Emby Plugin

[albrown]

I'm very new to this environment some things make a lot of sense others don't. It took me a bit but I did create a jail and install and configure MySQL, php, Apache, PhpMyAdmin and have been able to use the database from another system. I've also installed Plex and tried it (unhappy results with it since it doesn't like the naming that I have on my files, even though Kodi loves them).

I installed the Emby Plugin and it appears to have downloaded and created it just as it is supposed to do. I can see it in the Jails and I've got the menu link to (it on the left menu sidebar under Plugins). When I click on that link and it pops its dialog up I click the "here" in the Emby Dialog that offers me "Emby can be found here by default." I get the new browser window to a valid address on my network that I've told my router to make static.

The browser window to that valid address: http://192.168.23.190:8096/ gives me webpage is not available. I've also tried http://192.168.23.190:8096/web and http://192.168.23.190:8096/web/wizardstart.html that I found at the GetHub site in installation instructions (https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki/Installation). Each of those take me to the same page or at least the same answer "webpage not available".

I've got no clue what else to try as when the emby_1 jail is running I can ping it. On the FreeNAS I can open the shell (in the web GUI) and its responsive to my commands (none that will make changes it it at this point).

I've done this twice now and gotten the same results and I'm relatively certain that I've followed the process correctly. Does this software work? Am I just not holding my mouth right when I click it? Is there a secret handshake or special knowledge I should have been born with?

Any clues or suggestions would be valuable to me. While I listen for answers I'll be creating a new Jail and trying to get it installed manually to see if I can make it work that way.

Thanks
Al

 

[dlavigne]

Just to confirm, the Emby service is set to ON in the Plugins -> Installed tab?

 

[diedrichg]

All else fails, reboot. Emby should auto start after reboot.

 

[albrown]

Just to confirm, the Emby service is set to ON in the Plugins -> Installed tab?

Yep

I did quit fighting with it and installed a normal jail and did the manual FreeBSD install and it started right up. I've imported my libraries and all seems to be working on the server side of things.

Not sure what the problem is with the plugin but from my day of lost battles with it and all of the thoughts and suggestions I could get from this forum and the forum on the Emby site it should work, but doesn't.

Al

 

[albrown]

All else fails, reboot. Emby should auto start after reboot.

It starts just fine it just doesn't allow me to connect to it at the web address. Its there and I can see the process running and all of the other tests that were suggested on the Emby forums in the FreeBSD section. (FreeNAS Plugin thread).

 

[mattbbpl]

Do the IP and port settings in your jail match that url? The first time I set up this plugin I monkeyed around with these and experienced a similar result.

 

[mattbbpl]

I've also installed Plex and tried it (unhappy results with it since it doesn't like the naming that I have on my files, even though Kodi loves them).

This is definitely one of the strong suits of Emby. The coupling between Emby and Kodi is much tighter in general. I think you'll also be much happier with how in integrates with the Kodi library compared to Plex's method.

Be aware, however, that Emby's name parsing is slightly different for TV shows. Files MUST be in a Season folder for proper recognition. Special features go in "Season 0".

 

[albrown]

Do the IP and port settings in your jail match that url? The first time I set up this plugin I monkeyed around with these and experienced a similar result.

I believe that they did. I had the address setup as a static IP from my router and when I clicked on the button to access from plugins I was taken to the correct ip and port. I've since deleted the plugin and jail and installed in a normal jail manually and works.

 

[albrown]

This is definitely one of the strong suits of Emby. The coupling between Emby and Kodi is much tighter in general. I think you'll also be much happier with how in integrates with the Kodi library compared to Plex's method.

Be aware, however, that Emby's name parsing is slightly different for TV shows. Files MUST be in a Season folder for proper recognition. Special features go in "Season 0".

:) I understand better than I can tell. I found that Emby wasn't doing a lot better and checked the permissions on some my my folders had changed when copied to the nas, did a quick fix on that and all the magic happened. It was even much better in Plex that I re-installed to cross compare. My files and folders were already in the right structure as I've been using Kodi shared on 3 of the sets here and had to deal with most of the problems already.

I am a bit disappointed with both for not accepting the .nfo files created by Kodi and just parsing them in to build their media databases (including my played data). Plex or Emby seems to me to be a natural move for someone looking to upgrade from Kodi so the should both have the tools in place to make transitions like this easy. I feel some feature requesting going on if I don't just write myself a script to do it.

So far I'm very much on the fence about either as they both are missing some of the features of Kodi that I really appreciate. But I do have a need to share my data outside my local Lan so I will make a choice shortly. Back to the testing hampster wheel . . .
Al

 

[mattbbpl]

:) I understand better than I can tell. I found that Emby wasn't doing a lot better and checked the permissions on some my my folders had changed when copied to the nas, did a quick fix on that and all the magic happened. It was even much better in Plex that I re-installed to cross compare. My files and folders were already in the right structure as I've been using Kodi shared on 3 of the sets here and had to deal with most of the problems already.

I am a bit disappointed with both for not accepting the .nfo files created by Kodi and just parsing them in to build their media databases (including my played data). Plex or Emby seems to me to be a natural move for someone looking to upgrade from Kodi so the should both have the tools in place to make transitions like this easy. I feel some feature requesting going on if I don't just write myself a script to do it.

