Movie library layout not built with folders?

[bjjones 15]

After all this time I ran across a knowledge base article on naming formats for the libraries. My TV library is to spec but I never had seen the one on Movie libraries being set up with Media/Movies/foldermoviename/moviefile.

Mine seems to work fine with them all either bunched in collection folders or as single files all in my Media/Movies folder. Is it still a best practice to put movies in individual folders? and what is the benefit that I'm missing by not having them in individual folders per movie?

Wondering if I need to go back through my library and "folderize" all my movies and my bigger question is will Emby recognize they've been moved and keep it's internal database updated or will I end up with lots of orphaned metadata replaced with different new file paths to the same movie file now in a folder? @Luke@Carlo Thanks Robert

Synology DS1019+ 7.1.1 Emby 4.7.11

[Luke 33618]

Hi, we still recommend it, but it's never been required.

[bjjones 15]

So if I create /moviename/ folders and move them into their respective ones Emby's internals will figure it out and not end up with a wonky database ? Or do I need another step

[Luke 33618]

7 minutes ago, bjjones said:

So if I create /moviename/ folders and move them into their respective ones Emby's internals will figure it out and not end up with a wonky database ? Or do I need another step

I don't see why not. Just run a normal library scan. 

But if you can provide a more concrete example then I can probably provide more detail as well. Thanks.

[bjjones 15]

An example would be say movie Avatar now sits as media\movies\avatar.mp4, I'll create a new folder media\movies\avatar\ to conform to the preferred naming convention

Next I'll drag and drop the mp4 from \movies\ to \movies\avatar\ via Explorer at which time it'll get the file not found error if I try to play it. After a while it'll find the movie again via real time scanning for changes now with the correct file path. The part I'm wondering is will all the old database info\metadata from it's previous location be orphaned since it wasn't done through Emby and a new set created for the new file path?

And if so would the correct procedure be to copy the mp4 off to a holding area, delete the Emby version using Emby delete (which I'm guessing would clean up the internals), then move the mp4 from the holding spot back in to media\movies\avatar\ as though it was all new ?

Just not sure if Emby can keep its internals updated if files are moved around on it or whether there's database cleanup processes to keep it all straight even though it wasn't done through Emby itself.

[Carlo 4206]

I'd suggest including the year in the name of the movie as well as the directory name. This can help a lot to reduce getting a match to the wrong movies.

On your system this could look like:

\media\movies\top gun (1986)\top gun (1986).mkv

[bjjones 15]

Thanks Carlo, I already have it in the movie name so easy enough to add it to the folder name as well.

As above, can I drag and drop them from /movies to /movies/name/ and not muck up the internal database with orphaned file paths or should I delete them through Emby and re-add them back in as new for Emby to go find again?

[Luke 33618]

3 hours ago, bjjones said:

Thanks Carlo, I already have it in the movie name so easy enough to add it to the folder name as well.

As above, can I drag and drop them from /movies to /movies/name/ and not muck up the internal database with orphaned file paths or should I delete them through Emby and re-add them back in as new for Emby to go find again?

Hi, don't delete through Emby because it will try to delete the original files. If you're moving a small number of files, I would just make your move and then run a normal library scan.

If you're going to do a major re-organization of your folders, then I would consider shutting down the server and then starting it back up and running a scan once you're done. You don't necessary have to do that, it's just my suggestion. Let us know how you get on. Thanks.

[bjjones 15]

Thanks Luke, great idea on shutting Emby down 1st then scanning afterwards. Luckily I caught my error earlyish, probably only 50 movies to redo, +90% of my stuff is TV shows which I did correctly

[bjjones 15]

OK, getting through this and came across one oddity. Occasionally I have a couple of version of a movie in different formats. Usually they show as a single movie with multiple versions in a pulldown when it's selected. In my F&F collection when I've put one in a subfolder under the original folder it shows up as 2 movies instead of 1 with multiple versions.

What am I doing wrong or how do I set it to be a single movie multiple versions ? pict of folder and naming attached

[GrimReaper 2422]

You have your files incorrectly named for multi-versioning, missing " - " (space-dash-space) after (Year). 

Quote

Multi-version movies

Multiple versions of the same content can be stored in a single movie folder.

/Movies
  /300 (2006)
  /300 (2006)/300 (2006) - 1080p.mkv
  /300 (2006)/300 (2006) - 4K.mkv
  /300 (2006)/300 (2006) - 720p.mp4
  /300 (2006)/300 (2006) - extended edition.mp4
  /300 (2006)/300 (2006) - directors cut.mp4
  /300 (2006)/300 (2006) - 3D.hsbs.mp4

Each version must begin with the folder name, followed by " - ".

If using the dash method anything following the dash will be what you see in the Emby client app.

https://emby.media/support/articles/Movie-Naming.html#multi-version-movies

[bjjones 15]

Thanks !

[Clangrijan 9]

18 minutes ago, bjjones said:

Thanks !

Hi @bjjones. I have a question. When you rearranged the movies and moved them to a different folder, did it keep the "watched" checkmark on the movies you had already watched, or did it detect them as if they were newly added movies?

[GrimReaper 2422]

26 minutes ago, Clangrijan said:

Hi @bjjones. I have a question. When you rearranged the movies and moved them to a different folder, did it keep the "watched" checkmark on the movies you had already watched, or did it detect them as if they were newly added movies?

Items should retain watched status as they're tracked by providerids. 

[bjjones 15]

it appears it even kept where I had started a movie but not finished it and has the resume from place saved

[Clangrijan 9]

Hace 24 minutos, GrimReaper dijo:

Los elementos deben conservar el estado observado, ya que los identificadores de proveedor los rastrean.

Would the same happen if I change the name of the movie? In that case, would it not save the status, right? Or would it?
Thanks.

[GrimReaper 2422]

2 minutes ago, Clangrijan said:

Would the same happen if I change the name of the movie? In that case, would it not save the status, right? Or would it?

If you change name it wouldn't affect anything as it'd still be identified as the same movie with same External IDs - if you identify that item as a different movie then no, watchstatuses/playstates will naturally not be retained. 

[Clangrijan 9]

9 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Si cambia el nombre, no afectaría nada, ya que aún se identificaría como la misma película conID externos de ame: si identifica ese elemento como una película diferente, no, los estados de visualización / estados de reproducción naturalmente no se conservarán.

Thank you so much!

Edited May 26 by Clangrijan