Multiple episode in 1 file not being detected properly

[Samkook 18]

Ever since I transferred my emby server on a new pc and went from an older version 3 to the current, I've noticed that some files that contain 2 episodes aren't detected properly.

The season is set to unknown and there's no episode number. I can't remember if it was working properly on the previous version(could be since when it gets detected properly, it's set to watched already) or if I just manually set them to watched in the unknown season and ignored the issue.

I have quite a few of those files that are named with the template 01x12 - 01x13 instead of the 01x12-13 that I am now using and the former doesn't seem to work at all.

Renaming "The Good Place - 01x12 - 01x13 - Mindy St. Claire & Michael's Gambit" to "The Good Place - 01x12-13 - Mindy St. Claire & Michael's Gambit" made it be detected as the 2 episodes properly and since that's the new way I do things, I figured I could just rename the offending files to this and all would be well even though I thought the first one would work too.

But then, after going through all the obvious offenders, I noticed I had the file "Adventure Time - 07x14-15 - The More You Moe, The Moe You Know" that was being detected as season and episode unknown even though it was already named properly. I then renamed it to something else(removed the comma), refreshed the library, renamed it back(put back the comma) and it was detected properly with the right name which was rather odd.

 

So, after a couple of hours figuring out and fixing this, I seem to be all good but since I had already started to write this post, I figured I'd let you know about it anyway in case the way I had some files named was supposed to work and about the weird behavior of that adventure time episode.

I'm also wondering if there's a way to see all the season unknown in the library for troubleshooting purposes instead of checking every series one by one.

[Carlo 4561]

Hi, the best thing to do in cases like this is to move these episodes or tv show out of the library and scan it.  This removes them from the database.
Then rename them as needed and add them back, followed by another scan.

[Samkook 18]

Doesn't simply renaming them do the same but without requiring an extra scan?

[Luke 42078]

1 minute ago, Samkook said:

Doesn't simply renaming them do the same but without requiring an extra scan?

Yes, renaming them is the same.

Are you saying you upgraded from a really old version? The issue was probably associated with that.

[Samkook 18]

I didn't upgrade, I moved my watched status from the old version to trakt.tv and imported it on a fresh install. Because of, I'm assuming, the change in database after 4.0, I was losing my watched status anyway if I were to upgrade so decided to start fresh.

Am I wrong in thinking that something like 01x13 - 01x14 instead of 01x13-14 used to work in a previous version? I feel like it did but I'm not sure enough to say for certain.

 

I really don't know what happened with the Adventure Time episode, does emby keep logs for longer than a week? It's been a couple of months since I did the original scan so I can't find where it tried with what the log page is showing me.

[Luke 42078]

That naming should work. @Happy2Play are you able to reproduce?

[Happy2Play 9780]

4 hours ago, Luke said:

That naming should work. @Happy2Play are you able to reproduce?

Worked fine in my test.  Could this be a provider order?

12 hours ago, Samkook said:

does emby keep logs for longer than a week?

No Emby clears logs older then 3 day.  This is configured in your system.xml.

<LogFileRetentionDays>3</LogFileRetentionDays>

What is the configuration of that library, enabled providers and provider order?

[Samkook 18]

Here are the settings for that library:

I didn't think to test it before, but if I rename the files back to the 01x12 - 01x13 format, they are still detected properly so it looks like it was only the initial scan that had issue with those for some reason but I can't think of something I would have changed that could cause this.

[Samkook 18]

Here's the infos for one that is still failed to be detected properly:

[Happy2Play 9780]

43 minutes ago, Samkook said:

Here's the infos for one that is still failed to be detected properly:

Is Emby providing metadata or is there existing metadata?  From the image suggest missing metadata.

But I had no issue using the same library settings and getting correct results.

