Emby Server Ignores New Movie Directory Placed in the Movie Library

[JeremyR 10]

So I put my movies into the Movie Library with the directory with the Movie name as described in the doc.

Movies>Beast (2017)>Beast (2017).mp4

Once I drop a new movie in it usually takes a second or two to see it in Emby Theater, or I hit the scan library and then I see it.  I have done this with the movie above and nothing happens. No files are added to the directory. It contains only the movie itself. I cut/pasted it to a temp drive, restarted Emby Server, cut/pasted it back to the Movie Library. In Emby Admin I went to library and scanned it there. Nothing happens to this directory, nothing is added. I cut it out again. I created the file in the library. I think copied only the movie file itself into that directory. Scanned. No Emby data files are added. I have tried various combinations of dir names and file names. nothing. I know the TheMovieDB id and the IMDB ID, but since Emby seems to ignore this directory/file, I can't change the metadata because there is no metadata file to change.

Any ideas?

embyserver (1).txt

Edited October 26, 2021 by JeremyR

[Carlo 4330]

Hi, you log is showing it was already in the database and was removed:
2021-10-26 17:01:09.473 Info App: Removing item from database, Type: Folder, Name: Beast (2017), Path: D:\Movies\Beast (2017), Id: 8826684
2021-10-26 17:01:09.474 Info App: Deleting path C:\Users\charl\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\programdata\metadata\library\22\22d881fa987514320e07c5dc3e97b408
2021-10-26 17:01:09.474 Info App: Deleting path C:\Users\charl\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\programdata\metadata\library\ba\ba669b4ba92536dbd862dc876249b32f

Then it found the new file
2021-10-26 17:01:10.307 Info MediaProbeManager: ProcessRun 'ffprobe' Execute: C:\Users\charl\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\system\ffprobe.exe -i file:"D:\Movies\Beast\Beast (2017).m4v" -threads 0 -v info -print_format json -show_streams -show_chapters -show_format -show_data
2021-10-26 17:01:11.215 Info MediaProbeManager: ProcessRun 'ffprobe' Process exited with code 0
2021-10-26 17:01:11.222 Info App: MovieDbProvider: Finding id for item: Beast
2021-10-26 17:01:11.222 Info HttpClient: GET https://api.themoviedb.org/3/search/movie?api_key=f6bd687ffa63cd282b6ff2c6877f2669&query=Beast&language=en

You mentioned you were using the form: Movies>Beast (2017)>Beast (2017).mp4
But on disk you don't have the year in the folder name:
D:\Movies\Beast\Beast (2017).m4v

So this movie was previously in your library so it's not going to show up as a new file.  You should be able to find it alphabetically or by search.

[JeremyR 10]

Cayars,

Thanks for the reply. On naming, I always use the name of the movie on the directory name. So it would appear as C:\Movies\Beast (2017)\Beast (2017).m4v

So the system was putting it in the db and removing it as I did that. The big issue for me is that no additional Emby files showed up and I could not figure out what metadata was being used. Turns out it was "Beauty and the Beast". I noticed that placard was disappearing when I did my multiple directory delete/paste as you describe above. 

I guess I was expecting in this situation a "Beauty and the Beast" set of Emby files to show up and then I could change the meta data that way. I had the IMDB data which shows the year as 2017. I was later able to find the TheMovieDB which shows 2018. I had both keys but no where to identify them. As I said I was able to see it was under an alternate movie name and now that I have put the IMDB and TheMovieDB ID's in, it is up and working.

Is there a reason there were no Emby files placed in the subdir? There still aren't any. Is something special about Beast (2018), I decided to change the name of the directory and movie file to the TheMovieDB year because that is the primary for Emby.  In the log sections above I don't see the "Beauty and the Beast" outcome, is it in another part of the log? I ask this so I can use the log if this happens again.

[Carlo 4330]

Sounds like it was mismatched.

What I do is make sure to NFO files written to my media folders.

 

Then in the event something doesn't show up I think should I can open the NFO and take a look at it.  The NFO will clearly show what it was matched to which makes this process a lot easier.

[JeremyR 10]

Yes, I was looking for the NFO files, but they never showed. They still aren't in the subdir even though the media shows in the movie lists in Emby now and it plays the right media file when selected. What would keep Emby from building those files? This image was taken 15:54, 28 Oct 2021. 

