Emby Integration

[Everbrave]

I know there have been an internal discussion about Emby integration, but currently Emby is rather “stepmother-ly” treated as we say in German, i.e., tolerated but not welcome
The built-in Emby-Connection corresponds to EmbyCon but there is nothing equivalent to Emby-for-Kodi which can populate MrMC media data-base.

On the side-loaded Kodi, I only need to install Embuary skin together with EmbyCon and get an almost perfect Emby Agent on ATV.

What is the plan for Emby integration, if any?

Thanks

[pecinko]

I don't know much about Emby, tried it but never found server part intuitive to setup, but may I ask what is the point of getting your media scanned into Emby server and than using an extension to pull it out and populate MrMC(Kodi) database? Why not use MrMC with MySql in the first place?

This is not to say Emby client will or will not be improved but if we decide to do it, above example does not seems as a proper way to go. Furthermore, last time I tried official Emby client on ATV it didn't do nothing of a kind - it acted as a proper client-server solution. Kodi lacks server support so above way may be the only way possible but it is a different story with MrMC.

[Everbrave]

I don't know much about Emby, tried it but never found server part intuitive to setup, but may I ask what is the point of getting your media scanned into Emby server and than using an extension to pull it out and populate MrMC(Kodi) database? Why not use MrMC with MySql in the first place?

This is not to say Emby client will or will not be improved but if we decide to do it, above example does not seems as a proper way to go. Furthermore, last time I tried official Emby client on ATV it didn't do nothing of a kind - it acted as a proper client-server solution. Kodi lacks server support so above way may be the only way possible but it is a different story with MrMC.

The server-client structure, whether Emby or Plex, has the appeal of central, remote, media management and playback. As for MrMC, it’s similar to Kodi regarding providing a client with for both Plex and Emby, so far so good. Plex has its own connection and, in addition, an add-on with it’s own UI. The latter is not available for Emby, so the situation is asymmetric here, for obvious reasons; there is no such Emby add on/Extension.
As for why populate MrMC/Kodi DB using Emby-to-Kodi, the metadata access is as fast as the local DB but when the connection is fast, it doesn't make much difference to EmbyCon.
I guess the straight forward solution would be either adobe Embuary skin or make Ariana and Opacity more Emby friendly; how to do that is up to you Skin designer
Thanks

[Montoya]

I can completely understand as an Emby user, the request to make MrMC more Emby friendly.

One of the things I miss most right now with the current Emby Client Service:

Filter Emby Movie library by:
- Sets
- Unwatched
- Genres
- Years
- Actors

This is possible in Opacity with a Movie library from a MrMC database, but not when an Emby Movie library is selected in MrMC Home Screen.

@pecinko
For 3.8, does the Ariana Skin get support for above filter options for MrMC database based Movie libraries ?
Because that is still the main reason Opacity is my main Skin, because Ariana lacks those filter options.

[Everbrave]

I can completely understand as an Emby user, the request to make MrMC more Emby friendly.

One of the things I miss most right now with the current Emby Client Service:

Filter Emby Movie library by:
- Sets
- Unwatched
- Genres
- Years
- Actors

This is possible in Opacity with a Movie library from a MrMC database, but not when an Emby Movie library is selected in MrMC Home Screen.

@pecinko
For 3.8, does the Ariana Skin get support for above filter options for MrMC database based Movie libraries ?
Because that is still the main reason Opacity is my main Skin, because Ariana lacks those filter options.

Although I’m not the one who would like to see tens of skins, I would say the quickest way is to import Embuary skin; Emby settled for a while!

[Montoya]

Although I’m not the one who would like to see tens of skins, I would say the quickest way is to import Embuary skin; Emby settled for a while!

Keep in mind that Embuary is Krypton and Leia only and that MrMC is based on Jarvis...
So I expect that you get the same answer, that Devs give to people when they ask why Estuary is not available in MrMC.

[Everbrave]

Although I’m not the one who would like to see tens of skins, I would say the quickest way is to import Embuary skin; Emby settled for a while!

Keep in mind that Embuary is Krypton and Leia only and that MrMC is based on Jarvis...
So I expect that you get the same answer, that Devs give to people when they ask why Estuary is not available in MrMC.

May be we get an answer from @amet or @davilla regarding their plans.

EDIT:
- if not Embuary, then Titan which is highly customizable
- MrMC is currently the only app that can be a client for both Plex and Emby. This is particularly relevant since the native clients of Plex and Emby on tvOS are weak; less so on iOS.

[pecinko]

I would much rather hear what is missing in Emby client that suggestions on how Emby support should be implemented.

So far, it looks like we’re lacking filters.

[amet]

I would much rather hear what is missing in Emby client that suggestions on how Emby support should be implemented.

So far, it looks like we’re lacking filters.

This is the correct answer.... you don’t need us to confirm, pecinko is part of the team

We aim to lower the number of skins and focus future UI development on the Ariana and Opacity skins... we had some talks about Titan skin integration but it will have to follow new UI guidelines(all the changes introduced in 3.7.0), same will apply to Black glass nova in future builds.

I am not too familiar with Emby addon for Kodi but I would prefer to look into issues users might have with our emby integration rather then pulling in bunch of addons to rectify missing features.

[Everbrave]

I would much rather hear what is missing in Emby client that suggestions on how Emby support should be implemented.

So far, it looks like we’re lacking filters.

....

I am not too familiar with Emby addon for Kodi but I would prefer to look into issues users might have with our emby integration rather then pulling in bunch of addons to rectify missing features.

Fair enough, so under the assumptions:
- no new skin integration, with concentration on Ariana and Opacity.
- no Emby-to-Kodi equivalent which syncs Emby DB to MrMC, i.e. the current EmbyCon equivalent integration remains.

Additional support would be:
- Filtering (@Montoya)
- Collections
- Refresh Emby servers (similar to Plex)
- Emby Connect User (similar to Plex)
- several graphical enhancements (row labeling, episode/season naming, perhaps media tiles that change background based on the media source, contrast enhancement of the day theme)

Other things will come to mind in due of the development.

Thanks