Jump to content

movies library won't populate, but tv shows work fine. how do i troubleshoot this?


MASUDA

Recommended Posts

MASUDA

hello. first time emby user, long time PLEX user exploring alternatives.

 

i just setup emby on my CentOS 7.6.1810 server and that was a breeze. However, i'm trying to add my media files to libraries and this has not been smooth sailing. When I add a library for "Tv shows" it works perfectly. when i add a library for "movies", i get nothing but an empty library. tried it on 2 different folders with movies in them, and same result.

 

i can't find anything useful in the logs, the only mention of the folders with movies are these entries in the logs:

2019-08-01 12:02:17.819 Info LibraryMonitor: Watching directory /data/media/animation/Movies
2019-08-01 12:02:17.833 Info LibraryMonitor: Watching directory /data/media/tv_shows
2019-08-01 12:02:17.863 Info LibraryMonitor: Watching directory /data/media/movies

 

So it looks like it acknowledge my library folder configuration, but after that nothing. The "tv_shows" folder works fine though. All directories have world read+execute, and all files have world read permissions as far as Unix file permissions go.

 

Looking through the logs, there are Error entries related to TheTVDB, but not much else in terms of errors. Does that have anything to do with my problem? (I didn't think so.. but in case I'm wrong about that, please let me know)

 

Any suggestions? Any troubleshooting tips? Is there a way to turn on debug logging for the media scanner?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, this is only three seconds of a startup log. Can you please:

 

  • Update to the latest version of Emby Server (4.2.1)
  • Then start the server, run a library scan, and then attach the latest log file.

Thanks !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This doesn't sound like the right log. If you run a full scan then that is defeating the purpose because the content will be discovered during the scan. What we need is a log file from when you added the new content. Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This doesn't sound like the right log. If you run a full scan then that is defeating the purpose because the content will be discovered during the scan. What we need is a log file from when you added the new content. Thanks.

ok, will you please tell me where the "right" log is located? I'm having difficulty finding this "right" log... the log file I attached is from /var/lib/emby/logs/embyserver.txt. I was tailing it when I requested the library scan, and new entries appeared; I assume it is at least related, but I don't know if it is the log I should look at to troubleshoot this issue. So, if there's a log file that would have more helpful information, please let me know where to find it. or, if your statement is because there's a lack of useful information pertaining to my problem in that log file, I would agree with you and hence why i'm here asking for help. 

 

I don't understand your 2nd statement. I have a folder /data/media/movies which is full of movie files. I previously added this folder as a movies library; but nothing shows up in emby. The same action on a folder for tv shows works as expected and all my tv shows are available in emby. are you saying that for movies, i need to create a new folder, and copy the nearly 100TB of files into that folder for emby to work? or, are you asking for me to delete the library from emby and re-add the /data/media/movies folder again? what i did above, was to select the library (which I previously added to emby), right-click, and click on the "Scan Library Files" which to me should trigger a scan of the content in /data/media/movies, is that understanding incorrect?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I have a folder /data/media/movies which is full of movie files. I previously added this folder as a movies library; but nothing shows up in emby. The same action on a folder for tv shows works as expected and all my tv shows are available in emby.

 

I am having this exact same issue..  Or at least the exact same symptoms.  Nothing shows up in the logs other a "Watching" on the folder, just like the libraries.  However, NONE of the content of the movies folder ever shows it.  It appears as an empty library.  The underlying folder is not empty.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am having this exact same issue..  Or at least the exact same symptoms.  Nothing shows up in the logs other a "Watching" on the folder, just like the libraries.  However, NONE of the content of the movies folder ever shows it.  It appears as an empty library.  The underlying folder is not empty.

but if you add a "tv show" library does it then work fine? "tv show" libraries work fine for me, it's only movie libraries that don't... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, TV shows, music, etc work fine. It's just the movies one that isn't picking up anything at all. Just an empty library.

