Playlist and multiple vesrions

[jiggity 35]

Hi, i have multiple versions of the same movie, Emby is showing that I have the naming right as i can select the drop down for version selection.

My issue is more with playlists and putting the version i want to play in a playlist.

If I use the add to playlist feature,. i cannot select which version goes to the playlist, and when i manually edit the playlist xml the playlist will show, based on runtime displayed, that the correct version is selected

Playlist is showing:
<PlaylistItem><Path>/mnt/Video/Movie/S/Star.Wars.Episode.III.Revenge.Of.The.Sith (2005)/Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) [Siege.of.Mandalore.Cut].mkv</Path></PlaylistItem>

The file is named in the directory as

However, when I play the file from the playlist it will play the  shorter HDR version, and not the one that is named. Is there some way to make it play the named/selected version?

I am on Emby 4.7.8.0

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by jiggity
emby version include

[Luke 42077]

Hi, yes this is true. There is currently no way to control what gets picked unless you play the item individually from the video detail screen, where you can use the selection to set the version you want. It's something we'll have to think about how to improve on. Thanks.

[jiggity 35]

Thanks Luke,

I can split versions and have the playlists work as I manually build them.
It is a bit of a minor annoyance having to keep 2 library entries for some films, but i can enable the library settings to show resolution and that will allow for some differentiation without needing to be too worried about it for now.

I appreciate your feedback.

[MBSki 1114]

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, yes this is true. There is currently no way to control what gets picked unless you play the item individually from the video detail screen, where you can use the selection to set the version you want. It's something we'll have to think about how to improve on. Thanks.

Luke, I'm not sure I understand. The playlist points at a specific file. Doesn't it just go to the path and the exact file that's identified in the playlist?

[roaku 842]

16 minutes ago, MBSki said:

Luke, I'm not sure I understand. The playlist points at a specific file. Doesn't it just go to the path and the exact file that's identified in the playlist?

The thread starter said it's not working that way and the dev just confirmed that it doesn't work that way.

A lot of us have complained about the inability to target individual cuts from multi version groupings. This is just one more context where you can't do that targeting.

[MBSki 1114]

2 minutes ago, roaku said:

The thread starter said it's not working that way and the dev just confirmed that it doesn't work that way.

A lot of us have complained about the inability to target individual cuts from multi version groupings. This is just one more context where you can't do that targeting.

Hmmm, that just seems really weird. Why am I specifying an exact file in the playlist if that's not how it works? What exactly is occurring in the playlist if it's not using the file specified?

[roaku 842]

13 minutes ago, MBSki said:

Hmmm, that just seems really weird. Why am I specifying an exact file in the playlist if that's not how it works? What exactly is occurring in the playlist if it's not using the file specified?

My guess is that it's because playlist support is very old and the playlist spec itself is even older. That's why it uses direct paths even though Emby itself doesn't.

So *probably* Emby just uses the path to de-reference back to library item, and at that point Emby uses its standard method to choose the 'best' file version for playback based on network conditions and all that. Which is where our constant requests for true multi *cut* support (Director, Unrated, Extended etc) versus multi version (4k, 1080, sd, etc) come in.

On the bright side, Luke's response here is the closest I've seen to them committing to actually adding multi-cut support.

[Luke 42077]

It's not really specific to playlist support. It's more due to just the way that multi-versioning works.

[roaku 842]

20 minutes ago, Luke said:

It's not really specific to playlist support. It's more due to just the way that multi-versioning works.

I was attempting to cover two questions.

1) Why does Emby use file paths in playlists when Emby doesn't work that way?

2) Why doesn't Emby work that way?

The answer to the second one is covered by the multi-version functionality.

The first one I don't think is, and I'm curious what the answer is. My guess has to do with wanting to support a pre-existing 'universal' format for importing/exporting/sharing. Also, maybe Emby did utilize direct file paths at one point, say before multi-version support existed?

 

 

[Luke 42077]

1 hour ago, roaku said:

I was attempting to cover two questions.

1) Why does Emby use file paths in playlists when Emby doesn't work that way?

2) Why doesn't Emby work that way?

The answer to the second one is covered by the multi-version functionality.

The first one I don't think is, and I'm curious what the answer is. My guess has to do with wanting to support a pre-existing 'universal' format for importing/exporting/sharing. Also, maybe Emby did utilize direct file paths at one point, say before multi-version support existed?

 

 

They're grouped together, so a pointer to any of them is essentially a pointer to the group.

[roaku 842]

37 minutes ago, Luke said:

They're grouped together, so a pointer to any of them is essentially a pointer to the group.

I appreciate the response, but that part I already surmised and described earlier:

Quote

So *probably* Emby just uses the path to de-reference back to library item, and at that point Emby uses its standard method to choose the 'best' file version for playback based on network conditions and all that. Which is where our constant requests for true multi *cut* support (Director, Unrated, Extended etc) versus multi version (4k, 1080, sd, etc) come in.

 

My question is *why* do playlists in Emby use filepaths at all, as opposed to the item db ids or uuids that are more commonly used throughout Emby. It's fine if you'd rather not answer that specific question. I'm just curious.

Edited October 9, 2022 by roaku

[Luke 42077]

34 minutes ago, roaku said:

I appreciate the response, but that part I already surmised and described earlier:

 

My question is *why* do playlists in Emby use filepaths at all, as opposed to the item db ids or uuids that are more commonly used throughout Emby. It's fine if you'd rather not answer that specific question. I'm just curious.

Internally it's all id driven. The files use paths because that's what a normal m3u8 playlist would be based on, and also they will survive a re-install better than a database id will.

[GloverEggs 9]

I was wondering if there were any updates on this.  I'm running the Synology beta 4.9.4.1.  I split the grouped versions apart to load the specific version I want in my playlist but then when I play the playlist who knows what I get.  This really stinks when I have one playlist that is normal versions of like Lord of the Rings and one playlist that is the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings movies.  Since each individual file has a direct link, the playlist should play the correct file.  But often it does not.  Now I'm having an issue with the playlist having the Blu Ray version (1080p) but the 4k version playing.

Any ideas on how I can get the playlists to play what they a supposed to play?