Separate cast from crew

[CRiXiD 25]

8 minutes ago, Smitty018210 said:

This would only be an honest guess, but I would think you are in the minority on that. (I'm sure now people come through and tell me I am wrong. lol)

I am not even saying they are not important, it's not something I care about, but I understand others do find that info very important. 

I do think emby should create a section for crew under the actors for those who want that info displayed.  

My issue as always though is that emby has very little in the way a customizing UI items(sections) like this.

I have to use the WEB player/Browser so that I can remove unwanted items from the UI with custom CSS and can't use new windows app because of it. 

If this is added and we are not give option to remove it. I would have to have yet more CSS code to get rid of it.

Haha, I'm sure you're right to be honest. My SO and I like to think of ourselves as cinephiles, so make of that what you will  TBH I'd just be happy if we could prioritise the order of cast in the same row as a setting (which it sounds like @Lukeis implying we can now do). Keeping the UI simple is also an important balance.

[Killface69 103]

I also think that this change is necessary. 

The data sources on the internet become more and more cluttered, let's take Avengers: Endgame as an example: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/299534-avengers-endgame/cast
My main issue with how the data is provided and perceived by Emby. There are 105 actors listed for the film, meaning scrolling 105 entries to get to the crew information. (I had another film with 90+ "(uncredited)" entries. The order and amount of entries can vary between providers, depending on which person took the time to add/edit the movie/series. There's no "main cast" diversification, even minor off-screen roles like "Gamora Reader" are listed in the cast nowadays (I do get the point of completition and the actor's interest in visibility, but it's just too much information).

While the main cast can be very messy, the crew itself is somehow underwhelming. I've been working on cast and crew updates in Python (code way too slow and unreliable to publish). I've found that there could be more information scraped, at least from Tmdb. See my code example below:

        crew_buckets = {"Director": [], "Writer": [], "Producer": [], "Composer": [], "Conductor": [], "Lyricist": []}

        job_to_type_role = {
            # Director
            # "tmdb_entry":("EmbyType", "EmbyRole")
            "director": ("Director", None),

            # Writers
            "writer": ("Writer", "Autor"),
            "screenplay": ("Writer", None),
            "screenwriter": ("Writer", None),
            "teleplay": ("Writer", None),
            "author": ("Writer", "Autor"),
            "novel": ("Writer", "Romanvorlage"),
            "adaptation": ("Writer", "Adaption"),
            "story": ("Writer", "Story"),
            "comic book": ("Writer", "Comicvorlage"),
            "original story": ("Writer", "Story"),
            "theatre play": ("Writer", "Theaterstück"),

            # Music
            "composer": ("Composer", None),
            "original music composer": ("Composer", "Filmmusik"),
            "lyricist": ("Lyricist", None),
            "songs": ("Lyricist", "Songs"),
            "theme song performance": ("Lyricist", "Theme Song"),

            # Other crew types
            "producer": ("Producer", None),
            "conductor": ("Conductor", None),
        }

There are some Tmdb departments like Sound and Writing which are not processed by Emby. As you can see in my job_to_type_role, it also needs more diversification; I've used the role fiield that's not available in web editor for that purpose. The producer is also kinda messy, as there's a huge difference between ex. prod. and just producer in TV and film.

[Smitty018210 163]

37 minutes ago, CRiXiD said:

 TBH I'd just be happy if we could prioritise the order of cast in the same row as a setting (which it sounds like @Lukeis implying we can now do). Keeping the UI simple is also an important balance.

I would have guess that Luke is talking about how you can manually reorder the cast list by dragging and dropping them within the metadata editor. Which would take forever if you wanted to have directors listed before the actors on all your media.

As for as I know (I don't have my server updated to latest version) you can't just click an option somewhere and reorder the list automatically. <-----------(But I could be wrong) 

Edited October 3, 2025 by Smitty018210

[Bigmack3000 111]

5 hours ago, CRiXiD said:

Haha, I'm sure you're right to be honest. My SO and I like to think of ourselves as cinephiles, so make of that what you will  TBH I'd just be happy if we could prioritise the order of cast in the same row as a setting (which it sounds like @Lukeis implying we can now do). Keeping the UI simple is also an important balance.

But in fairness to you and everyone who wants this change, this is an app for a personal media server.  It is for people who take extra time and effort to watch the media.   At least certain aspects should be geared towards cinephiles.