[Samkook 18]

There is an already existing .nfo with kodi or xbmc metadata:

Spoiler

<xbmcmultiepisode>
  <episodedetails>
    <title>The Indispensable Man</title>
    <showtitle>Sleepy Hollow</showtitle>
    <season>1</season>
    <episode>12</episode>
    <uniqueid type="tvdb" default="true">4695081</uniqueid>
    <aired>2014-01-20</aired>
    <plot>Ichabod and Abbie discover a massive secret buried within the pages of George Washington’s Bible and unearth the shocking true nature of the founding father’s death. Meanwhile, Captain Irving makes a near-impossible decision for the sake of his beloved family that drastically changes his future.</plot>
    <runtime>45</runtime>
    <displayseason/>
    <displayepisode/>
    <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/episodes/269578/4695081.jpg</thumb>
    <watched>false</watched>
    <credits>|Damian Kindler|Heather V. Regnier|</credits>
    <director/>
    <ratings>
      <rating name="thetvdb" max="10">
        <value>7.8</value>
        <votes>2529</votes>
      </rating>
    </ratings>
    <actor>
      <name>Amandla Stenberg</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Brennan Brown</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Clancy Brown</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Derek Mears</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Jill Marie Jones</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>John Cho</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>John Noble</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Louis Herthum</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Lyndie Greenwood</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Patrick Gorman</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Victor Garber</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Tom Mison</name>
      <role>Ichabod Crane</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332975.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Nicole Beharie</name>
      <role>Abbie Mills</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332974.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Lyndie Greenwood</name>
      <role>Jenny Mills</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332973.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Orlando Jones</name>
      <role>Frank Irvine</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332970.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>John Noble</name>
      <role>Henry Parrish</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332971.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Katia Winter</name>
      <role>Katrina Crane</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332972.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Zach Appelman</name>
      <role>Joe Corbin</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356909.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Lance Gross</name>
      <role>Daniel Reynolds</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356910.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Shannyn Sossamon</name>
      <role>Pandora</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356911.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Nikki Reed</name>
      <role>Betsy Ross</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356912.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Janina Gavankar</name>
      <role>Diana Thomas</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/403854.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Rachel Melvin</name>
      <role>Alex Norwood</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/403855.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Jerry MacKinnon</name>
      <role>Jake Wells</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/403857.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
  </episodedetails>
  <episodedetails>
    <title>Bad Blood</title>
    <showtitle>Sleepy Hollow</showtitle>
    <season>1</season>
    <episode>13</episode>
    <uniqueid type="tvdb" default="true">4695082</uniqueid>
    <aired>2014-01-20</aired>
    <plot>The battle between good and evil comes to an explosive head – sacrifices must be made, worlds collide, loyalties are tested and the town of Sleepy Hollow will never be the same.</plot>
    <runtime>45</runtime>
    <displayseason/>
    <displayepisode/>
    <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/episodes/269578/4695082.jpg</thumb>
    <watched>false</watched>
    <credits>|Alex Kurtzman|Mark Goffman|</credits>
    <director/>
    <ratings>
      <rating name="thetvdb" max="10">
        <value>7.6</value>
        <votes>2529</votes>
      </rating>
    </ratings>
    <actor>
      <name>Clancy Brown</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Derek Mears</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>John Cho</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>John Noble</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Laura Spencer</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Lyndie Greenwood</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Victor Garber</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Tom Mison</name>
      <role>Ichabod Crane</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332975.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Nicole Beharie</name>
      <role>Abbie Mills</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332974.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Lyndie Greenwood</name>
      <role>Jenny Mills</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332973.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Orlando Jones</name>
      <role>Frank Irvine</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332970.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>John Noble</name>
      <role>Henry Parrish</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332971.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Katia Winter</name>
      <role>Katrina Crane</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332972.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Zach Appelman</name>
      <role>Joe Corbin</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356909.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Lance Gross</name>
      <role>Daniel Reynolds</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356910.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Shannyn Sossamon</name>
      <role>Pandora</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356911.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Nikki Reed</name>
      <role>Betsy Ross</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356912.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Janina Gavankar</name>
      <role>Diana Thomas</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/403854.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Rachel Melvin</name>
      <role>Alex Norwood</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/403855.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Jerry MacKinnon</name>
      <role>Jake Wells</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/403857.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
  </episodedetails>
</xbmcmultiepisode>

 

I just noticed that all the files I renamed yesterday to have them be sorted properly are now back to being unwatched in an unknown season.

