Can you have 2 (or more) locations for Recordings library?

[AKSkinz 9]

I have setup a new server and will want to migrate my data from old one. I thought I read somewhere that you can have 2 locations setup for the recordings library. So if you have it set to record all episodes of a series and choose "Don't record episodes that are already in my library", it will skip that episode if present in any location listed. Is this true?

I copied a couple of series folders to a usb drive and connected it to the new server to see what happens. These folders had all metadata files removed and contained only the media files (ts, edl, bif, etc.). This will be the drive that will be attached to the new server with all data from old server at the end of this move. I added the folder with the data in it to the recordings library. After having it scan for changes, now I see 2 entries for the series from the usb drive. Example, copied 20/20 and Gold Rush, now I have:

Note the newest recordings are in left one, transferred recordings are in right one. Is this how Emby handles this? Or should I only see one entry for the series? And why the difference in artwork? It had the new artwork for both series on the old server. I would think only one entry would have been displayed and would only want it to display a single entry.

[Luke 37068]

Hi, at this time you can't, but it's not a bad idea for future updates.

[Luke 37068]

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Or should I only see one entry for the series?

Merging series is supported if they are in the same Emby library. Are they?

[AKSkinz 9]

I’m not on a device I can take a screenshot but I setup Live TV and it created the Recorded TV folder. I then added the drive with the data from old server and added the folder with the files to the Recorded TV library. 

[Luke 37068]

OK it would be much easier to answer this question with visuals of what you've configured. Thanks.

[AKSkinz 9]

The folders are adding to the library from the 2 drives:

Then they show up as 2 entries in the library:

If I add the folders directly to the share folder that Emby is recording to, I then end up with 2 folders for the series. For example, I copied the folder for "The View" to new location. On old server it was recorded into a folder named "The View (1997)". On the new server, it created a new folder named "The View" but it only shows up as a single entry when viewed in the library vs the 2 entries had I added it to the other drive as I did with Gold Rush:

But with the Gold Rush series, it named the newly created folder the same, "Gold Rush (2010)".

[Luke 37068]

Right that's the library but what matters for the live tv feature is the folder paths configured in emby live tv setup, and currently that doesn't accept mulitple.

[AKSkinz 9]

I would have thought if I have live tv pointed to a directory, in this case E:\Recordings\TV:

And then added the folder to the library it created:

That the library could handle sorting it out instead of creating 2 entries.

 

And what about adding the folders from the old server directly to the new recordings library? Why are they named differently? Although it shows up as a single entry in the library, I now have 2 folders for the same series? Why does the new server not add the year to the end like the old one?

[Luke 37068]

7 minutes ago, AKSkinz said:

I would have thought if I have live tv pointed to a directory, in this case E:\Recordings\TV:

And then added the folder to the library it created:

That the library could handle sorting it out instead of creating 2 entries.

 

And what about adding the folders from the old server directly to the new recordings library? Why are they named differently? Although it shows up as a single entry in the library, I now have 2 folders for the same series? Why does the new server not add the year to the end like the old one?

Why do you think you have two folders of the same series? Are they in the same library? Do they have the same set of external ids in the metadata editor?

[AKSkinz 9]

I stated this in my reply:

On the new server, it created a new folder named "The View" but it only shows up as a single entry when viewed in the library vs the 2 entries had I added it to the other drive as I did with Gold Rush:

So there is only 1 entry in the library for it. I copied a folder "The View (1997)" from the old server to the new server before any recordings of it occurred on the new server. And now I have 2 folders as shown:

I actually did it to a couple of series before they recorded and every one ended up with 2 folders which I have combined into the newly created ones to clean it up. I just left "The View" so I could grab screenshots of it before I clean that one up also.

Why would I end up with 2 folders instead of it recording to the series folder I put there? Just trying to figure out how this system is supposed to work.

[Luke 37068]

On 11/21/2023 at 6:18 PM, AKSkinz said:

I stated this in my reply:

On the new server, it created a new folder named "The View" but it only shows up as a single entry when viewed in the library vs the 2 entries had I added it to the other drive as I did with Gold Rush:

So there is only 1 entry in the library for it. I copied a folder "The View (1997)" from the old server to the new server before any recordings of it occurred on the new server. And now I have 2 folders as shown:

I actually did it to a couple of series before they recorded and every one ended up with 2 folders which I have combined into the newly created ones to clean it up. I just left "The View" so I could grab screenshots of it before I clean that one up also.

Why would I end up with 2 folders instead of it recording to the series folder I put there? Just trying to figure out how this system is supposed to work.

It normally should be able to locate the original series folder.  If you can provide the server log from the time of the recording, that might help tell us why it didn't:

How to Report a Problem

Thanks.

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So there is only 1 entry in the library for it. I copied a folder "The View (1997)" from the old server to the new server before any recordings of it occurred on the new server.

One other thing that would have been important - did you run a library scan after copying in the folders but before the recordings happened?

[AKSkinz 9]

I’ll try to recreate the issue again and grab the log files afterwards.

As far as the scan of the library, it is set for real time monitoring so I believe it picked it up right after the copy finished but I will check it when I recreate the issue.

[AKSkinz 9]

This is in reference to the question of copying the folder then scanning the library before the recording happens. The library has real time monitoring enabled. I just created a new folder in the same location as the recordings are set to record into to prepare for it to record the new episode airing tonight. Right after I created the top-level series folder (Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (2021)) and as I was creating the Season 4 folder, the server was already creating the tvshow.nfo file. Went into the Season 4 folder to copy the files to it and there was already a season.nfo file created. Normally I would copy all 5 files (bif, edl, jpg, nfo, ts) to the location but I left out the nfo on 1 and it was recreated within a few seconds of the copy finishing.

I will look when it starts to record to see if it creates a new directory and library entry for it (minus the year) as it did previously or if it doesn't create a new directory and library entry and puts it in with the old recordings.

[AKSkinz 9]

It looks like it worked as it should as it put the new recording into the single directory along with the old recordings and didn't create another entry in library. I will do it with a couple more series as they start to come back on the air again. I think what is causing the issue may be that I copied the previous folder without removing the nfo files whereas this time I created the folder structure before copying the files.