Automatic version grouping for movies

[visproduction 280]

If you have two movies in a folder, where the first part of the file name before the ' - ' is the same, Emby will pick the version with the oldest dateadded date inside the .nfo file, to list first.

If you go in and edit the dateadded to make the version you want to appear first in the list, the date for the 1080P version was changed from 2024 to 2020 in the example below. The 1080P version will then appear first, in the pull down.

Ad Astra (2019) - 720P.nfo
'''   <dateadded>2024-11-10 08:27:25</dateadded>

Ad Astra (2019) - 1080P.nfo
...   <dateadded>2020-11-10 08:27:25</dateadded>

Hope that helps.

Edited January 27 by visproduction

[Ronstang 229]

@visproductionSweet!  I will try this and it is encouraging but when you are talking about 10K movies that is a little daunting but I only have a small subset of multi version so going one by one and doing this will only take a month.  

Actually since the nfo file should be the same except for the date added so it would be easier to just rename the given nfo files and swap them to get the order you want.

Now....what if both movies have the same date added?  I have several DVDs where I have a fullscreen and widescreen version that were added to emby at the same time and it picks the fullscreen which I definitely do not want as default.

Edited January 27 by Ronstang

[Ronstang 229]

Or wouldn't it be easier to just delete the nfo file of the ones you don't want to be default and let emby regenerate them?  Would that not make the added date today?  Are added dates time sensitive too so one added at 1 PM is older than one added at 3 PM?

[Ronstang 229]

@visproductionI tried your advice and it works!! Genius.  Why can't the emby DEVs tell us such stuff?  I asked about this a couple years ago when I added a bunch of DVDs that had multi versions due to widescreen and fullscreen and I wanted to pick the ones that were default and they told me emby did it automatically by quality. 

[Neminem 886]

@visproductionNice find, can't find that in the documentation.

I wonder if this is not intended and pron to fail with server updates.

@Luke is this supported and not in documentation, or something that will break down the line ?

[Happy2Play 9441]

4 hours ago, Neminem said:

@visproductionNice find, can't find that in the documentation.

I wonder if this is not intended and pron to fail with server updates.

@Luke is this supported and not in documentation, or something that will break down the line ?

To my knowledge the client choose the version per the drop-down as the order is not configurable.

But yes added data would/should change the primary version for Emby as it would be first into database.

Edited January 27 by Happy2Play

[Ronstang 229]

On 1/26/2025 at 4:09 PM, Noodlewasser said:

I could add an option to split the movies apart again, but it looks like the newer plugin already has this as well as some additional features, so you might want to try that instead.

The newer plugin does not have that feature that I can find.  I got this plugin to work and am working to redo my files and libraries so I don't have a catastrophe but if you could add the ability to split them back again that would be great because I never could get the other plugin to even work.

[Ugnaughts 53]

just just to see if this works with strm files yet or ever will?

[Luke 40077]

Automatically merging movies by Movie Db Id will be a built-in feature in the upcoming Emby Server 4.9 release. Thanks.

[rendez2k 0]

Would this work for TV shows also? I have a 1080p and 4K library and the same show shows twice on the dashboard

[SShzin 21]

On 3/9/2025 at 3:36 AM, Luke said:

Automatically merging movies by Movie Db Id will be a built-in feature in the upcoming Emby Server 4.9 release. Thanks.

But those that have been using this plugin, will they be able to remove it and start using the built in feature without rebuilding the library? Or did you fix the built in feature so this doesn't have to be done.

[Luke 40077]

1 hour ago, SShzin said:

But those that have been using this plugin, will they be able to remove it and start using the built in feature without rebuilding the library? Or did you fix the built in feature so this doesn't have to be done.

It will most likely not touch anything that the plugin has touched. The plugin does it in a was that makes it look as if you did it manually, therefore the new feature won’t change any it. So anything that the plugin has touched will likely require manual management going forward.

