Multi-version TV Series not merging

[pmac 143]

I'm trying to organize my HD and UHD tv series libraries to show up as a single series with a version dropdown like my movie collection (which works just as intended). 

I have my library split into separate folders "/Television/Series/Season/" and "/Television4K/Series/Season/", merge separate folders is enabled, the series folders are named identically, and I've manually used identify on both series versions to make sure sure they were identified correctly. 

I have HD and UHD set up as separate libraries for easy access from the home screen, but I've also added the UHD folder to the HD library (just as I've done with movies), in hopes it would show both versions when playing an episode from the HD library. 

One example would be:

".../Television4K/The Expanse (2015)/Season 6/The Expanse - S06E01 - Strange Dogs [ WEBDL-2160p ][ 10-bit h265][ EAC3 5.1 ].mkv"

".../Television/The Expanse (2015)/Season 6/The Expanse - S06E01 - Strange Dogs [ HDTV 720p ][ 8-bit h264][ EAC3 5.1 ].mkv"

Both of these have identical series/episode metadata, but show up as separate series instead of being merged and presenting a version drop-down like expected. 

Is there something I'm missing here? 

I used an auto-grouping plugin to merge movies across separate folders to behave this way, but I was under the impression that this was natively possible with Multi-version TV series. 

Keeping both files in the same folder isn't possible with my setup. 

 

[pmac 143]

@Lukeis this something that should be working as described natively? 

[pmac 143]

I should add - when I watch either version of an episode partially, both versions show up on "continue watching" as separate episodes, but the "continue watching" position stays in sync regardless of which one I watch. 

[Luke 42077]

They need to show up as the same series. Once that happens, the episodes will merge. I would compare the metadata between the two.

[pmac 143]

16 minutes ago, Luke said:

They need to show up as the same series. Once that happens, the episodes will merge. I would compare the metadata between the two.

They're identical, aside from the folder location. 

HD:

 

UHD:

[pmac 143]

Here is an example comparing metadata of two versions of the same episode:

[Luke 42077]

Can you try adding another new series into both folders. What happens with that?

[pmac 143]

I've added a uhd version of a few different series and the same thing happens with all of them. Or do you mean add a series that doesn't currently exist in my library at all? 

[pmac 143]

They seem to be linked in some way, as watching either the HD or UHD version of an episode results in the watch progress being tracked on both versions in sync with eachother. They just don't merge for library browsing purposes. 

[pmac 143]

For example, I just skipped ahead roughly 11 minutes on the UHD version of this show, and when I go back to the home screen it shows the HD and UHD versions separately on "Continue Watching" as if I watched them both at the same time, rather than combining them into one show

[rbjtech 5284]

You need the file name before the first '-' to be identical to the folder name - yours is not.

ie 

".../Television4K/The Expanse (2015)/Season 6/The Expanse (2015) - S06E01 - Strange Dogs [ WEBDL-2160p ][ 10-bit h265][ EAC3 5.1 ].mkv"

".../Television/The Expanse (2015)/Season 6/The Expanse (2015) - S06E01 - Strange Dogs [ HDTV 720p ][ 8-bit h264][ EAC3 5.1 ].mkv"

The bit 'missing' I have highlighted.

Either that - or removed the (2015) from the folder name - either should work (but i'd personally update the file name).

Edited November 26, 2024 by rbjtech

[pmac 143]

55 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

You need the file name before the first '-' to be identical to the folder name - yours is not.

ie 

".../Television4K/The Expanse (2015)/Season 6/The Expanse (2015) - S06E01 - Strange Dogs [ WEBDL-2160p ][ 10-bit h265][ EAC3 5.1 ].mkv"

".../Television/The Expanse (2015)/Season 6/The Expanse (2015) - S06E01 - Strange Dogs [ HDTV 720p ][ 8-bit h264][ EAC3 5.1 ].mkv"

The bit 'missing' I have highlighted.

Either that - or removed the (2015) from the folder name - either should work (but i'd personally update the file name).

