2021-07-23, 12:06
Hello.
After a fair bit of research and trial and error I've worked out how to connect my NVIDIA Shield to my Mac Emby Server so my Kodi on the shield works across the network. I am writing this guide because I appreciate the assistance I was given by some kind developers and users here many months ago, and so I'd like to give back to the community. I realise this post may come too late for many, and I accept I'm no IT specialist, so I welcome people correcting me for the benefit of others.
Context:
I have used Emby as a content organiser/server on my Mac for maybe 5 years, served to Kodi on my 2017 Nvidia shield. I prefer the speed of syncing files using Emby's "native"/direct play method using SMB, and this worked reliably until I upgraded my Mac OS to Catalina.
For those unaware, Catalina was the first version of Mac OSX to disable network connections via the old 1st version of the Samba protocol (SMB1). This change was made in response to security issues associated with that old SMB1 protocol, most notably the WannaCry ransomware attack. SMB1 allowed "guest" users on a network (say my Shield) to read the files on my Mac without needing a username/password, and so my old setup worked nicely, but I was ignorant of security issues associated with it. Mac shutting down SMB1 brought the issue to my attention, and forced me onto a path of higher security, but it also broke the connection between my Mac and my shield.
I reached out on the forum a few times (see here and here) and a few kind souls offered tips, however I didn't implement them as they either involved installing non-standard network software or (the more common/popular suggestion) employing various tricks to get the insecure SMB1 connection re-established. I wasn't persuaded by either choice, so I gave up for a few months.
The solution (assuming you use Emby direct paths like me):
OK, after a lot of trial and error, and importantly, after some rest and reflection time, here is what worked for me....
(using the latest OS X, Mac Big Sur and running Kodi Matrix 19.1 on my shield (its OS up to date as of July 2021)
Bonus tip for fussy people like me
The above should be enough for most people, but if you're a fussy person with a huge library that you've separated out into different source types (e.g. Main Albums, Live Music, Rarities) using @DaveBlake's wonderful newish "sources" feature in Kodi, and you want all the album art to be there when you scroll, then read on....
(context: the above mostly works for serving up my albums separately to my live music for example, but I found that once I loaded the second source, some of the square album artist images would go blank - I think it's related to a quirk in Emby, where they once, but no longer save artist art in the artist's folder....Kodi seems to only show the artist art previously stored into the artist folder a year or so ago when Emby's server was written differently)....long story short, do the following if you want albums/live/rarities/whatever kept in separate sources and you want all the artist pictures to work....)
I hope some of that is helpful.
Looking back on it, I can see I spent far too long on this. The pandemic is tough on everyone, but it does bring to mind the importance of people, connection and nature, so don't spend too long on your set-up, and look after yourselves.
Warm wishes.
After a fair bit of research and trial and error I've worked out how to connect my NVIDIA Shield to my Mac Emby Server so my Kodi on the shield works across the network. I am writing this guide because I appreciate the assistance I was given by some kind developers and users here many months ago, and so I'd like to give back to the community. I realise this post may come too late for many, and I accept I'm no IT specialist, so I welcome people correcting me for the benefit of others.
Context:
I have used Emby as a content organiser/server on my Mac for maybe 5 years, served to Kodi on my 2017 Nvidia shield. I prefer the speed of syncing files using Emby's "native"/direct play method using SMB, and this worked reliably until I upgraded my Mac OS to Catalina.
For those unaware, Catalina was the first version of Mac OSX to disable network connections via the old 1st version of the Samba protocol (SMB1). This change was made in response to security issues associated with that old SMB1 protocol, most notably the WannaCry ransomware attack. SMB1 allowed "guest" users on a network (say my Shield) to read the files on my Mac without needing a username/password, and so my old setup worked nicely, but I was ignorant of security issues associated with it. Mac shutting down SMB1 brought the issue to my attention, and forced me onto a path of higher security, but it also broke the connection between my Mac and my shield.