So far I'm very much on the fence about either as they both are missing some of the features of Kodi that I really appreciate. But I do have a need to share my data outside my local Lan so I will make a choice shortly. Back to the testing hampster wheel . . .
Al

I'm glad you're up and running with it.

As for folder structure, I created a script. Since the filename contains everything necessary to tell what folder it should go in, it was simple enough to create. I mentioned to the devs that the season folder is completely redundant to the point that Kodi just flat out ignores it, but either I was understanding them or they weren't understanding me because they SWEAR it's necessary. *shrug* It was easier to write a script than argue.

I'm not sure what Kodi features you want from Emby that aren't there, but I'm intrigued. As far as I'm concerned, I only wanted a few things from Emby - centralized library management, tight integration of that library into the Kodi "core" library, and external access. It delivered those and managed to throw in a few "nice to haves" that I didn't know I wanted such as automatic media lookup (no more manually running scrapers in Kodi). All of the Kodi features that I want, I get directly from Kodi because the library is integrated in such a way that Kodi sees your media just as if they were in Kodi. It even functions correctly with the more extravagant features and third party plugins like smart playlists and PseudoTV Live (PseudoTV Live is my killer feature, personally).

If Emby is causing you issues being integrated in Kodi and you still want it's external access, then just decouple it (install the plugin/jail for external access and access your media files via Kodi from your NAS nativtoely). Heck, in that circumstance Emby loses a lot of it's strengths over Plex and you can just choose which of those is giving you an easier time.

 

[albrown]

I'm glad you're up and running with it.

As for folder structure, I created a script. Since the filename contains everything necessary to tell what folder it should go in, it was simple enough to create. I mentioned to the devs that the season folder is completely redundant to the point that Kodi just flat out ignores it, but either I was understanding them or they weren't understanding me because they SWEAR it's necessary. *shrug* It was easier to write a script than argue.

I'm not sure what Kodi features you want from Emby that aren't there, but I'm intrigued. As far as I'm concerned, I only wanted a few things from Emby - centralized library management, tight integration of that library into the Kodi "core" library, and external access. It delivered those and managed to throw in a few "nice to haves" that I didn't know I wanted such as automatic media lookup (no more manually running scrapers in Kodi). All of the Kodi features that I want, I get directly from Kodi because the library is integrated in such a way that Kodi sees your media just as if they were in Kodi. It even functions correctly with the more extravagant features and third party plugins like smart playlists and PseudoTV Live (PseudoTV Live is my killer feature, personally).

If Emby is causing you issues being integrated in Kodi and you still want it's external access, then just decouple it (install the plugin/jail for external access and access your media files via Kodi from your NAS nativtoely). Heck, in that circumstance Emby loses a lot of it's strengths over Plex and you can just choose which of those is giving you an easier time.

One of the biggest weaknesses I see in both Plex and Emby so far (could be I haven't figured it out) is collections. It seems that there are so many movies that are in colllections any more . . .

Biggest factor I'm looking for out of either Plex or Emby is sharing my stuff with my daughters not living here. I absolutely heat it when my wife is uploading a movie or tv episode to her Google Drive or dropbox for one of them to get. I have the hardware and the bandwidth to resolve that issue securely and over a VPN connection so I kinda feel like I have to make a move.

I like Kodi for the most part and have gotten a lot of value from it and my Pis for the last couple or years I'm less that certain about some of the directions they are headed but they are writing the code and I'm not so I get what I get. With one of these other media servers I'll get a choice in the piece I pick. Just my opinion. Either of these could do the same over time but there is today and the forseeable now. :)

 

[mattbbpl]

Collections are possible in Emby. I personally haven't used them much, though.

I think you're first stop should be to look at the Metadata Manager portion of the web interface. That will allow you to create the collections manually according to your own criteria. They also have a plugin that will pull collection information from IMDB, but I can't vouch for it's efficacy - I haven't touched it.

 

[mattbbpl]

Let me add that if your daughters are accessing these files through a Kodi interface already, then Emby will automatically add any media that you add to your NAS to their Kodi installation (assuming you set up the Kodi's Emby plugin to connect to your server, of course). It could make your media management tasks much easier.

 

[albrown]

Collections are possible in Emby. I personally haven't used them much, though.

I think you're first stop should be to look at the Metadata Manager portion of the web interface. That will allow you to create the collections manually according to your own criteria. They also have a plugin that will pull collection information from IMDB, but I can't vouch for it's efficacy - I haven't touched it.

I'll give that a check i had seen it in there but couldn't figure a way to get it going without having to do a lot of manual setup. I'll look closer at it.

The girls want to be able to but so far too many roadblocks with letting them access via Kodi mostly them not willing to go to the trouble of tinkering when something isn't working. I believe that this should be a simpler answer.

 

[tuxevil]

hi, one question, why my emby server point to a different address?

my freenas ip is 192.168.1.5 but when i try to open my emby server plugin it try to go to 192.168.1.2:8096?

 

[Georg Kullgren]

Every plugin/jail you install will get its own IP address. The IP range to be used is set in the global jails configuration. Make sure that the range specified there doesn't collide with the range used by your DHCP server.

 

[tuxevil]

great, thanks, but it still doesnt open anything at that ip