4K Duplicates

[Guest]

Not sure if this is a feature request or would be considered a bug, but...

I have a separate 4K HDR library with blu-ray rips and noice high bitrates. When I start to watch one of them, if something comes up or I have an issue where I would need to restart the show/movie the continue watching feed shows both the 4K version and the 1080p version. This is a minor annoyance, but I always seem to click the wrong one first.

It would be amazing if we could somehow correct that issue so that only the version of the movie I was actually watching shows up in the continue watching feed.

Alternatively, maybe even imposing a 4K logo/text in the bottom right of the cards from a designated 4K library would be great.

[GrimReaper 4739]

You can approach that in two ways:

1) Use multi-version grouping feature

or

2) Use CoverArt plugin if you want to keep them separated

[Guest]

Are there any resources you might know of that could get me started there, multi-version grouping sounds good, but I don't want any users to be able to access the 4k library unless authorized (in case those approaches would affect that)

 

 

Edited September 19, 2021 by lukeoslavia
Spelling is hard

[GrimReaper 4739]

Just now, lukeoslavia said:

Are there any resources you might know of that could get me started there, multi-version grouping sounds good, but I don't want any users to be able to access the 4k library unless authorized (in case those approached would affect that)

 

[Guest]

I think the cover-art plugin will be the way to go for me. Thanks for that one! 

 

Also, I don't think the auto collections plugin actually works anymore. It says it was integrated into emby, but I couldn't figure out how it worked and gave up. 

 

Either way thanks again for the tip on the cover art plugin, still it would be nice just to have the item I was watching appear instead of it and one from another library also appearing, beggars and such though. 

[GrimReaper 4739]

Just now, lukeoslavia said:

Also, I don't think the auto collections plugin actually works anymore. It says it was integrated into emby, but I couldn't figure out how it worked and gave up. 

That is Auto-box sets plugin that was made part of Emby core. 

Auto-Grouping plugin is the one you want to go with, as it will keep your folder structure intact, hence retaining folder-based access control. Link is in the post above. 

[Happy2Play 9780]

24 minutes ago, lukeoslavia said:

It would be amazing if we could somehow correct that issue so that only the version of the movie I was actually watching shows up in the continue watching feed.

Per the other topics there is no way to do this as userdata/resume is not tracked by path/location in any way as that information is easily lost by moving media.  This information is tracked by providerid (IMDB/TMDB/TVDB ids) so without automatic or manual grouping you will see as many versions as you have in your collection in Continue Watching.

19 minutes ago, lukeoslavia said:

Are there any resources you might know of that could get me started there, multi-version grouping sounds good, but I don't want any users to be able to access the 4k library unless authorized (in case those approaches would affect that)

If Manual grouping/grouping plugin is used and you have restricted folder/library access then uses will not see version they do not have access to.

Edited September 19, 2021 by Happy2Play

[Guest]

Out of curiosity, why not track it by path/location vs a providerid?

I personally don't see how moving media would be a problem as I watch it only when its in its proper folder. Unless I were to delete it, it would just stay put.

Also, if a file were moved after someone had started the media, then moves it, couldn't a library scan just remove the item from the continue watching queue? 

Sorry if this has already been answered, I didn't know others had already requested this.

 

EDIT: Not trying to be an annoyance here, just seems like with the versions drop down I'm replacing some extra steps with slightly different extra steps. The only reason this is an issue at all to me is that I came from plex, and this behavior didn't occur there. It would add only the version of the media I was playing to the continue watching queue and then I just click once and I'm off to the races.

Edited September 19, 2021 by lukeoslavia
Clarifying

[Guest]

Also, is the Auto Grouping plugin only available from the forum? I don't see it in the catalog within emby.

[Happy2Play 9780]

39 minutes ago, lukeoslavia said:

Out of curiosity, why not track it by path/location vs a providerid?

Lots of users move data around so if path were used, every time users reorganized watch/played status would be lost as path and itemid would be different.  With providerid it is a universally known value that would/should never change.

But there are dozens of topic on this discussion.

41 minutes ago, lukeoslavia said:

Also, is the Auto Grouping plugin only available from the forum? I don't see it in the catalog within emby.

Correct it is a plugin created by a community member that never made its way into the catalog. 

