Metadata refreshs in Emby are much different. In Plex you click the button, wait a bit und then check for errors. In Emby, I start the refresh, let it run over night and will have a refreshed library the next day.
So in Emby I tend to have the refresh running as a low-priority background job while in Plex I did mostly on-demand refreshs.
The main difference is not that it runs in the background but that Emby throttles the access to the metadata suppliers for not getting banned by them. That is why it is so awfully slow. Plex uses its own proxy in-between to solve this issue.
If you want the scan to finish in any reasonable amount of time, you have to deselect subtitle download, chapter image extration and the like. Otherwise every scan took ages for me.
Actually, I don’t really mind the slow scan … once the library is scanned the few newly added movies scan quite quickly each time.
Yep, I’d agree.
I’ve been running both systems together for years. I’ve got premium features on both systems with life-time passes.
They each have their positive and negatives for sure, make no doubt about it. Neither is perfect. Plex is my main system and the one I share with most people. Emby is mostly for my own use.
A couple of the standout things for me with Emby is that the DVR is more flexible and just works much better than Plex for now but requires more work getting it set up and of course there is an extra cost for the guides. What I also like about Emby in the DVR department is that you can setup a tuner type used for IPTV streams. This is very powerful and allows you to DRV streamed IPTV content. Emby can also directly talk to other DVR recording programs which is a nice option if you have something elaborate or have special needs DVR wise. With Plex you often need to use a “proxy” or similar to get some of this functionality.
I’ve always like Emby’s “Home” much better. You control accounts on YOUR server vs some web backend. People can log directly into your server without a middle man (option available). This also means that if you have an internet outage Plex will probably stop working but Emby will keep on working.
Emby doesn’t have the refined clients that Plex has which is a downside if you share to people with different devices. But if you are mostly using it for your own use and have full control over what client/devices you use then it’s not a problem.
@cayars said:
there is an extra cost for the guides.
Zap2XML is free, takes maybe 10 minutes to setup and you never have to mess with it again.
Emby now offers an extended premium device limit up to 45 as a lifetime option. So I won’t need plex for my external users anymore.
Thanks for the good time PLEX. I hope you get back on track in the future. Maybe I’ll even switch back, who knows.
Over and out.
@Heciruam said:
Emby now offers an extended premium device limit up to 45 as a lifetime option. So I won’t need plex for my external users anymore.
Thanks for the good time PLEX. I hope you get back on track in the future. Maybe I’ll even switch back, who knows.Over and out.
220 $? Cheap… Not 
A small price to pay for ones privacy 
@JuiceWSA said:
how 'bout another path that’s not locked up behind a pay wall?
I’m serious… with your input, amount of time you spend here and number of posts, Plex should just GIVE you a lifetime pass by now (this is a compliment btw and I hope it’s taken as such) 
I installed Emby and added a movie library… all was discovered fine.
Added a TV library and it discovered nothing.
Okay, it states that you should have a subfolder for each season, but I don’t have this. all tv shows are ‘tv show sxxexx’ in one folder. Plex handles it fine.
Emby doesn’t work for me without major reconstruction.
@per_PLEX_ed said:
I’m serious… with your input, amount of time you spend here and number of posts, Plex should just GIVE you a lifetime pass by now (this is a compliment btw and I hope it’s taken as such)
I can’t think of a thing I could use as PPer I’m not already getting now - and that’s just part of the failed Plex bidness model, to be honest. If Plex treated ANY of their users with more respect I’ve had ‘Donated’ long ago.
@reddwarfcrew said:
I installed Emby and added a movie library… all was discovered fine.Added a TV library and it discovered nothing.
Okay, it states that you should have a subfolder for each season, but I don’t have this. all tv shows are ‘tv show sxxexx’ in one folder. Plex handles it fine.
Emby doesn’t work for me without major reconstruction.
That just means that if you’d have used compliant structures Emby would be working - and if you use FileBot you could fix your entire TV Show Universe in a few minutes.
Emby doesn’t work for me for a number of reasons, but every day those reasons are shrinking due in no small part to Emby working WITH users - something absolutely foreign to the Plex Grand Plan. Emby may see me sooner than later.
@reddwarfcrew said:
I installed Emby and added a movie library… all was discovered fine.Added a TV library and it discovered nothing.
Okay, it states that you should have a subfolder for each season, but I don’t have this. all tv shows are ‘tv show sxxexx’ in one folder. Plex handles it fine.
Emby doesn’t work for me without major reconstruction.
