ACdb.tv - Automated Collections

[Amything 122]

Hello everyone,

I've released the ACdb.tv plugin (Automated Collections)!

It allows you to sync lists from MDBList to create automated collections in Emby.  I've previously created a Python script to do the same but wanted to make something that is easily accessible for everyone.   

Features

Dynamic Movie and TV Emby collections synced periodically.

 

Scheduled collections that are only shown during a particular season. Set up your own schedules.

 

See missing items.
Once a collection has synced you can check which items of the collections you are missing. Must be Patreon supporter to user this feature.
https://acdb.tv/static/img/missing_items.jpg

Custom collection ordering.
Move newly updated collections to the top of other collections.
https://acdb.tv/static/img/collection_sorting.jpg

 

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How To Install

• The plugin is available in the Emby plugin catalog. Check out Getting Started. 

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Cost

• Free: 3 collections if you click "Join for Free" on the Patreon. 
• $2/month: Add up to 20 collections, include any MDBList, and fully customize your collections.
• See more on the Patreon page.

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Work in Progress

In beta, it's early days so I'm adding features these days and issues might happen. Please let me know about any issues/feature requests on this thread or the contact page which also has a Discord link.

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Coming up Next

* Custom collection posters.

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How It Works

• Any user can add any Collections made by other users to Emby.
• Collections belong to their creator, so only the creator can edit the containing list, the title & description.
• Cloning: If you want to edit a collection you don’t own, simply clone it—now it’s yours. (Only Patreon supporters can edit collections.)
• The plugin checks for modified collections every 2 hours for now (might change).
• If a collection hasn’t been updated for 24 hours, it still syncs to ensure newly added items in your library are included.
   

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Edited May 22, 2025 by Amything

[Luke 42077]

Hi, thanks for sharing.

[242Movies 26]

This adds a much needed function to Emby.
Thank you

 

Does the plugin offer default suggestion as to which collections to include?

[bakes82 167]

@242MoviesYou can pick whatever collections you want as long as it exists on mdblist or you make your own.

@Amything This is what I built in like 4hours, youd probably be better off figuring out the auth piece and doing all the work in emby, good luck with the monetization, most emby people probably arent going to pay though. Youd def want to allow each list to have its own independent schedule though there are many lists that dont need updated on a 2hr interval, you just have your sched task run on the hour interval and look for the lists that need updated, some you might only want to update like monthly just to refresh the meta for some specific collections. I think you need 4.9 to do what I did below that uses the new UI rendering stuff, have fun with the multi versions

[eMoOak 7]

Hi! Nice job! Really enjoy the possibility to sync mdblist with emby. It gives a dynamic feeling to our collections and a second life to emby. I'm a mdblist Patreon (VIP $5) wich gives me the ability to sync 60 dynamic lists + 60 static lists. Your patreon "Director" is limited to 100 collections and is a kind of bottleneck to any VIP mdblist Patreon.

I'd really enjoy to join if you consider increasing your limit to 120 collections for 5 bucks/month. I'm already syncing with your python scripts (and for free, let's be honnest) but I'd like to reward your work.

5 bucks/month and 120 collections and I'm in!

[Amything 122]

10 hours ago, bakes82 said:

@Amything This is what I built in like 4hours, youd probably be better off figuring out the auth piece and doing all the work in emby, good luck with the monetization, most emby people probably arent going to pay though. Youd def want to allow each list to have its own independent schedule though there are many lists that dont need updated on a 2hr interval, you just have your sched task run on the hour interval and look for the lists that need updated, some you might only want to update like monthly just to refresh the meta for some specific collections. I think you need 4.9 to do what I did below that uses the new UI rendering stuff, have fun with the multi versions

I'm in no way expecting to get rich off of this project, I have the time and enjoy it. 

I'm a C# developer first so it's not a question of avoiding doing all the work in Emby. There are a few reasons for it, main one being that I wanted to make it a nice experience to add, explore and manage collections. I want to keep the plugin simple so it's easier to maintain. With my server being the brains of the operation it makes it easy to add new features that may require other APIs and supporting other platforms if I decide to do that is a question of making another basic plugin instead of starting everything from scratch. 

Dynamic lists are updates every 12 or 24 hours on MDBList. My server uses the API to check at what time the list updates next, there are no wasted API calls to MDBList. When it does, it checks if the contents of the list has changed since last time. If it has, it updates all collections for all users that contain that list. The plugin is just sending a "pulse" to check if there is anything new and only fetches whatever collection is updated if any. Some collections contain multiple lists and can therefore be updated a few times a day, I only send IDs to the plugin and the amount of data is minimal. 

Static lists never update at all unless the owner forces it manually, however the content on Emby changes so the server sends those lists every 24 hours so the collections can be updated if needed. 

Edited March 6, 2025 by Amything

[Amything 122]

1 hour ago, eMoOak said:

Hi! Nice job! Really enjoy the possibility to sync mdblist with emby. It gives a dynamic feeling to our collections and a second life to emby. I'm a mdblist Patreon (VIP $5) wich gives me the ability to sync 60 dynamic lists + 60 static lists. Your patreon "Director" is limited to 100 collections and is a kind of bottleneck to any VIP mdblist Patreon.

I'd really enjoy to join if you consider increasing your limit to 120 collections for 5 bucks/month. I'm already syncing with your python scripts (and for free, let's be honnest) but I'd like to reward your work.

