Serving my media library to my TV (local network only), i need suggestions

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com⁩ to ⁨selfhosted@lemmy.world⁩

I currently have two TVs, one I use an appleTV with and the other with a googleTV HD, but they both have issues.

The jellyfin app on appleTV is messed up, it fucks up audio and subs all the time, and in general has a hard time with media that has multiple audio tracks, not using the audio I select with the remote.

The googleTV just stutters with almost everything, direct stream or transcoded doesn’t matter. All of my library is just 1080p, I have proper wifi to it, all mobile devices stream just fine.

So neither of these provide me with a solution that really works.

What solutions can you recommend, that allows for seamless navigation of jellyfin with my remote? I don’t want anything resembling a mouse/keyboard combo for navigation whatsoever.

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dmention7@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I don’t have specific troubleshooting advice to give, but I have been using an Nvidia Shield Pro as my main streaming device for about 4 years now. It is overpriced for what it is, but it has been rock solid for streaming via both Jellyfin and Plex.

The official Jellyfin app is definitely not as polished as Plex, but it has consistently worked for me on the Shield.

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- _TheLoneDeveloper_@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I will agree, I got an Nvidia shield pro two years ago, I was a bit afraid because it’s a product from 2019, but damn it’s been rock solid, it plays everything, it’s quite open and not limited like some other boxes, it’s even faster than the most Samsung smart TVs that I have tried, I can’t recommend it enough, even at the end of 2024 it doesn’t have any issues when playing YouTube and Plex.
  
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CrazyLikeGollum@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Unless you have a commitment to only using open source software, I’d recommend Plex over Jellyfin. Mostly because I’ve found the client software for Jellyfin to be lacking, especially on AppleTV.

For the issues with the GoogleTV, you mention that it’s on WiFi, would it be possible to use a wired connection or get another set top box for it? Some TVs have the WiFi antenna behind the screen causing interference, so even though other devices get a strong signal the TV doesn’t.

Also, how’s the hardware on your server? Is the CPU powerful enough or do you have a GPU for transcoding? Also, is the server on WiFi or wired?

It’s worth noting that a lot of settop boxes have limited codec support, which might be forcing transcoding even if everything should otherwise support direct play.

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- ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  The googleTV dongle doesn’t have any ports apart from usb-C for power and the attached HDMI cable. It’s what was once called a chromecast.
  
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  - CrazyLikeGollum@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Ah, it’s one of those. I was thinking it was the TV’s OS.
    
    I don’t have a lot of experience with those smaller dongles, but as I understand it they’re fairly low power devices that are more meant for streaming relatively low bitrate media from the internet or from a phone. It may not have the horsepower for playing back high bitrate media from Jellyfin or Plex.
    
    Others may have a solution that’ll work for that device, but my gut response is to say you should consider replacing it with something more powerful.
    
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irish_link@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Since you are against using plex even with using it only locally I would suggest you look into the Jellyfin clients support. Specifically look at each client device documentation and take a look at what audio and video codex they natively support. If there is one they both support then I suggest you do some testing and stream a movie or show that is encoded with that specific format. This will let you know if it will work across both clients whether it’s a stream issue hardware issue or Wi-Fi issue.

This will prevent transcoding that can cause audio sync issues.

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- ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I don’t have audio sync issues at all. I have issues with appleTV using the wrong audio track when I select something different than the default. E.g. if I select Danish, it shows that it’s using the Danish track but it’s actually playing something else like Finnish or Swedish. This behaviour is only on the appleTV and no other devices.
  
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rehydrate5503@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Have you tried non official jellyfin clients? I had issues with the official app on AppleTV as well, so I switched to Infuse. The free app supports most things and I think the paid gives access to additional codecs if I recall correctly. The pro upgrade isn’t too expensive and the app is sleek across Apple devices. Only issue I’ve really had is sometimes if a video is not played to the end (as in, stopped during credits) it still shows up in the continue watching, but that might be a problem on my end.

I think MXPlayer is similar on Android which might be worth checking out.

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- princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Nah, I think that’s an issue with the jellyfin server. It happens to me too, using Swiftfin on AppleTV.
  
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  - ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    
    I think that’s an issue with the jellyfin server
    
    It’s just weird that audio tracks works correctly on all other devices, this is only happening on the appleTV.
    
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snekerpimp@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Plex, unfortunately, is the best answer for this right now. Easiest to set up and maintain, the client apps are fine, you may have to fiddle with the Apple TV to be pain free though.

I have a few raspberry pi’s with kodi running and linked to my media served over nfs, which works well, just not as polished and fast as plex.

