Single file with multiple episodes displayed as a single episode

[Eremitak 6]

I cannot find a solution to this problem.
I have an mkv file named "Fate／Grand Carnival - s01e01-e02 - Owari Subs [BD] - 1st Season.mkv" and emby seems to recognize that it is 2 episodes but instead of creating 2 episodes, it creates one with the titles of both episodes.

As you expect (on plex):

The "episode number" field is marked 1,
Even putting absolute order does not change anything.
Forcing the season id of TheTVDB does not change anything.
I don't understand how to force viewing to 4 separate episodes (like on plex).
------------------------------------------

They are not the 2 episodes on TheMovieDB because the cover of ep 1 and the title do not match.
So I don't understand from where it decides that the season is 2 episodes and not 4.

It would be convenient to be able to choose and not take a leap in the dark hoping the priority metadata provider will do as it pleases.

[rbjtech 5284]

If you click to play episode 2 in Plex - does it just playback from the start of episode 1 ?  (I expect it does - how does it know where episode 2 starts ?)

Emby is doing exactly as the filename suggests it should - it has episodes 1 and 2 - so that is what it shows ..

If you want to see 4 episodes, then you need 4 files.

 

[rbjtech 5284]

edit - if you want to reproduce what plex does (badly, imo if it just plays the start of episode 1 again..) then you need to create a 'virtual' episode (s01e02) that points to s01e01e02 using strm files - maybe that is what Plex is doing ?s

ie create a text file called Fate／Grand Carnival - s01e02 - Owari Subs [BD] - 1st Season.strm

it just needs to point to the real file ie

<file path>\Fate／Grand Carnival - s01e02 - Owari Subs [BD] - 1st Season.mkv

emby will then list 'episode 2' for you (and get all it's metadata etc) but actually just play 'Episode 1(and 2)'.

[Happy2Play 9780]

3 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

If you click to play episode 2 in Plex - does it just playback from the start of episode 1 ?  (I expect it does - how does it know where episode 2 starts ?)

Yes I would like to know this also as users have brought it up before but how do they know where the 2nd episode starts?

At the same time Emby does not read multiple <episodedetails> from a single nfo file either.

[Eremitak 6]

Plex restarts from the beginning (maybe there was a way through specific chapters or tags in the mkv to start plex at the right time).
But in my case, I want to hurt myself and prefer to display the posters.§
Thanks for the response.

[rbjtech 5284]

2 minutes ago, Eremitak said:

Plex restarts from the beginning (maybe there was a way through specific chapters or tags in the mkv to start plex at the right time).
But in my case, I want to hurt myself and prefer to display the posters.§
Thanks for the response.

ok thanks - so plex is basically adding the 'pointer' for you - which tbh is not a bad thing but it should be an 'option' - as people are going to expect episode 2 to play, not just re-play episode 1 and having to either manually jump to episode 2 - or if you are lucky, there is a chapter in the MKV allowing you to skip to 'Episode 2'.

[Happy2Play 9780]

At the same time if you watch 1 you have watched 1 and 2.   There is no inbetween.  But pretty sure this is about multiple <episodedetails> as I believe Kodi does the same as Plex.\

Reading and writing of nfo for multi-part episodes is wrong - General/Windows - Emby Community

 

[VirulentPip 93]

Yep, there needs to be an in-between. Not listing both individually (even though Plex sets the 2nd and or 3rd etc episode as watched - as to not mess up Continue watching) but also not just the episode details for 1 episode. 

[Happy2Play 9780]

As a non Plex or Kodi user I have always liked the multi episode as one entry as it tells you there are two episodes as CW flows properly.  CW can't be messed up when individual episode do not exist as when you watch the first episode you have watched both.  And if your paused in the middle you still have Resume.

But in the end these are all personal preference as this covers both to me.

[rbjtech 5284]

If the MKV has chapter points for each episode, then using mkvtoolnix 'split' (by chapter) is also another option to get individual files - you'll still need to rename them accordingly though - but it's better than manually having to split them.

