Default Multiple Version Selection

[crusher11 976]

The biggest issue is that sometimes it's multiple qualities and other times it's multiple cuts. The latter should be handled differently to the former.

 

They're easy enough to tell apart though. Something designating them as different cuts if the runtime differs by more than ten seconds should be sufficient.

[plittlefield 48]

+1 for this feature.

I create at least 2 versions of a movie from my purchased DVDs, Blurays and UHDs ...

DVD = 1 version = SD (480p AAC)
Bluray = 2 versions = HD (720p AC3) + FHD (1080p DTS)
4K = 1 version = UHD (2160p Atmos)

... which are named as follows in the movie folder ...

Movie Name (YEAR) - SD.mp4
Movie Name (YEAR) - HD.mp4
Movie Name (YEAR) - FHD.mkv
Movie Name (YEAR) - UHD.mkv

... and which direct play on all my devices and for friends across the internet ...

... which is why I do it.

It would be great, if I could specify the default version of 'HD' (if it exists) otherwise 'the only one version found'.

Just thought - even better, would be the ability to specify in which order they are prioritised (based on the correct file naming convention).

e.g.

HD
FHD
SD
UHD

Please give it this idea some consideration and keep up the great work.

Regards,

Paully

 

[GothsterC 47]

I have a related concern to the multiple cuts or versions.  It would be great to have a way to specify which version of a film should appear as the default in the pulldown.

The automatic determination works okay for the situations where you have multiple resolutions of the same film.  In that case, Emby correctly selects the one with the highest resolution.  However I have the case where both versions of the same movie have the same resolution.  Emby seems to go with the lower quality version.

For instance I have 2 versions of the same movie:

Night of the Living Dead [1968] - Theatrical Version

Night of the Living Dead [1968] - Night of Anubis Workprint

 

They are both 1080p, but the theatrical version which I want to be the default is the higher quality version, so it always picks the Night of Anubis Workprint version instead.  I tried various tricks with the filenames but nothing gave me the desired behavior.  

I know this has been bantered about for years, but it would be great to have a way to flag the default version.

Thanks.

 

[ebr 15664]

13 hours ago, GothsterC said:

I have a related concern to the multiple cuts or versions.  It would be great to have a way to specify which version of a film should appear as the default in the pulldown.

The automatic determination works okay for the situations where you have multiple resolutions of the same film.  In that case, Emby correctly selects the one with the highest resolution.  However I have the case where both versions of the same movie have the same resolution.  Emby seems to go with the lower quality version.

For instance I have 2 versions of the same movie:

Night of the Living Dead [1968] - Theatrical Version

Night of the Living Dead [1968] - Night of Anubis Workprint

 

They are both 1080p, but the theatrical version which I want to be the default is the higher quality version, so it always picks the Night of Anubis Workprint version instead.  I tried various tricks with the filenames but nothing gave me the desired behavior.  

I know this has been bantered about for years, but it would be great to have a way to flag the default version.

Thanks.

 

I really don't think this particular request is the right answer to your issue.  The multi-version feature is designed for multiple qualities of the same item as opposed to different cuts.  While it can be used for different cuts, it has these types of limitations.  Instead of continuing to try and satisfy both of those situations with the same feature, I really think we need a different way to handle multiple cuts because marking one of these as "default" then negates some of the functionality that this feature is actually designed for.

[plittlefield 48]

3 minutes ago, ebr said:

I really don't think this particular request is the right answer to your issue.  The multi-version feature is designed for multiple qualities of the same item as opposed to different cuts.  While it can be used for different cuts, it has these types of limitations.  Instead of continuing to try and satisfy both of those situations with the same feature, I really think we need a different way to handle multiple cuts because marking one of these as "default" then negates some of the functionality that this feature is actually designed for.

Fair comment.

[GothsterC 47]

Yes, I agree.  I don't care how it is done, but I would like to see something like this.

Thanks

[thelanranger 11]

I've honestly not really had any issue with this now? It just won't show you 'cuts'. Everything will get dumped into the same piece of artwork. If you put a 4k copy of the movie and a 1080p copy of the movie (or really any two copies of the movie) in there if will pick them both up and lump them together and let you pick which file you want to play. Incidentally, this also lets you start the 4k version, pause it, and resume the 1080 version at the same place (presuming all the time stamps line up). 

If you wanted 'Extra Cuts' I don't think this would be a big deal. Just name your files as such and you'll see the file name in the little drop down list. If you want a completely separate copy of the movie you can just manually identify it as well and hit the little lock and it will make it a whole separate movie within emby.

[crusher11 976]

Yes, but then it sometimes selects a terrible special edition cut as the default, or you watch a shorter cut the entire way through but it shows up in "continue watching" because it's comparing the amount you watched to the longer cut, or you watch part of a longer cut and it doesn't show up in Continue Watching because it's comparing the amount you watched to the shorter cut. 

[ebr 15664]

4 hours ago, crusher11 said:

Yes, but then it sometimes selects a terrible special edition cut as the default, or you watch a shorter cut the entire way through but it shows up in "continue watching" because it's comparing the amount you watched to the longer cut, or you watch part of a longer cut and it doesn't show up in Continue Watching because it's comparing the amount you watched to the shorter cut. 

And that's because the feature wasn't really designed for that use (different cuts) as I've already explained.  This FR is the wrong way to solve that problem IMO (see above).