Edited October 28, 2021 by JeremyR
add image

[Luke 37064]

I would check your library options to ensure that saving to nfo is enabled. If you enabled saving to nfo after the item was initially scanned in, then you'll need to refresh metadata on it in order to generate one.

[JeremyR 10]

21 hours ago, Luke said:

I would check your library options to ensure that saving to nfo is enabled. If you enabled saving to nfo after the item was initially scanned in, then you'll need to refresh metadata on it in order to generate one.

Luke, I am finding entries for NFO and making sure NFO is set, but I can't find anything that tells where this setting is. I vaguely remember it and NFO files are in 95% plus subdirs. So where do I find this setting?

[GrimReaper 3292]

1 minute ago, JeremyR said:

Luke, I am finding entries for NFO and making sure NFO is set, but I can't find anything that tells where this setting is. I vaguely remember it and NFO files are in 95% plus subdirs. So where do I find this setting?

Library settings, halfway down, Metadata saver>tick NFO. 

[JeremyR 10]

GrimReaper, to verify your directions, you mean right-click the library I want to set, like Movies, then choice Edit. I did find "Meta Data Reader" and that is ticked. Further down there is "Metadata Savers" and that is ticked also.  

So if I did find the correct settings, they were already set. Indeed, 95% of my movie subdirs do have NFO files. I have found  few other recent movies I have added that don't have NFO files either.

[GrimReaper 3292]

Yep, those are the correct ones. 

Just to confirm, that movie IS visible now inside your Movies library? 

[JeremyR 10]

GrimReaper, Yes the video is there and is now shown with proper meta data in the server.  I now see I could have found it in the Metadata Manager. 

BTW, love the changes in the overall interface app and server. The look is more consistent and functionality, like how to manage the library's settings and other things.

[GrimReaper 3292]

5 minutes ago, JeremyR said:

Yes the video is there and is now shown with proper meta data in the server.

Could you, in that case, do Edit Metadata>click Save, as that should trigger NFO writing, and check in movie folder is the NFO created? 

[JeremyR 10]

25 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Could you, in that case, do Edit Metadata>click Save, as that should trigger NFO writing, and check in movie folder is the NFO created? 

When I updated Beast (2018) and the metadata was updated after I entered the IMDB key there was no NFO files. After I get home from babysitting my grandkids, I will test that specifically and update you.

 

 

[GrimReaper 3292]

7 minutes ago, JeremyR said:

When I updated Beast (2018) and the metadata was updated after I entered the IMDB key there was no NFO files. After I get home from babysitting my grandkids, I will test that specifically and update you.

 

 

Before you do that, if you could go to Library settings, untick NFO Metadata saver, exit settings, enter settings back again, enable NFO saver, would be great. 

[JeremyR 10]

5 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Before you do that, if you could go to Library settings, untick NFO Metadata saver, exit settings, enter settings back again, enable NFO saver, would be great. 

Will do.

 

[JeremyR 10]

GrimReaper, I unchecked NFO Metadata Saver, exited settings, and then killed the browser window. Brought the Emby window up, entered Server Admin, selected library, right clicked Movies library, selected edit, checked NFO Metadata Saver, exited settings. Checked Beast (2018), no NFO files. Did a scan Movies library, checked Besat (2018) and there was a Beast (2018) system information file. No other files. I have checked twenty minutes later and still only the one file.  I checked the 8 other movie media subdirs and they now have a NFO system information file but nothing else, too.  Every other subdir out of 900ish has at least 4 files most have a 320-10 file.

[GrimReaper 3292]

5 hours ago, JeremyR said:

GrimReaper, I unchecked NFO Metadata Saver, exited settings, and then killed the browser window. Brought the Emby window up, entered Server Admin, selected library, right clicked Movies library, selected edit, checked NFO Metadata Saver, exited settings. Checked Beast (2018), no NFO files. Did a scan Movies library, checked Besat (2018) and there was a Beast (2018) system information file. No other files. I have checked twenty minutes later and still only the one file.  I checked the 8 other movie media subdirs and they now have a NFO system information file but nothing else, too.  Every other subdir out of 900ish has at least 4 files most have a 320-10 file.

If I got that right, you now do have NFOs written next to your media? Ok then, that's one out of the way. 

