I currently have two TVs, one I use an appleTV with and the other with a googleTV HD (device formerly known as Chromecast), 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.
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.
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.
I bought two like two months ago and they still hold up. I was very leery buying a 2019 model in 2024 but zero regrets (and I’ll be getting another).
I wish it had another HDMI and 2.5GBE but those aren’t deal breakers by any means.
I know people knock it, but Plex has worked without issue for me for years. They have apps dedicated to every type of media for easy browsing. It’s so simple my mom can use it without help.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Second Plex. It just works and doesn’t need any big configuration to get it running
Third Plex. It’s a bit baffling as to why it’s got such a bad rep recently because it performs its core function of serving media incredibly well, is super easy (barely an inconvenience) to setup, and there’s apps for every conceivable platform.
Yes there’s a few features locked behind a subscription (though they still sell lifetime passes, often at good discounts) and they’re trying to “legitimize” with their ad-backed streaming thing, but the core product of local media server is still very much there, and free, and isn’t going anywhere.
Exactly, and in contrast to Jellyfin it actually looks like someone with expertise in UI has worked on theirs. I personally would also prefer a monetization similar to Immich, but the lifetime pass on sale is definitely money well spent.
You may want check out Infuse for the AppleTV. I have found it fixed every audio drift and video jitter concern that I’ve ever had with Plex or Jellyfin.
You can point it either directly at an SMB share, or a library hosted on Jellyfin or Plex. The advantage of this is it caches the artwork in the library, not on the AppleTV, because the AppleTV will periodically flush its local cache, leading to long re-fetching times and waiting to watch things.
I have no recommendations for the Chromecast.
My solution to that issue is to share my media over NFS with a raspberry pi connected to the TV, the pi runs OSMC (https://osmc.tv/) and has the media direct. you can control OSMC on the pi with your TV remote
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.
Nah, I think that’s an issue with the jellyfin server. It happens to me too, using Swiftfin on AppleTV.
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.
…I meant the keep watching thing. I get that a lot if I skip to the next episode right at the outro of a show.
Aah, this is an issue consistently on both movies and shows, also when starting. If i select anything other than the default track, it doesn’t actually select what I pick but something else (like it picks Finnish even though I select Danish, and it shows I select Danish). Again, this only happens on the AppleTV, all.other devices switch correctly.
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.
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.
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.
You can use a USB hub dongle which passes through power via USB C with a Google TV (4K) device. That’s what I do for mine to connect it to the rest of my GbE VLAN via wired ethernet connection and avoid Wi-Fi packet drops when streaming or casting 4K HDR content. A dongle is also handy to connect any USB web cam so I can use the TV for large family video calls with the grandparents in the living room, via Android apps like Google Meet or Zoom.
Here is the one I use that also has a combo headphone jack with GbE Ethernet and passthrough charging, so also nice for Moonlight gaming on modern android 120Hz HDR tablets where I don’t want to use low bitrate HFP Bluetooth for discord calls while also listening to game audio and music. Note, when used with the Google TV, I don’t use the USB Hub’s HDMI, opting for the Google TV’s international cord to maintain Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) functionality.
Anker 655 USB-C Hub (8-in-1), with 2 USB-A 10 Gbps Data Ports, 100W Power Delivery, 4K HDMI, 1 Gbps Ethernet, microSD and SD Card Slots, 3.5 mm AUX, for MacBook, and More (Charcoal Gray) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MF6TJLW
Just FYI, Infuse is a great jellyfin client for AppleTV
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.
Edit - if that works then I suggest you convert you library to that format.
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.
There used to be a similar bug in the Roku jellyfin app.
If you can recreate the subtitle issue using test file 5 from this repo, it might be worth submitting a bug report. https://github.com/ietf-wg-cellar/matroska-test-files
Roku Jellyfin app has been pretty good lately, few complaints now!
Ahh, well I have found the Jellyfin clients to be less than perfect on appleTV. You may want to try another endpoint client if you don’t want to try another server side software.
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.
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.
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?
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.
I have not tried other clients, none show up when I search for jellyfin in the app store on the device, so I wasn’t aware there were others for appleTV.
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.
I’d rather avoid paid solutions, especially anything subscription based.
Totally understandable. I was hesitant about it too, but to me it’s sometimes worth a premium to get something that just works, and Infuse works better than any player I’ve used in the past. To each their own, good luck!
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 pc 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)
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
Or just install minidlna. It works and it’s easy to set up.
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.
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!
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.
I have to use an AppleTV for various reasons, so I settled on a simple SMB share on an old mac mini server and the (subscription) Infuse app, it’s been rock solid as a player on all devices and very low effort.
I use Emby. It’s similar to Jellyfin, but the Apps get a little more attention to detail. Worth a try, and if you don’t need gpu transcoding you don’t need to pay.
But, if I was still using an Apple TV, I would use Infuse.
How are these devices connected to the network and how is your media server connected?
Server is wired, devices use WiFi
Which type of Wi-Fi and what type of wired connection?
I suspect that there’s not enough bandwidth available.
Dual and 2.4 and 5ghz wifi, gigabit wired. I’m speed testing the googleTV to >500mbps, so wifi should be more than adequate.
That seems adequate.
You say that phones and mobile devices stream fine. Os that from your media server, or the internet?
How does internet streaming work on the Google TV and Apple TV?
Essentially you need to keep eliminating causes until there’s one left.
All other devices stream (locally) just fine without stuttering, I don’t have access to the server outside my home network (intentionally).
The appleTV streams just fine, I just can’t change audio track on that, which mostly impact the kids because they still have limited English skills.
I enabled the DLNA server in Jellyfin. 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.
The jellyfin problem is probably it downmixing surround 7.1 really shittily. You can run tdarr to downmix surround into stereo before you watch. Kind of a pain but it’s the only workaroumd I’ve got for the shit audio
I went the other way and just set up 7.1 sound. Being able to control the music and the speech channels has been really useful.
Not a bad idea honestly. That’s my next project after a home server upgrade.
I’m not getting sync issues at all, the jellyfin client on appleTV simply doesn’t select the audio track I select when I choose something different than default. It works perfectly fine on all other devices, just not appleTV. I only have stereo devices.
What did I write in my OP to suggest audio sync issues? You’re not the first to think that’s my issue, so I must have worded something poorly…
I think there’s miscommunication. I don’t mean you’re audio is out of sync, I mean that the file being played has 7.1 as the audio track, then when jellyfin downmixes it to stereo for you speakers it sounds like absolute ass.
The “doesn’t select the right audio track” is another issue that I personally don’t have, but the downmixing one is something that seems to be baked into Jellyfin for TV.
Aah, the audio quality if fine for me, I don’t have exceptionally bad audio quality.