[Eremitak 6]

19 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

ok thanks - so plex is basically adding the 'pointer' for you - which tbh is not a bad thing but it should be an 'option' - as people are going to expect episode 2 to play, not just re-play episode 1 and having to either manually jump to episode 2 - or if you are lucky, there is a chapter in the MKV allowing you to skip to 'Episode 2'.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mkvtoolnix/comments/ko764r/create_a_segment_mkv_file_that_plays_chapters_of/

https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=169984

Technically it is possible through segmentation (in mkvs) to create a single mkv with 2 episodes, which episodes can be "selected" precisely through segmentation.
I don't know if emby supports mkv playback with segments, but plex 100% does not support segments.
That said, by creating 2 segments, Emby could star the 2nd segment (which would be episode 2).
In short, it is not impossible but it is out of the ordinary.

[rbjtech 5284]

1 minute ago, Eremitak said:

https://www.reddit.com/r/mkvtoolnix/comments/ko764r/create_a_segment_mkv_file_that_plays_chapters_of/

https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=169984

Technically it is possible through segmentation (in mkvs) to create a single mkv with 2 episodes, which episodes can be "selected" precisely through segmentation.
I don't know if emby supports mkv playback with segments, but plex 100% does not support segments.
That said, by creating 2 segments, Emby could star the 2nd segment (which would be episode 2).
In short, it is not impossible but it is out of the ordinary.

Correct - MKV supports all sorts of branching and playback 'tricks' but you'll be hard pressed to find a media player that will fully support this.

[Eremitak 6]

1 minute ago, rbjtech said:

If the MKV has chapter points for each episode, then using mkvtoolnix 'split' (by chapter) is also another option to get individual files - you'll still need to rename them accordingly though - but it's better than manually having to split them.

As long as you are splitting audio and video it is easy, but how do you split an .ass with 900000 lines of Typeset?
Anime is subtitled and decent subs are .ass.
Can't mkvmerge do that, it doesn't know when the .ass needs to be split unless it rearranges the lines of the scripts with timestamps and then goes and cuts the script in two and recreates a copy of the script header, styleset, etc...
It is not feasible on anime libraries the "just split with X..."

[Eremitak 6]

1 minute ago, rbjtech said:

Correct - MKV supports all sorts of branching and playback 'tricks' but you'll be hard pressed to find a media player that will fully support this.

The ones I know and know that work are: VLC and MPC

[rbjtech 5284]

4 minutes ago, Eremitak said:

As long as you are splitting audio and video it is easy, but how do you split an .ass with 900000 lines of Typeset?
Anime is subtitled and decent subs are .ass.
Can't mkvmerge do that, it doesn't know when the .ass needs to be split unless it rearranges the lines of the scripts with timestamps and then goes and cuts the script in two and recreates a copy of the script header, styleset, etc...
It is not feasible on anime libraries the "just split with X..."

Sure - but frankly, I don't know why Anime always seem to add multiple episodes into single files - it just adds complexity when there really is no need to - what is gained by doing this ?

[pwhodges 2012]

Always?  I've only got this twice in my hundreds of shows.  One is an anime in which each episode is 3 minutes long with 2.5 minutes of intro and ending - having it edited together as one 36 minute film was only sensible!  The other is similar - four 7-minute episodes.  In the second case TVDB even has a separate entry for the "film" version.

Mind you, I have seen rips offered where the ripper has just taken the whole sequence off a DVD or BD disk as a single file ignoring the episode splits - but I ignore those as simple incompetence.

Paul

Edited October 18, 2022 by pwhodges

[pwhodges 2012]

23 minutes ago, Eremitak said:

As long as you are splitting audio and video it is easy, but how do you split an .ass with 900000 lines of Typeset?
Anime is subtitled and decent subs are .ass.
Can't mkvmerge do that, it doesn't know when the .ass needs to be split unless it rearranges the lines of the scripts with timestamps and then goes and cuts the script in two and recreates a copy of the script header, styleset, etc...
It is not feasible on anime libraries the "just split with X..."

