Issue with TV Specials

[ScottTrek 0]

Hi Folks, I have my folder set up like "TV Shows\Star Trek The Next Generation (1987)".  I tried adding a Season 00 for specials, but whenever I do that, the actual episodes don't work as expected.  For example, when I select season 3 episode 1 named as "Star Trek The Next Generation - S03e01 - Evolution", instead of loading the actual episodes, it seems to load a random special. 

I can get the episodes to work if I move the specials out to their own folder, for example: "TV Shows\Star Trek The Next Generation Specials\The Evolution of Star Trek - Part III", but then everything isn't grouped together into one item in the UI.

I followed the instructions for naming specials here: https://emby.media/support/articles/TV-Naming.html#specials

It doesn't seem to work advertised unless I'm missing something.  Any ideas from those who have gotten this to work?

[Abobader 3464]

Hello ScottTrek,

** This is an auto reply **

Please wait for someone from staff support or our members to reply to you.

It's recommended to provide more info, as it explain in this thread:

Thank you.

Emby Team

[Luke 42080]

Quote

For example, when I select season 3 episode 1 named as "Star Trek The Next Generation - S03e01 - Evolution", instead of loading the actual episodes, it seems to load a random special. 

Hi, can you explain what exactly you mean by this, perhaps showing a screenshot example? Thanks.

How exactly have you named and organized the specials?

[ScottTrek 0]

Thank you Luke for your quick reply. 

When I open the Emby application on my phone or computer, open Star Trek to season 3, click on "1. Evolution" and it does not play the episode "Evolution".  Instead, it is playing the special located in "\\Emby\TV Shows\Star Trek The Next Generation (1987)\Season 00\Extras - Season 6\The Evolution of Star Trek - Part III".

Let me know what other information I can provide to help troubleshoot this.  Here's a screenshot of the wrong item being played.  Not sure what other screenshots would be helpful, but please let me know.  Thanks!
 

[Luke 42080]

Hi, Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

[pwhodges 2012]

As a guess, your file naming is not close enough to Emby's preferences for it to get everything right, and in this case the special has been seen as an alternate version of the episode.  If you select the episode details screen, is there a drop-down for the episode name allowing you to select from those two items?  

Paul

[Luke 42080]

Right can we see the full organization and naming for everything under the series folder? can you show a screenshot of the files? Thanks.

[ScottTrek 0]

Quote

If you select the episode details screen, is there a drop-down for the episode name allowing you to select from those two items?  

Yes there is! I was able to select the correct episode! But when I reload, it selects the wrong episode.  How do I tell Emby that the special is not an alternate version of that episode?
 

Here's a screenshot with the path and naming

Path = emby\TV\Star Trek The Next Generation (1987)\Season 3

Edited September 2, 2023 by ScottTrek

[GrimReaper 4742]

Your Season 3 folder is not the issue, it is your Specials folder:

On 8/29/2023 at 3:27 AM, ScottTrek said:

"\\Emby\TV Shows\Star Trek The Next Generation (1987)\Season 00\Extras - Season 6\The Evolution of Star Trek - Part III"

 

On 8/29/2023 at 1:44 AM, ScottTrek said:

I followed the instructions for naming specials here: https://emby.media/support/articles/TV-Naming.html#specials

Not quite, hence the issue you're encountering:

Quote

Specials should be named using one of the following season folder names:

• Season 0
• Season 00
• Specials

For example:

 \TV
    \Glee (2009)
       \Season 0
          Glee S00E01.mp4

You need to rename that special episode (or episodes) to one of the supported naming conventions:

Quote

Episode naming conventions

A number of naming conventions are supported:

• show name - S01E01 - Episode Name.ext
• show name S01E01 Episode Name.ext
• anything_s01e02.ext
• anything_s1e2.ext
• anything_s01.e02.ext
• anything_s01_e02.ext
• anything_1x02.ext
• anything_102.ext
• anything_1x02.ext
• 02 Episode Name.ext
• s01e02.ext
• 1x02.ext

Example would be: "STTNG S00E27 - The Evolution of Star Trek - Part III".

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 0 (2012): Episode 27 - Beyond The Five Year Mission: The Evolution of Star Trek: The Next Generation - Part Three: The Noosphere (themoviedb.org)

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by GrimReaper

[Luke 42080]

Hi, has this helped?

[pwhodges 2012]

19 hours ago, ScottTrek said:

But when I reload, it selects the wrong episode.  How do I tell Emby that the special is not an alternate version of that episode?

When the dropdown exists, you can't tell it which option to default to; it has been requested, though, for things like director's cuts.  But as it stands, the dropdown for alternate versions was designed for different encodings of the same content, and Emby automatically defaults to the one which (assuming they are the same content) should give the best quality within the device capabilities and any bandwidth constraints which may be in place.

However, if you follow the guidelines for naming correctly this issue shouldn't arise, as has already been mentioned

Paul

[ScottTrek 0]

Quote

Example would be: "STTNG S00E27 - The Evolution of Star Trek - Part III".

Quote

However, if you follow the guidelines for naming correctly this issue shouldn't arise, as has already been mentioned

Neither of these suggestions for renaming made any difference, the incorrect episode was still displayed even after using the exact recommendation from Grim Reaper. 

However, what did fix my issue was getting rid of the folder structure in my specials folder.  It turns out everything has to be in the top level specials folder, for example, I can't have Star Trek The Next Generation (1987)\Specials\Season 1 Specials.   This is unfortunate now there's a folder with 100+ files but I suppose at least it works.

Thanks all in this thread for reviewing my issue and taking the time to help.

Edited September 3, 2023 by ScottTrek

[ScottTrek 0]

Also there is nothing in the naming guidelines around not being able to use sub-folders in the specials folder.  It wouldn't hurt to add this to the documentation.

[pwhodges 2012]

1 minute ago, ScottTrek said:

However, what did fix my issue was getting rid of the folder structure in my specials folder.  It turns out everything has to be in the top level specials folder, for example, I can't have Star Trek The Next Generation (1987)\Specials\Season 1 Specials

In other words, when you follow the guidelines for naming correctly it works.  You were using a folder layout that was not in the guidelines, and that was causing the problem.

Paul

[ScottTrek 0]

The guidelines don't say anything about using folders or not using folders.  It's a little ridiculous to have hundreds of unorganized specials in a single folder lol

Edited September 3, 2023 by ScottTrek

[ScottTrek 0]

@pwhodgesalso there's no need to be such a jackass

[pwhodges 2012]

The very first sentence reads: "For a simple TV folder structure, the recommended folder layout is Series (year)\Season #\Episode."

Yes, the requirements are sometimes fiddly - but following them hugely reduces the kind of issue you had.

Paul

Edited September 3, 2023 by pwhodges

[ScottTrek 0]

You can't extrapolate from that that you can or cannot use folders.  The example is too limited with only a single file.  The documentation should be more explicit.  How hard would it be to let folks know what the limitations are? 

Also, Plex works with folders, so why shouldn't Emby? 

You are forcing users to have large unorganized Specials folders for no reason. 

Edited September 3, 2023 by ScottTrek

[Luke 42080]

You can have the subfolders, they just won’t show up in the Emby ui. It’s always a possibility for future updates.