[Happy2Play 9780]

2 minutes ago, Samkook said:

There is an already existing .nfo with kodi or xbmc metadata:

  Hide contents

<xbmcmultiepisode>
  <episodedetails>
    <title>The Indispensable Man</title>
    <showtitle>Sleepy Hollow</showtitle>
    <season>1</season>
    <episode>12</episode>
    <uniqueid type="tvdb" default="true">4695081</uniqueid>
    <aired>2014-01-20</aired>
    <plot>Ichabod and Abbie discover a massive secret buried within the pages of George Washington’s Bible and unearth the shocking true nature of the founding father’s death. Meanwhile, Captain Irving makes a near-impossible decision for the sake of his beloved family that drastically changes his future.</plot>
    <runtime>45</runtime>
    <displayseason/>
    <displayepisode/>
    <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/episodes/269578/4695081.jpg</thumb>
    <watched>false</watched>
    <credits>|Damian Kindler|Heather V. Regnier|</credits>
    <director/>
    <ratings>
      <rating name="thetvdb" max="10">
        <value>7.8</value>
        <votes>2529</votes>
      </rating>
    </ratings>
    <actor>
      <name>Amandla Stenberg</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Brennan Brown</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Clancy Brown</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Derek Mears</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Jill Marie Jones</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>John Cho</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>John Noble</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Louis Herthum</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Lyndie Greenwood</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Patrick Gorman</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Victor Garber</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Tom Mison</name>
      <role>Ichabod Crane</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332975.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Nicole Beharie</name>
      <role>Abbie Mills</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332974.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Lyndie Greenwood</name>
      <role>Jenny Mills</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332973.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Orlando Jones</name>
      <role>Frank Irvine</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332970.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>John Noble</name>
      <role>Henry Parrish</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332971.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Katia Winter</name>
      <role>Katrina Crane</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332972.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Zach Appelman</name>
      <role>Joe Corbin</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356909.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Lance Gross</name>
      <role>Daniel Reynolds</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356910.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Shannyn Sossamon</name>
      <role>Pandora</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356911.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Nikki Reed</name>
      <role>Betsy Ross</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356912.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Janina Gavankar</name>
      <role>Diana Thomas</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/403854.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Rachel Melvin</name>
      <role>Alex Norwood</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/403855.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Jerry MacKinnon</name>
      <role>Jake Wells</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/403857.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
  </episodedetails>
  <episodedetails>
    <title>Bad Blood</title>
    <showtitle>Sleepy Hollow</showtitle>
    <season>1</season>
    <episode>13</episode>
    <uniqueid type="tvdb" default="true">4695082</uniqueid>
    <aired>2014-01-20</aired>
    <plot>The battle between good and evil comes to an explosive head – sacrifices must be made, worlds collide, loyalties are tested and the town of Sleepy Hollow will never be the same.</plot>
    <runtime>45</runtime>
    <displayseason/>
    <displayepisode/>
    <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/episodes/269578/4695082.jpg</thumb>
    <watched>false</watched>
    <credits>|Alex Kurtzman|Mark Goffman|</credits>
    <director/>
    <ratings>
      <rating name="thetvdb" max="10">
        <value>7.6</value>
        <votes>2529</votes>
      </rating>
    </ratings>
    <actor>
      <name>Clancy Brown</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Derek Mears</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>John Cho</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>John Noble</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Laura Spencer</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Lyndie Greenwood</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Victor Garber</name>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Tom Mison</name>
      <role>Ichabod Crane</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332975.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Nicole Beharie</name>
      <role>Abbie Mills</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332974.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Lyndie Greenwood</name>
      <role>Jenny Mills</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332973.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Orlando Jones</name>
      <role>Frank Irvine</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332970.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>John Noble</name>
      <role>Henry Parrish</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332971.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Katia Winter</name>
      <role>Katrina Crane</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/332972.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Zach Appelman</name>
      <role>Joe Corbin</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356909.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Lance Gross</name>
      <role>Daniel Reynolds</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356910.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Shannyn Sossamon</name>
      <role>Pandora</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356911.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Nikki Reed</name>
      <role>Betsy Ross</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/356912.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Janina Gavankar</name>
      <role>Diana Thomas</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/403854.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Rachel Melvin</name>
      <role>Alex Norwood</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/403855.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
    <actor>
      <name>Jerry MacKinnon</name>
      <role>Jake Wells</role>
      <thumb>https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/actors/403857.jpg</thumb>
    </actor>
  </episodedetails>
</xbmcmultiepisode>

