How to let emby identify actor embedded in mp4 file?

[leftcausedit 3]

emby is able to identify title, year, genre, studio, but it can't identify actor, i tried "actor, actors, model, models, actor/model, actors/models, artist, artists, director, directors, people, person", none of them works.

[leftcausedit 3]

ffprobe version 5.1-emby_2023_06_25 Copyright (c) 2007-2022 the FFmpeg developers and softworkz for Emby LLC
  built with gcc 10.3.0 (crosstool-NG 1.25.0)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'test.m4v':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : mp42
    minor_version   : 0
    compatible_brands: mp42isomavc1
    creation_time   : 2016-04-04T19:05:28.000000Z
    track           : 555
    director        : ppper
    genre           : ppper
    date            : 2001
    encoder         : DVDFab 9.1.6.4
    title           : ppper test video
    STUDIO          : ppper
    PRODUCER        : ppper
    PERSON          : ppper
    PEOPLE          : ppper
    MODELS          : ppper
    MODEL           : ppper
    MIXARTIST       : ppper
    disc            : ppper
    DIRECTORS       : ppper
    copyright       : ppper
    composer        : ppper
    comment         : ppper
    ARTISTS         : ppper
    artist          : ppper
    album_artist    : ppper
    album           : ppper
    ACTORS/MODELS   : ppper
    ACTORS          : ppper
    ACTOR/MODEL     : ppper
    ACTOR           : ppper

 

[leftcausedit 3]

I found out that emby support itunMovi, which is very complicated...

[Luke 43549]

4 minutes ago, leftcausedit said:

I found out that emby support itunMovi, which is very complicated...

HI, yes, that and WM/MediaCredits are the two supported conventions for embedding actors in videos.

[leftcausedit 3]

2 hours ago, Luke said:

HI, yes, that and WM/MediaCredits are the two supported conventions for embedding actors in videos.

Thanks, I tested WM/MediaCredits   and it works. However, the value set in this field is identified as actors by default, and it can't set directors and the charactor played by the actor. So is it because emby don't support identify those two or it's just I misunderstand you and did't use it right?

[Luke 43549]

10 minutes ago, leftcausedit said:

Thanks, I tested WM/MediaCredits   and it works. However, the value set in this field is identified as actors by default, and it can't set directors and the charactor played by the actor. So is it because emby don't support identify those two or it's just I misunderstand you and did't use it right?

Correct, there is no way to indicate that information. the wm/mediacredits convention is very primitive so I would suggest using the itunes format instead.

[shawhu 0]

Sorry to bump this old thread, but I have a related question. I searched and this was the closest post I could find.

Is there any update on this? How should I prepare an MKV file so Emby can read its actor list?

Which MKV tag/field should I use for actors? I tried PERFORMER, but Emby didn't pick it up. Genre in the same file is read correctly.

This thread mentions WM/MediaCredits and iTunes iTunMOVI. Do these also work in MKV (Matroska) files, and what separator is expected between names?

Is there any way to embed a role or a person type (Actor, Director, and so on) in the file, or is that only possible with NFO?

Is there an official document listing which embedded tags Emby reads for video files? I couldn't find one.

Some background: these are my own work interview videos, and the performer list contains the interviewer, interviewees and crew. I prefer to keep the data inside the MKV files instead of using separate NFO files.

Thanks in advance!

[Luke 43549]

HI, the server is looking for WM/MediaCredits, and it splits on ; and / . These are just names with no other data attached.

[Luke 43549]

Then for the itunmovi tag, here's an example of that:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://apple.com">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>cast</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>name</key>
            <string>Actor Name</string>
        </dict>
    </array>
    <key>directors</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>name</key>
            <string>Director Name</string>
        </dict>
    </array>
    <key>screenwriters</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>name</key>
            <string>Writer Name</string>
        </dict>
    </array>
    <key>producers</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>name</key>
            <string>Producer Name</string>
        </dict>
    </array>
    <key>studio</key>
    <string>Studio Name</string>
    <key>copy-warning</key>
    <string>Copyright Information</string>
    <key>release-date</key>
    <string>2026-10-23T00:00:00Z</string>
</dict>
</plist>

For this there's also no place for role.