Check if the media/file is available.

[Bagul 146]

When we get to the media detail page it would be cool to have the play button modified to indicate if the file is available on the file system.

For example my movies are on a network drive and when the folder is not mounted Emby lets me click play and I have to wait several seconds before getting an error when the file is not available.

So, if the file is not available, indicate it in the details and grey out the play button.

[ebr 14912]

15 minutes ago, Bagul said:

I have to wait several seconds before getting an error

Hi.  What you are requesting would also take several seconds upon opening the page.  Even if we could do it asynchronously, I'm not sure it is worth the hit on every page access.

[Bagul 146]

I have seen this on other services and I found it convenient even though it took 1-2 seconds of loading the button to tell if it could be read.

After not on all pages. Just the detail page of a movie or an episode.  Not on the page of series and seasons

But this was just an idea.

Edited April 25, 2022 by Bagul

[GrimReaper 3291]

Since this would affect literally every single Emby user, if implemented - kindly make it optional, as I, for one, do not want it or need it nor I'm willing to accept performance hit on every single movie/episode for such edge case. 

[Bagul 146]

26 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Since this would affect literally every single Emby user, if implemented - kindly make it optional, as I, for one, do not want it or need it nor I'm willing to accept performance hit on every single movie/episode for such edge case. 

Wow ok

 

Despite the previous comment I don't think I'm the only one that this feature will help because I don't think I'm the only one with networked drives and users who wonder what's going on when they get a message saying no streams are available. Even if this feature is optional.
(make this feature non optional if you implement it   )

 

Thank you for listening to me @ebr

Edited April 25, 2022 by Bagul

[GrimReaper 3291]

Sure, I was not againts your request - just that it isn't forced down upon me. 

4 minutes ago, Bagul said:

I don't think I'm the only one with networked drives

Nor is that the only group of users, yet this would affect all. There's two sides of every coin. 

[Bagul 146]

5 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Sure, I was not againts your request - just that it isn't forced down upon me. 

Nor is that the only group of users, yet this would affect all. There's two sides of every coin. 

I know I know it's ok.

Yes, I don't want to impose it, just make it easy for me and more understandable for my users. If this feature is optional it won't change anything for me.
After having seen it on several client-server services the page loads normally and just the play button loads 1 second longer when the file is unavailable otherwise it was instantaneous.

 

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by Bagul

[sydlexius 241]

2 hours ago, Bagul said:

I know I know it's ok.

Yes, I don't want to impose it, just make it easy for me and more understandable for my users. If this feature is optional it won't change anything for me.
After having seen it on several client-server services the page loads normally and just the play button loads 1 second longer when the file is unavailable otherwise it was instantaneous.

 

 

@BagulWhy not just disable spindown for the drives/NAS that host the data instead?

[Bagul 146]

5 hours ago, sydlexius said:

@BagulWhy not just disable spindown for the drives/NAS that host the data instead?

Because that's not the problem.
If the network link no longer works. If the internal disk doesn't mount on the server anymore. If the vpn doesn't work anymore. If the disk mount after the docker container has started (I know the shared and slave options). Here are some examples that can make a folder not accessible even if it is not in network.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Bagul

[sydlexius 241]

12 hours ago, Bagul said:

Because that's not the problem.
If the network link no longer works. If the internal disk doesn't mount on the server anymore. If the vpn doesn't work anymore. If the disk mount after the docker container has started (I know the shared and slave options). Here are some examples that can make a folder not accessible even if it is not in network.

Thanks for the clarification.  Now with that said, all of these should still be identified and monitored using appropriate tools to avoid downtime.  That doesn't negate the merit of your feature request (though like @GrimReaper, I wouldn't want this as a new default mode), just that there are other steps that should also be taken to improve QoL/UX.

[visproduction 122]

Optional on / off - makes sense.  I think a more professional way to present this would be to turn an entire library off and not have the content show up at all, if there is a connection problem.  Maybe have an optional rescan after X number of minutes.  This way, no user is presented with content that doesn't play.  If you had a professional media site, this would be a nicer, user friendly solution.

Another option would be to put a notice at login or on index.html top of the page that ... "some libraries may be unavailable, depending on network conditions."

[crusher11 851]

Tangential to this but I'd like to see the "play" option removed for stub files. I've accidentally played a handful, just through misclicking, and it's a several-second wait for it to try and play the file before an utterly useless "no compatible streams" error.

[ebr 14912]

8 hours ago, crusher11 said:

Tangential to this but I'd like to see the "play" option removed for stub files. I've accidentally played a handful, just through misclicking, and it's a several-second wait for it to try and play the file before an utterly useless "no compatible streams" error.

How have you created your stub files?  You should get a message to insert the disc...

[crusher11 851]

Hmm. Was that changed at some point? I definitely remember it trying to play the file previously.