 

I just noticed that all the files I renamed yesterday to have them be sorted properly are now back to being unwatched in an unknown season.

Not sure how Emby will parse this as it does not honor multi-episodes in a single nfo (kodi) style.  Emby still uses the old style

Quote

  <episode>12</episode>
  <episodenumberend>13</episodenumberend>
  <season>1</season>

 @Lukeis would this just a reading issue on existing metadata as OP is reading but not writing nfo files?

[Luke 42078]

Is <episodenumberend>13</episodenumberend> present in the nfo?

[Samkook 18]

It is not, I included the whole nfo in my previous post in the spoiler tag if you want to check it.

I've been using sickbeard/sickgear to create the xbmc/kodi metadata since a very long time ago.

What's weird is that if I rename it and do a manual scan, then it gets detected properly, until the next library scan scheduled task(I assume) where it reverts back to being wrong. Sounds like it somehow ignores the nfo file on a manual scan or it manages to detect it's not a recognized format for emby(and I assume emby gathers its own metadata in that case which would make sense to me) and ignores it but then the scheduled scan messes it up.

[GrimReaper 4740]

Our your SickBeard/SickGear simply recreates nfo for your renamed episodes during its scheduled scans, and which falls between you manually renaming it and Emby's next scheduled library scan? 

To make it more clear, this workflow:

Episode Rename (unlinking it from present nfo) > Emby Manual scan (scraping correct data) > SichGear scheduled scan (creating nfo for renamed episode, linking it back) > Emby Scheduled scan (picking up nfo data again). 

Try renaming episode, do a manual scan, afterwards run Scan media library task, all with SickGear shut down, and see whether the changes will stick. 

[Luke 42078]

Exactly. The server isn't ignoring the nfo, rather it is reading it and the value isn't there.

[Samkook 18]

SickBeard/SickGear doesn't have scheduled scans for metadata. The metadata creation is a one time thing unless you force it to do it again manually. Even if it were missing, SB/SG would be fine with the situation.

I also rename the .nfo, the poster and the fanart files at the same time I rename the video if I do it manually or I can use SickGear manual rename(I select the episode to have renamed with my current naming nomenclature) all 4 at the same time before the emby scan so the nfo is never unlinked when the emby scan occurs.

I tried forcing the media library scan after renaming a couple of episodes to see if they would go back to not being detected properly and they are still ok for now. The scheduled one is in less than an hour so I'll see if that's still the case after that one. The scheduled one just ran and all is still good but I didn't change anything since the last time it reverted. I previously noticed the issue overnight so I'll check again tomorrow. Not sure what else could cause the episodes to revert back to an unknown season.

 

@Luke I understand that's how it works, but the result is not consistent. Switching between 2 working naming format(changing "01x12 - 01x13" to "01x12-13" or vice-versa) and then going into the TV Show page, clicking on more and then selecting Scan Library Files will move the episode in the correct season and be listed properly as 2 episodes even though the .nfo associated with that file isn't in the format emby can read properly hence my assumption that emby will sometime use its own scraping information instead of relying on the existing nfo.

