Suggestion: support Trash Guides "plex" naming formats

[johyphenel 1]

As a Plex, Sonarr, Radarr user with Trash Guides defaults - it's a poor experience to try out Emby and have all my movies with multiple qualities downloaded show up as separate library items. Having to rename all my files just to try out Emby is not very appealing either. It might be valuable for Emby to detect and support more naming formats from Trash Guides to provide a better first experience for people coming to try it out.

Until I sat down to write this suggestion I had forgotten that the guides even had different recommended formats per player, so I just thought "Emby doesn't support trash guides, that's dumb, guess I'll stick with plex". 

Not sure if this is enough reason to implement this support, just thought I'd share my new user experience. 

[Luke 40021]

Hi there, can you please provide a specific example? Thanks .

[johyphenel 1]

Sure, the format I use is: 

Folder: {Movie CleanTitle} ({Release Year})

File: {Movie CleanTitle} {(Release Year)} {imdb-{ImdbId}} {edition-{Edition Tags}} {[Custom Formats]}{[Quality Full]}{[MediaInfo 3D]}{[MediaInfo VideoDynamicRangeType]}{[Mediainfo AudioCodec}{ Mediainfo AudioChannels]}{[Mediainfo VideoCodec]}{-Release Group}

 

ex:

title (2024) {imdb-tt#####} [MA][WEBDL-1080p][EAC3 Atmos 5.1][x264]-GROUPNAME

title (2024) {imdb-tt#####} [Bluray-2160p][DV HDR10][TrueHD Atmos 7.1][x265]-GROUPNAME

 

[GrimReaper 4122]

And what issues you're facing using that naming convention? Seems pretty common and it supported by Emby as well. 

Movie Naming

[johyphenel 1]

All movies I have in 4k show up as two movies in Emby. One for the 1080 file, one for the 4k file. 

Not sure if it's important to note that the files are in separate root folders, but the same Emby library. 

Emby "Movies" library config

- /video/movies

- /video/movies-uhd

 

[ebr 15653]

2 minutes ago, johyphenel said:

Not sure if it's important to note that the files are in separate root folders, but the same Emby library. 

Yes, that is important.

You would need to use one of the plug-ins to automatically merge these.

[johyphenel 1]

So I guess my suggestion / FR is instead "Emby should display a single entry for each movie even when there are multiple files spread across different folders in the same library"? (Or something like that anyway?) 

Seems like a weird implementation choice to display the same movie multiple times for a single library - it seems to me like that should only be done if the person makes multiple libraries. 

Anyway, weird first time experience, thought I'd share .Given that you only get a couple weeks to try Emby on the TV apps, as a new user it's the type of thing that makes you think "what other quirks or bugs are there that I don't know about?". 

[Neminem 878]

Guess your are looking for this.

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

[johyphenel 1]

To be clear, I'm not asking "can this be made to work in Emby". 

I'm sharing that as a new user trying out the service, trying Emby at the same time as Plex, that things not working out of the box make me consider just going with Plex (and spending my money there). Up to you if you want to make this experience better by default

[johyphenel 1]

To elaborate more on my setup. I believe having multiple Radarr instances requires different root folders (https://wiki.servarr.com/radarr/installation/multiple-instances). 

Having separate folders is also convenient if you want to have one library with all media (including 4k) that you access from LAN only, and another library with only 1080p (or worse) content for WAN. 

Edit: interestingly, I have the exact same setup with for shows — two separate root folders — but for shows Emby shows 1 show, 1 season, 1 episode, but two different quality options under "versions" (as expected). 

Edited November 3, 2024 by johyphenel

[Luke 40021]

On 11/2/2024 at 5:24 PM, johyphenel said:

Sure, the format I use is: 

Folder: {Movie CleanTitle} ({Release Year})

File: {Movie CleanTitle} {(Release Year)} {imdb-{ImdbId}} {edition-{Edition Tags}} {[Custom Formats]}{[Quality Full]}{[MediaInfo 3D]}{[MediaInfo VideoDynamicRangeType]}{[Mediainfo AudioCodec}{ Mediainfo AudioChannels]}{[Mediainfo VideoCodec]}{-Release Group}

 

ex:

title (2024) {imdb-tt#####} [MA][WEBDL-1080p][EAC3 Atmos 5.1][x264]-GROUPNAME

title (2024) {imdb-tt#####} [Bluray-2160p][DV HDR10][TrueHD Atmos 7.1][x265]-GROUPNAME

 

Hi there, can you please provide an actual example for testing purposes? Thanks !