Personally, as soon as the Apple TV client gets fixed for Jellyfin, will probably drop plex altogether. The iOS app is stellar so not sure why it hasn’t been ported yet. I also have an easier time with my media playback with Jellyfin over plex, and you don’t need to pay for good hardware transcoding, it’s just the ui is so god awful!

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- ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I’m not touching Plex ever, so I’ll have to find another solution, or demote the appleTV to the bedroom because my wife and I watch most things in English anyway so we don’t change the audio track like the kids do.
  
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catloaf@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Does it need to use the remote? I have a Chromecast (the casting device, not the app running device) and I use the Jellyfin app on my phone and I cast to the Chromecast. Works fine for me.

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- ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Doesn’t need to be the remote, but it does need to work independently of other devices than what’s connected to the TV. Having to cast from a device doesn’t really work with how we use TV watching in our house, especially for the kids since they don’t have their own phones or tablets to do it from.
  
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HotChickenFeet@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
With WebOS app, I’ve noticed sometimes when watching TV shows, if I select one audio track, it will

go to the next episode

keep the desired audio track selected

play the original/nase starting track.

To remedy it, I have to switch from the current selected audio track and back ¯_(ツ)_/¯

As far as possible solutions to bad app behavior on your device - get a separate TV device (roku, etc) or some oc or SBC run a jellyfin app on it. You’d want to research first to see if you could use your existing remote somehow (e.g. maybe an IR receiver)
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- HotChickenFeet@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I think jellyfin offers DLNA support? You could enable it localy and see if your TV(s) can access files that way, without the jellyfin TV app as a middleman
  
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  - sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Or just install minidlna. It works and it’s easy to set up.
    
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  - ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Then I wouldn’t be able to filter the contents of the server based on age rating, and since it’s serving content for both adults and kids I kind of want to be able to limit some content to certain users.
    
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athairmor@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I stream from Jellyfin to an Apple TV without your issues. It might be a network or configuration problem.

Have you tried Infuse SenPlayer or other clients?

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- ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  It might be a network or configuration problem.
  
  I’m not sure how a network issue would cause the jellyfin client to select the wrong audio track? E.g. when I select Danish, it sometimes uses the Finnish or Swedish track. This only happens on the appleTV, all other devices use the selected track correctly.
  
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  - BertramDitore@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    As suggested above, I would try Infuse player. I recently switched from a Kodi/Jellyfin setup to an Apple TV/Jellyfin setup and I’m extremely happy with it. Infuse has a free trial, and then you can choose to pay a few different ways (they do have a rather expensive lifetime option, but it might be worth it). The Infuse app has no trouble playing directly from my Jellyfin server, no transcoding, even for full 4K Bluray rips, and yes it even supports Dolby Vision (which the native Jellyfin app struggles with). No hiccups, no issues with multiple audio tracks or subtitles, it’s just buttery smooth direct playback.
    
    It also has a couple different ways of interacting with your Jellyfin library, so it feels completely seamless to me.
    
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hendrik@palaver.p3x.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I enabled the DLNA server in Jellifin. And that works okay with my LG webOS TV. But it's down to the quirks of the TV which also likes to enable subtitles and the default audio track.

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vk6flab@lemmy.radio ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
How are these devices connected to the network and how is your media server connected?

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- ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Server is wired, devices use WiFi
  
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  - vk6flab@lemmy.radio ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Which type of Wi-Fi and what type of wired connection?
    
    I suspect that there’s not enough bandwidth available.
    
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Shimitar@feddit.it ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Got an amazon firestick pro 4k. Have just a 1080p TV, but the pro4k hardware is just better than the other models.

Fully satisfied. Works beautiful with Jelly fin TV app.

Has amazon advertising tough, so YMMV.

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fry@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Are you hellbent on using Jellyfin?

An alternative could be to just set up an NFS share with your media and use whatever player you like. Nova video player on Google/Android TV isn’t as pretty as Jellyfin but it gets the work done.

I’ve had zero issues with Infuse on apple tv. Easy to navigate, looks good and plays stuff on my network shares. I think there is support for adding a Jellyfin library as a source as well but I haven’t tried it.

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- MaggiWuerze@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  pretty UI
  
  Lol
  
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  - fry@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Beats Kodi.
    
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- ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  It’s important that I can restrict certain users to specific content based on age rating, i dont want to do that manually. the server has content for both kids and adults, and my *arr stack + jellyfin works really well aside from these two devices which have quirks.
  
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  - fry@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I see. The multi user support in Jellyfin is arguably one of its strengths so that’s a shame. Don’t have a good recommendation in that case.
    
    Adult or not, Android/Google tv lacks good media centers or video players. Jellyfin, Kodi, Nova or VLC are basically your options and they are all crap in their own way. If you don’t want to watch something on Netflix, HBO etc. It’s really a bummer.
    
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