[chuwz 20]

Hello @Luke, being able to quickly and easily view a movie’s crew is a very basic need.

 

Please add this feature.

 

How can this be implemented? As shown in the image, I think adding an option that allows us to separate the cast and crew would be a great solution.

 

We really need this feature! Thank you!

 

Just like Plex does

Edited July 7 by chuwz

[chuwz 20]

Hello @Luke, being able to quickly and easily view a movie’s crew is a very basic need.

 

Please add this feature.

 

How can this be implemented? As shown in the image, I think adding an option that allows us to separate the cast and crew would be a great solution.

 

We really need this feature! Thank you!

Just like Plex does

Edited July 7 by chuwz

[Luke 42723]

Well those are tabs, so you can’t see both at once.

[howllor 39]

54 minutes ago, Luke said:

Well those are tabs, so you can’t see both at once.

I don't think the actual specifics of how they're separated is that important, just that they are

[Bigmack3000 111]

12 minutes ago, howllor said:

I don't think the actual specifics of how they're separated is that important, just that they are

Yea, people are just asking for the information to be accessible.

[chuwz 20]

5 hours ago, Luke said:

Well those are tabs, so you can’t see both at once.

Hi @Luke, regarding the Plex image—I was just using it as an example; there’s no need to be so rigid about it.

 

As shown in the image below, you can see both the Cast and Crew lists at the same time. This also perfectly solves the problem of not being able to easily view the director on Android TV—all it takes is a single down arrow on the remote.

It also resolves the debate over whether Crew or Cast should come first, since both can now be displayed at the very top—arranged in two rows.

 

Of course, to accommodate users who prefer the current layout, this feature could be implemented as a toggle option. That way, users who prefer the current setup can choose not to enable this feature.

 

One thing is for sure: it’s currently very inconvenient to view Crews in Emby! Even if you can barely view them on a phone, Crews often appear way down the list in the Emby Universal app for Android TV.

 

This has been discussed for years, and we really need this feature. I don’t understand—it’s clearly very simple to implement, so why haven’t you done it? 

 

We really need it!

Edited Wednesday at 01:17 AM by chuwz

[CRiXiD 25]

22 minutes ago, chuwz said:

Hi @Luke, regarding the Plex image—I was just using it as an example; there’s no need to be so rigid about it.

 

As shown in the image below, you can see both the Cast and Crew lists at the same time. This also perfectly solves the problem of not being able to easily view the director on Android TV—all it takes is a single down arrow on the remote.

It also resolves the debate over whether Crew or Cast should come first, since both can now be displayed at the very top—arranged in two rows.

 

Of course, to accommodate users who prefer the current layout, this feature could be implemented as a toggle option. That way, users who prefer the current setup can choose not to enable this feature.

 

One thing is for sure: it’s currently very inconvenient to view Crews in Emby! Even if you can barely view them on a phone, Crews often appear way down the list in the Emby Universal app for Android TV.

 

This has been discussed for years, and we really need this feature. I don’t understand—it’s clearly very simple to implement, so why haven’t you done it? 

 

We really need it!

I like this suggestion. Anything is better than the #$%&house solution in place right now, which is to denigrate the director and crew to the position of least important and hardest to find people on the page. It's embarrassing that this still hasn't been fixed. 

[chuwz 20]

Hello, @Luke @ebr, has there been any progress? Would you be willing to add a custom option that allows the Cast and Crew to be displayed separately (Cast at the top, Crew at the bottom)?

 

(Like in the image)

 

We’ve been waiting for this feature for far too long… It’s been years already…

 

So please give us a clear answer: Will you consider this feature in the future, or are you rejecting this feature request?

[chuwz 20]

Hello, there’s already a similar post

, but the content of my post is a bit different. I’ve proposed a specific implementation plan, so I’ve created a new post to discuss whether this “specific implementation plan” is feasible and whether you’re willing to implement it.

 

First, we should agree on one thing: the Cast and Crew are equally important. When watching a movie or TV show, we want to know about both the Cast and the Crew. Second, I mostly use the Emby Universal app on Android TV, so I rely entirely on the “Cast & Crew” section to view the crew information.

 

So here’s the issue: currently, when Emby displays the cast and crew, it almost always lists the Cast first and the Crew last. Only for a small number of movies does it list the Crew first (I understand this has to do with source data sites like TMDB; in any case, among the thousands of movies on my NAS, Emby does indeed prefer to list the Cast first and the Crew last).