[ebr 15653]

13 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi there, can you please provide an actual example for testing purposes? Thanks !

His issue is that he was expecting different versions not in the same folder to be automatically merged.

@johyphenelJust use one of the plug-ins that does this for you.

[johyphenel 1]

Two followup questions out of curiosity:

1) What is the use case for wanting to see the same movie as multiple entries for a single library (regardless of file location)? I'm curious why this design choice was made, especially since there is no way to tell them apart without clicking into the movie, then going back if it's the wrong one. 

2) What's the reason for having shows and movies behave differently in this regard? The choice to have inconsistency also doesn't make sense to me. 

 

[ebr 15653]

2 hours ago, johyphenel said:

What is the use case for wanting to see the same movie as multiple entries for a single library (regardless of file location)? I'm curious why this design choice was made, especially since there is no way to tell them apart without clicking into the movie, then going back if it's the wrong one. 

Some users want to see them as separate items to be clear which version they are dealing with and this is the easy way to make that happen - put them in separate locations.  CoverArt can make them look different.

 

[johyphenel 1]

4 hours ago, ebr said:

Some users want to see them as separate items to be clear which version they are dealing with and this is the easy way to make that happen - put them in separate locations.  CoverArt can make them look different.

 

I'm confused by your answer.. The cover art is the exact same. The title is the exact same. The only way to tell them apart is to open one and see what version it is on the details page. If it's the wrong version you have to go back, remember whether it was the first or second entry you just opened, then open the other one. 

We're talking about different quality files (1080p, 4k), not different editions (i.e. directors cut, etc).

 

Still curious about question (2) as well?

[marriedman 59]

17 hours ago, ebr said:

Some users want to see them as separate items to be clear which version they are dealing with and this is the easy way to make that happen - put them in separate locations.  CoverArt can make them look different.

 

This is precisely what I was going to say. I have several movies/TV shows that are exactly the same except for resolution in the same folder. Some movie editions are so incredibly different, they are almost separate movies/TV Shows. (Watchmen, Justice League Snyder Cut, and Babylon 5 come to mind.) I can also name a movie and give a different cover to HDR movies that don't playback on certain devices. 

Regarding you second question - I think you will need to give an example or screenshot. As I mentioned, I have Babylon 5:

If I want to watch the fan edit, I can go into that item and it will play the consecutive episodes from that edition. If they were in the same folder, I would need to select the version for each episode. Not the best user experience.

Me personally, I would not want this to be a default feature since there are plugins that allow this to be done. Hope this explanation helps in some way!

[ebr 15653]

13 hours ago, johyphenel said:

I'm confused by your answer.. The cover art is the exact same

Hi.  I was referring to our CoverArt plug-in which could provide different cover treatments for the different qualities.

[johyphenel 1]

Sorry for slow response on this. (In the meantime I've now purchased my Emby license, so you don't have to worry about losing me as a customer anymore )

This behavior still feels a bit janky out of the box:

• Shows work like I expect, there is one entry for the `Show > Season > Episode`, and within the episode I can select quality
• Movies create two entries for the same movie, with the same cover art and title and no way to differentiate between them until you open the entry. 

I understand that plugins can change the behavior like folks have mentioned, but I would argue that the out of box experience should not present delicate entries with no way to differentiate — I can't imagine anyone wants this behavior, and it means that everyone has to install at least 1 plugin to make things work the way they want (either the plugin to combine entries or the plugin to show different cover art). 

It's also very janky IMO that shows and movies handle this folder structure differently. 

Concrete examples folks were asking for earlier:

E.g. Movie files - show two entries on the "movies" page

• /video/movies-uhd/Moana (2016)/Moana (2016) {imdb-tt3521164} [Remux-2160p][DV HDR10][TrueHD Atmos 7.1][HEVC]-FraMeSToR.mkv
• /video/movies/Moana (2016)/Moana (2016) {imdb-tt3521164} [Bluray-1080p][AC3 5.1][x264]-DON.mkv

E.g. Show files (show one entry for `Show > Season > Episode`, with a dropdown per episode to choose quality for playback). 

