Multiple "People" with the same name issue

[MrAudio 5]

This has been an issue for a long time for me, as I have a large database with lots of "people." The latest versions of Emby looked like they were taking a major step forward by including the TMDB ID in the media's NFO file for each person associated with that media. "Finally!" I thought, "I can edit the NFO file and manually reassign the entries to the correct person." How naïve I was...

Of course, you want an example. Many of you may be aware of an English drummer for a little band called Queen - his name is Roger Taylor. That's him with the silver beard on the left. Others of you may be aware of a DIFFERENT English drummer for a little band called Duran Duran - HIS name is ALSO Roger Taylor, and he's the younger guy on the right. Both Roger Taylors have entries in TMDB, and both of those are in my database.

Here's a music video entry for Duran Duran:

Unfortunately, we have a problem here. We've got Queen's Roger Taylor instead of Duran Duran's Roger Taylor. Inconvenient, but a simple fix, right? Just correct the TMDB and IMDB entries to the other Roger Taylor in the NFO file, run a database scan, and... nothing changes. NFO has the right information, but Emby still displays the wrong person.

So, clearly we need to remove the directory containing this video completely, re-scan the database, re-scan the metadata, then copy the directory back and re-scan the database again. Well, something changes, but it isn't that the correct Roger Taylor appears. Instead, the NFO gets overwritten with Queen's Roger Taylor's TMDB and IMDB numbers, and I'm still looking at a grey beard where the much younger guy should be.

Having the ID numbers in the NFO is an excellent start, but there still needs to be a better mechanism for correcting these misidentifications, especially for things like music videos. I'm fine doing manual edits of the NFO files, but Emby needs to actually do what the NFO file says, instead of the other way around, where Emby changes the NFO back to the wrong information.

I'm not going to bother posting the entire NFO file, but here are the relevant parts:

Queen's Roger Taylor:
  <actor>
    <name>Roger Taylor</name>
    <role>Roger Taylor</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
    <tmdbid>84530</tmdbid>
    <imdbid>nm0003547</imdbid>
  </actor>

Duran Duran's Roger Taylor:
  <actor>
    <name>Roger Taylor</name>
    <role>Roger Taylor</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
    <tmdbid>929258</tmdbid>
    <imdbid>nm0853100</imdbid>
  </actor>

Any ideas?

FWIW, I'm running Emby 4.6.4.0 on Qnap x64.

[Luke 37066]

Hi, we're on our way towards that. I've updated the nfo saving to write the data, it just needs to be updated to read it back in. We'll get that added as soon as we can. Thanks for the feedback.

[crusher11 851]

This is good to hear, having the director of Child's Play starring in Spider-Man movies is weird.

 

Edited August 1, 2021 by crusher11

[MrAudio 5]

Great. I can be patient (I think it's been about 8 years now) - just glad to know it's in process. Thank you!

[hoonlight 11]

Hi, is there any update on this feature?
I'm having a problem when I add a same-name person to my home video library, it always merges. This is a problem because I can't add IMDB IDs or TMDB IDs. Is there any way to manage these same names in NFO?

[Happy2Play 8282]

3 hours ago, hoonlight said:

Hi, is there any update on this feature?
I'm having a problem when I add a same-name person to my home video library, it always merges. This is a problem because I can't add IMDB IDs or TMDB IDs. Is there any way to manage these same names in NFO?

Well it exist per providerid.  I guess you could make up your own ids but then you will have to live with the log errors for fake ids. 

I guess there would technically need to be a customid field for personal people.

[hoonlight 11]

10 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

Well it exist per providerid.  I guess you could make up your own ids but then you will have to live with the log errors for fake ids. 

I guess there would technically need to be a customid field for personal people.

Thank you. Right now I'm managing them by putting a #number after the name, like Willy Wonka #1321, Willy Wonka #2423. It would be simpler to use providerid, I'll give it a try.

Edited March 28 by hoonlight

[crusher11 851]

18 hours ago, hoonlight said:

Hi, is there any update on this feature?
I'm having a problem when I add a same-name person to my home video library, it always merges. This is a problem because I can't add IMDB IDs or TMDB IDs. Is there any way to manage these same names in NFO?

If you store NFOs with your media:

• Open the NFO for the film with the incorrect identification
• Search for the correct actor on IMDB and TMDB
• Under that actor's name in the film's NFO file, there are tags for their TMDB and IMDB IDs
• Replace the incorrect IDs with the correct ones
• Scan

I assume TVDB ID is also used for TV, but I really only manage films on my server.