 

 

You might say, “Emby displays both Cast and Crew—just go check them out,” but the reality is that the Crew section is buried too far down in the “Cast & Crew” column, so we almost never look at it. This is even more pronounced on Android TV: since we’re using a remote control, it’s practically impossible to keep pressing the right arrow key until the Crew section appears…

 

 

Fortunately, someone in the community has already proposed a solution, as shown in the image: Cast at the top, Crew at the bottom.

This solves two problems:

1. The difficulty of viewing “Crew” on Android TV. Now, simply pressing the down arrow on the remote moves the cursor to “Crew,” making it easy to view.

2. The question of whether “Crew” or “Cast” should appear first when there’s only one column. Now both are at the top—it’s just that “Cast” is at the top and “Crew” is at the bottom.

 

Of course, some people might not care about “Crew” at all; for them, the current design works better. So I suggest adding this feature as an option.

 

As shown in the image, an option could be added under "Preferences > Display". When enabled, Cast would appear at the top and Crew at the bottom.

 

Finally, there are already many similar posts in the community, and a great many people are hoping to see this feature implemented.

Would you be willing to implement this feature? @Luke @ebr

Please give us a clear answer—whether you’ll consider it in the future, or whether you won’t be implementing this feature…

 

Thank you so much!

[GrimReaper 5049]

20 minutes ago, chuwz said:

Hello, there’s already a similar post

Hence you should've contributed to that discussion as both FRs are basically asking for the same thing, there's no need for multiple FRs addressing same topic and diluting potential support. 

20 minutes ago, chuwz said:

First, we should agree on one thing: the Cast and Crew are equally important. 

For some. I find it utterly unimportant and save Director and Writer, never want to see any other Crew member. But for those that do find it valuable, you are correct and your FR is completely legit - there should be an option. 

20 minutes ago, chuwz said:

You might say, “Emby displays both Cast and Crew—just go check them out,” but the reality is that the Crew section is buried too far down in the “Cast & Crew” column, so we almost never look at it. This is even more pronounced on Android TV: since we’re using a remote control, it’s practically impossible to keep pressing the right arrow key until the Crew section appears

You don't need to keep pressing right arrow - just hold it, you'll eventually get to the end, within a second or two. But as said above, there should be an option to split the two. 

20 minutes ago, chuwz said:

2. The question of whether “Crew” or “Cast” should appear first when there’s only one column. 

I would assume that for vast majority of users that isn't question at all. Though that doesn't imply that the other part should just grudgingly accept it, if splitting is unfeasible - order should be selectable. 

20 minutes ago, chuwz said:

Of course, some people might not care about “Crew” at all; for them, the current design works better. So I suggest adding this feature as an option.

 

Edit: *Topics merged.*

Edit2: Your post has been Recommended as Expanded request so that is visible immediately upon entering the topic as well. 

Edited 1 hour ago by GrimReaper
Merge

[chuwz 20]

4 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Edit: *Topics merged.*

Hello, thank you for your reply.

Quote

Hence you should've contributed to that discussion as both FRs are basically asking for the same thing, there's no need for multiple FRs addressing same topic and diluting potential support. 

I replied to Luke and ebr, but they didn't respond. I thought this thread might be pretty much dead, so I created a new one.

Quote

For some. I find it utterly unimportant and save Director and Writer, never want to see any other Crew member. But for those that do find it valuable, you are correct and your FR is completely legit - there should be an option. 

I'm really glad you agree with me—we really need this feature. If the development team could consider implementing this feature, it would be a pleasant surprise for users who have been waiting for it for several years.

Quote

You don't need to keep pressing right arrow - just hold it, you'll eventually get to the end, within a second or two. But as said above, there should be an option to split the two. 

Even if you hold down the right button on the remote, it takes a long time to scroll all the way to the right for a movie like *The Avengers*, which is really annoying.

Quote

I would assume that for vast majority of users that isn't question at all. Though that doesn't imply that the other part should just grudgingly accept it, if splitting is unfeasible - order should be selectable. 

That's a good suggestion.

 

Anyway, thanks for your reply. I also hope Luke and ebr will reply to my post (Cast at the top, Crew at the bottom.)once they're online.

 

[chuwz 20]

24 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Edit2: Your post has been Recommended as Expanded request so that is visible immediately upon entering the topic as well. 

Thank you very much!