Indeed then, looks like we are experiencing the same issue. What Linux OS are you using?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, this is only three seconds of a startup log. Can you please:

 

  • Update to the latest version of Emby Server (4.2.1)
  • Then start the server, run a library scan, and then attach the latest log file.

Thanks !

Luke, I've attached my log as well.  Clean startup, did a rescan of the "HD Movies" library .. got nothing.  Debug is enabled in the log.  I also tried naming the Library just plain movies, but removed it and recreated it as HD Movies just in case...I dunno, name oddities. 

embyserver.txt

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have either of you checked to make sure your movie directory structure and names are recognizable by Emby?

 

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki/Movie-naming

As far as I can see, yes.  I have a Kids movie folder with the same naming conventions and that imported just fine.

 

Not sure if it's relevant, but Plex had no issue importing the entire library.

 

Permissions are correct, with Emby running as the same user/group as the files are stored as.  Emby can navigate the Movies folder and subfolders.  Just isn't importing the library .. it shows completely empty in Emby and doesn't have any log entries showing any failures.

 

There seems to be at least two other threads with users experiencing the same thing, and just with the Movies library type.  If there was an error with the naming convention or permissions, I would expect there to be a debug log entry...but there is nothing.  No stack trace or anything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have either of you checked to make sure your movie directory structure and names are recognizable by Emby?

 

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki/Movie-naming

 

yes.

 

and similar to bc000, i am able to browse the folder/subfolder/files in my movies directory (/data/media/movies).

 

is there a way to diagnose this deeper? i would really like to see a trace of each step when i initiate a library scan. i'm not afraid to diagnose the application, but the logs seem insufficient; there just doesn't seem to be enough info in the logs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well.. in light of this not getting any solid answers... and the other threads I've found...also not getting solid answers...  I did the tedious thing...  and started going through movies one at a time.

To that end, I've got some leads/theories.

 

It seems it could be related to either: a properly named directory with no media file ... or.. more likely from my current round of tests.. a properly named movie directory containing a media file formated as: Movie Name (year) - some other metadata like quality.ext.  I haven't nailed down exactly the issue, but it's something similar to that.  Adding media one at a time and doing a library rescan I see most files adding properly, but if the recently added movie is similar to the afore mentioned naming scheme, the scanner doesn't run and doesn't appear to make any debug log entries.  I think the exception is if the filename contains a multi-part marker, even if it's not actually a multi-part movie.  Like, "Extraordinary Movie, Part 1 (2040) - SomeOtherWords.mkv" might work.  Unfortunately, I fixed my example before being able to reproduce it a 3rd time.. 

 

To that end, I wrote a quick and super dirty (ie: no validation, no safety) script to read a list of movie paths, show the directory contents, and symlink it to another directory, which Emby points at and I can be refreshed one at a time.

 

Here it is .. it's super dirty, and undocumented.. so..if you can't read bash script and infer what's it's doing, probably don't run it :)  you will most assuredly need to make mods to make it work on your system.

 

 

----

#!/bin/bash

SAVEIFS=$IFS
IFS=$(echo -en "\n\b")
for movie in $(cat /htpc/Emby_Movies/list.txt)
do
        echo $movie
        echo "Link \"${movie}\"?"
        echo "Directory Contents"
        ls -al ../Movies/$movie/
        echo
        select yn in "Yes" "Skip" "Delete"; do
                case $yn in
                        Yes ) ln -s "../Movies/$movie"; break;;
                        Skip ) break;;
                        Delete ) rm -rf "../Movies/$movie"; break;;
                esac
        done
done
IFS=$SAVEIFS
 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Going through the entire library and using the script above to create a new library of symlinks in groups of one alphabet letter at a time, and then fixing individual naming (still haven't nailed down what it exactly was in the file names themselves..all directories were named as per spec) enabled me to  find issue titles.  After that I was able to remove the temp library and symlinks and add the original root directory and everything scans and shows up now, so it's resolved for me.