Official Emby methods are auto grouping via single media folder and naming scheme or manually grouping in the UI.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

Lots of users move data around so if path were used, every time users reorganized watch/played status would be lost as path and itemid would be different.  With providerid it is a universally known value that would/should never change.

But there are dozens of topic on this discussion.

Ok I see, that does make sense. I tried that out too because I didn't think that worked every time.

Follow up though, could we just keep track of both? 

If two movies with an Identical providerid showed up, you could just check the path of the last version played and then just use that one for the continue watching. At that point if I were to start a movie, stop it, then move it to another folder for X reason, and there were two of them in the queue, I understand I made the duplicate happen and am fine with that, but I also don't see a case where I would do that.

Another alternative, which I like better, would be to assign a unique emby use only id to everything in the libraries, that could also solve that issue. Then a UHD version would have its own emby id, and a HD version would have a completely different emby id.

[GrimReaper 4739]

Tbh I see absolutely no benefit of tracking those items separately, more so by doing it by path since it's so prone to manipulation, especially for those that don't use drive pooling. Whole ecosystem is moving towards multiple copies of the same item: multiple quality versions, conversions, different cuts; tracking each individually introduces unnecessary complexity. Multi-version grouping with providerID allows for easy tracking and gives a flexibility that individual tracking does not, example: you watch 4K item at home and suspend at some point. Later you want to resume same item remotely (bus, train, metro, hotel or whatever). Since it's 4K and your mobile connection likely doesn't have such bandwidth (as for majority of the users it doesn't) , you can either a) transcode to lower quality or b) search for the alternate version, start from beginning and FFWD to a resume point, which you need to remember. Both of those can easily be avoided by simply selecting lower-quality version from the dropdown and direct play. Likewise for resume at home, dropdown is one-click away. Why would you ever want those items tracked individually? 

Edited September 20, 2021 by GrimReaper
Typo

[Guest]

1 minute ago, GrimReaper said:

Tbh I see absolutely no benefit of tracking those items separately, more so by doing it by path since it's so prone to manipulation, especially for those that don't use drive pooling. Multi-version grouping with providerID allows for easy tracking and gives a flexibility that individual tracking does not, example: you watch 4K item at home and suspend at some point. Later you want to resume same item remotely. Since it's 4K and your mobile connection likely doesn't have such bandwidth (as for majority of the users it doesn't) , you can either a) transcode to lower quality or b) search for the alternate version, start from beginning and FFWD to a resume point, which you need to remember. Both of those can easily be avoided by simply selecting lower-quality version from the dropdown and direct play. Likewise for resume at home, dropdown is one-click away. Why would you ever want those items tracked individually? 

I would want them tracked individually because they are not the same thing. Sure they are the same movie, but they are individual files. Granted, I don't watch movies on my phone, but I know others do.

So to that I say, ¿Por qué no los dos?

If it were tracked individually, the version selector could just default to the last used version, then if I wanted to, I could just select the other version. In this case, I want a different thing, not the same thing. This would allow more real estate to see more movies/shows in continue watching. I have a 5G phone, so I don't think bandwidth would be too much of an issue even if I did want the 4K.

The other problem with this is, even though it saves a spot and will attempt to resume the other version of the movie from the same spot, they often don't align. I have movies that can be off by 30(ish) seconds between the two versions at the same timestamp. So scrubbing is still needed.

I guess I'm asking for a piece of cake, I would also like to eat it. :)

[GrimReaper 4739]

3 minutes ago, lukeoslavia said:

I would want them tracked individually because they are not the same thing. Sure they are the same movie, but they are individual files.

Guess it's all down to personal preference and how one sees it - to me it will always be same item and I like that it is treated as such. 

4 minutes ago, lukeoslavia said:

If it were tracked individually, the version selector could just default to the last used version, then if I wanted to, I could just select the other version.

Hopefully it will NEVER work like that, if selecting different version resets or changes resume point. However, we each use media in our own way, your FR is a valid one for your own use, whether it'll get some traction and get implemented at some point - time will tell. 

[Guest]

Just now, GrimReaper said:

Guess it's all down to personal preference and how one sees it - to me it will always be same item and I like that it is treated as such. 

