Many movie actors picture needs to be manually downloaded

[CharleyVarrick 277]

I have recently noticed that most of my movies info page are missing actors picture, showing generic place holder instead.

No library scans or library refresh metadata/look for missing data seems to do anything.

The only workaround I have found is to manually redownload the actor's pic.

An example

So I click on first generic tile (Peter Capaldi here)

What do you know, Emby does have a pic for this actor, yet shows a generic tile instead in media info.

The only way to get this pic to show in movie info is to click ...more, edit image, then the looking glass, then download the (same) pic, then back to movie info page and refresh page.

Is there a way to achieve this without having to manually edit thousands of actors, one at a time ?

 

 

[Luke 37214]

Hi, try refreshing the metadata of the movie containing the person.

[CharleyVarrick 277]

7 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, try refreshing the metadata of the movie containing the person.

Just did that* on some random picked movies w/missing pics. 1st one got them all, but on 2nd movie, it got none. After those first two, it seem to work more often then not, but not always. Sometimes it picks up just 1 or 2 additional actor pics, but ignores others.

*Refresh metadata/Search for missing metadata/Replace existing image (checked)

 

I have noticed that my op workaround also works streamlined if I just do this;

From a movie page showing actor generic placeholders

1) Click on generic place holder to bring up the actor page (with picture)

2) Click back (top left arrow) to go back to movie page

3) F5 to refresh movie page

 

Its like the link between movie and actors pic is working one way only, from actor to movie.

Hence the movie data can't find the actor pic

But going from actor page back to movie fixes the link in the movie page.

 

Edited January 22, 2021 by jlr19

[Luke 37214]

Quote

but on 2nd movie, it got none. 

Did you check the website of your highest priority metadata provider for the library to see what they have ?

[CharleyVarrick 277]

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Did you check the website of your highest priority metadata provider for the library to see what they have ?

No, but my workaround did work (emby already had the actor pic in actor page, but not displaying it in the movie page).

But I can pick another random movie and report back in 5 mins.

[CharleyVarrick 277]

 

[Carlo 4331]

Hi,

What does your Library Meta-Data setup look like?

[CharleyVarrick 277]

 

 

 

 

 

Library

Movies

Changes to metadata or artwork downloading settings will only apply to new content added to your library. To apply the changes to existing titles, you'll need to refresh their metadata manually.

Show advanced settings

Folders

\\SRVRV2\D\Movies

Library Settings

Preferred metadata download language:

Country:

Preferred image download language:

Prefer embedded titles over filenames

This determines the default display title when no internet metadata or local metadata is available.

Enable real time monitoring

Changes to files will be processed immediately, on supported file systems.

Movie metadata downloaders:

 

TheMovieDb

 

The Open Movie Database

Enable and rank your preferred metadata downloaders in order of priority. Lower priority downloaders will only be used to fill in missing information.

After the initial import, automatically refresh metadata from the internet:

Enabling this option may result in significantly longer library scans.

Metadata savers:

Nfo

Choose the file formats to save your metadata to.

Movie Image Fetchers

 

TheMovieDb

 

The Open Movie Database

 

FanArt

 

Screen Grabber

Enable and rank your preferred image fetchers in order of priority.

Save artwork into media folders

Saving artwork into media folders will put them in a place where they can be easily stored and edited.

Download images in advance

By default, most images are only downloaded when requested by an Emby app. Enable this option to download all images in advance, as new media is imported. This may cause significantly longer library scans.

Thumbnail Images

Generate video preview thumbnails:

Video preview thumbnails provide live updates while seeking in supported apps. Thumbnail generation may take a long time, cause high CPU usage, and consume additional disk space.

Thumbnail images interval:

More frequent thumbnails will result in a better experience, but will require more disk space and time to create the images.

Save video preview thumbnails into media folders

Subtitle Downloads

Download languages:

