Regenerating primary images

[user84 46]

For both my collections and playlists, under "My Media", the automatically generated primary images don't represent all of the collections and playlists well. How do I force Emby to regenerate those images?

[MrAudio 22]

If you go into the Collection, and Edit Images, you can delete the existing image, and Emby will recreate it the next time it refreshes the database (so, exactly how long it takes depends on how often you are having Emby do database scans. I do it every 4 hours, which is more often than most people, but I make lots of changes on a regular basis).

You can also create your own custom image and add it the same way (Edit Images). If you have an existing image, you have to delete it before you get the option to upload a new image - the Upload New Image is a plus sign with a circle around it.

[user84 46]

29 minutes ago, MrAudio said:

If you go into the Collection, and Edit Images, you can delete the existing image, and Emby will recreate it the next time it refreshes the database (so, exactly how long it takes depends on how often you are having Emby do database scans. I do it every 4 hours, which is more often than most people, but I make lots of changes on a regular basis).

You can also create your own custom image and add it the same way (Edit Images). If you have an existing image, you have to delete it before you get the option to upload a new image - the Upload New Image is a plus sign with a circle around it.

This suggestion worked for my collections, but didn't work for my playlists. I still see the following image after playing around with this suggestion. Any other ideas?

[MrAudio 22]

Are these music playlists? External playlists? Do the playlists work? Do you have album art embedded in your files?

For example, I use external playlists for my music. I'm on Windows, and windows uses backslashes as directory separators - BUT, many apps are Unix-derived and want FORWARD slashes instead. My playlists didn't work initially, and I didn't know why, but after some experimenting, I figured out that I needed forward slashes instead of backslashes. Fortunately, my playlist creator had an option for that. Once that was set, my playlists started working and my playlist icons started populating with album art thumbnails.

Those thumbnails would be coming from album art embedded into your music files. If you don't have embedded album art, you won't get thumbnails in your icon. And if the playlists don't actually work (when mine had backslashes instead of forward slashes, they didn't work in Emby, despite working on many other devices), you also won't get thumbnails in your icons.

If all of that is good, you may just need to do one of the other manual scans.

Hope this helps.

[Luke 42077]

HI, yes, what do you have in your playlists library?

[user84 46]

7 hours ago, Luke said:

HI, yes, what do you have in your playlists library?

One is a manually generated playlist of videos. The other is a smart playlist created using that original playlist as a source.

[MrAudio 22]

12 hours ago, emrdaniels said:

One is a manually generated playlist of videos. The other is a smart playlist created using that original playlist as a source.

Okay, does the playlist work in Emby (will the videos play in sequence correctly if you play that playlist)? That's the first requirement. If there's something wrong with the format of the playlist file (like in my example, where my externally-created playlists were using backslashes instead of forward slashes), then it won't work, and won't be recognized by Emby as a valid playlist file.

If the playlist works, and if the media has artwork, then the thumbnail should auto-populate when Emby runs periodic scans.

[Luke 42077]

12 hours ago, emrdaniels said:

One is a manually generated playlist of videos. The other is a smart playlist created using that original playlist as a source.

Do those playlists have images?

[user84 46]

15 hours ago, Luke said:

Do those playlists have images?

Those playlists do have images, yes.

[Happy2Play 9780]

@Lukewasn't it fixed and removed again for Playlist due to parental issues?

4.8.4.0

Don't generate images for playlist libraries

4.8.3.0

Fix playlist library folder not generating an image

 

[Luke 42077]

1 hour ago, Happy2Play said:

@Lukewasn't it fixed and removed again for Playlist due to parental issues?

4.8.4.0

Don't generate images for playlist libraries

4.8.3.0

Fix playlist library folder not generating an image

 

Yes you are right, I forgot about this. 

[Luke 42077]

So due to playlists being personal items, that's why there is no image generated for the library. But you can still manually assign one.

[user84 46]

5 hours ago, Luke said:

So due to playlists being personal items, that's why there is no image generated for the library. But you can still manually assign one.

Interesting. Thanks for clarifying 

[user84 46]

On 1/3/2025 at 1:08 PM, Luke said:

Yes you are right, I forgot about this. 

Would @Lukeor @Happy2Playhappen to know the file location of the auto-generated images for playlists I create on a Windows machine? I was hoping to scrape the ones that were created for one of the playlists I made and simply use that image for the library.

[Happy2Play 9780]

30 minutes ago, emrdaniels said:

Would @Lukeor @Happy2Playhappen to know the file location of the auto-generated images for playlists I create on a Windows machine? I was hoping to scrape the ones that were created for one of the playlists I made and simply use that image for the library.

Easiest way would be look in the api (imageservice) per the itemid shown in the url for the playlist.  Api link at the bottom of dashboard with some restrictions depending on connection type discussed at the beginning of this topic.

Or in a browser debug console you and open the url and save the image.  May need to remove the image scaling conditions in the url.

[user84 46]

17 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

Easiest way would be look in the api (imageservice) per the itemid shown in the url for the playlist.  Api link at the bottom of dashboard with some restrictions depending on connection type discussed at the beginning of this topic.

Or in a browser debug console you and open the url and save the image.  May need to remove the image scaling conditions in the url.

Perfect. I was able to find it and download. The dimensions are off, and it looks a bit strange, but it looks better than nothing.

Really wish this wasn't a on/off option and users had the choice. But the trend with Emby seems to be to not offer lots of options, so it is what it is. Thanks for the help.

[pnsmedia01 0]

What is the minimum number of playlists needed for the My Media > Playlists to generate an image?  

 I see that Movies, TV shows, and Collections show 4 random posters.  Is 4 the absolute minimum required for it to generate the image?  

I have a single playlist which is the Alien movie franchise in timeline order.  

[Luke 42077]

6 hours ago, pnsmedia01 said:

What is the minimum number of playlists needed for the My Media > Playlists to generate an image?  

 I see that Movies, TV shows, and Collections show 4 random posters.  Is 4 the absolute minimum required for it to generate the image?  

I have a single playlist which is the Alien movie franchise in timeline order.  

Hi, the minimum is 1. It will just duplicate the same one if that's the case.

[pnsmedia01 0]

12 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, the minimum is 1. It will just duplicate the same one if that's the case.

This is what I am seeing.  I have 1 playlist (Alien Collection), but the My Media/Playlist has the default icon.  I assumed that I would need 4 playlists for it to generate an icon for the My Media/Playlist.

[Luke 42077]

Did you try adding more playlists?

[Luke 42077]

Right sorry I forgot. Playlists does not get an auto-generated thumb because all users will see the same image.