Hopefully it will NEVER work like that, if selecting different version resets or changes resume point. However, we each use media in our own way, your FR is a valid one for your own use, whether it'll get some traction and get implemented at some point - time will tell. 

I'm not saying selecting the other version should change or reset the resume point. What I was saying after that was even if you have the resume point, it often doesn't get you to where you actually were when you are watching a different version of the same movie.

I would like it to work that way, and that shouldn't change the way you are using it now. It would just streamline resuming the version I was using when I click play on the continue watching card.

[GrimReaper 4739]

17 minutes ago, lukeoslavia said:

I have movies that can be off by 30(ish) seconds between the two versions at the same timestamp.

 

2 minutes ago, lukeoslavia said:

even if you have the resume point, it often doesn't get you to where you actually were when you are watching a different version of the same movie.

Then I'd assume it is likely that those aren't different quality versions of the same rip, or at least I haven't encountered such occurence, having different scene at the same timestamp. Try reencoding higher-quality version to lower one and see how does that compare. 

[Guest]

Just now, GrimReaper said:

 

Then I'd assume it is likely that those aren't different quality versions of the same rip, or at least I haven't encountered such occurrence, having different scene at the same timestamp. Try reencoding higher-quality version to lower one and see how does that compare. 

That's what I do currently. I take my 4k rips, and use handbrake to make them 1080p. Its not always that far off, but is almost always off by a little.

[GrimReaper 4739]

11 minutes ago, lukeoslavia said:

That's what I do currently. I take my 4k rips, and use handbrake to make them 1080p. Its not always that far off, but is almost always off by a little.

And do you check those outside of Emby, in your OS, to verify/compare, so you can confirm whether it is encode issue or Emby issue? If latter, Devs would need to comment on that, as I've never noticed such. 

Edit: BTW, I do keep 5 seconds Resume-Rewind, so tbh didn't pay particular attention on one/few seconds offset, if ever it was present. 

Edited September 20, 2021 by GrimReaper
Append

[Guest]

No, I refuse to pay for HEVC to play on windows. I'm already paying for emby to play stuff

[GrimReaper 4739]

Well, I paid HEVC extension immediately upon installing Windows, but even without, shouldn't an external player with built-in codecs and GPU access play those nevertheless (VLC, MPC-HD, PotPlayer, GOM Player...)?

Don't have HEVC-less machine to test, quite easy for you to do so?

[Guest]

Honestly, I don't really care to if I'm honest lol. Its a bit off topic since what I was asking for would fix my issue. But as you suggested earlier, it would require others to want it as well. So ill keep my fingers crossed.

[GrimReaper 4739]

Just now, lukeoslavia said:

what I was asking for would fix my issue. But as you suggested earlier, it would require others to want it as well. So ill keep my fingers crossed.

Yeah, good luck with that one, it might still work out in your favor. 

Cheers

[Carlo 4561]

8 hours ago, lukeoslavia said:

No, I refuse to pay for HEVC to play on windows. I'm already paying for emby to play stuff

Well loosing out on Windows HEVC playback due to one dollar is well, silly.

But you can try this.  Paste this line into the Web browser URL line up top.

ms-windows-store://pdp/?ProductId=9n4wgh0z6vhq

It will want to open the Microsoft Store so let it.  If it works you will be able to install the NEVC extensions.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, cayars said:

Well loosing out on Windows HEVC playback due to one dollar is well, silly.

Why is it silly to save a dollar by not buying something I will never use and have no use for?

We are kind of down a rabbit hole here though. If we could, I would like to get back to the original request, which was to remove a second movie from the continue watching queue when there are two versions of the same movie. It would be nice to know if that's something the devs would or would not like to do, or if they feel other users may want it this way too.

[Carlo 4561]

The only way to do that now as already mentioned is to use Emby's Multi-Version feature to stack the different versions of the same movie.  Then when you play these back you can choose the version to use.

If you use this plugin

You can keep your 4K movies in it's own set of folders different than your normal movies but can add path as a mount point to your normal movies.  Then you can use Folder based access control to allow users to use the 4K media or not.
https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44001160108-folder-based-access-control

If they don't have access to the 4K media it won't show up.

This way each movie will only show one time.