Basic Mode

Basic Mode is the default, and for most systems it is all that is needed. It consists of a single choice: which device should perform hardware accelerated transcoding.

Hardware Acceleration

The dropdown offers:

Auto - Emby uses whichever detected device ranks highest, and keeps that choice in step with the hardware. If a device is added, removed or replaced, the pick follows automatically rather than pointing at something that is no longer there. This is the default.

Off - no hardware acceleration. Everything is transcoded in software.

A specific device - each detected device is listed by name. Choosing one pins the configuration to it.

Changes take effect when you save them.

Software Fallback

Choosing a device does not disable software transcoding. It stays enabled behind the chosen device, as what takes over when that device turns out not to be able to handle an operation - which is why the graph shows it at the end with a green arrow leading into it.

"Off" is the same picture with nothing in front: software is the only node in use.

This behaviour is fixed in Basic Mode and cannot be changed. See Fallback Paths for why the graph looks the way it does, and what the other modes allow instead.

The Graph

The graph below the dropdown shows what the choice amounts to: the selected device, then software behind it. It is there to be read rather than edited - the nodes are not selectable and offer no commands of their own, because in Basic Mode the dropdown is the whole configuration.

What Basic Mode Does Not Have

Basic Mode keeps no configuration history, and saving therefore does not ask for a name - there would be nothing for a name to distinguish. Saving simply applies what the dropdown says.

Everything else is configured automatically: which encoders and decoders are used, which hardware context, and which filters. If you need to influence any of that, see Advanced Mode.