Sorting Problem with Panasonic Viera TV

[malte75 0]

Hello,

I have a problem using Emby Server's DLNA support with my older Panasonic Viera ET/ETW 5. I'm using the Emby Server (version 4.8.10.0) as DLNA Server. When I use the Emby Server web app, all videos are sorted by name, directories first (I use the "directory" listing - all my mp4 files are saved in a structure of directories). On my Panasonic Viera TV's this is all messed up - I don't know exactly the sorting order, maybe by date of creation of the files or a similar date tag in the mp4 files. Unfortunately my Panasonic TV doesn't have an option to change the order within its DLNA client.

I remember that I had the same problem a long time ago with my formerly used Twonky Server, there I had to add something like a flag (it was called a "devicequirk" / "quirk" with the value "IGNORESORT") to the DLNA configuration for Panasonic TV's, this value seems to have been passed to the TV and this led the TV's DLNA Client to not changing the order of the DLNA entries. Is there anything similar I can do with the Emby Server?

I have found the same question by user NickWells about two years ago - he had the same problem.

After his last response about the TV model he uses there were no further answers - and there also seems to be no solution to this problem.

Thanks for any help in advance

Malte

[Luke 42077]

Hi, what are you hoping to do?

[malte75 0]

I was hoping that in the meantime there has been found a solution to the problem - maybe by editing the Panasonic DLNA profile, so the "flag" IGNORESORT can be send to the Panasonic DLNA Client. Unfortunately I don't know how to send the "flag" by editing the dlna profile in Emby Server. This sorting problem only occurs when I use the emby server - with a Twonky Server I was able to solve the problem as mentioned, using a Plex Server the sorting problem also doesn't exist. For several reasons I prefer the Emby Server (I have Emby Premiere) - the sorting problem is the only disadvantage when I use the Emby Server.

[Luke 42077]

But what is the sorting problem exactly? How do you want it sorted?

[malte75 0]

On all other devices (e.g. VLC Player) the sorting is "directories first, files second, all in alphabetic oder" - the same as on the Emby Web-App (first tow pictures). On the Panasonic TV the order of the same directory is messed up (pictures #3 and #4) - I can't understand the order of the directories and files, they are absolutely mixed up. It would be nice to have the same sorting order ("directories first, files second, all in alphabetic order") on my Panasonic DLNA Client.

As I mentioned above: Using Twonky Server I had the same problem - there I had to add the flag "ignoresort" to the DLNA profile for Panasonic TV's, after that the order on the Panasonic DLNA Client was as expected. I don't know if the Panasonic DLNA Client re-sorts the DLNA information in some way (maybe by date of file creation, although the output doesn't seem to confirm this) - or if the output corresponds to the sorting order, in which the Panasonic DLNA Clients receives the information from the Emby Server (and only other clients like the VLC Player re-sort the information). Knowing the same problem with the Twonky Server and its solution (adding the "flag"), I thought that it is the Panasonic DLNA Client that messes the sorting order up and has to been stopped by adding the "flag" - but maybe that's not really the case. Is there any way to force the Emby Server to send the DLNA information in a certain sorting order? Or do you think this is a problem of the DLNA Client of the Panasonic TV?

Thanks a lot for your help!

Edited December 15, 2024 by malte75

[Luke 42077]

It sounds to me like Panasonic resorts the entries after initially getting them. I think we need to understand what it’s doing before we can figure out what to do.

[malte75 0]

I have read several postings about DLNA and similar problems with Panasonic TV's with several DLNA servers - and I think I have found the reason for the problem and (maybe) a solution. It seems that the Panasonic DLNA client doesn't re-sort the DLNA entries after getting them, it shows them in the order they are delivered. But the way I understand how DLNA works, the client can specify a sort criteria (with "<SortCriteria>XXX</SortCriteria>") - and the DLNA server should respect this search criteria. It seems, that older Panasonic DLNA clients either by default send "<SortCriteria>date</SortCriteria>" or "<SortCriteria></SortCriteria>" (a null value) - but the clients on the TV don't have an option for the user to change this (e.g. sorting by title with "<SortCriteria>title</SortCriteria>"); newer Panasonic DLNA clients have this option and send different sort criteria values depending on the choice of the user. Therefore the entry "IGNORESORT" for Twonky Servers isn't a "flag" for the Panasonic DLNA client, it's an option to tell the Twonky Server to ignore the sort criteria value sent by the Panasonic DLNA client. If all this is right, the solution to the problem would be if there was a way to tell the Emby Server in the Panasonic profile to ignore the search criteria sent by the TV's client and force an other criteria (e.g. by title). Is there any way to do so?

[Luke 42077]

OK that's helpful. There is currently no way to do this, although I can tell you that an empty value of <SortCriteria></SortCriteria> would not be a problem.

So you're saying it's sorting by date?