• /video/shows-uhd/The Umbrella Academy (2019)/Season 03/The Umbrella Academy (2019) - S03E01 - Meet the Family [NF WEBDL-2160p][DV HDR10][EAC3 5.1][h265]-FLUX.mkv
  • Quality dropdown shows "2160p][DV HDR10][EAC3 5.1][h265]-FLUX"
• /video/shows/The Umbrella Academy (2019)/Season 03/The Umbrella Academy (2019) - S03E01 - Meet the Family [NF WEBDL-1080p][EAC3 5.1][x264]-NTb.mkv
  • Quality dropdown shows "1080p][EAC3 5.1][x264]-NTb"

 

Let me know if any other info would be helpful to debug. 

 

[Luke 40021]

20 minutes ago, johyphenel said:

Sorry for slow response on this. (In the meantime I've now purchased my Emby license, so you don't have to worry about losing me as a customer anymore )

This behavior still feels a bit janky out of the box:

• Shows work like I expect, there is one entry for the `Show > Season > Episode`, and within the episode I can select quality
• Movies create two entries for the same movie, with the same cover art and title and no way to differentiate between them until you open the entry. 

I understand that plugins can change the behavior like folks have mentioned, but I would argue that the out of box experience should not present delicate entries with no way to differentiate — I can't imagine anyone wants this behavior, and it means that everyone has to install at least 1 plugin to make things work the way they want (either the plugin to combine entries or the plugin to show different cover art). 

It's also very janky IMO that shows and movies handle this folder structure differently. 

Concrete examples folks were asking for earlier:

E.g. Movie files - show two entries on the "movies" page

• /video/movies-uhd/Moana (2016)/Moana (2016) {imdb-tt3521164} [Remux-2160p][DV HDR10][TrueHD Atmos 7.1][HEVC]-FraMeSToR.mkv
• /video/movies/Moana (2016)/Moana (2016) {imdb-tt3521164} [Bluray-1080p][AC3 5.1][x264]-DON.mkv

E.g. Show files (show one entry for `Show > Season > Episode`, with a dropdown per episode to choose quality for playback). 

• /video/shows-uhd/The Umbrella Academy (2019)/Season 03/The Umbrella Academy (2019) - S03E01 - Meet the Family [NF WEBDL-2160p][DV HDR10][EAC3 5.1][h265]-FLUX.mkv
  • Quality dropdown shows "2160p][DV HDR10][EAC3 5.1][h265]-FLUX"
• /video/shows/The Umbrella Academy (2019)/Season 03/The Umbrella Academy (2019) - S03E01 - Meet the Family [NF WEBDL-1080p][EAC3 5.1][x264]-NTb.mkv
  • Quality dropdown shows "1080p][EAC3 5.1][x264]-NTb"

 

Let me know if any other info would be helpful to debug. 

 

Hi, have you taken a look at our movie naming guide?

Movie Naming

 it goes over supported naming conventions for multi versions.

[johyphenel 1]

See post title: "Suggestion: support Trash Guides "plex" naming formats" — I imagine a lot of new Emby users are coming over from Plex, supporting the Plex naming standard used in trash guides would allow people to try out Emby without having to rename their whole library to do so. 

[johyphenel 1]

More jank: the progress tracking treats these as the same movie — so when I start watching either the HD or UHD edition of the movie, both of them show up in my "continue watching" section with the same progress. So it appears that progress tracking knows they are the same movie, but UI doesn't agree. 

Edited February 19 by johyphenel

[ebr 15653]

1 hour ago, johyphenel said:

More jank: the progress tracking treats these as the same movie — so when I start watching either the HD or UHD edition of the movie, both of them show up in my "continue watching" section with the same progress. So it appears that progress tracking knows they are the same movie, but UI doesn't agree. 

Hi.  This would be because you have set them up as separate items instead of combining them as different versions of the same item.  You can either use proper naming to merge them, or use the plug-in to do so if they are stored separately.

[johyphenel 1]

But why not merge them by default, like you already do for shows? 

[ebr 15653]

2 hours ago, johyphenel said:

But why not merge them by default, like you already do for shows? 

I guess the thinking is that, if you went to the trouble to separate them, you want them separate...

[johyphenel 1]

 

2 hours ago, ebr said:

I guess the thinking is that, if you went to the trouble to separate them, you want them separate...

If that's the thinking for movies, then why merge shows? 

But the reason most people in my position separate them is because certain library managers don't work properly if you keep HD and UHD in the same folder structure, so you're forced to keep them apart.