5 bucks/month and 120 collections and I'm in!

Thank you for that! Absolutely no problem, done

[eMoOak 7]

Done! Drink a coffee on me today  Waiting for independent scheduling features and the possibility to add private collections (with URL) as it seems impossible at this stage of development.

[bakes82 167]

3 hours ago, Amything said:

I'm in no way expecting to get rich off of this project, I have the time and enjoy it. 

I'm a C# developer first so it's not a question of avoiding doing all the work in Emby. There are a few reasons for it, main one being that I wanted to make it a nice experience to add, explore and manage collections. I want to keep the plugin simple so it's easier to maintain. With my server being the brains of the operation it makes it easy to add new features that may require other APIs and supporting other platforms if I decide to do that is a question of making another basic plugin instead of starting everything from scratch. 

Dynamic lists are updates every 12 or 24 hours on MDBList. My server uses the API to check at what time the list updates next, there are no wasted API calls to MDBList. When it does, it checks if the contents of the list has changed since last time. If it has, it updates all collections for all users that contain that list. The plugin is just sending a "pulse" to check if there is anything new and only fetches whatever collection is updated if any. Some collections contain multiple lists and can therefore be updated a few times a day, I only send IDs to the plugin and the amount of data is minimal. 

Static lists never update at all unless the owner forces it manually, however the content on Emby changes so the server sends those lists every 24 hours so the collections can be updated if needed. 

I’m just pointing out what I know lol. Most people don’t want to go to another ui. Some of the people I know also have some larger users/servers so they might have 60+ collections, they wanted to be able to set when collections are processed.  You could also just do everything on your side w/no plugin aslong as the server is exposed publicly with the api. The ability to refresh meta was also wanted.

[eMoOak 7]

How to add static lists? It seems that only dynamic lists can be imported or I'm missing something?

[Amything 122]

36 minutes ago, eMoOak said:

How to add static lists? It seems that only dynamic lists can be imported or I'm missing something?

Static lists works. You can put the url into the search bar and add them for example. What list are you having problems with?

[Amything 122]

1 hour ago, bakes82 said:

You could also just do everything on your side w/no plugin aslong as the server is exposed publicly with the api. The ability to refresh meta was also wanted.

I made the Emby MDBList collection creator script, it has metadata refresh and more. ACdb will get there. 

[Amything 122]

4 hours ago, eMoOak said:

Done! Drink a coffee on me today  Waiting for independent scheduling features and the possibility to add private collections (with URL) as it seems impossible at this stage of development.

Cheers! It's now possible to make collections private   Scheduling is pretty much at the top of the list.

[eMoOak 7]

Possible to make but not possible to add for syncing (which is possible to do with your python script)

 

[Amything 122]

31 minutes ago, eMoOak said:

Possible to make but not possible to add for syncing (which is possible to do with your python script)

OK I understand. I won't be able to access these lists using my personal MDBList API key. However it's still possible to get the Json, let me work on that! 

[bakes82 167]

You dont even need an api key to pull the json, you just append /json to to the url and you get the json, you only need an apikey if the list is private and well you just do /json?apikey=<key>

[Amything 122]

13 minutes ago, bakes82 said:

You dont even need an api key to pull the json, you just append /json to to the url and you get the json, you only need an apikey if the list is private and well you just do /json?apikey=<key>

My script uses /json but using that method you can't get the list name, when it expires etc. No other option though,  I can work around it. 

[bakes82 167]

the list name is in the url you would parse it from after the /list/ replace - or _ with space and typical url decode, id think everyone would change it anways,  Not sure what an expiration date is, I dont see any reference to it on the api page.

 

[Amything 122]

4 minutes ago, bakes82 said:

the list name is in the url you would parse it from after the /list/ replace - or _ with space and typical url decode, id think everyone would change it anways,  Not sure what an expiration date is, I dont see any reference to it on the api page.

 

I requested it and Linas added it. Seems he hasn't documented it yet.

[Amything 122]

@eMoOakThis is kinda crazy, I was finishing up a workaround for private lists. Suddenly my tests are not working. Eventually figure out that MDBList just patched the possibility to see private lists with the url trick. To be fair it was a bit weird to allow that workaround!

I've asked if MDBList would consider making a share url option, we'll see how that goes. 

If he is not willing to do that that then it's not something we can tackle in the near future at least. 

[bakes82 167]

Why can’t they just add the worth their own key 

[Amything 122]

21 minutes ago, bakes82 said:

Why can’t they just add the worth their own key 

I prefer a solution that does not require me to keep 3rd party API Keys on my server. I'll consider that or client side plugin solution if share urls are out of the question. I do think it's likely that MDBList will make share urls though.

[bakes82 167]

Yeah like I said better to do everything on Emby side and just make an auth api for licensing.  Or use your site to build a config json they can plug into the ui, especially if you want to expand out of mdb and use trakt. Ideally you should always use end user keys so if one starts having an error and hammering the api and gets blocked or if mdb says hey this ip is now rate limited.

[eMoOak 7]

Tested for the 1st time to sync a small collection. I think it's broken. [v1.1.1.0]



It never ends...

Edited March 14, 2025 by eMoOak

[eMoOak 7]

In Latest ACdb.tv Activity I think you should reverse the order to get the most recent events first.