This is actually the better format to use with Plex as well. When you have organized folders with proper names both Plex and Emby will scan them in with no problem. Same with Kodi.
FileBot can make quick work of renaming files, creating folders, etc for you. Experiment on a copy of a TV show to get the hang of it.
Carlo
Hello,
I am 100% satisfied with Plex and pretty much sold out to it, but I have some time on my hands and love to experiment. I feel like giving Emby a try, just for fun. However, I live in a seriously remote area with very very limited bandwidth. Can Emby use the metadata, posters, etc. already downloaded by Plex, or will it have to re-download everything? I have about 30 TB of media files which produced 40 GB of metadata and such (which were downloaded when I had access to a better connection, obviously.)
Thanks.
@Coxeroni said:
220 $? Cheap… Not
I’ve invested about 100x that amount in hardware and media. So … no, 220,- won’t bother me.
@DoumQC said:
Hello,
I am 100% satisfied with Plex and pretty much sold out to it, but I have some time on my hands and love to experiment. I feel like giving Emby a try, just for fun. However, I live in a seriously remote area with very very limited bandwidth. Can Emby use the metadata, posters, etc. already downloaded by Plex, or will it have to re-download everything? I have about 30 TB of media files which produced 40 GB of metadata and such (which were downloaded when I had access to a better connection, obviously.)
Thanks.
Unless I missed something Emby will have to redownload everything. One of the downsides to Emby is that when it comes to collecting metadata and art for a lot of items, it can take a long (long, long) time. I have over 500 movies and 3000 episodes (your collection is certainly quite a lot larger) of tv and Emby took all day (6 - 8 hours) to get it all (once the initial scan is done though the speed isn’t an issue, it does small batches quickly).
@adamstewiegreen said:
@DoumQC said:
Hello,
I am 100% satisfied with Plex and pretty much sold out to it, but I have some time on my hands and love to experiment. I feel like giving Emby a try, just for fun. However, I live in a seriously remote area with very very limited bandwidth. Can Emby use the metadata, posters, etc. already downloaded by Plex, or will it have to re-download everything? I have about 30 TB of media files which produced 40 GB of metadata and such (which were downloaded when I had access to a better connection, obviously.)
Thanks.Unless I missed something Emby will have to redownload everything. One of the downsides to Emby is that when it comes to collecting metadata and art for a lot of items, it can take a long (long, long) time. I have over 500 movies and 3000 episodes (your collection is certainly quite a lot larger) of tv and Emby took all day (6 - 8 hours) to get it all (once the initial scan is done though the speed isn’t an issue, it does small batches quickly).
@DoumQC said:
Hello,
I am 100% satisfied with Plex and pretty much sold out to it, but I have some time on my hands and love to experiment. I feel like giving Emby a try, just for fun. However, I live in a seriously remote area with very very limited bandwidth. Can Emby use the metadata, posters, etc. already downloaded by Plex, or will it have to re-download everything? I have about 30 TB of media files which produced 40 GB of metadata and such (which were downloaded when I had access to a better connection, obviously.)
Thanks.
Yup I’m pretty sure Emby will have to redownload everything. On the flip side though, you can set Emby to store all metadata and images in the folders with your media files. Once that is done, then I believe Plex can use that as locally stored metadata.
Emby in a way has a better meta setup. Like the previous poster mentioned it can store the information with the files instead of some hidden place like Plex does. This allows you to back up the info with your files. If you ever have to reload Emby it will use the info already on disc so that makes reloads quite fast.
Many other programs can write this info as well so you don’t have to rely on Emby to pull it. Plex will also use much of this info if it’s available before Plex does the initial scan.
Plex uses Proxy servers to pull from which can be hit quite fast. On the other hand Emby goes directly to the source without the middle server. In order to keep you from getting banned it slows down the number of requests performed by sec/minute. This is why the library scanning seems to take a long time, because it’s throttled.
Carlo
This switchover is a project for me during the Thanksgiving holiday I think. Plex is just moving too slowly and in all the wrong directions now. So disappointing. CEO should be removed for their awful comms “strategy” alone. The news fiasco is just the icing on a sour tasting cake.
So, now that it’s been a little while since this all went down, what are your present impressions of Emby?
Tried it, didn’t like it.
Plex data mining and Emby data mining are like identical twins, so as far as I’m concerned that was much ado about nothing.
Emby has a LOT better user interactions, but when you consider Plex has NONE… There ya go.
I’m not packing up, but the boxes are folded up in the basement.
