When a movie is upgraded, don’t remove it from its collection(s)

[mannyrothman 8]

I’ve found that my collections keep shrinking because the films inside them are being upgraded.

If metadata like watch time, watched status, poster data, etc can be maintained when the film file is upgraded- why can’t Emby remember what collection(s) it is in?

[Happy2Play 8282]

Sounds like an issue of do you write nfo files or not?

As db only data is lost when you upgrade an item as old item is deleted from db losing all metadata/linking data is lost per that deleted itemid, new item is import with new itemid and metadata is gotten again but no longer linked to custom collection.

played state is remembered as it is recorded by providerid.

Edited March 8 by Happy2Play

[MBSki 1016]

Yes, that is what happens, but I agree with OP, it shouldn't get deleted. It's the same movie. 

[Happy2Play 8282]

I would assume upgrades come in exact naming convention as previous also correct or one item will not equal the previous.  But without I would assume major changes replacing one item for another is a little bit of work.  But am just a user not a dev.

Catch all is write nfo files from a Custom Collection standpoint as provider collections will always rebuild assuming you have it enabled on library.

[MBSki 1016]

Yes, upgrades are in the exact naming convention and I even leave the old video in the folder until after the new video is detected. It still removes the movie from the collection though after I delete the old version. IMO, the new version should also be associated with the collection when it's scanned into the library.

[mannyrothman 8]

Agreed. I understand why this does not happen currently, but I don’t understand why it has to be this way. Why can’t the collections a film is in be noted in providerid (along with watch time)? Why doesn’t Emby work to save certain data points between file upgrades and not others? I’m really struggling to understand why Emby cannot be updated to remember datapoints like this one.

Doesn’t it seem bizarre that Emby would delete a movie from its database if it’s being replaced with the same film but a slightly different file? Surely, Emby could be programmed to recognize this  

When you upgrade a movie on Plex- it just works. All elements of the film stay exactly the same (except that the file has changed quality). If it’s possible with Plex, then it isn’t magic, and Emby can surely do it too. 

Edited March 8 by mannyrothman

[Happy2Play 8282]

Sure it is a good idea but would still think this would be destructive db rebuild change (but just a guess).  So new installs good, old installs bad.

But no idea how the other guys do it and how much bloat is left behind for database items.

[mannyrothman 8]

I’m not a programmer, but can’t Emby recognize that the new file has the same metadata as a file that already exists (like IMDB ID or movie name) and simply not delete it from the database- just update its file path and treat everything else the same?

Edited March 8 by mannyrothman

[Happy2Play 8282]

14 minutes ago, mannyrothman said:

I’m not a programmer, but can’t Emby recognize that the new file has the same metadata as a file that already exists (like IMDB ID or movie name) and simply not delete it from the database- simply updating its file path?

Not when every item is its own item so I can put 10 same movies with same name, and they are 10 individual items even though they are in the same parent folder. 

Just like multi-versioning each item technically has its own metadata so if put into a collection only the master grouped item is in the collection and all the other versions follow but if spit appear only one will be in a collection.

 

[mannyrothman 8]

6 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

Not when every item is its own item so I can put 10 same movies with same name, and they are 10 individual items even though they are in the same parent folder. 

Just like multi-versioning each item technically has its own metadata so if put into a collection only the master grouped item is in the collection and all the other versions follow but if spit appear only one will be in a collection.

 

To be honest, I don’t understand. And I feel like having multiple movies with the same name is orders of magnitude more rare than a movie just getting a file upgrade (which happens almost daily for me) — and therefore, Emby should be built to support the latter rather than the former, not the other way around. 

Edited March 8 by mannyrothman

[ginjaninja 536]

is it feasible for you to write nfos and overwrite the existing video file with the same name...that works for me....