How to get actor/actress images withough overwriting existing data

[smitbret 2]

I have been using Mezzmo as a media server since 2011 and I am looking at potential replacements.  I still use Mezzmo because it just works and I love the extensive customization options.  It just doesn't scale well and is soooo slow, laggy and buggy in every respect that I am looking for a replacement that can handle my library that has grown large.  My library is very clean, well curated and everything is stacked with art, metadata, posters, etc.

I have made a couple of test runs through Emby and I like how smooth and quickly everything goes.  If I turn off the scrapers then everything seems to import exactly how I would like....... except the actor/actress images.  Currently, I have every Movie and TV Series folder with a sub-folder labeled <.actors> that has these images stored but this data isn't being picked up.

Quite frankly, I don't care how the actor images are populated or appear so long as I can do this without overwriting any of the existing data.

I can't find anything in the knowledge base or Forums for this.  Maybe it should be a requested feature?

Any tips?

Edited January 14, 2023 by smitbret

[Abobader 2942]

Hello smitbret,

** This is an auto reply **

Please wait for someone from staff support or our members to reply to you.

It's recommended to provide more info, as it explain in this thread:

Thank you.

Emby Team

[GrimReaper 3274]

4 minutes ago, smitbret said:

Currently, I have every Movie and TV Series folder with a sub-folder labeled <.actors> that has these images stored but this data isn't being picked up.

Unfortunately, Emby does not support reading/importing local .actors folder.

Existing topics:

 

You might want to check out community made plugin that you can get from here:

which will allow to import your .actors people images but has its own caveats, so proceed on your own risk:

 

 

[smitbret 2]

OK, so it looks like Emby stores everything in a <people> folder so it's just a matter of getting the photos in there and labeled correctly

That I can handle.  Mezzmo is already setup with a folder that has about 100,000 images already.  I am hoping the plugin you've linked can take care of that.

Thanks for the assist

 

[GrimReaper 3274]

1 minute ago, smitbret said:

OK, so it looks like Emby stores everything in a <people> folder so it's just a matter of getting the photos in there and labeled correctly

If you're gonna use \metadata\people folder, then you don't need any plugins, just run "Scan Metadata Folder" scheduled task once you've copied correct folder structure/images (properly named).

[smitbret 2]

4 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

If you're gonna use \metadata\people folder, then you don't need any plugins, just run "Scan Metadata Folder" scheduled task once you've copied correct folder structure/images (properly named).

Yeah, it's not as simple as I thought.  I tried popping an actress or two in there for the test database and it doesn't pick them up even after a refresh. 

This whole Emby thing is gonna have a bit of learning curve with how different it is setup

[GrimReaper 3274]

Just now, smitbret said:

Yeah, it's not as simple as I thought.  I tried popping an actress or two in there for the test database and it doesn't pick them up even after a refresh. 

This whole Emby thing is gonna have a bit of learning curve with how different it is setup

Hence plugin suggestion, as that'll pick-up images from your existing .actors folder, least painful solution currently.

[smitbret 2]

Yep, that's what I figured.

Just discovered that I need to figure out how to even launch this thing.  I am treading into some really foreign territory and the website seems to assume that I have ever used a web based front (or whatever it's called)

[GrimReaper 3274]

1 minute ago, smitbret said:

Just discovered that I need to figure out how to even launch this thing.

Which one? Plugin? Have you copied .dll in your install-dir\programdata\plugins folder?

[smitbret 2]

22 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Which one? Plugin? Have you copied .dll in your install-dir\programdata\plugins folder?

After the words "Have you copied...."

<Whooosh>

I may have been a little premature in asking for help.  I loaded up Emby and created a temporary database as a test run.  Once I got the scrapers turned off and the data wasn't getting modified and appearing correctly it seemed that the actors' images was the only issue.  I am discovering that just launching the interface and doing basic tasks is so foreign that I probably need to just start from scratch before I can start modifying things.

I appreciate the help, though.

 

[smitbret 2]

On 1/14/2023 at 2:45 PM, GrimReaper said:

If you're gonna use \metadata\people folder, then you don't need any plugins, just run "Scan Metadata Folder" scheduled task once you've copied correct folder structure/images (properly named).

OK, so I am back and things are running really well, with a couple of quirks that can be worked out later.  This is certainly a nice upgrade over Mezzmo but still working the actor/actress thing.

Your response to me indicates there is more than one way to get the actor/actress information populated.  I had assumed that the \metadata\people folder was THE way to do it. 

All of my movies and TV Shows imported the actor names from their the media file's .nfo files.  The actors are appearing in each movie with blank tiles and I can go into each individual movie or show and refresh the metadata for each actor, one at a time.  It would just take a loooooong time for the thousands of movies. Is there someplace that Emby is storing these actors/actresses that can be bulk populated?  I am guessing that's the tool you've linked, right?