I reached out on the forum a few times (see here and here) and a few kind souls offered tips, however I didn't implement them as they either involved installing non-standard network software or (the more common/popular suggestion) employing various tricks to get the insecure SMB1 connection re-established. I wasn't persuaded by either choice, so I gave up for a few months.
The solution (assuming you use Emby direct paths like me):
OK, after a lot of trial and error, and importantly, after some rest and reflection time, here is what worked for me....
(using the latest OS X, Mac Big Sur and running Kodi Matrix 19.1 on my shield (its OS up to date as of July 2021)
- in Mac: system preferences, sharing, file sharing, share the folders you have synced to Emby and ensure you have a user in the users column with a username and login you are willing to enter into the shield in the next step (I created a whole new Mac account and password for sharing, but you don't need to)
- in Mac's Emby server, add your media folders (and if you like using direct paths like me, and if for example the Music files are in the shared directory "Music", type "/storage/MAC/Music" in the "(Optional) Shared network folder" slot
- On the Shield: settings, device preferences, storage, mount network storage, choose your Mac, choose the option where you need to enter the Mac login/passwork from the first step. This will connect with a newer version of Samba, and it MUST HAVE A USERNAME AND PASSWORD ENTERED TO WORK
- your shield should now be connected via a safer Samba (SMB3 I think) built into the latest shield operating system. Sweet. That gets me past where I was stuck last year. You can test this connection via Kodi's "FILES" feature, or the "X-plore" app on your shield (I'd avoid other file managers on android and android TV if I were you, particularly one of the most popular ones... google their security).
- In Kodi on the Shield:
- Install Emby using this guide, login to Emby, and sync your media, connect your skin to those media
- Install Emby using this guide, login to Emby, and sync your media, connect your skin to those media
Bonus tip for fussy people like me
The above should be enough for most people, but if you're a fussy person with a huge library that you've separated out into different source types (e.g. Main Albums, Live Music, Rarities) using @DaveBlake's wonderful newish "sources" feature in Kodi, and you want all the album art to be there when you scroll, then read on....
(context: the above mostly works for serving up my albums separately to my live music for example, but I found that once I loaded the second source, some of the square album artist images would go blank - I think it's related to a quirk in Emby, where they once, but no longer save artist art in the artist's folder....Kodi seems to only show the artist art previously stored into the artist folder a year or so ago when Emby's server was written differently)....long story short, do the following if you want albums/live/rarities/whatever kept in separate sources and you want all the artist pictures to work....)
- Go to the section for a media type in Kodi (e.g. Music), and:
- click files, go down to "Add music...", enter (using the example path I cited above) "/storage/MAC/Music" and enter a unique name for the media source (e.g. MusicSource to distinguish it from Emby's "Music" entry already within Kodi)
- you'll get a prompt asking if you want to add this folder to the Kodi DB.... you don't have to say yes, but I did so I could get Kodi to scrape album ratings off the net (I know I could do it on the Emby server side, but I couldn't make it work)
- go back in Kodi to the "Music" (or videos) part, click on sources, and your source should now be there, and all the damn images should also be there for each artist (it took me ages to work this out.... in my case at least, the emby sources of the same sources didn't reliably give all the artist pictures...)
- connect your skin to the SOURCES
- listen to the best album you have
- drink a beer.
- (note: I am a bit concerned that this approach makes two copies of my media, an Emby copy (synced first above) and then also a Kodi version (directly above), and given the Shield only has a 16Gb storage capacity, space is an issue, but it seems to work so I'll see how I go. Comments/corrections welcome).
- click files, go down to "Add music...", enter (using the example path I cited above) "/storage/MAC/Music" and enter a unique name for the media source (e.g. MusicSource to distinguish it from Emby's "Music" entry already within Kodi)
I hope some of that is helpful.
Looking back on it, I can see I spent far too long on this. The pandemic is tough on everyone, but it does bring to mind the importance of people, connection and nature, so don't spend too long on your set-up, and look after yourselves.
Warm wishes.