And at some point, the episode will revert to being in an unknown season with no episode number associated with it without me doing anything.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Samkook

[Luke 42078]

Quote

I understand that's how it works, but the result is not consistent. Switching between 2 working naming format(changing "01x12 - 01x13" to "01x12-13" or vice-versa) and then going into the TV Show page

It's not the naming convention that matters (assuming they were all supported), but just the act of renaming, causing it to get scanned again and become a new item in the library. That probably happens first, then you have other software writing an nfo file, the value is missing from that nfo, and Emby Server reads the contents of it, thus creating your problem.

[Samkook 18]

Yeah, I was just describing what I was doing in details to trigger that library scan event, in case it mattered. Unless you're saying emby doesn't read the nfo after a rename, it's not my issue since the nfo file is already there(and has been for years), before and after the rename since I rename it at the same time as the video file.

[Samkook 18]

The episodes reverted back today and I figured out what triggers it. Turns out I was wrong about SickGear metadata creation being a one time thing, guess that was only the older SickBeard doing it that way. It apparently modifies or create every metadata nfo files around 3am every day.

So what makes emby put the episode back into the unknown season is if the nfo file modified date changed and a library scan sees it.

I can reproduce it by renaming the episode and nfo, then scanning the library(just for the tv show is enough, doesn't need to be global) and the episode goes to the right place(somehow emby ignores the nfo content to do that), then I open the nfo in notepad and do ctrl+s without changing anything inside just so the modified date of the file changes and I start a library scan again and the episode will be back in the unknown season. If the modified date on that nfo doesn't change, the episode will stay in the right place during library scans even though the nfo content isn't understood properly by emby.

 

Just to make things clear, I know the only way to fix my issue would be to either support the newer kodi metadata style for multi episodes or emby ignoring metadata from files it can't read properly and doing its own scraping instead in that case. While I would like either of those 2 option being implemented, I don't really expect them to, especially since dual episodes are so rare so it's easy to deal with them for me as it is. I'm mostly troubleshooting what's happening here because from what I understand from what Luke said, emby is not supposed to put my multi episodes files in the correct season and episode when I rename them.

[Luke 42078]

Why not just turn off nfo creation in Sickbeard and let Emby Server do that?

[Samkook 18]

Because I've been using kodi as my media player since it began on the xbox so I want to make sure my metadata is fully compatible with it since I don't see myself ever stopping using it so if for some reason I need to load metadata directly, I want it to work properly.

Also, emby doesn't have write access to my library since I want to be 100% certain I won't hit delete on something by mistake or a buggy addon or beta release won't delete my stuff.

[Carlo 4561]

You can turn off the ability for any/all users to not be able to delete media so that shouldn't be a problem.

If you let Emby write the NFOs then Kodi should still be able to read it.

This would also allow you to use the Emby UI for things like replacing images and have them written to the media libs as well.

[Samkook 18]

A bug could still delete media even if it's disabled in the UI and with how big my library is and how important it is to me, I don't want to take any chances unless I have to. A thread like this one doesn't inspire confidence:

I've shift+deleted an entire folder in the past instead of the 2 items a file manager had marked as selected because of a bug it had and it's really not a fun thing to have happen.

From what I understand about the nfo, emby uses an older version of what kodi used so it they drop support for those in the future, they might not work anymore. It's just safer to stick with the actual current kodi format.

I can already use the UI to change that stuff, it's just not saved to my media library folder so as long as I'm not forced to ditch the metadata with a troublesome update like from v3 to 4, it's not an issue. It's also not very important to me to have the perfect image or stuff like that and the few times I do it is because emby can't find what I need so I have to do it manually anyway.

Edited August 22, 2021 by Samkook

[Carlo 4561]

Keep in mind that was a test/beta version and not a release version.
This was caused by people putting 1000 movies in one folder and then deleting a movie and ignoring the message of the folder that was to be deleted.

On many OS you can turn on recycle bin and be fully protected.  I do this on Synology for example so I could delete my whole movie path and it would all be in the Recycle bin.

But sure, if you don't give Emby anything but read access you can't get anything deleted by accident. You just lose out on many great feature Emby has to offer without write access to the folders.