Casting to kodi with jellyfin addon, different user

[johnnychicago]

Hello --

Not quite sure if this is not supposed to be working, or if I am getting things wrong.

Most of my media consumption is on a kodi client with jellyfin add-on - works reliably in general. The user logged into that one has access to all media that is 'family friendly'.

Sometimes, parents want to watch adult contents in the evening, so I am trying to figure out how easiest to do that. I was thinking it would be reasonably easy to cast into kodi from the jellyfin app on our phones. This works very reliably - however not if it's adult content that the kodi user does not have access to. As soon as the video I want to cast is either in a library that the kodi client does not have access to - or it's tagged with a tag that is blocked to the kodi user - it refuses to cast. Clearly, this is the client deciding it does not want to show this file.

I think I had a similar setup going - but years ago, that might actually have been still with emby.

Since I'd like to use this - or a similar low effort way - to access adult content not usually visible, is there a way to enable this? Some setting I've overlooked? Or is this just the way things work and I have to cope?

I understand that I could create a separate kodi profile, re-install the jellyfin addon to that, then configure it with a different user, and make everything PINned to switch between profiles... but that seems considerable effort compared to just being able to cast.

[mcarlton00]

When you're "casting" within a jellyfin client, it's less sending a video stream from your phone (similar to chromecast) and more remote controlling the client device and saying "hey, play this file".  Think of your phone less as a video source and more as a very expensive remote control.  So if the user logged into the client device(kodi) doesn't have permission to view that file, then there's gonna be no luck on playing it.

Clearly, this is the client deciding it does not want to show this file.

Correction: This is the server saying "this user doesn't have permission to view this file."  The client has no control over this.

There is an option within the Kodi addon to add another user to the session, but I'm not sure if this would be enough for the server to say it's allowed to play stuff at a higher parental level.  I'm doubtful, but honestly I've never looked into how that part works.  Profiles is definitely the most straightforward way to accomplish this.

[johnnychicago]

When you're "casting" within a jellyfin client, it's less sending a video stream from your phone (similar to chromecast) and more remote controlling the client device and saying "hey, play this file".  Think of your phone less as a video source and more as a very expensive remote control.  So if the user logged into the client device(kodi) doesn't have permission to view that file, then there's gonna be no luck on playing it.

Makes sense.

Correction: This is the server saying "this user doesn't have permission to view this file."  The client has no control over this.

That too

There is an option within the Kodi addon to add another user to the session, but I'm not sure if this would be enough for the server to say it's allowed to play stuff at a higher parental level.  I'm doubtful, but honestly I've never looked into how that part works.  Profiles is definitely the most straightforward way to accomplish this.

Just gave that a try - doesnt't work, indeed. I'd understood this logic to basically just update watched status - but then, hadn't played with it.

Thanks for the hints and explanations - I'll have to sit down and tinker with kodi profiles then.

[mcarlton00]

Something to note is to not enable the master lock on kodi, as it causes other issues. See https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-kodi/issues/169. I believe you can just set up pins for the user without enabling the master lock, but it's been several years since I've done it.