I am gonna take that route as a I research this unless someone steps in and pushes me back on to a more correct course.

Edited January 17, 2023 by smitbret

[smitbret 2]

On 1/14/2023 at 3:00 PM, GrimReaper said:

Which one? Plugin? Have you copied .dll in your install-dir\programdata\plugins folder?

OK, so I have installed everything and I am browsing around the plugin.

I have a folder full of actor images <D:\Emby Transcoding\Emby Actors>.  I wasn't sure how to name them so I kind of gleaned from this thread that punctuation is bad so I have removed any hyphens, underscores, etc (i.e. Aaron Jay Rome).

I the global settings tab I have put <D:\Emby Transcoding\Emby Actors> in the field for Custom Backup Location:

Restarted the server

Went to <Backup> and hit <Backup People>

I immediately got "Finished Backing Up People!" in red and.... nothing.  No directories were outputted anywhere

I think I am completely missing something here

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by smitbret
Added a word for clarity

[GrimReaper 3274]

1 hour ago, smitbret said:

I think I am completely missing something here

You are, as you can't arbitrary make folder structure, Plugin creates it's own structure/naming to be able to restore those at later point. To be able to see how it does look like, you need to have person with image in your server which will be backed-up, but generally it will look like this:

That is only top-level, there are nested subfolders as well.  

Anyway, I reckon that's a wrong approach, what you should do IMHO is go to Plugin settings "Repair" tab, ".actors and Kodi compatability", and select "Use .actor Images" (either All images or Missing images only, according your preference), which will then roam through your existing media collection through .actor subfolders in media folders and copy images to whichever person has no image in server db.

[smitbret 2]

15 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

 

Anyway, I reckon that's a wrong approach, what you should do IMHO is go to Plugin settings "Repair" tab, ".actors and Kodi compatability", and select "Use .actor Images" (either All images or Missing images only, according your preference), which will then roam through your existing media collection through .actor subfolders in media folders and copy images to whichever person has no image in server db.

Did this and I seem to agree that this makes the most sense.  I am not tied to the <.actors> that I have already saved.  In fact, I would prefer to have Emby (or a plugin) scan and add fresh metadata but only for the actors/actresses.

It seems to have worked very well.  I noticed that when I refresh individual actor/actress metadata within Emby it creates (or modifies) an entry in <C:\Users\Brett\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\programdata\metadata\people> but running the "Repair" function didn't touch the data in this location.  Where is it being stored?  I ask because I am trying to develop an easy workflow as I add more media in the future.

You've been a HUGE help.  Thanks so much.

Edited January 18, 2023 by smitbret
Added a sentence for clarity

[GrimReaper 3274]

1 hour ago, smitbret said:

<C:\Users\Brett\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\programdata\metadata\people>

That is central people location within Emby; each person gets a folder in the form of personname(-providerid if available) containing accompanying NFO/artwork; depending on the ID avilable, it'll either be personname only or personname-tmdbid-xxxxxx or personname-imdb-nmxxxxxx etc.  and is the place where you'd be making any manual/external changes (after which "Scan Metadata Folder" scheduled task should be run).

Emby doesn't have bulk refresh People only; in the past, there was Refresh People task but that also did not include images as providers don't look favorably on hammering their servers and Emby is always playing fair (for better or worse).

Anyway, if you're meticulous about your metadata and curating your collection (I am somewhat anal about it ), you might wanna think about external metadata manager (like this one) which will give you much greater control regarding what's actually been scraped and from where (including people and their images) and offer much higher level of granulation in respect of metadata. Emby will happily ingest NFOs/artwork created in that manner so you can still leave all internal scrapers disabled and continue to only feed it data externally. If you go that route, do make a test library first and give it a few runs with adjusted settings, as learning curve is a bit steep and you likely won't get desired results on the first try (God knows I haven't). Yes, you can scrape/refresh people only - or any metadata field only, for that matter.

Edited January 18, 2023 by GrimReaper
Screenshot

[smitbret 2]

Your recommendation is on point.  I have been using TMM for several years to manage my Movies and TV Shows.  Is there any reason to have TMM pull the actor images though or will Emby just do that when I scan the new media into the library?

Finally, how do I set Emby to scan in the new media files and add actor/actress info and images but leave everything else alone?

[Luke 37025]

14 minutes ago, smitbret said:

Your recommendation is on point.  I have been using TMM for several years to manage my Movies and TV Shows.  Is there any reason to have TMM pull the actor images though or will Emby just do that when I scan the new media into the library?

Finally, how do I set Emby to scan in the new media files and add actor/actress info and images but leave everything else alone?

HI, I haven't tested personally with TMM, but I believe default settings should do that.