an improvement in the crispness of the image. My new Dune 4K Pro has an excellent image, and I think the new version of Infuse is on par with it. So much I will prob sell the Dune and just use the ATV4K and Infuse for all my NAS playback.". I use Infuse and it plays everything Apple TV is capable of without any transcoding on the server.

There is also a Emby for Kodi addon. That allows you to use Kodi as the database and Emby for the rest. You gain abilities like Emby server transcoding (one example) since you can't really do that with Kodi. You love quality but when playing remote (which you may or may not want to do) often this is needed. And of course a vastly better UI, Kodi looks like 1870. And, you don't have to sideload Kodi or buy ability to load once a year.

As far as I understand it, you can not force Apple TV to a resolution via the exposed API. So, I doubt Kodi does, Plex does, anyone else does. If your experience different? It's going to play at whatever resoluion settings set it at.

Anyway, just some tips for what it's worth. I have tried all of the major players in Media centers or whatever you want to call them. Close to a dozen. Emby is the best of all of them in my view. Even used several different platforms from Linux to Windows to Mac. The best database was MythTV, it had about the worst UI though. My biggest use is DVR, though I also have a library of TV and Movies I have acquired over the years, even 3D bluray.

I hope you are able to find the right software for you!

 

[voodoo5_6k]

Yeah, I'm aware of the naming conventions. I had adapted the emby naming scheme because I wanted to test the different version/edition grouping of emby. So, the emby scraper is worse than Kodi's with its own naming scheme. Brilliant. Kodi did not have a single issue at all, even with a (for Kodi) non-standard naming scheme. Also, Kodi honors the system language. For emby, I had to specifically set English (US) for each library because it would ignore the general settings of English (US), and pull some random data in French or whatever that was (definitely not English). So, in my testing, the Kodi scraper (the newest python version) is superior. And I also had to do 95% of the grouping manually because emby wouldn't do it, although everything's set up exactly as on their support page. Well... Also, they claim to follow Kodi's specifications for *.nfo files, yet they fail to load all tags (e.g. named season, I had to set up non-standard season.nfo for each season).

Regarding the Apple TV and "resolution matching". Yes, that's what I've seen/read too. And that's why I also went to their feedback channel to request that feature. I was hoping, that someone would've found a way around this. So no, my experience is no different. I don't have Kodi on the Apple TV, and Kodi in itself isn't doing it on the Dune, as I'm using the Dune's internal player as external player for Kodi. Also, I'm not comparing the Dune's (upscaling) image quality with any other player. I could, if the Dune were to do upscaling to final resolution, as the other players do. The Dune has really bad upscaling, unbearable. If someone thinks that other players look comparable or marginably better, than that's what I've seen too (but that's like "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is the king"). So, compared to the Dune unscaled through the Lumagen they are still not even in the same ballpark in terms upscaling quality (especially for SD... HD to UHD is no big deal, but SD to UHD, that's where they all fall apart in terms of image quality).

Now, with emby on the Dune, and with the set up out of the way, I'm going to give it a try for a few weeks. Like you said, the interface is definitely way better than Kodi and I'd say it might be worth the few hoops I have to go through to set up the library compared to what Kodi does. As both use the Dune's internal player as their respective external player, they are identical in terms of image quality (on the Dune, as they are now "only" library solutions, and not players anymore). And maybe, someday, Aplle comes to their senses (although I doubt it, it's Apple...).

Anyhow, thank you for bearing with me and thank you very much for your great advice and help. It is much appreciated and it was nice talking to you. All the best!