question regarding library options of mixed content films and series

[Florian2000 17]

Hi,

I want a library called "Dokumentation" which contains both films and series. Now I thought I was right with a mixed content library, but this library does not recognise any series...also I can no longer change this type of directory/media type with "Identify"...this menu entry is not offered at all.

 

Identify is missing when clicking on the directory:

 

when clicking on a movie...the entry "Identify" is there:

The same content/media files in the dedicated "Series" library was recognized correctly:

 

So I ask myself what is the use of mixed content libraries when it is not possible to mix movies and series in a proper way?

Or what am I doing wrong?

Br, Florian

 

[ebr 16184]

Hi. Do your series have season folders?  I believe that would be required in mixed content in order to identify them as series instead of just folders full of videos.

[GrimReaper 4740]

How did you setup library paths? I have same mixed-content Documentaries library and have no issues getting either Movies or TV shows recognized.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by GrimReaper
Cross-posted

[Florian2000 17]

I have one library path to the folder "Dokus" and within this folder I have both movies and series.

and this is how I do the series which works fine if it is in a series library but it doesn't work fine in a mixed mode library:

[Florian2000 17]

is the key to have different paths within one library?

[ebr 16184]

Try taking one of those series folders and putting the episodes under the proper "Season x" folders.

In a mixed content library, without something that gives a clue (like the existence of a season folder) there is no way to tell the difference between a TV series and just a folder.

[Florian2000 17]

7 minutes ago, ebr said:

Try taking one of those series folders and putting the episodes under the proper "Season x" folders.

In a mixed content library, without something that gives a clue (like the existence of a season folder) there is no way to tell the difference between a TV series and just a folder.

doesn't work:

it's only one folder more with no further effect.

Identifying is also missing when emby thinks it is only a directory...

[ebr 16184]

You may need to remove the folder from  your library, scan, then re-add it with the proper season folder structure and scan again.

[Florian2000 17]

2 hours ago, ebr said:

You may need to remove the folder from  your library, scan, then re-add it with the proper season folder structure and scan again.

didn't work...it's like GrimReaper wrote: the solution is to have it split into different directories and to have both folders included into one library.
but personally I don't understand why it isn't working in one directory as well.

[ebr 16184]

4 minutes ago, Florian2000 said:

personally I don't understand why it isn't working in one directory as well.

When you create a library and tell the system "this library is for TV content only" then the system can assume everything is a TV show and then the rules for how things have to be structured can be relaxed a bit - because we know exactly what we're looking for.

On the other hand - when you create a library and tell the system "I'm gonna put all kinds of different stuff in here in any number of random organization structures - take your best shot" then the system has a much harder time knowing what any particular video file or group of video files is so we have to rely on stricter organization to help make that identification.

Does that make sense?

[Florian2000 17]

3 minutes ago, ebr said:

When you create a library and tell the system "this library is for TV content only" then the system can assume everything is a TV show and then the rules for how things have to be structured can be relaxed a bit - because we know exactly what we're looking for.

On the other hand - when you create a library and tell the system "I'm gonna put all kinds of different stuff in here in any number of random organization structures - take your best shot" then the system has a much harder time knowing what any particular video file or group of video files is so we have to rely on stricter organization to help make that identification.

Does that make sense?

no makes no sense for me - at least I don't understand why I don't have manual override decision power to tell the system what it really should do.

It's basically a failure to not give the user the power to make the decision if the system failes.

So the only golden rule is and this should be always mandatory in every system: whenever the system has no clue what it should do....let the user decide what to do. Never ever take those entries away which prevents the user to do it right.

It would be pretty easy to let the user open up the "Identify" dialogue....but hey it's gone...so I can do nothing. I would even go further and let the user decide which database should be queried...that would make a lot of sense to me.

[pwhodges 2012]

54 minutes ago, Florian2000 said:

didn't work...it's like GrimReaper wrote: the solution is to have it split into different directories and to have both folders included into one library.
but personally I don't understand why it isn't working in one directory as well.

Emby works best when you use the preferred folder layout; in my early time with it I learned this the hard way!

So my "documentaries" library (yes, I have one too) is in a single folder "documentaries", with each film in its own subfolder "documentaries\film-name" and each series in its own subfolder "documentaries\series-name\season01" (etc for additional seasons). 

This simply works as you'd want it to, and once you've got your library like that it's no trouble to keep it that way in the future.

If Emby still has trouble with something obscure (I have a lot of that...), then I go to TVDB or TMDB and look it up manually, then either change the name in my library to be an exact match to their naming, or append their ID using the [tvdbid=...] or [tmdbid=...] format.  In rare cases I have failed to find something manually, but have found it in IMDB (which Emby doesn't use) - adding [imdbid=tt...] to the folder name then sometimes enables the other databases to find what I'd failed to manually.

Paul

[pwhodges 2012]

53 minutes ago, Florian2000 said:

It's basically a failure to not give the user the power to make the decision if the system fails.

Actually, with the ability to provide the database ID, you do have that power.  But Emby still needs a clear indication of whether something is a film or a series, because on TMDB at least the same ID can be used for a film and a series.