AfarAbkhazianAfrikaansAkanAlbanianAmharicArabicAragoneseArmenianAssameseAvaricAvestanAymaraAzerbaijaniBashkirBambaraBasqueBelarusianBengaliBihari languagesBislamaBosnianBretonBulgarianBurmeseCatalanChamorroChechenChinese SimplifiedChinese TraditionalChinese Traditional (Hong Kong)Church SlavicChuvashCornishCorsicanCreeCzechDanishDivehiDutchDzongkhaEnglishEsperantoEstonianEweFaroeseFijianFinnishFrenchFrench (Canada)Western FrisianFulahGeorgianGermanGaelicIrishGalicianManxGreek, Modern (1453-)GuaraniGujaratiHaitianHausaHebrewHereroHindiHiri MotuCroatianHungarianIgboIcelandicIdoSichuan YiInuktitutInterlingueInterlingua (International Auxiliary Language Association)IndonesianInupiaqItalianJavaneseJapaneseKalaallisutKannadaKashmiriKanuriKazakhCentral KhmerKikuyuKinyarwandaKirghizKomiKongoKoreanKuanyamaKurdishLaoLatinLatvianLimburganLingalaLithuanianLuxembourgishLuba-KatangaGandaMacedonianMarshalleseMalayalamMaoriMarathiMalayMalagasyMalteseMongolianNauruNavajoNdebele, SouthNdebele, NorthNdongaNepaliNorwegian NynorskBokmål, NorwegianNorwegianChichewaOccitan (post 1500)OjibwaOriyaOromoOssetianPanjabiPersianPaliPolishPortuguesePortuguese (Brazil)PushtoQuechuaRomanshRomanianRundiRussianSangoSanskritSinhalaSlovakSlovenianNorthern SamiSamoanShonaSindhiSomaliSotho, SouthernSpanishSardinianSerbianSwatiSundaneseSwahiliSwedishTahitianTamilTatarTeluguTajikTagalogThaiTibetanTigrinyaTonga (Tonga Islands)TswanaTsongaTurkmenTurkishTwiUighurUkrainianUrduUzbekVendaVietnameseVolapükWelshWalloonWolofXhosaYiddishYorubaZhuangZulu

 

Subtitle downloaders:

 

Open Subtitles

You'll need to configure Open Subtitles account information on the Open Subtitles configuration screen in the Emby Server dashboard.

Enable and rank your preferred subtitle downloaders in order of priority. More subtitle providers can be installed using the Emby plugin catalog.

Require a hash match

Requiring a hash match will filter subtitles to include only those that have been tested with your exact video file. Unchecking this will increase the number of matched subtitles, but will also increase the chances of mistimed or incorrect subtitle text.

Skip if the default audio track matches the download language

Uncheck this to ensure all videos have subtitles, regardless of audio language.

Skip if the video already contains embedded subtitles

Keeping text versions of subtitles will result in more efficient delivery and decrease the likelihood of video transcoding.

Save subtitles into media folders

Storing subtitles next to video files will allow them to be more easily managed.

Playback

Min resume percentage:

Titles are assumed unplayed if stopped before this time

Max resume percentage:

Titles are assumed fully played if stopped after this time

Min resume duration (seconds):

Titles shorter than this will not be resumable

[Luke 37214]

Try refreshing the metadata on that title and see if that helps. thanks.

[CharleyVarrick 277]

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Try refreshing the metadata on that title and see if that helps. thanks.

Most of the time it will, same as my workaround (described above).

Is it common / normal that in order to see most actor pictures, I need to refresh metadata manually, and more importantly, why on a media per media basis?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jbaggs 2]

On 2/1/2021 at 5:52 AM, jlr19 said:

Most of the time it will, same as my workaround (described above).

Is it common / normal that in order to see most actor pictures, I need to refresh metadata manually, and more importantly, why on a media per media basis?

 

 

 

 

 

 

This just recently started to happen to me. And I haven't touched my movie library aside from adding a few new films. No changes to library settings. Refreshed metadata, nothing.  I'm using the beta so maybe it is that, but you aren't alone. 

 

And no - you should haven't have to refresh your metadata manually. 

[CharleyVarrick 277]

Yesterday, I refresh metadata (replace all) on the whole movie library, 12k+, that took 20 hours or so.

This morning, I am making spot checks and it didn't seem to yield anything at all.

I am still looking roughly at 50% actors generic (empty) placeholder.

If I then refresh metadata on one movie at a time, it does get some actor pictures.

For the remaining empty placeholders, I can get a few more actor pics with my workaround (clicking empty placeholder, if there's a pic in actor's page, I just click back to the movie and F5 the movie page.

 

Refreshing metadata one movie at a time multiplied by 12k movie seems an impossible task to perform in a lifetime.

Any suggestions ?

 

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by jlr19

[Carlo 4331]

5 hours ago, jlr19 said:

Refreshing metadata one movie at a time multiplied by 12k movie seems an impossible task to perform in a lifetime.

Any suggestions ?

Click faster? 

You  could try to refresh meta data for only missing items.
To find out why you're not getting would need a look at the log file.  But often times you can't get things in one pass as you can time out with a provider for too much use in a specific time frame.  Logs of course should give you more info.

[CharleyVarrick 277]

2 hours ago, cayars said:

Click faster? 

You  could try to refresh meta data for only missing items.
To find out why you're not getting would need a look at the log file.  But often times you can't get things in one pass as you can time out with a provider for too much use in a specific time frame.  Logs of course should give you more info.

If refresh metadata would work on whole library, that would be faster.

Figuring out which of all 12k movies show generic actor pic placeholder vs those that correctly display actual actor pic would take as long as doing them all.

My ballpark estimate is 80% of movie library have this issue.

