Media browsing thumbnail questions

[seashell 42]

Questions about thumbnails, if that's the correct term.  I don't mean ones for ff/rw during playback but just the ones that show up while media browsing.

1)  What makes emby take frame grabs to use as thumbnails?  It seems to consistently do it for various extras of movies but almost never for extras of other media types.

I have "Video Preview Thumbnails" = never, and "Image Capture" disabled everywhere so I have no idea why it's making any of these nor why it doesn't in other cases.   Is "Image Capture" even what would do this?

 

2) Why does it store some of these thumbnails in the media folder and others in the server metadata folder?  All libraries have "Save artwork into media folders" checked.   But for most but not all of the screen grab thumbnails they are not stored along side the media.

Sadly as usual, zero documentation here.  The only mentions of "thumb" at https://emby.media/support/index.html is in file naming.  (And image editing where it tells you the file naming.)

[seashell 42]

It seems the images I'm talking about for individual files are called posters.  But the questions remain.

[Luke 42078]

Hi, for both questions, can you please show a specific example of  what you mean? Thanks.

[seashell 42]

Ignore this... I tried an example in next post.

Edited February 4, 2024 by seashell
OBE

[seashell 42]

Here's a self-contained confusing example.  It's a movie with files in a featurettes directory.

The left most file has an image the metadata system downloaded.   The others are screen grabs from the files.

Here's the directory, only one image in the entire directory.

'Allied Forces - Making 1917-poster.jpg'
'Allied Forces - Making 1917.mkv'
'Allied Forces - Making 1917.nfo'
'Allied Forces'$'\357\200\242'' Making 1917.nfo'
'In the Trenches.mkv'
'In the Trenches.nfo'
'Recreating History.mkv'
'Recreating History.nfo'
'The Score of 1917.mkv'
'The Score of 1917.nfo'
'The Weight of the World - Sam Mendes.mkv'
'The Weight of the World - Sam Mendes.nfo'
 

 

So why/how did it generate the screen shots for the other files?  Why isn't it keeping them in the media folder?  Why does it only sometimes generate these images?

 

[seashell 42]

So setting "Image Capture" in the Image Fetchers will make it generate these images where it hasn't been.  But why is it generating them automatically for movies extras and a few other random folders even though I have "Image Capture" unchecked for every library.  In fact in my mixed library it generates them for things it identifies as movies but not for (most) other things.

And I'd guess when it makes the executive decision to generate an Image Capture thumb w/o permission is also when it stores them in the metadata folder instead of alongside the media.

Edited February 4, 2024 by seashell

[Luke 42078]

One reason the images could end up in the metadata folder is if you enable saving to media folders but then the server gets denied write access:

How to Report a Problem

 

[seashell 42]

No it's not that.  Library is a locally mounted disc with the same permissions as everywhere else.  Why is it even generating image captures with that option disabled?  And why only for movies.  Find that bug and I bet you find it's also writing to the metadata folder under that bug.

Is there anyway to redirect the metadata folder to somewhere other than /opt?  I only see an option for cache and transcode.

[Luke 42078]

3 minutes ago, seashell said:

No it's not that.  Library is a locally mounted disc with the same permissions as everywhere else.  Why is it even generating image captures with that option disabled?  And why only for movies.  Find that bug and I bet you find it's also writing to the metadata folder under that bug.

Is there anyway to redirect the metadata folder to somewhere other than /opt?  I only see an option for cache and transcode.

Right I understand, but do you know how many times we've had users fire back a rebuttal and say that can't be it permissions, and then we look at the server log and we see that it is.

That's why it at least needs to be reviewed if even to rule it out.

[Luke 42078]

Quote

Is there anyway to redirect the metadata folder to somewhere other than /opt?  I only see an option for cache and transcode.

Have you explored advanced library options? Make sure to read the help text before changing it.

[seashell 42]

All my media is on one disc.  The emby server account has read and write access to it.  It writes the nfo files into the media directories with no problems.  Why would it be able to create nfo files and not images with a permission issue?  No linux permission is that restrictive to my knowledge.  Or how about the example I posted.  All the extras were copied to the library at the same time.  Why would it be able to create one image and no others?  I haven't changed the permissions since I installed emby.