[crusher11 976]

15 hours ago, ebr said:

And that's because the feature wasn't really designed for that use (different cuts) as I've already explained.  This FR is the wrong way to solve that problem IMO (see above).

I'm only responding to @thelanranger's claim that it currently works just fine for alternate cuts. Which, as you say, it doesn't.

[STR8 73]

I hope this is a ok place to ask this question but I was wondering if on the actual playing screen if the version could be displayed something like Netflix, Apple TV etc...

And if I'm thinking correctly because it's added to the play screen (media player) it should work for all devices correct? web browser, appletv, roku, shield tv etc... 

[Luke 40073]

23 hours ago, STR8 said:

I hope this is a ok place to ask this question but I was wondering if on the actual playing screen if the version could be displayed something like Netflix, Apple TV etc...

And if I'm thinking correctly because it's added to the play screen (media player) it should work for all devices correct? web browser, appletv, roku, shield tv etc... 

The next release will have an info button with more detailed information about the source video.

[avitali 7]

Wouldn't it be able to add the possibility to change what order multiple versions of the same movie should be in?

It's kind of annoying to see a lot of people request this feature, yet after years there's no change...

The way it's now is just pretty bad for people with different versions or encodes...

[Luke 40073]

2 hours ago, avitali said:

 

The way it's now is just pretty bad for people with different encodes...

If you use this for different encodes, then what exactly is the issue? It chooses the one that will be most efficient to play on the device you're playing from. How would alphabetical be an improvement over that?

[avitali 7]

16 hours ago, Luke said:

If you use this for different encodes, then what exactly is the issue? It chooses the one that will be most efficient to play on the device you're playing from. How would alphabetical be an improvement over that?

It doesn't seem to work for me. In one example, I have an 8-GB H265 (mkv, AAC7.1) file, which I reencoded to an H264 mp4 AAC 2.0, with a file size of about 5GB. Still emby chooses the H265 version over the H264 one. Which I just don't understand...

Sometimes I have 720p as well as 1080p versions as well, where I'd always want emby to choose the 1080p one, as it has a higher resolution. I'd also like for emby to go for the better quality versions as well usually...

[RaptorCentauri 56]

Adding my +1 for this feature. This would be especially useful for different version that vary greatly by run time. Think Snyder Cut of Justice League or the Extended LOTR compared to the theatrical cuts. Users aren't always aware of a multiple choices on the server, and they may end up watching a 4 hour movie instead of a 2 hour one. At minimum I would like to see some way for the server admin to designate the movie version that will be played by default.

[ebr 15664]

8 hours ago, RaptorCentauri said:

Adding my +1 for this feature. This would be especially useful for different version that vary greatly by run time. Think Snyder Cut of Justice League or the Extended LOTR compared to the theatrical cuts. Users aren't always aware of a multiple choices on the server, and they may end up watching a 4 hour movie instead of a 2 hour one. At minimum I would like to see some way for the server admin to designate the movie version that will be played by default.

Yes, we  understand that and it is discussed here already.  Please see:

 

[MrLinford 61]

One of my TVs is 720p, and it defaults to the 4K version.

Maybe an option to be added so you can force a client to default to a version..

[ebr 15664]

3 hours ago, MrLinford said:

One of my TVs is 720p, and it defaults to the 4K version.

Does that version still direct play?  Or, if it transcodes, do all the versions transcode or can one of them direct play?

[MrLinford 61]

I will double check but I think the 1080P would direct play where the 4K would need transcoded.

[ebr 15664]

8 minutes ago, MrLinford said:

I will double check but I think the 1080P would direct play where the 4K would need transcoded.

Please double-check because that should not be the case.

[crusher11 976]

2 hours ago, MrLinford said:

I will double check but I think the 1080P would direct play where the 4K would need transcoded.

It would need to be downscaled, no?

[Samuelleb11 0]

I'd like to see that feature too !

As someone who host Emby on Xeon CPUs I use versions to have both 1080p x264 and 2160p x265. I do it because the Xeon CPUs that I have does not support 10-bit x265 decoding and when an incompatible player wants to play those it puts a lot of load on the server. I read in an other thread that Emby should decide which version supports Direct Play but it does not work well for me in Chrome or the Windows App.

I am willing to test an alpha/beta/nightly build version if it can help.

[Luke 40073]

1 hour ago, Samuelleb11 said:

I'd like to see that feature too !

As someone who host Emby on Xeon CPUs I use versions to have both 1080p x264 and 2160p x265. I do it because the Xeon CPUs that I have does not support 10-bit x265 decoding and when an incompatible player wants to play those it puts a lot of load on the server. I read in an other thread that Emby should decide which version supports Direct Play but it does not work well for me in Chrome or the Windows App.

I am willing to test an alpha/beta/nightly build version if it can help.

Hi, can you please provide a specific example?

How to Report a Problem

Thanks.

[laola 12]

Now I run in the same problem - I want to reduce the intgernet/LAN traffic by using lower quality files as a default. However, in the meantime basically all devices are capable to play 4K files (i.e. FirteTV 4k) - in case the TV doesn't support, the devices will reduce the resolution by itself. So basically 4K is always played by default...

 

I would be great when there would be an option in the server settings - choosing "auto" as it is today or in an aplphabetical order or in a predifined order (as proposed by Pittlefield  on 28th Oct 2021 or any other method to pre-define which file is the standard file.

 

Now, the feature is requested since 5 years - and the auto option is not in all cases the best option.

 

Thanks

laola