[SShzin 21]

9 minutes ago, Luke said:

It will most likely not touch anything that the plugin has touched. The plugin does it in a was that makes it look as if you did it manually, therefore the new feature won’t change any it. So anything that the plugin has touched will likely require manual management going forward.

That really doesn't help anyone here using the plugin and most likely anyone that has a library already built around using the plugin will now be required to do a full rescan (metadata and all) just to have this feature work. Instead of doing it this way, where the plugin locks the it in the way that it does, why not adapt it to help everyone here instead of negating and causing anguish/more work for everyone in this topic.

[bakes82 159]

6 hours ago, SShzin said:

That really doesn't help anyone here using the plugin and most likely anyone that has a library already built around using the plugin will now be required to do a full rescan (metadata and all) just to have this feature work. Instead of doing it this way, where the plugin locks the it in the way that it does, why not adapt it to help everyone here instead of negating and causing anguish/more work for everyone in this topic.

Omg the horror! You chose to use a plunging that mimicked client side actions and now are crying when they add it to the base app. I’m sure you’re in the minority of users. Most people don’t use this plugin so the few that do might have to run a scan again it’s not that big of deal.

[SShzin 21]

21 minutes ago, bakes82 said:

Omg the horror! You chose to use a plunging that mimicked client side actions and now are crying when they add it to the base app. I’m sure you’re in the minority of users. Most people don’t use this plugin so the few that do might have to run a scan again it’s not that big of deal.

I'm not so sure that I'm in the minority, this thread has 34 pages.Thanks for the random flame. If you have anything of particular value to add please do.

FWIW I'm 'crying' because of the way it's implemented, not because it was added.

Edited June 21 by SShzin

[Ronstang 229]

On 3/9/2025 at 1:36 AM, Luke said:

Automatically merging movies by Movie Db Id will be a built-in feature in the upcoming Emby Server 4.9 release. Thanks.

This decade?

[Noodlewasser 66]

On 6/21/2025 at 5:26 PM, SShzin said:

That really doesn't help anyone here using the plugin and most likely anyone that has a library already built around using the plugin will now be required to do a full rescan (metadata and all) just to have this feature work. Instead of doing it this way, where the plugin locks the it in the way that it does, why not adapt it to help everyone here instead of negating and causing anguish/more work for everyone in this topic.

If you want to keep the movies grouped I don't see a reason why you would need to rescan. The plugin does the same as manually grouping movies, so unless the built-in feature will break any manually grouped movies, too, you will be fine.

And in case there are any issues it won't be a problem to add na "ungroup all" option to the plugin.

Edited June 23 by Noodlewasser

[SShzin 21]

56 minutes ago, Noodlewasser said:

If you want to keep the movies grouped I don't see a reason why you would need to rescan. The plugin does the same as manually grouping movies, so unless the built-in feature will break any manually grouped movies, too, you will be fine.

And in case there are any issues it won't be a problem to add na "ungroup all" option to the plugin.

Would the built in feature take care of re grouping a replacement 4K file to its 1080p counter part, or will since it was initially "manually" handled by the plugin,  will the built in feature ignore it? I'm guessing even if you un group, they are still manually "touched" and won't be touched by the built in feature. @Luke can you clarify?

[Luke 40077]

27 minutes ago, SShzin said:

Would the built in feature take care of re grouping a replacement 4K file to its 1080p counter part, or will since it was initially "manually" handled by the plugin,  will the built in feature ignore it? I'm guessing even if you un group, they are still manually "touched" and won't be touched by the built in feature. @Luke can you clarify?

Correct .

[bakes82 159]

On 6/21/2025 at 6:21 PM, SShzin said:

I'm not so sure that I'm in the minority, this thread has 34 pages.Thanks for the random flame. If you have anything of particular value to add please do.

FWIW I'm 'crying' because of the way it's implemented, not because it was added.

You’re equating engagement with installs lol. You have numerous post here but only 1 install. So I would say yes this is a niche plugin. Just like every plugin in this forum.