And if by "system information file" you refer to an NFO, that's how your OS assigns them by default, you can view that file in any text editor (like Notepadd++) or use any NFO viewer (like iNFekt) or any other of your preference. 

Those 320-10 files are video preview thumbnails, depending on for what you opted under respective library settings section, 10-second bifs or 5-min Chapter markers and saving with media or not, generated by your system and outside of the scope of this thread and issues you're having. 

With all that said and NFOs part done, next step would be to again go to library settings, select "Advanced settings" up top, scroll down and confirm "Save artwork into media folders" and "Download images in advance" options are both enabled. You can also repeat process from before: untick both, exit settings, enter settings again, re-enable both. Afterwards refresh metadata on an item and make sure "Replace existing images" is ticked once dialog window pops-up. Check whether you'll get artwork files showing in your folders now. 

 

[Carlo 4330]

9 hours ago, JeremyR said:

GrimReaper, I unchecked NFO Metadata Saver, exited settings, and then killed the browser window. Brought the Emby window up, entered Server Admin, selected library, right clicked Movies library, selected edit, checked NFO Metadata Saver, exited settings. Checked Beast (2018), no NFO files. Did a scan Movies library, checked Besat (2018) and there was a Beast (2018) system information file. No other files. I have checked twenty minutes later and still only the one file.  I checked the 8 other movie media subdirs and they now have a NFO system information file but nothing else, too.  Every other subdir out of 900ish has at least 4 files most have a 320-10 file.

If the NFO is not there a library scan will not help.  What you need to do it alter the meta-data of the file.  For example change the tile and save it.  Then change it back to the original title and save it again (so it's back to the original).

When you change the meta-data that will trigger the NFO to be written.  Do a library wide meta-data refresh will also update the each record as well as the NFO file or will create it if it doesn't already exist.

[GrimReaper 3292]

6 minutes ago, cayars said:

If the NFO is not there a library scan will not help.

Yeah, that wasn't what was suggested:

16 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

do Edit Metadata>click Save, as that should trigger NFO writing, and check in movie folder is the NFO created? 

but figured out if he got them to show up, it doesn't matter any more. 

As a sidenote, AFAIR from the days when I was allowing Emby to write NFOs, no metadata change was needed, Edit>Save was enough to trigger writing if there was none. Did that change at some point? 

Edited October 30, 2021 by GrimReaper
Auto-correct

[Carlo 4330]

No idea. I don't think it ever occurred to me to just click save without editing any data.
I'm in the habit when coding to never allow a save to happen if no actual data changed as this just uses resources (especially database) when it's not needed.

[GrimReaper 3292]

1 minute ago, cayars said:

No idea. I don't think it ever occurred to me to just click save without editing any data.

Yeah, I remember it from days testing various setups, it was a bit faster for checking NFO creation as no double-sequence needed (edit-change metadata-save-edit-change back-save), hence quicker. Haven't done that in a long time, though. 

[Luke 37064]

It could be that the server is being denied write access, and thus, can't create the nfo file.

[JeremyR 10]

Sorry, it took me so long to get back. Taking care of kid and grandkids the last week or so.

So as I add movies, they are getting a single file, and they are showing up in the movie listings and the metadata manager since followed GrimReaper's direction. However to my knowledge I had made no changes to the library settings since before January of this year. I had no need to. Emby works pretty damned well and consistently.

I have had a bit more time to look at the subdirs and all files after 7/6/21 look like the Now image. All my directories before then looked like this. I am not getting the 320-10.bif files anymore and I love that feature.

There have been updates to Windows, of course. There has been an update to Emby Server. I have added and I have redone many of my h264 to h265 via Handbrake.  So why am I not getting the other system files now?

BTW, the server has full file access and is now posting the single file. Further I delete movies as I find dupes with h264 encoding, That has to occur through the server.

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by JeremyR

[Luke 37064]

I would check the library options that you've configured regarding video preview thumbnail creation.

[JeremyR 10]

I checked as suggested, Luke, and many of those setting were unchecked and a dropdown I don't remember was not as I wished. Were there a update that would have changed these in July of this year?  Anyway I set them the way I want them now, and I will see what happens. Don't remember some of them, but like I said it has been a long time. I DO like the way Emby Theater is moving in separating setup functions.