 

The sad thing is I don't even need to refresh metadata and hammer the data providers, as Emby does already have most actor pic in actor page, but for some reason doesnt display all of them in movie page.

What is infuriating is anytime I successfully update a movie and click back to the library, I am brought back to the very beginning of the library.

I spend more time scrolling down to where I was just before than actually fixing movie data.

 

A question : Take a prolific actor that plays in 30 of my movies, does Emby require tvdb/tmdb to show actor pic on all 30 of their movie pages ? If actor pic is indeed showing in only 20 of 30 movies, won't Emby connect the dots ?

 

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by jlr19

[Happy2Play 8351]

29 minutes ago, jlr19 said:

A question : Take a prolific actor that plays in 30 of my movies, does Emby require tvdb/tmdb to show actor pic on all 30 of their movie pages ? If actor pic is indeed showing in only 20 of 30 movies, won't Emby connect the dots ?

Emby uses one image for everything the person appears in.  Now there could be a issue in spelling of said actor in media that will create issues (changing in 4.6 as Emby records providerids for people in item nfo if available).  But specific examples are needed if you are seeing image in some and not other media for a specific person.

 

29 minutes ago, jlr19 said:

as Emby does already have most actor pic in actor page, but for some reason doesnt display it in movie page.

What does this mean as Emby does not have a actor page anymore?

Edited February 7, 2021 by Happy2Play

[Carlo 4331]

30 minutes ago, jlr19 said:

If refresh metadata would work on whole library, that would be faster.

3 dot menu

[CharleyVarrick 277]

10 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

Emby uses one image for everything the person appears in.  Now there could be a issue in spelling of said actor in media that will create issues (changing in 4.6 as Emby records providerids for people in item nfo if available).  But specific examples are needed if you are seeing image in some and not other media for a specific person.

 

What does this mean as Emby does not have a actor page anymore?

Hi Happy,

In the last week, I fixed about 200 movies and only one had a mispelled actor's name, and it was a 2nd or 3rd page support actor.

By "actor page", I mean what you get when you click an actor of a movie it brings you to the page that shows all movies/tv shows that actor appears in.

ie:

 

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by jlr19

[CharleyVarrick 277]

5 minutes ago, cayars said:

3 dot menu

I know the feature is there, but as I just told earlier, apart from locking up emby for 20 hours, it does zilch for actor pictures not being displayed in a movie page.

Refreshing metadata instead on a specific movie does yields some results

[Happy2Play 8351]

3 minutes ago, jlr19 said:

Hi Happy,

In the last week, I fixed about 200 movies and only one had a mispelled actor's name.

By "actor page", I mean what you get when you click an actor of a movie it brings you to the page that shows all movies/tv shows that actor appears in.

ie:

 

 

So opening any of those movies will have the same image for the person as they are linked in the database or you would not get what you see now.  Now if you have more Harrison Ford movies then what appear when you click the Movies title header then that item has a metadata issue.

[CharleyVarrick 277]

38 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

So opening any of those movies will have the same image for the person as they are linked in the database or you would not get what you see now.  Now if you have more Harrison Ford movies then what appear when you click the Movies title header then that item has a metadata issue.

Actor page show all movie/shows the actor has appeared in, as far as I know, and yes, it is the same actor picture that shows up everywhere.

My issue is this:

I click on a movie and see empty placeholders, in this example the lead actor.

I just click on the Richard Gere tile, which brings me to "actor page", then click back to movie page, F5 and voila:

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by jlr19

[CharleyVarrick 277]

22 minutes ago, jlr19 said:

I know the feature is there, but as I just told earlier, apart from locking up emby for 20 hours, it does zilch for actor pictures not being displayed in a movie page.

Refreshing metadata instead on a specific movie does yields some results

Here's a good example:

After library wide refresh metadata (replace all) performed yesterday:

Now if I refresh metadata for that movie, here's the difference:

Not bad, it got 3 of 4 missing actor pic.

 

[Happy2Play 8351]

11 minutes ago, jlr19 said:

Actor page show all movie show the actor has appeared in, as far as I know, and yes, it is the same actor picture that shows up everywhere.

My issue is this:

I click on a movie and see empty placeholders, in this example the lead actor.

I just click on the Richard Gere tile, which brings me to "actor page", then click back to movie page, F5 and voila:

 

The blank placeholder is different then the no image person icon placeholder.

The blank image place holder is either a image processor error or a bad url in the database for said person per dozens of other topics.  But am guessing you will have this issue for all bad url images you have in your database.  But the log could provide more insight.

[CharleyVarrick 277]

Here's the log

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by jlr19

[CharleyVarrick 277]

14 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

The blank placeholder is different then the no image person icon placeholder.

Which is which ?

Edited February 7, 2021 by jlr19

[Happy2Play 8351]

1 minute ago, jlr19 said:

Which is which ?

Left currently no image, right is broken url or image processor.