What makes you think that MKVToolnix doesn't do exactly that? (Hint: it does.)

Paul

[Eremitak 6]

6 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

Sure - but frankly, I don't know why Anime always seem to add multiple episodes into single files - it just adds complexity when there really is no need to - what is gained by doing this ?

It is a longer and more complicated discourse but:
A Japanese anime has an average length of 24 minutes.
There are series (precisely like Fate Grand Carnival) which are thought of as 24 minutes and then released in 12-minute episodes.
For simplicity of episode sharing and sense of longevity, the groups combine these 2 12-minute episodes into one 24-minute episode.
Now, there are series with 3-minute or 1.5-minute mini-episodes, which is mainly why they merge the episodes.
Then there are exceptions such as:
RBWY Ice Queendom which is officially released in 2 versions, Episode 1, 2 and 3 in one file, episode 1, 2 and 3 separate on the streaming platform (crunchyroll).
Yuuki Yuuna Yuusha de Aru the united Episode 1 & 2 and the 90-minute episode of [OSHI NO KO] that has been announced. The latter will then be released as 4 separate episodes.
Other cases are:
2 united episodes of the final part of a battleshonen fight (this is to give continuity and not have 1:30 minutes of Opening and 30 seconds of recap between the 2 episodes).
Then, going further, there are cases where multi-episodes are created because as they were officially released they are not quite "correct."
To cite one, "Ascendance of a Bookworm" the two special episodes, are actually a single episode released in 2 parts because of how they are distributed in the BluRay.

[Eremitak 6]

10 minutes ago, pwhodges said:

What makes you think that MKVToolnix doesn't do exactly that? (Hint: it does.)

Paul

"Extract" does not mean "recreate" a script of rows NOT sorted into 2 scripts...
An .ass script has a header and sections at the beginning of the file, without logic written in mkvmerge specifically for .ass v4 scripts...I see it hard, that they are automaticaly "cut" in 2 so that everything works.
Since the fansub groups (on average) create a "section" at the bottom or top of the scripts with all the typesets, mkvmerge would first have to reorder the rows, then calculate the timestamps used in .ass v4 and figure out when to cut; then recreate the scripts with the exact same settings, and finally, save the 2 new scripts and integrate them into the new files.
Otherwise you end up with the first mkv file being 24 minutes long (the original script) and the video ending at 12 min.
Including the fact that it should duplicate the attachments in the 2nd mkv.
If you know 100% that it does all this automatically, please confirm, because I don't remember it doing these things.
 

[rbjtech 5284]

Thanks for taking the time to give a detailed reply.   I get the need to do this at a 'program' level (for the user experience) - I guess the part which I find odd is why they don't just continue this in the file creation as well.   Mini / short episodes or not,  it makes no difference to emby/plex/vlc or whatever if you have 100 small MKV's or 1 large one - it just makes it more 'logical' to find metadata for - not relying on the filename or internal chapters to tell you what's in the container.      Anyway, it's not going to change (lol), so I guess these apps need to always have Anime in mind when it comes to functionality such as this and try and accommodate it where possible. 

 

[pwhodges 2012]

10 minutes ago, Eremitak said:

If you know 100% that it does all this automatically, please confirm, because I don't remember it doing these things.

Put an MKV file with ass subs, including font attachments, into MKVToolnix, and write it out as two files using the splitting facility.  Then extract the subs and look at them; the heading sections are all duplicated, so the styles are all available in both fragments.  The font attachments are also duplicated into the two resulting files.  Of course, the times are shifted as necessary, too.

I've done this many times without giving it a thought - but just now I did it again and looked at the files to check that my description is exact.

Equally, you can join separate MKV files, and the ass subtitles will be combined into one stream with all the necessary styles and fonts and adjustments to the timing.

Paul