I was really hopeful that this would easily fix my issue... Unfortunately though, in my Yellowstone example, both files have the year in the folder and episode file name:

"...\Television\Yellowstone (2018)\Season 5\Yellowstone (2018) - S05E09 - Desire Is All You Need - [ HDTV-1080p ][ 10-bit x265 ][ EAC3 5.1 ].mkv"

"...\Television4K\Yellowstone (2018)\Season 5\Yellowstone (2018) - S05E09 - Desire Is All You Need - [ WEBDL-2160p ][ 8-bit h265 ][ EAC3 5.1 ].mkv"

After reading your comment and noticing that not all of my series have episodes including the year in the filename for some reason, I was really hopeful that this was the issue.

[pmac 143]

I've updated my Sonarr settings to rename all of my series folders and filenames to include the year, so I'm waiting for those processes to finish and then I'll start the  (likely very long) process of updating my Emby library to see if that fixes it (fingers crossed).

I'll update this thread once the process is finished with whether or not it worked.

[rbjtech 5284]

1 hour ago, pmac said:

I've updated my Sonarr settings to rename all of my series folders and filenames to include the year, so I'm waiting for those processes to finish and then I'll start the  (likely very long) process of updating my Emby library to see if that fixes it (fingers crossed).

I'll update this thread once the process is finished with whether or not it worked.

Yep - ensure the filename AND folder name are the same before the '-'  after this is what's displayed on the dropdown.

It should resolve the issues - this is called out in the emby naming - see link below

https://emby.media/support/articles/Movie-Naming.html#multi-version-movies

 

[Neminem 1518]

@rbjtechIs this the same with TV-Shows ?

Your linking to Movies and Radarr from your screenshot.

Does Emby even do multi version of episodes, a cross multi library's.

@pmacDid you rename your whole tv collection ?

Or just a test sample ?

[Neminem 1518]

@rbjtechSo sorry for questing you, as always spot on

[Neminem 1518]

More info

We need this enabled

Other wise this happens. 

 

[pmac 143]

41 minutes ago, Neminem said:

Did you rename your whole tv collection ?

Or just a test sample ?

I started with a test sample, but it didn't fix the issue I'm having. I'm still renaming my whole collection (it's still processing right now), but only because I didn't realize there were some inconsistencies in naming and I'm a little OCD about that, lol. 

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's going to fix my issue though. 

[pmac 143]

24 minutes ago, Neminem said:

More info

We need this enabled

Other wise this happens. 

 

I have that enabled, but I'm still getting the result in the bottom of your post, as if it's not enabled. 

[pmac 143]

Edited November 26, 2024 by pmac

[Neminem 1518]

It took some time for mine to see my change, even if was just 2 episodes.

1080p and a 4k file.

I'm guessing is still sorting all you other file renaming.

 

By the way, have you set is up like this ?

[pmac 143]

4 minutes ago, Neminem said:

It took some time for mine to see my change, even if was just 2 episodes.

1080p and a 4k file.

I'm guessing is still sorting all you other file renaming.

 

By the way, have you set is up like this ?

Yes, it's set up just like that. It's been a few days since I first tested this with a single series, and refreshed library data. Still isn't working though. 

My current renaming process wouldn't have made a difference there, as I just started doing that earlier today. 

[Neminem 1518]

Hmm ok here is a simple test.

This give me 

1080p

and 4k

[Neminem 1518]

Hmm that's strange.

All though "I know its not fair" done all these tests in beta 4.9.0.32

As that's my "destroy server setup"

How much addon to the file naming do you have compaired to mine

Folder :  Cheers

-- Season 01

file :  Cheers s01e01 - 4K.disc

Extension is a dummy file extension, left over from " Insert Disc to play " But has it's uses.

 

[pmac 143]

@Lukecould it be that I have too many dashes "-" in my file name? I've highlighted the dash in question in red. 

Example:

"Yellowstone (2018) - S05E09 - Desire Is All You Need - [ WEBDL-2160p ][ 8-bit h265 ][ EAC3 5.1 ].mkv"

Should I rename them something like:

"Yellowstone (2018) - S05E09 Desire Is All You Need - [ WEBDL-2160p ][ 8-bit h265 ][ EAC3 5.1 ].mkv"

Or would the dash between episode number and episode name be irrelevant? I'd like the media info at the end of the filename to be in the version selection drop-down.

If it makes a difference I can simplify them to "1080p" or "2160p", but I don't think that should matter, since it's working fine for movies with my current naming structure.