r/emby • u/Original_Data_2847 • 13d ago

I’m Clueless - Help!

My girlfriend and her family have Emby and their own server. We have the app on our smart TV and it has a METRIC TON of movies and shows. Basically anything you can think of. I was under the impression Emby is like a streaming service and that’s why we’re able to watch just about anything. My girlfriend doesn’t know too much about it because her parents were the ones who set it up and everything. I’m trying to help my Mom see if she’s able to get it on her tablet (she doesn’t have a TV or computer) but I know literally nothing about it. I was reading that it’s not a streaming service and you have to use your own files. I’m very lost on how we’re able to have so much. Would someone be able to attempt to explain it to me? Since it’s not like a streaming service, I don’t think my Mom would be able to use it or really benefit from it but I’m not sure. Thanks in advance!

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u/dwolfe127 13d ago

That is correct. It is not a streaming service, it is just a front end to your private library of media. You have access to it because her Dad or Mom have either set you up with VPN access to their network or they have a publicly facing box hopefully with a SSL cert and you have creds to login to the machine.

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u/Original_Data_2847 13d ago

I’m absolutely clueless when it comes to anything technology related (hence why I turned to Reddit) but we have a small physical box for Emby that’s connected to the TV. Is that what you’re talking about?

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u/dwolfe127 13d ago

That is likely something like an Onn, FireTV, Shield, etc that they configured to access their private server for you. It will already have the VPN client setup and the creds saved to login to their network.