Emby server not finding a video file

[Chuck Tobias 3]

This concerns Emby server 4.4.3.0 running on Debian 10.

Recently due to bugs in the latest Roku media player I started looking for alternatives and found Emby. Previously on the server end I was using minidlna with media files organized mainly by directory structure rather than metadata, so the media repository was not set up with Emby in mind. Despite this it has worked well for the most part, but there is a problem that is something of a head-scratcher. (This problem did not occur with minidlna.)

I have the 3-part "Atlas Shrugged" movie set ripped from my DVDs into mp4 files using Handbrake, with H.264 video and AAC audio. The files are located on the media server in /home/media/VIDEO/Movies/Drama/Atlas Shrugged and are simply named "Atlas Shrugged - Part 1.mp4" etc. However for some reason only the videos for Parts 1 and 3 show up in Emby, both via web browser or the Emby Roku app. (Emby did automatically pick the correct movie posters for both of those.) Part 2 comes up missing in the default Movies listing as well as in the directory listing and search. File and directory permissions are world read/write, so it should not be a permissions issue. The content type for the library is set to "Movies". The file plays fine locally on the Debian server using VLC.

I've rescanned the media library several times, and restarted Emby. I've also tried deleting and restoring the files, but still the same result. So far this is the only file that has come up missing but it is possible there are others. What might be causing this? Is there any way to manually add a video file that Emby doesn't pick up by itself?

[Luke 37020]

Hi there, can you please show us the file, folder naming and directory structure? Thanks.

[Chuck Tobias 3]

Sure thing.

The file and directory layout, which was set up originally for minidlna, branches off from /home/DLNA, and the Emby libraries are set up with the following paths:


Lib name, Path, Content type
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Audio, /home/DLNA/AUDIO, Music
Misc Video, /home/DLNA/VIDEO/Misc_Video, Mixed
Movies, /home/DLNA/VIDEO/Movies, Movies
Pictures, /home/DLNA/PICTURES, Home Videos & Photos
TV, /home/DLNA/VIDEO/TV, Mixed


Subdirectories are located under those paths to further categorize media and keep multi-part series together. The movies in question are in:


/home/DLNA/VIDEO/Movies/Drama/Atlas Shrugged


In that directory are the following files, listed via "ls -lh":

-rw-rw-rw- 1 owner users 415M Jul 17 15:21 'Atlas Shrugged - Part 1.mp4'
-rw-rw-rw- 1 owner users 595M Jul 17 15:21 'Atlas Shrugged - Part 2.mp4'
-rw-rw-rw- 1 owner users 557M Jul 17 15:21 'Atlas Shrugged - Part 3.mp4'

The specific file not being picked up is:

-rw-rw-rw- 1 owner users 595M Jul 17 15:21 'Atlas Shrugged - Part 2.mp4'

While writing this, as a test I deleted the "Atlas Shrugged" directory entirely, scanned the Movies library, recreated "Atlas Shrugged" directory, copied the mp4 files back in, and scanned again. Result: the "Atlas Shrugged" folder is no longer displayed in Emby's folder view,. Only the "Part1" file is displayed at all, and that is at the top level of "Movies". (In other words, the problem is now worse than it was before.) There is one other subdirectory under "Movies/Drama" and that is displaying correctly.

Edited July 17, 2020 by Chuck Tobias

[Chuck Tobias 3]

Some more information - making sure there were backups, I tried deleting the one file that was showing up via Emby rather than going through the underlying filesystem. What happened is that it deleted not only that file, but the other two video files plus the subdirectory they were located in.

I then re-created the "Atlas Shrugged" subdirectory and copied back in the video files. Now in the Emby directory listing the "Atlas Shrugged" directory is listed, but is empty when selected. The "Part 1" file is displayed in the parent directory (Movies/Drama), and the other two files are not listed at all.

Before doing this I stopped the emby server, cleared out the log file /var/lib/emby/logs/embyserver.txt, and restarted. Then I grepped for "Shrugged" in the log file since both the directory and video files contain that in the name. Results attached as emby.txt.

 

 

emby.txt

[Luke 37020]

Did you try clicking into the part 1 title? Part 2 might be listed there under additional parts.

[Chuck Tobias 3]

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Did you try clicking into the part 1 title? Part 2 might be listed there under additional parts.

That just plays the Part 1 video. There's nothing in the metadata in the files themselves aside from the titles, which are the same as the filnames minus the extension. Maybe I need to add the years to the filenames?

[Luke 37020]

Did you try clicking into the detail screen for part 1? What do you see there?

[Chuck Tobias 3]

OK, now that I understand Emby's naming conventions a little better the problem was easy to solve. Yes, due to the way they were named Emby was seeing these films as parts of a single video rather than as distinct movies. (I guess it's a judgement call as to which way is better but I'm accustomed to seeing the movies listed individually.) I renamed the movies as follows:

Atlas Shrugged I (2011).mp4

Atlas Shrugged II (2012).mp4

Atlas Shrugged III (2014).mp4

Scanned the library, replaced metadata, and now all 3 movies show up as distinct entries with the appropriate artwork and metadata.

[Riggs 300]

2 minutes ago, Chuck Tobias said:

OK, now that I understand Emby's naming conventions a little better the problem was easy to solve. Yes, due to the way they were named Emby was seeing these films as parts of a single video rather than as distinct movies. (I guess it's a judgement call as to which way is better but I'm accustomed to seeing the movies listed individually.) I renamed the movies as follows:

Atlas Shrugged I (2011).mp4

Atlas Shrugged II (2012).mp4

Atlas Shrugged III (2014).mp4

Scanned the library, replaced metadata, and now all 3 movies show up as distinct entries with the appropriate artwork and metadata.

Mark as solved your own post.

 

Naming convention is the way to go

[Desert-Rat 5]

Solved.

Edited August 29, 2020 by Desert-Rat
Solved