Exclude .ISO files from Library

[codechurn 9]

I have original DVD and BlueRay ISO files in my library. Is there a way to have Emby exclude these from the scan? I have removed the ISO plugin and they are still listed in the media library.

[Luke 42080]

Hi, there is currently no way to do this other than moving the files out.

[Florian2000 17]

On 7/25/2021 at 7:18 PM, golaat said:

I have original DVD and BlueRay ISO files in my library. Is there a way to have Emby exclude these from the scan? I have removed the ISO plugin and they are still listed in the media library.

is there a way to have a good playback of iso files with emby?
or which emby app has native iso playback support?

[Luke 42080]

3 hours ago, Florian2000 said:

is there a way to have a good playback of iso files with emby?
or which emby app has native iso playback support?

Hi, your best bet is converting to mkv. If you must use .iso then I would suggest emby theater for windows desktop where you can setup external players for them.

[Florian2000 17]

8 hours ago, Luke said:

converting to mkv

with converting to mkv I will lose the dvd / blue-ray menu <-- is this assumption correct?
if losing the menu is the case...how can I bring a DVD / Blue-ray with let's say with lot's of different chapters (e.g. workout) to a digital format when there is no real selection / structure for it?

[Luke 42080]

The selection structure would be inside of Emby. That's what we've built.

[rbjtech 5284]

34 minutes ago, Florian2000 said:

with converting to mkv I will lose the dvd / blue-ray menu <-- is this assumption correct?
if losing the menu is the case...how can I bring a DVD / Blue-ray with let's say with lot's of different chapters (e.g. workout) to a digital format when there is no real selection / structure for it?

The conversion tools (makemkv etc) will import any defined chapters - and emby will present these to you.  The conversions may alternatively create x number of separate files.  It depends how the DVD/BR was created.

As an example - if the dvd/BR had 7 chapters to select via the menu - then emby may show this as one 'show' with 7 chapters - OR it may show it as 7 files instead which is a bit more tricky for emby to 'show' in a 'menu' but depending on file naming, can be easily achieved as 7 'episodes'.

Edited September 10, 2021 by rbjtech

[Carlo 4561]

1 hour ago, Florian2000 said:

with converting to mkv I will lose the dvd / blue-ray menu <-- is this assumption correct?
if losing the menu is the case...how can I bring a DVD / Blue-ray with let's say with lot's of different chapters (e.g. workout) to a digital format when there is no real selection / structure for it?

ISO support is old school as there is nothing streaming friendly about a disc image format. The Emby eco-system is a streaming platform that really does require files to be in a streaming format to get the best experience from it.

[Florian2000 17]

1 hour ago, rbjtech said:

The conversion tools (makemkv etc) will import any defined chapters - and emby will present these to you.  The conversions may alternatively create x number of separate files.  It depends how the DVD/BR was created.

As an example - if the dvd/BR had 7 chapters to select via the menu - then emby may show this as one 'show' with 7 chapters - OR it may show it as 7 files instead which is a bit more tricky for emby to 'show' in a 'menu' but depending on file naming, can be easily achieved as 7 'episodes'.

I just tried "makemkv" for movie dvds/blue-ray. I think it is a quite good solution. And the main film is still there with all languages and subtitles. So this is really fine.
Now I have to try it for a workout dvd with lot's of chapters if this is kind of useably in the end. Will tell you later.

[Florian2000 17]

ok, let's say DVDs with structures were a lot of small video files are included (and also sub-menues and so on)...it's pretty not possible to get it transfered in a nice way.

[rbjtech 5284]

It may need manual work - on that I agree - but all 'jump' points on DVD/BR's are defined chapters - so it's just a matter of understanding what 'make mkv' did and picking the correct items.

If you have an example (maybe take a screen shot from what makemkv lists?) then we may be able to give examples of how best to name that for emby to give a 'menu like' view.

[Florian2000 17]

do you mean this?

[rbjtech 5284]

oh wow ok - a lot of small videos.

So on the DVD/BR menu - you could select any one of these 'videos' and play it yes ?

The only way emby is going to be able to reproduce that - is to rename those files into something more meaningful (using a Bulk rename app) and then let emby pick them up as 'episodes' as part of a TV series 'folder'. (rename the tXX as eXX for episode).

What you can't automatically do is create meta-data for each one - and with 50 of them, manually doing that it is going to be intensive.   The thumbail will be auto generated for you.

I guess you need to decide if it's worth the effort - but unfortunately, this is probably the worst type of DVD/BR you can get for reproduction in Emby   If the disk had 1 or 2 MKV's - but then split into 50 'chapters' - with names - then it would have been MUCH easier.

Edited September 10, 2021 by rbjtech

[roaku 842]

For a lot of these types of short videos that are related, I've used MKVToolNix to combine them into one long video, and used its chapter capabilities to give each chapter the title from its original short video. I can then use Emby's chapter list under the movie view to select the chapter to start playback from.

For a P90x type workout disc set, I've used the TV series approach like rbjtech mentioned above.

[rbjtech 5284]

23 minutes ago, roaku said:

For a lot of these types of short videos that are related, I've used MKVToolNix to combine them into one long video, and used its chapter capabilities to give each chapter the title from its original short video. I can then use Emby's chapter list under the movie view to select the chapter to start playback from.

For a P90x type workout disc set, I've used the TV series approach like rbjtech mentioned above.

Nice !  - Does mkvtoolnix do anything flash like auto generate the chapter timings for you ?  

[roaku 842]

19 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

Nice !  - Does mkvtoolnix do anything flash like auto generate the chapter timings for you ?  

Yep. Name the individual files with the desired title for each one, then set the Output tab to have the circled chapter settings.

toolnix will turn each filename (without extension) into a chapter title with the correct timeline for its spot in the aggregated video.

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by roaku

[rbjtech 5284]

Awesome @roaku - I never knew that function was there !

So the OP has a couple of options here, but I think as the individual small MKV's already have multiple chapters (according the screen shot above) - then it's probably best to go with the 'episode' approach.  If they didn't, then the combine and chapter approach is now certainly much easier.  Nice !

 

[Florian2000 17]

Thank you all for the suggestions and solutions!

[Florian2000 17]

but to be honest...those structures with many small videos it would be easiest if emby would just support to open up VLC media player. as far as I observed under windows it is the only player which works pretty well with *.iso files.

and for the android boxes...like fire tv...I have to check.

only for movies where one (two / three) big movie files are there...the converting into mkv makes sense because it's not time consuming. for all other parts it would be great if iso formats would be better supported.

just my two cents.

Edited September 10, 2021 by Florian2000

[Florian2000 17]

how can I export the metadata + pictures I filled in/uploaded?

Meaning when I transfer the "video" files to another library...is the meta data gone? Because it's not listed on the official databases...

[roaku 842]

27 minutes ago, Florian2000 said:

how can I export the metadata + pictures I filled in/uploaded?

Meaning when I transfer the "video" files to another library...is the meta data gone? Because it's not listed on the official databases...

In your Emby settings for the library, make sure you have nfo as both a Metatdata saver and reader and 'save artwork into media folders' options enabled.

This will put the metadata and images in the same directory as your video files in cross system compatible formats.