I've been all through the library settings.  Advanced included.  It left me totally confused where these are coming from as every box with Image Capture was unchecked.

Tell me which option says create image captures other than the boxes labeled "Image Capture" and I'll see if that setting is set.

[Luke 42078]

Again the server log would help answer a lot of this:

How to Report a Problem

Thanks.

[seashell 42]

To be clear, this isn't a one off thing.  It's been happening for the month or so I've been using Emby.  I just finally decided to try and figure out why some places have screen caps as thumbnails (posters) and some just have the generic "thumbnail" image for the movie/series.  That's when I noticed that there weren't even image files in the directories. 

I have no server log for a specific example.  How long does emby keep them?  Where are they?  What should I grep for so I can see if it has happened for the past month?

Again, isn't it creating image captures with that off a clue that something is wrong?  If not tell me what is allowing it to do that.

[Luke 42078]

Quote

How long does emby keep them?

Up to three days.

Quote

Where are they?

Depends on library options. But remember that changing options won't move files that have already been downloaded.

My suggestion would be to add new content, and then if things are not being saved where you expect them to be then let's look at a specific example. Trying to determine what might have happened in the past without a server log is going to be difficult.

[seashell 42]

Ok, no easy split quote it seems.

I meant where are the logs and what to grep for in them.

Great suggestion,  why don't you create a movie library with Image Capture turned off.  Then put a made up special in a subdirectory of a movie.  A special that won't be on the internet to supply an image.  See if it creates an image capture and where it stores it.  Obviously set the store images locally option too.

Tell me if that works correctly for you and doesn't create a screen grab and if it does stores it in the media folder not the metadata one.

Edited February 4, 2024 by seashell

[seashell 42]

Well I have good news.  The stored in the metadata folder problem stopped after I switched from the 4.7 branch to the 4.8 beta branch.  I can see by the date of adding files that there's a clear separation between pre and post install of 4.8.  All the media added post 4.8 has the images stored in the media folder.

So I still have two questions:

1) What do I do to correct the existing problems?  What's the proper technique to get it to delete the images from the metadata folder and place them in the media folders?  Do I have to select replace metadata with all images on every bad file?  Will replace metadata even do what I want?

2)   I still have the question of why is it generating screen shots with "Image Capture" disabled in the Image Fetchers.  I will attach screen grabs of the settings for my movie library.  Tell me what setting I've missed that has it creating Image Captures.

Edit:  Ugh.  It posted them all in reverse order.  Oh well they're all there.

Edited February 4, 2024 by seashell

[Luke 42078]

Hi, does the help text at the top of the library options dialog help answer on what to do for existing items?

[seashell 42]

1 minute ago, Luke said:

Hi, does the help text at the top of the library options dialog help answer on what to do for existing items?

Not exactly.  "you'll need to refresh their metadata manually" is a bit vague.  And I haven't actually changed settings so will doing refresh metadata do it?  And is there an easier way than file by file to select all the movie extras?  For TV shows I could click on the "specials" season.

[seashell 42]

@Luke I'd still like to know what setting is creating the screen grab thumbnails other than the "Image Capture" fetcher.

[Luke 42078]

20 minutes ago, seashell said:

@Luke I'd still like to know what setting is creating the screen grab thumbnails other than the "Image Capture" fetcher.

That is it. 

[seashell 42]

Just now, Luke said:

That is it. 

Then there's still a bug.  As you can see in the settings shots it's unchecked but the screen grab thumbnails are still getting created for movies "extras" (in the various accepted folder names).

[Luke 42078]

Maybe you had it enabled at the time they were scanned in. Try deleting the existing images, then refresh metadata on them. Does that recreate the image?

[seashell 42]

It's never been on.  But I did just as you asked and yes it recreates the images.

[Luke 42078]

How many emby libraries have you created, and what folder paths are added to each one?

[seashell 42]

Three libraries.  All with a single unique, non-overlapping folder path.  And prior to this weekend none of the libraries had "Image Capture" enabled.

Have you tried this experiment yourself yet?  Debian linux is where the server is running.  It always does this for movies extras.  It did it for a few random folders in my mixed content library as well.  It does not do it for TV shows specials/extras/etc.