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TV Shows don't have nfo files, do they?


sampercy

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sampercy

I'd really love some information on TV files on Emby Server and how I can edit the metadata. I am able to create nfo files using Emby for movies and then I am building a program to edit them simply and usefully. But I can't seem to find anywhere that nfo files are created for TV Shows. Does it happen? How does Kodi get the tag or genre information for them?

 

And is there a way to get Kodi to notice that I have added more shows. If I go into them one at a time on my phone it notices them, one at a time. They have been there for 24 hours, it is never going to notice them unless I go to each show individually. Surely there must be something I can do on Emby Server to mark them as new?

 

I am sorry, I hate posting in a forum and I really have searched for information. Emby for Kodi is very poorly documented.

 

Sam.

 

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sampercy

Well Luke no, I did not. I have fixed that. Thanks.

 

I have so many questions. I hope they're all this simple. Honestly, Emby for Kodi is not that well documented.

 

Do any of the following commands force a refresh so it will notice changes made on the server: Update Libraries; Repair Libraries; Sync Theme Media; Refresh Boxsets; Perform Local Database Reset?

 

Thanks.

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sampercy

So I could post this is a new thread, but it is a little related. If you'd rather I did, just ask. 

 

These nfo files don't seem to have any effect. I started using Emby to try to better control the metadata but I can see that Emby is not overly keen on metadata work. I am referring to genres and tags, which I want to use to separate shows/movies in Kodi.

 

But altering an nfo file does not make any difference, and in fact they seem to be irrelevant. I set up a bunch of both tags and genres and a database update has overwritten them all. So this is far from ideal. Are there any good suggestions for keeping hold of genres or tags or both?

 

Even ditching Emby. It's very good, but this is really important to me, and given the number of posts about it, many, many people.

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Hi, why do you think this is an emby problem? You're saying you did a Kodi database update and then your nfo files got overwritten and genres lost?

 

Could it be that Kodi overwrote the nfo file?

 

Emby fully supports your custom tags and genres.

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sampercy

I did a database update in Emby Server. (On the dashboard page, then Library, the click the dots under TV Shows and Scan Library. Top option.) It isn't totally surprising that this overwrote my changes, but it means that making further changes will just keep getting overwritten. Kodi then followed suit by noticing the change in Emby and doing an update.

 

So the flow of metadata from the online sources like tvdb etc gets through to Kodi via Emby, but I want to stop some of them being overwritten each time it feels the need to refresh them, whether I instigate it or now. I had planned to write some software to manage the values in the nfo files, but it appears they are another by-product of the Emby process which get overwritten as well.

 

If there is no solution then fine, I am just asking to make sure I have the situation set correctly in my mind. It is true I have been making a number of changes since I joined Emby 72 hours ago, trying to get the system working the way I hoped it would. With the Emby for Kodi add-on being fairly undocumented and very vague in its menu commands, it means a lot of trial and error is required to work out how it fits together.

 

(I have admittedly been unable to replicate the loss of the genres and tags a second time, and I have tried. So maybe they are safe, but the data has definitely been lost once, and it took hours to get them to the place I wanted them, and so I am reluctant to do it again especially as the Emby UI for changing them is so awkward. I am looking at the API calls required to manage them now...)

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feerlessleadr

so you are directly editing the nfo files and wanting that information to flow back into emby? I'm not sure if emby supports that (it may, I just don't know). 

 

In any event, if you want to custom edit metadata, why not just use emby's metadata editor? You can make custom changes and then I believe lock the show from being updated during future automatic metadata updates. Seems simpler to keep everything contained in one app.

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paulsalter

I edit my nfo files manually (if i have a few to do) externally, and the changes are reflected in Emby, a library scan should not overwrite them

 

The only thing i know of that will overwrite these, is doing a refresh metadata

 

As mentioned above, locking to metadata fields in Emby Metadata Manager will prevent the refresh from changing these fields

 

Steps i used when i did my genres a few days ago

 

1, Edit the nfo externally (I used Tiny Media Manager)

2, Perform a library scan in Emby

3, Use metatadata Manager inside Emby to lock the Genre fields

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I edit my nfo files manually (if i have a few to do) externally, and the changes are reflected in Emby, a library scan should not overwrite them

 

The only thing i know of that will overwrite these, is doing a refresh metadata

 

Exactly, this is correct !

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sampercy

OK thanks so much for some input. I've done a fair bit of testing today, especially after Paul's comments, as otherwise I'd have given up on Emby, at least for Kodi. Paul is right, you can use the nfo files to update Emby. 

 

So that it is written somewhere, there are three options when you go to the Refresh Metadata item. I set up two TV shows with different tags to the online version, and then added a TestNFO tag to the nfo files.

 

Scan for new and updated files - not overly sure what this does as I had no new shows. Although I had clearly modifed two, but it altered nothing.

Search for missing metadata - this is as Paul suggested the way to use nfo files to update Emby. It will overwrite shows Locked in Emby.

Replace all metadata - this changes the Emby metadata from online. 

 

So none of these altered existing nfo files. However it was Emby which created them in the first place so it can be done, possilbly when you check the NFO option when creating a library.

 

Anyway, this keeps my hopes and dreams alive, although I can't really see any advantage to using Kodi via Emby over just using a direct connection. Kodi is slower now, less responsive. It crashes a lot. It's all Beta of course, so who knows if it will work eventually.

 

And feerlessldr, thanks but the Metadata Manager is no use for bulk updating. I have hundreds of TV shows and more movies. Having to go to each one individually to clear genres is hard. Harder if I am then going to reapply my own. Especially as there is so much metadata to sift through, and genres being in the middle, it is quite tricky each time. You then have to go back to the top or bottom to save. I can write software to update nfo files in bulk, so I will. After I check out Tiny Media Manager.

 

So Emby people, I have read so many of these forums and it seems to me that sorting out metadata is a bit of an in-joke for you. You seem to delight in popping in to the forums to say that it's on the agenda. But I think it is something you are close to being good at. For example, a filtering system on the Metadata Manager page so that one could hide any of the Main data, Genres, Actors, Studio, etc. So you could go through and just look at the ones you cared about. That would make it usable. The page is about four screens tall. And if you could make changes at folder level and propogate them down, then you're basically there. As a developer I get that the last one is a little trickly as you have some ways of going about it and some of them make it hard to get the UI right. But it is doable if you think clearly enough about it.

 

Thanks again all. I'll let you know how I get on.

 

Sam.

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Angelblue05

You should set your Emby library how you like it, then after your content is set, do a local database reset in Kodi. You are doing a lot of metadata manipulation atm, and that triggers constant update events in Kodi. Normal usage will be light. Hope this helps.

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sampercy

That does help. I am assuming that my constant meddling is having an impact downstream, ie in Kodi. I'll do as you say, let it settle, and see how it goes.

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