In any case, arranging things as Emby prefers is also the power to help it get things right!

Paul

[Florian2000 17]

19 minutes ago, pwhodges said:

Actually, with the ability to provide the database ID, you do have that power.  But Emby still needs a clear indication of whether something is a film or a series, because on TMDB at least the same ID can be used for a film and a series.

In any case, arranging things as Emby prefers is also the power to help it get things right!

Paul

ok, maybe I don't get it.
I just simple don't understand why Emby recognizes once a directory and once I'm able to press the "Identify" Button. All I want is that the "Identify" Button stays always there.
Now even with two different folders

1) "Dokus\Lance" and
2) "Doku-Serien\Lance"
I get two different behaviors of Emby.
In 1) Emby recognizes only a directory and there is NO "Identify"Button as stated in the inital post. So there is also no way to put any other ID there...

In 2) Emby recognizes a series ... "Identify" Button (marked red down below) is there...

And I really don't get it. The directory structure is completly the same - even the filenames are the same...but Emby recognizes it differently....for whatever reason.

And both directories are in the same library... isn't it funny
 

Edited January 11, 2022 by Florian2000

[Happy2Play 9780]

But Folders can't be identified.  This would create even more issues in a nested folder environment.

So yes there will be issues for unidenfied Series as the Auto detection system will prevent you from possibly making a folder an actual series.

[Florian2000 17]

2 minutes ago, Happy2Play said:

So yes there will be issues for unidenfied Series as the Auto detection system will prevent you from possibly making a folder an actual series.

and that is the reason why I think this should be given into the decision power of the user...
I always want to have the power to decide what's best and when I want a series within a folder...it should be a series and not a damn folder which I can't edit anymore.
Just let the user decide when the automatic failes.

[ebr 16184]

12 hours ago, Florian2000 said:

All I want is that the "Identify" Button stays always there

Hi. What I think you aren't understanding is that the Identify function does not identify the type of any particular item.  It identifies a specific item within a given type.  So, once we know something is a TV series, we can allow you to identify which series it is.  Same with a movie.  There is no such thing for just a folder and, thus, no identify option.

[Florian2000 17]

1 hour ago, ebr said:

Hi. What I think you aren't understanding is that the Identify function does not identify the type of any particular item.  It identifies a specific item within a given type.  So, once we know something is a TV series, we can allow you to identify which series it is.  Same with a movie.  There is no such thing for just a folder and, thus, no identify option.

But who decides which type it is?

For me it looks like emby tries to detect it and if it fails to detect a series I have bad luck and cannot really do a correction the smart way...am I wrong?

[Luke 42079]

23 minutes ago, Florian2000 said:

But who decides which type it is?

For me it looks like emby tries to detect it and if it fails to detect a series I have bad luck and cannot really do a correction the smart way...am I wrong?

It depends on file and folder structure, whether it matches TV folder structure or not.

[Florian2000 17]

would it be possible to keep at least the "identify" option in every case? would help a lot...for those who want kind of manual correction.

[ebr 16184]

16 hours ago, Florian2000 said:

would it be possible to keep at least the "identify" option in every case? would help a lot...for those who want kind of manual correction.

Again, even if we did that, it wouldn't do what you want.  Please see my description above of what "Identify" does.

[Florian2000 17]

13 minutes ago, ebr said:

Again, even if we did that, it wouldn't do what you want.  Please see my description above of what "Identify" does.

ok, well than let's say I want a manual override function. Where the user can decide which type it is and in best case where to look up the info... <-- and once this is set. this media / directory gets automatically the flag - don't automatically replace anything with an automatic...

is this feasable?

Edited January 13, 2022 by Florian2000

[JeremyG 30]

Hey I have always used mixed content for all of my libraries.  (except music)

As long as you do what is listed below everything always works fine.   The only thing is that even if a series only has one Season....make the "Season 1" folder anyway, and Emby will always recognize it as a show.   The folder structure *IS* the manual override...you're structuring it in a way that tells Emby "This is definately a TV Show"

 

  \MovieName\MovieFile.mp4
or
 \SeriesName\Season 1\FileS01E01.mp4
 \SeriesName\Season 1\FileS01E02.mp4

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by JeremyG

[Florian2000 17]

11 minutes ago, JeremyG said:

Hey I have always used mixed content for all of my libraries.  (except music)

As long as you do what is listed below everything always works fine.   The only thing is that even if a series only has one Season....make the "Season 1" folder anyway, and Emby will always recognize it as a show.   The folder structure *IS* the manual override...you're structuring it in a way that tells Emby "This is definately a TV Show"

 

  \MovieName\MovieFile.mp4
or
 \SeriesName\Season 1\FileS01E01.mp4
 \SeriesName\Season 1\FileS01E02.mp4

 

well, basically this is exactly how I do this. I guess it is primarily a problem when something doesn't get recognized correctly.
In my example above I had exactly the same structure and filenames and once it got recognized and once it wasn't recognized...
so whatever the reason for not recognizing e.g. a series is...because what is my option when the system doesn't recognize a series? then it is a normal directory and I cannot identify anything. <-- am I wrong here?