I guess that's an improvement - especially as it pops up quicker - although just disabling the play button altogether makes more sense to me, and I guess the error message could be a bit clearer (a remote user, for example, is going to have no clue what it's talking about).

[ebr 14912]

32 minutes ago, crusher11 said:

Hmm. Was that changed at some point? I definitely remember it trying to play the file previously.

I guess that's an improvement - especially as it pops up quicker - although just disabling the play button altogether makes more sense to me, and I guess the error message could be a bit clearer (a remote user, for example, is going to have no clue what it's talking about).

That is how it has always been designed.  The intention of the feature was for people that wanted to put their physical disc collection in the system without having to rip them.  In this situation, we would not expect those items to be exposed to remote users.  It was also something that was designed 10 years ago and probably has pretty limited use now.

[FrostByte 5049]

2 hours ago, ebr said:

How have you created your stub files?  You should get a message to insert the disc...

Thor Love and Thunder (2022).bluray.disc

I don't think ATV does it that way.  I use stub files mainly so I have a place holder where I can put my ripped version when it arrives, and still watch the trailer now.

ATV app hides the play button.  I prefer this way for how I use them, but I understand I'm not using it the way it was originally intended.

 

standard Android app does pop up the "insert disc" message which is automatic

[crusher11 851]

Yeah, I mostly just use it for "I've ordered the disc, might as well get the artwork set up while it ships", although I also have a library of "I've seen this movie but don't own it", which is exposed only to me and is a simple way of keeping track of what I watch, reminding myself where I've seen someone before (instead of having to comb their IMDB profile I can simply see what pops up on Emby), etc. Plus if I ever buy anything from that library, it's already half set up.

[bfd69 0]

hello

if its a burden to check each file on per user request, you could just check if the folder which holds the requested media is "mounted", that could be tricky for linux but not complicated:  if the folder on the library is empty but metadata referenced consider its offline.

[Junglejim 351]

Wow! This has to be one of the most stupid request I've ever seen! If its not on your server it's not available!

Just rip the disc or whatever! Man I've seen some stupid stuff on multiple forms but this takes the cake.

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by Junglejim

[Bagul 146]

49 minutes ago, Junglejim said:

Wow! This has to be one of the most stupid request I've ever seen! If its not on your server it's not available!

Just rip the disc or whatever! Man I've seen some stupid stuff on multiple forms but this takes the cake.

 

Ahah  Why is my request stupid?

[rbjtech 4260]

I don't think it's unreasonable request at all.

Why not just improve the playback code to actually check if the file exists in the first place before you attempt to play it ?

I'm sure a file existence check is quicker to do/report back than a playback attempt/failure cycle ?

[ebr 14912]

1 hour ago, rbjtech said:

Why not just improve the playback code to actually check if the file exists in the first place before you attempt to play it ?

That is not what this request is asking for.  He's asking for that to be done every time the detail page is shown.  And, for it to be truly effective, I imagine it would have to continue to do it every minute or so.  What if the detail page is left up for a long time?

[rbjtech 4260]

18 minutes ago, ebr said:

That is not what this request is asking for.  He's asking for that to be done every time the detail page is shown.  And, for it to be truly effective, I imagine it would have to continue to do it every minute or so.  What if the detail page is left up for a long time?

ok - and why is that an issue ?

If I've navigated to an item - I have a reasonable chance that I'm interested in it and am likely to play it - no ?

Why would I have to keep checking it ?  I only need to check it once.  If the detail page is left up for a long time and subsequently the file then disappears, then that is a very unlikely scenerio imo and probably something which you shouldn't be expected to cater for.

[rbjtech 4260]

On 25/04/2022 at 19:52, Bagul said:

When we get to the media detail page it would be cool to have the play button modified to indicate if the file is available on the file system.

Unless I've misunderstood - This is exactly what the OP is asking for ?

Currently, emby gives you the option to 'Play' the file whether it exists or not - as no check is done.

[Bagul 146]

49 minutes ago, ebr said:

That is not what this request is asking for.  He's asking for that to be done every time the detail page is shown.  And, for it to be truly effective, I imagine it would have to continue to do it every minute or so.  What if the detail page is left up for a long time?

It was an example.

 

For example pyMedusa and plex have implemented it (they are probably stupid). It seems to me that 'arr' (sonarr, radarr...) also have it to detect if an element is deleted. The goal is not that it is detected in real time but that the user understands what is going on.
I don't care if the check is done when the video is played or when the page is opened.

 

Indeed, if it has to be managed on the detail page of a media and you want to manage all the possible cases (for example if it stays on the page for a long time) it becomes complicated.

But if a check is made at the opening of the details page and at the moment of launching the video with an understandable error message it becomes interesting and simpler for the end user who may be a computer neophyte.