Jellyfin, Emby and Plex

If you keep films and series on your own media server, IPTV Deck can play them next to your playlists. A server is added the same way as a playlist, and its films and series show up in Movies, Series, Home and Search with their posters, descriptions and episodes. It works on the phone, the TV, Windows, the Mac and Linux, and it needs no Premium of its own.

Adding Jellyfin or Emby

On a phone or tablet:

1. Open Settings → Playlists and tap Add playlist.
2. Choose Jellyfin or Emby.
3. Fill in the fields below. Connect stays greyed out until the server and the username are filled in.
4. Tap Connect. The films, series and, if the server has them, live channels download straight away; there is no category screen for a media server.

On a television, Windows, the Mac and Linux: Settings → Playlists → Add a playlist → Type it with the remote, then pick Jellyfin / Emby at the top of the form. The fields are Name, Server URL, Username and Password, and the button is Add playlist.

Field	What goes in it
Server URL	The address you open the server at, like http://192.168.1.20:8096
Username	The user you watch with
Password	That user’s password. Leave it empty for a user that has none
Playlist name	Whatever you want to call it. Only you see it

You do not choose between Jellyfin and Emby: the app recognises which one it is talking to.

When it does not connect:

What you see	What to do
The media server did not answer	Check the address, and that this device can reach the server, for example that it is on the same network
No Jellyfin or Emby server answered at this address	The address leads somewhere else. Check the port
The server refused this name and password	Check the user and the password on the server
The server signed this device out	Open the playlist and sign in again

Adding Plex

Plex signs in with a code instead of a password.

1. On a phone, choose Plex in Settings → Playlists → Add playlist. On a television, Windows, the Mac and Linux, Plex sits next to Type it with the remote on the Add a playlist screen.
2. The app shows a short code. Open plex.tv/link on a phone or a computer (on a phone the Open plex.tv/link button does it), sign in to Plex and type the code.
3. The screen moves on by itself once the code is used. If the code expires first, start again.

If your Plex account reaches more than one server, the app asks which one to add, with Your server and Shared with you marked. An account with no server says so.

What comes across

• Films and series from the server’s libraries, each library as a category, with posters, descriptions and every episode.
• Watched and where you stopped. What you watch in IPTV Deck shows as watched in the server’s other apps, and the other way round. A film you stopped half way continues from the same place everywhere.
• Subtitle files kept next to a film on the server come along and show in the subtitle list.
• Skip intro and Up next at the credits use the times the server knows. Where it knows none, the app asks IntroDB, as for any film or episode, see Skip intro.
• Favourites follow the server on Jellyfin and Emby.
• Downloads. Films from a Plex server can be downloaded, except through the Plex relay, see below.
• Live TV. If your Jellyfin or Emby server has its own Live TV, its channels come with their guide, and a programme can be recorded on the server. The server records it, so this device can be off. Channels of a media server cannot go into multiview.

Plex away from home

When a device can reach your Plex server only through the Plex relay, films still play, but in lower quality, and the app says once that full quality needs Remote Access turned on in the server’s settings. Subtitles inside the film are then listed in the subtitle menu under In this stream; picking one starts the film again where you are, with the subtitles drawn into the picture by the server. A film cannot be downloaded through the relay. Back on your home network films play in full quality again, and after a film fails the app looks for a better way to the server at once.

Each profile with its own user

The account you added the server with belongs to one profile. Other profiles can sign in with their own user of the server, so each person’s watched list and favourites stay their own: open the server’s options in Settings → Playlists and choose Profiles on this server. A profile can also use the account of the playlist, or sign out of the server. A profile that is not signed in plays from the server but does not send anything back to it, not even where it stopped.

A profile’s sign-in stays on the device it was made on, the same as Trakt.

Changing the server address or password

On a phone, the pencil next to the server in Settings → Playlists opens Edit media server; Save & refresh applies the change. On a television, Windows and the Mac, OK on it, then Edit. Your favourites, categories and settings stay; changing the server or the user asks the same question as changing any other playlist’s source. For Plex the pencil starts a new sign-in with a code.