The hardware requirements for the server will depend on a number of factors including the format of your prepared media, the type of client devices used as well as how much bandwidth is available between the client and the server.
If you prepare you media in a format that all devices can use, such as MP4 container, using H.264 video with a stereo AAC audio track then you won't need a powerful server normally because all Emby apps can use that format directly. If however you don't prepare your media ahead of time like this or if you don't have adequate bandwidth between the client and server to play the media AS IS then the Emby Server will assist you by transcoding (converting) your media on the fly in real-time.
MacOS Emby Server One of the greatest things about macOS or OS X is that it is really Unix, which means it is really the sibling of Linux. That means that you can do most of the same things as when on Linux, or most of the same things differently.
- Unlike Plex, Emby is an open source platform. All Emby software, including user management, streaming and more, runs locally on your server. No need for internet access anywhere unless you are using Emby Connect (Remote Streaming Service). In 2017, Plex was criticized for changing its privacy policy.
- There are many alternatives to Emby for Mac if you are looking to replace it. The most popular Mac alternative is Jellyfin, which is both free and Open Source.If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked 34 alternatives to Emby and 13 are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement.
Transcoding is the process where media is converted from one resolution or format to another (e.g. playing Full HD media on some smartphones requires transcoding). The process is CPU-intensive, so an older/slower PC might not be up to the task.
Windows, Mac, Linux, or FreeBSD computer
Minimum Requirements — no transcoding
- Intel Core 2 Duo processor 1.6 GHz or better
- At least 1GB RAM for Windows/Mac OS X
- At least 512MB RAM for Linux
- Windows: Vista or later
- OS X: MacOS 10.13 or later
- Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS or SuSE Linux
Recommended Configuration — transcoding HD Content:
- Intel Core 2 Duo processor 2.4 GHz or better
- If transcoding for multiple devices, a faster CPU may be required
- At least 2GB RAM
- Windows: Vista or later
- OS X: MacOS 10.13 or later
- Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS or SuSE Linux
NOTE: Emby also supports Hardware Based Transcoding using a GPU/Video card (if new enough). This can substantially reduce the CPU requirements needed for multiple transcodes in real-time! This allows the server to support numerous clients at the same time without your computer's CPU being overworked. Some GPUs can support 20+ streams. That's in addition to the streams your Emby server can handle without transcoding!
Network Requirements
Minimum requirements
- An ADSL/Cable/WiFi Internet connection for media metadata and software updates
- Uncongested WIFI with a strong signal using 802.11n wireless network OR
- Wired Ethernet network
Recommended configuration
- An ADSL/Cable/WiFi Internet connection for media metadata and software updates
- 10 Meganit upload bandwidth (minimum) if serving content remotely
- Uncongested, WIFI with strong signal using 802.11AC wireless network
- Wired Gigabit Ethernet network
Excellent advice from user Q-Droid on the Emby Forums
This is an excerpt from a community thread by a member who wanted to allow other applications and Linux users on their server to access the media structure used by Emby. The member wanted shared read and write access to the libraries which may contain files and directories owned by different users.
1. Allow group of users (my-user,Emby,Kodi,etc.) to read and write media content.
2. Allow same for SMB shares.
Generally speaking you can't prevent Emby from following the rules of the OS and in Linux/UNIX these rules were created for security reasons. A 'line of code' won't change that because only the superuser is allowed to change ownership at the user level. Emby doesn't run as superuser and you really don't want to do that anyway. So instead you work with the rules and tools for the OS.
There are multiple ways to do this, I'll share what I would do. Need elevated rights for this, i.e. root.
Identify your media base directory. Usually it's the common starting directory for your libraries. For example, if your libraries look like this:
/mnt/library/movies
/mnt/library/tv shows
/mnt/library/music
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Then '/mnt/library' is your base. Servers with multiple storage volumes and external drives can have multiple paths to the libraries without a common base. If this is the case then modify each library path individually and pick a directory from which subdirectories will be created, but not '/' and not '/mnt'.
On the Emby server with the media to be shared, create a group for media if it doesn't exist. The group name is arbitrary though it helps to be descriptive:
groupadd media
Add members to the group (my-user, emby, etc.):
usermod -a -G media my-user
usermod -a -G media emby
...
We'll use ACLs. First to set the permissions and then to set the defaults. It can be done in one command but it's easier to follow this way. Members of the media group will be able to access and modify files and directories under /mnt/library. New files and directories will be created with permissions for the media group.
Set permissions for media group on existing items (the 'X' is upper case):
setfacl -R -m g:media:rwX /mnt/library
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Define default permissions for media group. Applies to new items:
setfacl -R -m d:g:media:rwX /mnt/library
If you're using SMB/CIFS you can enforce similar rules. Assuming the users are the same and the group can be added.
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In smb.conf and for each of the shares add to current config:
[share name]
create mask = 0664
directory mask = 0775
force group = media
The above should give you enough information to get started with minimal tweaking needed.