 

I think this could have been a LOT EASIER to track down with better debug logs .. when it wasn't scanning because of a title name, there was nothing in the logs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well.. in light of this not getting any solid answers... and the other threads I've found...also not getting solid answers...  I did the tedious thing...  and started going through movies one at a time.

To that end, I've got some leads/theories.

 

It seems it could be related to either: a properly named directory with no media file ... or.. more likely from my current round of tests.. a properly named movie directory containing a media file formated as: Movie Name (year) - some other metadata like quality.ext.  I haven't nailed down exactly the issue, but it's something similar to that.  Adding media one at a time and doing a library rescan I see most files adding properly, but if the recently added movie is similar to the afore mentioned naming scheme, the scanner doesn't run and doesn't appear to make any debug log entries.  I think the exception is if the filename contains a multi-part marker, even if it's not actually a multi-part movie.  Like, "Extraordinary Movie, Part 1 (2040) - SomeOtherWords.mkv" might work.  Unfortunately, I fixed my example before being able to reproduce it a 3rd time.. 

 

To that end, I wrote a quick and super dirty (ie: no validation, no safety) script to read a list of movie paths, show the directory contents, and symlink it to another directory, which Emby points at and I can be refreshed one at a time.

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing your findings. So, if I understand you correctly, if there's a single movie file in the folder that isn't to emby's liking, the entire scan of the directory aborts (without logs) ? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for sharing your findings. So, if I understand you correctly, if there's a single movie file in the folder that isn't to emby's liking, the entire scan of the directory aborts (without logs) ? 

There was actually about 3, but yes, that's the gist of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

@@bc000 are you still having an issue with this?

@@Luke I resolved my symptom of not being able to populate a movie library..  My personal opinion, is that the underlying issue is that the debugging logging didn't log/show the error that was causing the parser to quit out without adding any movies to the library.

 

Going through each title one by one I was able to find just a coupe of titles that didn't import and seemed to halt the import process...  using the script I shared previously.  But it would have been really nice to have proper debug logs that would have pointed me to what the issue was.  Thanks for following up!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@@Luke I also finally resolved my issue in the OP here. what i found out was that I had a sub-folder that had permissions 000. This was a special folder which I created for some experimental encoding of certain movies I was testing out, but I didn't want PLEX to pick it up so set the folder permissions to 000. Emby apparently completely aborts the scan of all folders, including parent folders of the problematic subfolder, when it encounters this. I think this behavior is less than ideal, and I don't see why Emby cannot continue scanning other files and folders. It completely aborts the entire scan when a problem like this is encountered! I've tested and re-tested this scenario and was able to reproduce it.

 

Unfortunately, even after resolving the above issue, I had a hard time with emby's movie detection. Certain movie collections, like the Star Wars saga, were not detected correctly and I had to manually identify. On top of that, certain movies could not be identified at all, even by manual identification; even though the movie database had them.

 

I also found several issues that were really annoying... like if you begin to watch a movie 7-10 min in and decide to stop, and then come back to play again, it starts the movie from the beginning instead of giving an option to start where you left off. Also, several SRT subtitles would not work for unknown reasons. I have none of these issues with PLEX.

 

so, at this point in time, I just find Emby to be more troublesome than it is worth spending time on. I'm just going to stick with PLEX for now and try Emby again maybe in a year or two. I originally wanted to try Emby because I had heard it performs better and uses less resources during transcoding, but it just doesn't seem mature enough yet and needs a bit more work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why do you feel a movie won't resume? That's something we support.

 

The resume play seems to work if I'm 30 min into the movie. but if i've only play a few minutes, and stop and come back, there's no resume option. maybe it has to do with the player? I was using the emby app on Roku4; perhaps that doesn't function as well? I don't know... anyway, it doesn't matter now, as i'm not going to use emby at this time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...